Books I Desperately Want to Buy

Not a post for BookBlogWriMo for the first time in a month!

Today, I began thinking about books I really wanted to buy (no not because of Christmas, I was just thinking about books I’m missing that I would want to buy at some point). Some of these books I read as library copies or own as ebooks, but I liked them so much, I want to display them and/or reread them.

1. The entire Harry Potter series

I own most of the books, but you see it’s a little trickier than just buying the ones I don’t have. See, my brother originally was the one who started reading Harry Potter before me. So, even though I may be the one who is more likely to reread them (which I am in December), the books are technically my brother’s. So, I really want to get the Special Edition version because it looks so cool!

Should I get this one in hardcover…

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Or this one in paperback? Let me know what you think down in the comments.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

2. The entire Mara Dyer Trilogy

I started reading this trilogy in middle school and I absolutely love it! Only thing is that I own them all on my nook/kindle, except for the first book which I read for free in middle school on Pulse it. Also lately I’ve realized that I tend to like Hardcovers better. The only reason most of my books are hardcover is because I bought them the day they came out…Hardcover is much easier to read and usually doesn’t fall apart as much.

3. Insurgent & Four

I don’t know how this happened (well, maybe I do). But, I only own Divergent and Allegiant out of the Divergent series and it’s just silly to buy the beginning and end of a series without having a middle book. Also, I need to buy Four as well, because I enjoyed getting more into Tobias’s perspective.

4. We were liars

Gosh, darn this was a great book! No, seriously! I really enjoyed it and the suspense and mystery side that don’t come out as often in YA books that I have read.

5. All of Connie Willis’s books

I started reading To Say Nothing of the Dog for my Scifi/Fantasy class at uni and I really like it! It makes me want to read the entire collection of Connie Willis’s books (and I think she is writing another?! *squeal*).

6. Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez

I read this one in middle school and found it downright fascinating! I throughly enjoyed it and I realized I read this one on Pulse it as well. I want a physical copy now 🙂

 

How many of the best YA books have you read?

Inspired by craftypalooza‘s recent post, I was wondering just how many of NPR’s 100 Best Young Adult Novels I’ve actually read. Many of them from looking at the list, I’ve read way before I even created this blog. Maybe I’ll try to complete the list; who knows?!

