Ten Books I Can't Believe I Read...and Haven't Read

I had a bit of a tricky time thinking of things for this week's Top Ten Tuesday, so I originally wasn't going to do it. Yet, when reading other people's lists I stumbled across I Wish I Lived In A Library's take on it (Books I Can't Believe I Haven't Read), and it inspired me to do something similar with mine. Thanks to That Artsy Reader Girl for hosting TTT once again.

Books I Can't Believe I Read

1. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones
   The only real reason I am surprised I read this book is that I read it at 25, not the target audience of 11. Even though I read it as an adult, it's one of my favourite books of all time now, and I sought out a copy soon after finishing it to add to my collection.
   
2. The Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger
   There are few books that I hate more than this one...if any. I could not relate to this whiny protagonist who creates most of his own problems. And no, I wasn't forced to read this in school - I unfortunately picked it up by choice. I had purchased a cheap, used copy that was in really good shape, and donated it last year deciding after a few years that I really didn't want to give it a second chance...ever.
   
3. The Glass Menagerie by Tennessee Williams
   Most people don't read plays for fun, but I did. This one means so much to me, and I'm so glad I read it.
   
4. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
   This book was just an utter disappointment. There was almost nothing about it that I enjoyed, and I am extremely surprised that it didn't end up DNF'ed.
   
5. Saving the World and Other Extreme Sports (Maximum Ride # 3) by James Patterson
   Was this book terrible? No. However, I have no idea how I made it this far into the series. I enjoyed the storyline of the first few books, but the chapters were only a few pages long and the sentence structure was terrible. I spent more time complaining about these than I did reading them.

January 2018 Update!

As January is coming to a close (yes, already!), I wanted to give you all just a quick update of what I'm up to right now.

Currently Reading:

The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Mitch Albom

This book has been on my TBR for years...like a stupid number of years. So, I finally decided to just do it. If you are following my TBR challenge for this year, this will be the first one that I complete.


Currently Watching:

The 100 - Season 4

One part of me wants to race through this season like I raced through the other three...but season 5 doesn't come back until April, so I'm hesitant to be left at a horrible cliffhanger and then have to wait several months. Not sure that I can hold myself back too much longer though.

Eliza Taylor and Bob Morley, The 100
hollywoodlife.com

Maudie

If you don't know anything about Maud Lewis, know this: she had a heck of a life.

nytimes.com

What It's About:

Maud Lewis, when she is simply Maud Dowley, is considered a burden to her family. Plagued by juvenile arthritis, she is unable to do much to be self-sufficient and is not given a say in her own affairs. Upon seeing Everett Lewis, a fish peddler and odd job man, place an advertisement for a live-in housekeeper, Maud sees this as her chance to make her independence. However Everett is ill-mannered, sometimes cruel, and has little patience for Maud's eccentricities. Yet somehow these two find how well two misfits can coexist. Amidst doing her daily duties, Maud paints every surface she can find - the walls, shelves, postcards, etc. and when one day a customer of Everett's wishes to buy one of Maud's paintings, her life is changed forever.

Top Ten Bookish Goals For 2018

Top Ten Tuesday has now officially moved to That Artsy Reader Girl, and so of course I wanted to be there for the first week. It's also nice to be able to make some goals for the year, so here are a few things I want to focus on in the coming months:

1. Define My Blog.
   Now, I don't mean this in a way of "I only review these kinds of books" or anything like that, but I want to make sure that I keep some sort of focus to my work. Currently I like to focus on spoiler-free reviews and lists of books and movies for teens and adults. I want to make sure that this is what I stick to. I don't think there is anything wrong with occasionally adding in items of other genres, but I think it is important that people know what they are in for when they are reading my blog.
   
2. Work On Blog Pages.
   I want to focus on writing my blog bio, and making sure that I have important pages that are relevant to what people will commonly search for. I want to improve the look of my blog a little bit at a time to make it all a little cleaner.
   
   
3. Meet My Goodreads Reading Goal.
   My Reading Goal for this year is 35 books, which is slightly larger than I decided on for the previous year. In my case, this goal becomes a bit flexible near the end of the year because I read a lot of children's fiction for my job. I don't review these on here, but please feel free to check me out on Goodreads if you are interested on my opinions on these.
   

2018 TBR Pile Challenge

Roof Beam Reader hosts The Official TBR Pile Challenge, and this year I've decided to take part. I have so many items that have I have been meaning to read for years now, and this will hopefully be a bit of a kick in the pants to get them done. 

So, how does this work?

Pick 12 books that have been on your TBR (to be read) list for at least a year and finish them by the end of 2018. Two alternate books can be chosen to replace any books in the challenge that are just "unfinishable". All of these books must be reviewed and linked back to the original post.  

For a full explanation of the rules for this challenge, check it out here.

Here's my list:

Five Books I Meant To Read In 2017 But Didn't Get To

As many of you probably know, Top Ten Tuesday from The Broke and The Bookish will now be hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl. As this is the last official TTT that they will be hosting, I definitely had to make sure to do this one. Although my TBR is stupidly long, there were a few books that I intended to focus my efforts on in 2017, but just didn't get around to. Some of them I am part way through, and some I didn't even touch. So, here we go:

sarahjmaas.com

Tower of Dawn - Sarah J. Maas

Now, do I actually want to read this? Originally when I heard about it I was hesitant to pick it up (especially because the character of Chaol did a complete 180 in Queen of Shadows, and I don't care one way or another about Nesryn). Then I decided I would give it a shot and took a copy out from the library. Now though? I just can't seem to get into it. 

librarika.com

Under The Greenwood Tree - Thomas Hardy

I love Tess of the D'Urbervilles and Far From the Madding Crowd, so I've wanted to explore more of Hardy's work. With this one being his shortest, and apparently "most cheerful," I thought it would be a good one...but I could barely get into it. I've tried reading it once and listening to it on audiobook. Although the audio format was better, I am not particularly motivated to continue it. Hopefully I can make myself get through it this year. 

I Want Candy

I found a fun little tag a while back on the blog Sorry, I'm Booked called The Candy Book Tag, and I thought it looked really fun. So, I'm going to give it a go because a) Candy, and b) Books. It really can't get much better than that, unless you include tea. And what a way to start the year off! Alright, first item on the list:

Apples – Ah. Healthy food. It is deep, meaningful, and probably won a lot of awards but, um, it really isn’t your thing.

Well, I'd have to say The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath. I think Plath has some great poetry, but this book really just didn't do it for me. I don't know if I read it at the wrong time in my life or what, but I barely got through it.

Milk Chocolate – This is a book you’d recommend to absolutely EVERYONE.

Everyone? That's a tough one for me. Working in a library I really get to see how everyone's tastes really differ. However, since I find this to be an absolutely impossible thing to answer, I'll just pick something that I think has a lot to offer for many different people, and that's Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontё. Gothic mystery, strong characters, romance, independence, and hardship - what's not to love?