Bout of Books 11 TBR!

Hello fellow book lovers! Guess what? It's that time again! Bout of Books time!

In case you don't know what Bout of Books is, here's a quick blurb, straight from the Bout of Books team:

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team


This is my second time participating in Bout of Books, and let me tell you, I'm super pumped! Bout of Books 11 will be going on during my first week back on campus (thankfully not during classes-I have band camp the 16-22), so I've decided to make a TBR of 3 e-books and 3-physical books- while I do need to cut down my physical TBR, I have an equally massive e-book TBR that needs to be shortened!

So, the books I'll hopefully be finishing/starting this round are:
The Dark Monk by Oliver Potzsch
The Secret History by Donna Tart
Jackaby by William Ritter
Blazed by Jason Myers
The Wolf of Wall Street by Jordan Belfort
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I hope to see you all participating if you have the opportunity and I can't wait to check out what you plan on reading!

Until next time,
zoz

A Few of My Favorite Authors Part 1

I recently posted this picture on Instagram, showing a handful of some of my favorite authors, and I thought I'd make a proper post about some of my favorite authors and my favorite books by them.

To start off, let me clarify how I categorize "favorite authors". For me, a favorite author is an author who writes books that I know, no matter what mood I'm in, I'll be able to pick up and fall in love with immediately. If you're a favorite author of mine, I've either read all of your books or have read a good many of them.

Now, many of my favorite authors are ones that I discovered at a young age, but they write the kind of timeless novels, that even today, as a young adult, I can pick up one of their books and immediately fall in love.

In order give a little more detail about what I love about these authors and an attempt to not bore you to tears, I think what I'll do is tell you about three authors now, and make another post or two discussing my other favorite authors. 

The three authors I'll tell you about today are three that, when I think about my favorite books as a child, come to mind first. 

1. Laurie Halse Anderson: The first book I read by her was Twisted, and this book got me hooked on all things Laurie. I know most of you probably know her best for her novels Speak and Wintergirls, but the book I fell in love with most was Catalyst. I'm not even sure why. It was the book I related with least on a personal level, but there's just something about the story that I absolutely love!

2. Jerry Spinelli- My first Spinelli book was Stargirl, and if any of you have read this book, I'm sure you know why I was instantly hooked! I remember going to the library in my town and checking out every Spinelli book they had. I even re-read a few of them, which is something I almost never do. Spinelli just has a way of writing about adolescent life that's so real and true, yet fun and exciting that you can't but devour more of his writing. Some of my favorite books by Spinelli are his Space Station Seventh Grade books, Crash, and Who Put that Hair on my Toothbrush?.

3. Robert Cormier- I fell in love with Cormier's writing after reading The Chocolate War. Cormier writes some darker stuff, but it's really good. If you haven't read anything by him, I encourage you to do so immediately! I promise you won't regret it! Some of my favorite books by him are Fade, We All Fall Down, Tenderness, and the Rag and Bone Shop. 

Alright guys, here are a few of my favorite authors! Please stay tuned for some more! 

Until next time,

xox

Full List of Last Blast Readathon Challenges

1- A book you didn't think you'd like but ended up loving

2- A book you thought you'd love but ended up hating

3- A book you couldn't finish

4- The biggest book you've ever read

5- A ROYGBIV stack

6- Your favorite author

7- Your favorite series

8- A stack of your favorite color

9- A book set in your state/country

10- A book written by an author from a different country than you live in

11- A book you own as both a physical and e-book copy of 

12- The last book you read that made you cry

13- A childhood favorite

14- A book you've read more than once

15- Your most beautiful book

16- Your ugliest book

17- Your most well-loved book

18- The last book you bought

19- A book from your favorite genre

20- A book you feel was over-hyped

21- A book you read only because everyone else was reading it

22- Your oldest book (copyright)

Last Blast Readathon Days 4-6

Wow. Apologies guys! As per usual, things came up on Wednesday, and I was away the entire day, and yesterday my internet was acting up and I couldn't even load anything. Uggh...

Anyway, I'm having a super rough time getting through anything, so I've put 77 Shadow Street aside, and went completely off my original list and picked up The Quick by Lauren Owen, and I'm actually flying through this book. Keep an eye out for a review as soon as I finish it and if you haven't already, go pick it up!