X1. Harry Potter (series), by J.K. Rowling

X2. The Hunger Games (series), by Suzanne Collins

X3. To Kill a Mockingbird, by Harper Lee

X4. The Fault in Our Stars, by John Green

5. The Hobbit, by J.R.R. Tolkien

X6. The Catcher in the Rye, by J.D. Salinger

7. The Lord of the Rings (series), by J.R.R. Tolkien

X8. Fahrenheit 451, by Ray Bradbury

X9. Looking for Alaska, by John Green

X10. The Book Thief, by Markus Zusak

11. The Giver (series), by Lois Lowry (I read the first 2, I have yet to finish it)

12. The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy (series), by Douglas Adams

X13. The Outsiders, by S.E. Hinton

X14. Anne of Green Gables (series), by Lucy Maud Montgomery

15. His Dark Materials (series), by Philip Pullman

X16. The Perks of Being a Wallflower, by Stephen Chbosky

17. The Princess Bride, by William Goldman

18. Lord of the Flies, by William Golding

X19. Divergent (series), by Veronica Roth

X20. Paper Towns, by John Green

X21. The Mortal Instruments (series), by Cassandra Clare

X22. An Abundance of Katherines, by John Green

23. Flowers for Algernon, by Daniel Keyes

X24. Thirteen Reasons Why, by Jay Asher

25. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, by Mark Haddon

X26. Speak, by Laurie Halse Anderson

X27. Twilight (series), by Stephenie Meyer

X28. Uglies (series), by Scott Westerfeld

X29. The Infernal Devices (series), by Cassandra Clare

X30. Tuck Everlasting, by Natalie Babbitt

31. The Absolutely True Diary of a Part-Time Indian, by Sherman Alexie

32. The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants (series), by Anne Brashares

33. The Call of the Wild, by Jack London

X34. Will Grayson, Will Grayson, by John Green, David Levithan

35. Go Ask Alice, by Anonymous

36. Howl’s Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

37. Stargirl, by Jerry Spinelli

X38. A Separate Peace, by John Knowles

39. Vampire Academy (series), by Richelle Mead

40. Abhorsen Trilogy / Old Kingdom Trilogy (series), by Garth Nix

41. Dune, by Frank Herbert

42. Discworld / Tiffany Aching (series, by Terry Pratchett

43. My Sister’s Keeper, by Jodi Picoult

44. The Dark is Rising (series), by Susan Cooper

45. Graceling (series), Kristin Cashore

46. Forever…, by Judy Blume

47. Earthsea (series), by Ursula K. Le Guin

48. Inheritance Cycle (series), by Christopher Paolini

X49. The Princess Diaries (series), by Meg Cabot

50. The Song of the Lioness (series), by Tamora Pierce

51. Treasure Island, by Robert Louis Stevenson

52. Delirium (series), by Lauren Oliver

53. Anna and the French Kiss, by Stephanie Perkins

54. Hush, Hush Saga (series), by Stephanie Perkins

X55. 13 Little Blue Envelopes, by Maureen Johnson

56. It’s Kind of a Funny Story, by Ned Vizzini

57. The Gemma Doyle Trilogy (series), by Libba Bray

X58. Miss Peregrine’s Home for Peculiar Children, by Ransom Riggs

59. The House on Mango Street, by Sandra Cisneros

60. Something Wicked This Way Comes, by Ray Bradbury

61. The Chocolate War, by Robert Cormier

62. Just Listen, by Sarah Dessen

63. A Ring of Endless Light, by Madeleine L’Engle

64. The Truth About Forever, by Sarah Dessen

65. The Bartimaeus Trilogy (series), by Jonathan Stroud

66. Bloodlines (series), by Richelle Mead

X67. Fallen (series), by Lauren Kate

68. House of Night (series), by P.C. Cast, Kristin Cast

69. I Capture the Castle, by Dodie Smith

70. Nick & Norah’s Infinite Playlsit, by Rachel Cohn, David Levithan

71. Before I Fall, by Lauren Oliver

72. Unwind, by Neal Shusterman

73. The Last Unicorn, by Peter S. Beagle

X74. The Maze Runner Trilogy (series), by James Dashner

75. If I Stay, by Gayle Forman

76. The Blue Sword, by Robin McKinley

77. Crank (series), by Ellen Hopkins

X78. Matched (series), by Allie Condie

79. Gallagher Girls (series), by Ally Carter

80. The Goose Girl, by Shannon Hale

81. Daughter of the Lioness / Tricksters (series), by Tamora Pierce

82. I Am the Messenger, by Markus Zusak

83. The Immortals (series), by Tamora Pierce

84. The Enchanted Forest Chronicles (series), by Patricia C. Wrede

85. Chaos Walking (series), by Patrick Ness

86. Circle of Magic (series), by Tamora Pierce

87. Daughter of Smoke & Bone, by Laini Taylor

88. Feed, by M.T. Anderson

89. Weetzie Bat (series), by Francesca Lia Block

90. Along for the Ride, by Sarah Dessen

91. Confessions of Georgia Nicolson (series), by Louise Rennison

X92. Leviathan (series), by Scott Westerfeld

93. The House of the Scorpion, by Scott Westerfeld

94. The Chronicles of Chrestomanci (series), by Diana Wynne Jones

95. The Lullaby, by Sarah Dessen

96. Gone (series), by Michael Grant

97. The Shiver Trilogy (series), by Maggie Stiefvater

98. The Hero and the Crown, by Robin McKinley

X99. Wintergirls, by Laurie Halse Anderson

100. Betsy-Tacy Books (series), by Maud Hart Lovelace

 

I have finished 31/100 of these books/series. I counted some (like the Fallen and Matched) series as read completely even though I will not be reading all of the books in the series because personally, I wasn’t into it…

I hope at some point I can say I’ve read all of these, but it’s 1) hard to find all these books at the library sometimes and 2) I don’t have a lot of money to be able to buy all of these.

Let me know in the comments how many of these books YOU’VE read!!! I’d love to see how my “points” compare to yours!

 

“Just My Cup of Tea” Tag

Hello! Today, I will be creating and completing a new tag called the “Just My Cup of Tea” Tag.

1. Iced Tea: A book you read in the summer or a summer-y book read

Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan; The cover of this book reminds me of Prom or of rock concerts, which for me is just a signal that summer is coming!

2. Earl Grey: A book that involves royalty

Victoria Victorious: The Story of Queen Victoria (Queens of England, #3) by Jean Plaidy; I actually haven’t read this one yet. It’s been on my TBR for a while, but I just can’t find this one at the library!

3. Chamomile: A relaxing read

A Separate Peace by John Knowles; By far my favorite classic I ever had to read for school, I have reread this one a million times and I always go back to it.

4. Chai Tea: A book that took place or you took to an exotic place

Dark Secrets 2 by Elizabeth Chandler; I brought this one with me to London a couple weeks ago. It definitely was as great as I remembered it being, so I never even got into it.

