Talking About

Talking About…(11)

11 Comments

This is going to be really hard for you to all hear. And I swear I have tried and wanted it to work out but it just isn’t and I can’t force it. It has been a valiant effort on my part and I know this is going to break a lot of book nerd hearts. I tried to ignore it and push though but I just can’t do it anymore. The truth is, I’m just not a fan of Harry Potter and I don’t think I’m going to finish the series. There, I said it.

And below is a current picture of me.

Look, I get it, you all loved the series, and mostly grew up reading it. I can see the draw and how fun it would be to have a crew of people with you reading and oohing and ahhing over the Potter gang. It makes perfect sense. But for me, reading in my mid to late 30s, by myself with most of you book nerds having read it, it just doesn’t work for me. There is a disconnect and I just can’t get past it. I read the first 4 books and thought they were okay, book 4 being the best, but I listened to like 3 hours of book 5 and I’m bored and just not into it.

I wanted to loved it like oh so many of my friends have. I wanted to find the magic, but it just didn’t happen and I can’t force myself to do it any longer.

So to all of you Potterhead book nerds I send my sincerest apologies. I tried, I really did, but I just can’t.

Don’t hate me.

Now tell me, what super popular series are you a black sheep for? Make me feel better and discuss.

Continue Reading

Talking About

Talking About…(10)

3 Comments

Imagine this. You are sitting down with your eReader or looking at your bookshelf. You can all the titles you have staring you in the face. So many great books just waiting for you to read. Some you have been dying to read for a long time. Others you have just recently gotten. Your eyes go over and over everything and suddenly they land on a book you love. A book you have read before. You pick it up thinking: “I’ll just read the beginning” and before you know it…you are 100 pages in and have no plans on stopping.

What are we talking about today? The accidentally reread.

The above situation just happened to me this morning (not the 100 page part because I can only read so much on the train). I was looking for a Kindle book because I had to leave my physical book at home. I scanned all of the books I have (87 pages of options) and my eyes landed on Parallel by Lauren Miller and an accidental reread began.

Actually, if I’m honest, this has happened on multiple occasions. I am the queen of the accidental reread. I have done this so many times I have lost count. As I have mentioned before, I find comfort in a reread. It is like hanging out with an old friend. I get drawn into the idea of revisiting the love and down the rabbit hole I go. I can’t help it. To be honest the biggest culprit has been I’ll Meet You There by Heather Demetrios. I always get sucked into that book and I’m not sorry.

In fairness I know there are so many other books waiting for me to read. Trust me, I look at my shelves and I see this and I feel terrible about it. But sometimes I just accidentally start reading an old favorite and you just can’t stop. But I do apologize to all of you new shiny books waiting for me. Someday you may be an accidental reread but until then…

So tell me, have you ever done an accidental reread? What book sucked you in?

Continue Reading

Discussions, Talking About

Talking About…(9)

3 Comments

Speed Reading. That’s what I’m Talking About today.

Last Monday – Wednesday I did something I have never done before. I read a 700 page fantasy book, A Court of Wings and Ruin, in under 3 days. Typically I take DAYS/WEEKS to read a fantasy book that is that long. I mean I think it took me 3 weeks to finish A Court of Mist and Fury just last May. I never read them that fast because I usually need to take my time and get back in the setting. But there were two reasons I read it so quickly. First I am co-moderating Sarah Maas’ signing this Wednesday so I had to be prepared. Second:

I was in a rush to read it for fear of being spoiled.

I felt like I was in a race to finish ACOWAR so I wouldn’t be spoiled by someone that finished it before me. The truth is, we all look at spoilers differently. I know saying well this is what happens is 100% a spoiler. But there are also other spoilers out there. Like if I know you LOVED books 1 and 2 and then I see you rated the book a 3 then I’m gonna have been spoiled somehow because I know you would never give a 3 in that series unless something went terribly wrong (note: I still haven’t rated ACOWAR and I won’t until it is out for 2 weeks). I also know if you post a Goodreads update saying you are angry on a certain page that I will know something is coming that I shouldn’t know is coming. This is why I was speed reading my way through ACOWAR and it took me less than 48 hours, from start to finish, to read the whole book.

