Top Ten Tuesday: Swoon-Worthy Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is books that make you swoon.  I love swoon-worthy books, and for me personally, I tend to swoon over books with a dark, brooding, and/or flawed love interest.  There are always exceptions to the rule (Peeta!), but I definitely have a type.

Top Ten Books That Made Me Swoon

• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• I love Perry, and his romance with Aria gave me goosebumps.
• The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
• Hector! Hector! Hector!  He's so amazing.  I'm actually jealous of Elisa.
• Prized by Caragh M. O'Brien
• And for this book, it was all about Leon - the epitome of dark, brooding, and flawed.  I wanted to smack Gaea sometimes for not seeing how awesome Leon was.
• The Mark of Athena by Rick Riordan
• The whole book is great, but it's at the very end that the real swoon-worthy moment happens between Percy & Annabeth.  Percibeth forever!
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Once again, it's all about the dark, brooding, & flawed love interest - Four/Tobias.
• Daughter of the Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis
• I love almost all Hades/Persephone retellings, but this one is one of the most passionate and swoon-worthy to me.
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• I think I must be a sucker for characters named Wolf.  Both Wolf from Scarlet and Wolf from The 10th Kingdom are incredibly swoon-worthy.
• The Scarlet Pimpernel by Baroness Emmuska Orczy
• Sir Percy Blakeny is the most passionate hero ever.  The part when he kisses the ground where his wife just walked because his passion for her is that strong?  Bring on the swoon!
• Austenland by Shannon Hale
• For me, the swooning came at the very end of this book.  The final conversation between Jane and her "Mr. Darcy" is so sweet and romantic and funny.
• Persuasion by Jane Austen
• I've already seen a lot of people have Pride & Prejudice on their lists, and while I agree that it's definitely a swoony book (that Mr. Darcy and his smolder), I think Persuasion is seriously swoon-worthy.  That letter from Captain Wentworth... so perfect.  And Anne almost did actually swoon over it.

And those are my top ten swoon-worthy books.  How about you?  Have you ever "swooned" over a book?

Top Ten Tuesday: Books that Make Me Cry

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is books that make us cry.  This is a hard one for me because I'm a very emotional person.  I cry when I'm sad; I cry when I'm really happy.  I even cry at touching commercials (the most recent Super Bowl Budweiser commercial about the soldier coming home made me a teary mess).  So I decided to pick the books that didn't just make me cry; they made me an emotional wreck.

Top Ten I-Need-a-Tissue-and-a-Hug Books That Made Me Cry

• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• I think John Green loves to make his readers cry.  So beautiful but so sad.  This book just wrecked me.
• Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins
• I really don't know how I'm going to make it through watching the movie version of this because the book was so incredibly intense.
• The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
• When I read this book out loud to my little sister, we couldn't even make it through the final chapter.  The two of us were just sitting there, crying together.
• A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
• This book deals primarily with coping with death, and it's real and heartbreaking.
• Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by JK Rowling
• Why must you kill off all the best characters, including my favorite!?  It wasn't enough to have already killed off so many people in the previous books???
• Little Women by Louisa May Alcott
• I read this when I was about 10 or 11, and I just sat in bed and cried during the chapter about Beth.  And then I saw the many movie adaptations and cried some more.
• For One More Day by Mitch Albom
• Mitch Albom, like John Green, seems to like writing books to make you cry.  This book is about a man whose life is going downhill, and one night, he has a car accident and wakes up in his little hometown with his mom... who died years ago.  He gets to have just one more day with her.
• A Night to Remember by Walter Lord
• A non-fiction account of what occurred on the Titanic.  Walter Lord interviewed the survivors and wrote down the story of the ship sinking based on their firsthand experiences.  It would have been powerful as fiction, but it was twice as powerful because it all actually happened.
• I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
• A graphic autobiography of a young Jewish girl and what she suffered in the Holocaust.  I don't really think I need to explain this one.
• I Shall Wear Midnight by Terry Pratchett
• This book is here because of the second chapter.  The rest of the book isn't quite as emotional or intense, but that second chapter left me a blubbering mess.  It's so intense that my brother couldn't get past it, and I'm not sure if he's tried picking up the book since he first started it.