5. English Breakfast: A book that got you out of a reading slump

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak; I was in the midst of the worst part of my literary existential crisis (LEC) when I read this one and I absolutely loved this one!

6. Lady Grey: Your favorite book that was a spinoff of another book or series

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare; I was very impressed with this entire trilogy. I loved the play between the surnames of the characters from TMI series and learning more about the families involved.

7. Irish Breakfast: A book where one of the characters goes traveling

Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour by Morgan Matson; I rave about this one all the time! I just love this one because compared to quite a few YA books I’ve read, this one had a character arc. For me, it’s more of a light read, so as long as it has that, I’m good.

8. White Tea: A book that makes you laugh or that makes you feel good

The Lover’s Dictionary by David Levithan; I reviewed this quite recently, so if you haven’t read it, go check it out! Nice quick read, but very interesting with format!

That’s it! I hope you guys enjoyed my first attempt at creating a new book tag. I tag: Craftypalooza, Book Marauder, PhantomHiveSky and Books and Palettes!

 

Grammar Girl’s 101 Words to Sound Smart and Grammar Girl’s 101 Misused Words You’ll Never Confuse Again by Mignon Fogarty

That’s a really long title, I know. But, I wanted to combine this into one bigger post because these were shorter books and almost similar to a dictionary-type format.

Before I begin my actual review of these two books, I would like to talk about an idea I’ve had this year that was (somewhat) accomplished in Mignon Fogarty’s books. I had this idea for a connotation dictionary, as in a dictionary that not only tells you basic things like definitions, synonyms, antonyms and pronunciation but also the connotation. Of course since connotation exists within only certain areas, there would have to be multiple versions of the dictionary for various areas, which would be a downside to the dictionary. However, I think it would be a very useful tool for writers, politicians, advertising companies and others of that ilk.

Between the two books I think I enjoyed 101 Words to Sound Smart better because I think the book was simply more entertaining than the other book. While I knew a lot of the words in 101 Words to Sound Smart, I learned a lot about the origins of the words which I think is important to note in this book: you can learn something even if you know all the vocabulary. The same was also true of 101 Misused Words You’ll Never Confuse Again. Lots of the mistakes mentioned in the book I don’t tend to make (but I do make mistakes, sometimes), but that’s just because I tend to be a stickler for grammar and I’m a perfectionist at heart. However, I learned a lot about how those mistakes are made and how to make sure I remember how to avoid those mistakes.

Beyond the vocabulary and the main focus of the books, I liked how Mignon Fogarty used quotes from movies, TV shows, books, authors, etc. to explain the context in which words are used. This I think really helped in both of the books, but especially the book about misused words in order to distinguish the difference between the usage of one spelling or word from other words and spellings. I think these books could help anyone if they have trouble with proofreading and editing and I would highly suggest them if not for reading, but as a reference tool.

Thoughtfully,

Spectacles

 

Looking for Alaska by John Green

I was recently introduced to John Green about 2 months ago. I believe I first found him on YouTube through a channel he created with his brother called vlogbrothers. I started watching all of his videos from the beginning and decided to read The Fault in Our Stars. Honestly, that was the best YA reality fiction-type book I have read.

Looking for Alaska was just as good as The Fault in Our Stars! Based on what I’ve heard from my friends and fellow readers, John Green never disappoints. Which is why I plan to read the rest of his books. What I loved about both books I have read so far is that John Green asks the big and important questions. The difficult questions to answer. He doesn’t have his characters talking about the scandal in the shoes that another character wore with polka dots and stripes. He strips away all preconceived notions about what Young Adult Fiction is and replaces it with philosophy, psychology, history and other more sophisticated topics and expects more of the reader and brings the reader to a higher level of thinking.

Not only that, but John Green also writes effectively and impeccably. I can’t believe I didn’t know about his books for so long. Don’t just take my word for it, though! Read it and let me know what you think in the comments below! I’d love to hear your thoughts on it as well!

Thoughtfully yours,

Spectacles

 

First Post

Hello!

I am Spectacles. This is my first post on WordPress. I don’t exactly know how this all works, but bear with me as I get used to this website. This is my first blog.

I plan to write and display various book reviews as I aim to read 100 books (starting with 50, but we’ll see how that goes…) throughout this year. I have been an avid reader in past, however for the last six months or so, I’ve been having trouble continuing reading or finishing a book. I’ve read books from science fiction to fantasy to romance to classics. This post will be the only one until I finish a book and can post my first review.

Thoughtfully,

Spectacles