Also, concerning the challenges, I think what I'm going to do is put up a complete list on Sunday, and just try to complete them when I can.

I'll be heading back to college in the coming week, so I'm going to be busy packing and the like, but I'll be trying to shove as much reading in as I can as well. :) Have a wonderful weekend guys!

Until next time,
xox

Last Blast Readathon Day 3

First, a quick day 2 update:
Currently reading:
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

Okay guys! Here we are on day 3! If you follow me on Instagram, you know that I got a little busy yesterday and was not able to complete yesterday's challenges. (Funny, since these are my challenges!) So I'm going to post today's challenges, but I probably won't complete them until tomorrow.

Day 3 Challenges:
1- A book you couldn't finish
2- Your most beautiful book
3- A book you only read because everyone else was reading it

Until next time,
xox

Review # 10- Finding Lubchenko by Michael Simmons

*Goodreads Page*

Goodreads synopsis- From the acclaimed author of "Pool Boy" comes a new thriller. When his millionaire father is accused of murder, only Evan MacAlister can clear his father's name--but only by revealing his own crime.

I'd never heard of this book or this author before. I found this book and its sequel in a thrift shop for a couple of dollars. The synopsis sounded interesting, so I decided to pick them up, thinking if I didn't like them, I could just donate them back or give them to a friend. I'm so glad I picked this book up!

See, what happened is Evan's father is one of the heads of this research facility that also has live strains of smallpox. Evan and his father have a pretty strained relationship- his father is pretty distant and really hard him. His father is also really rich, but refuses to give Evan money, or let him get a car, or buy whatever it is that teenage boys with money like to buy- Evan's father is one of those men who, even though he has money, is still pretty frugal and doesn't like to spend his money on extravagant things. So, in order to afford the lifestyle that Evan feels he's been cheated by his frugal father, Evan resorts to stealing office equipment and electronics from his father's office to sell online.

However, when a researcher from Evan's father's office is found murdered, Evan's father is arrested as the prime suspect. It doesn't take long for Evan to realize that his father's been framed, and that Evan himself has the key piece of evidence, the missing laptop of the researcher, that can prove it.

So, enlisting the help of his best friend and reluctant co-conspiritor, Ruben, and the girl he's not quite secretly in love with, Evan embarks on an international search for the proof that will set his father free.

This book was pretty awesome. There's nothing better than three high schoolers running off to Paris in search of a possible spy/murderer/terrorist. Really. And the narrator, Evan, was pretty funny, too. It was a great kind of high school spy novel that kept you enthralled until the final pages. 

The only thing I didn't really care for was the author's use of choppy sentences. I understand that the narrator is a doofy high school boy, and it really made sense to write the sentences the way he did, but I found myself getting tripped up a lot by them. I don't know. It just bothered me.

Apart from that though, you should totally check this book out. It's totally worth an evening of your time.

Until next time,
xox

Last Blast Readathon Day 2

Hey guys! Happy Monday!

First off, let me give you my Day 1 update:
Books finished:
The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
Books started:
77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz

I probably could have finished the Koontz novel yesterday, but I got a little sidetracked packing stuff and cleaning... Hah!

Anyway, here we are at day two!

Today's challenges are:
1- A book you own as both an e-book and a physical book
2- Your "ugliest" book
3- A book you didn't think you'd like, but ended up loving

Don't forget to tag me @lilysreads with your challenge pics!

Until next time,
xox

Last Blast Readathon Day 1

Hey guys! It's midnight here on the east coast in the US, which means the start of the readathon for me! Woot!

The books I plan on reading this week are:
1- 77 Shadow Street by Dean Koontz
2- Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
3- A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius by Dave Eggers
4- The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbosky
5- I Know Why the Caged Bird Sings by Maya Angelou

I think I'm going to start the week off with The Perks of Being a Wallflower. I've heard nothing but good things about this book, and I'm just super excited to finally get to reading it!

As promised, I have a few challenges for you guys. All you have to do is take a picture of the book/books fitting the challenge and post them on Twitter and/or Instagram and tag me @lilysreads! Unfortunately, there are no prizes for completing these challenges, but I'm hoping they'll make this readathon more fun!

Without further ado, the challenges for Day 1:

1. The biggest book you've ever read
2. Your favorite author
3. A childhood favorite

I can't wait to see all of challenge pictures! Happy reading!

Until next time,
xox