That’s the problem with being so “connected”, we all live in fear of someone ruining something for us. We race others so we can get through without knowing. It is exhausting to not be spoiled when there is an easier answer. Just do one thing…

 

Have you ever felt like you were racing others to finish a book just so you weren’t spoiled? What do you consider a spoiler?

 

Continue Reading

General, Talking About

Talking About…(8)

1 Comment

Living in Boston I am lucky (well kind of) and I get a rare work snow day every now and again.  It’s great because then I have all the time off (well minus the gross time of shoveling) to read and make cards and do the things.

Yesterday was one of those rare work snow days and I had massive plans. I need to work on some crafty things so I was going to make about 4 cards and do a few other things. I was going to finish Lucky in Love and maybe start my next book. I was going to get caught up on Designated Survivor. But you know what they say about plans…they never go the way you imagine. So instead of doing all those grand things that I still need to get done, I watched 440 minutes of one TV show.

It started a couple of weeks ago. I woke up one Saturday morning looking for a new show. I had just finished season 2 of The Man in the High Castle (if you are not watching that you should!) and wanted something different. I opened Netflix and there Prison Break was, sitting in my list of things I have wanted to watch.

So I watched the pilot and I was intrigued. The concept was interesting. The characters were great and I was curious where it was going. There was something that drew me in. And then I took to Twitter and a lot of people over there told me to watch, watch, watch. And I did and started to get hooked. (I mean how could I not with the faces of Linc and Michael on my screen).

And then something truly magical happened. A ship was formed and I was done for. I had to see everything that was going to happen between Michael and Sara. They have such amazing chemistry there was no way I couldn’t route for them. I mean will you look at them?!?!

And thus this began my demise. The series is only 4 season long (all on Netflix) with a 5th coming out in April, 8 years after the series ended. Currently I am almost half way through season 2 and I honestly wish I could watch TV at work so I could watch all the shows.

So tell me, since this is a discussion post, what do you do on unexpected days off? What are you currently binge watching? And have you watched Prison Break at all? Let’s talk!

Continue Reading

Talking About

Talking About…(7)

3 Comments

Reviewing a series. I think about this a lot. It is probably one of the hardest things to do as a reader/blogger.

It starts simple enough. You get book one and you happily read it. You take in the setting and the characters and everything that leads up to the, most likely, cliff hanger ending.

 

 

When you finish it is review time. Pen to paper, okay, more keyboard to computer screen, and you get all your thoughts and feelings out. You express what you liked in the book, what you wanted more of, character development, the plot. Everyone reading it together so it’s easy to not get yourself in trouble with spoilers.

 

 

And then you read book 2 and the struggle begins. The backstory in book one is leading up to everything that is happening in book 2. You can’t tell what happens in book 2 because you will spoiled the first book for anyone that hasn’t had the time to read it. This is definitely going to be stressful but you figure out a way to talk about things without giving anything away.

 

 

And then book 3 is out. You are basically screwed. There is no way to explain what happened in the book at all. You can’t talk about character growth, plot, things you loved, changes made, without giving away everything that happened in book 1 and 2. It is basically impossible to talk about because you don’t want to be the person that ruins it for someone else. You never want to be that person.

 

 

And then it is book 4’s turn.

 

 

The stress is now killing you and you roll into book 5. You know there is one more book left in the series and…

 

This is basically where I’m at with reviewing Empire of Storms by Sarah J. Maas (in case anyone was wondering).

Reviewing a series is the bane to existence. It is one of the hardest things I do as a blogger because at times it feels impossible.

How do you go about reviewing series without spoiling things? Is it something that is possible to do? Talk to me about it.

Continue Reading