And those are the books that left me desperately searching for tissues after reading them.  How about you?  Did you read any of these and have the same reaction?  What books make you cry?

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Debuts To Read

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is 2014 debuts that we're excited for.  At first, I wasn't sure if I knew more than three debuts coming out this year, and then discovered that there are actually 19 that I'm pretty psyched about.  And here are the top twelve of those 19.

Top Ten Twelve 2014 Debuts I Want To Read

• Midnight Thief by Livia Blackburne
• Stolen Songbird by Danielle L. Jensen
• Cruel Beauty by Rosamund Hodge
• Camelot Burning by Kathryn Rose
• Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige
• The Falconer by Elizabeth May
• The Nethergrim by Matthew Jobin
• The Looking Glass by Jessica Arnold
• Talker 25 by Joshua McCune
• Trust Me, I'm Lying by Mary Elizabeth Summer
• Nil by Lynne Matson
• Gilded by Christina L. Farley

Honorable Mentions:  Defy by Sara B. Larson, Alienated by Melissa Landers, Queen of Hearts by Colleen Oakes, Library Jumpers by Brenda Drake, Under the Egg by Laura Marx Fitzgerald, Salvage by Alexandra Duncan, and My Faire Lady by Laura Wettersten.

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Resolutions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  It's the first one of the new year, so the topic is all about resolutions - bookish, non-bookish, or both.

My 2014 Bookish & Bloggish Resolutions

• Stop pressuring myself so much.  I have a big problem with this.  I'm constantly putting all this unnecessary pressure on myself to blog more or to blog better, and it needs to stop.  It just takes all the fun out of blogging and even reading.  I need to stop thinking that a good blog has so many posts per week or looks a certain way.  I created my blog to have fun, and that's what I want to get back to.
• Do something fun for my five-year blogiversary.  In May this year, I will have been a book blogger for five years, and I want to do something special to celebrate.  I don't know what yet, but I don't want May to pass by without doing anything.
• Move the blog to Wordpress.  I've loved Blogger, but I really want to do more with my blog.  I feel like there is more freedom with Wordpress, as well as more features.  It kind of scares me to switch to something new, but I think it's also going to be fun.
• Finish a series before buying a new one.  In order to save some money and not feel so overwhelmed with the piles of unread books, I need to stop buying so many new series when I still haven't even finished the old ones.  Divergent, Legend, Eve, Girl of Fire & Thorns... I still haven't read the last books from any of these series.  As much as I want to pick up new series, like Shatter Me, I need to finish the ones I already own.
• Get a new feature for my blog up & running.  I've been working on a new feature to include this year, and now I just need to actually put things together.  I'm the queen of unfinished projects, and I don't want this to turn into another one.
• Give my blog some much needed TLC.  My poor blog needs to be updated.  I haven't bothered to clean up and bring my TBR list or review index up-to-date.  There are links that needed to be removed or included.  Just lots of little things here and there that have been bugging me, and I hope to take care of this year.
• Possibly get a co-blogger.  Part of my solution for taking some of the pressure off of me is to get someone to share in the blogging.  I'd really like it if I could get my sister to join me, but if not, there are a few other people I'll be reaching out to.
• Put down more books.  I always thought I didn't have a problem with putting down books I don't like, until I looked at the books I read this year and realized there were several that I forced myself to finish.  I have too many unread books to be wasting my time reading books I'm not enjoying.  So this year, I will be setting up a cut-off point for my books.  If I'm not enjoying a book, I'll give it to a certain chapter, percentage, or page count to get better, and if/when it doesn't, I'll put it down.
• De-clutter the bookshelves.  I am a great believer in never getting rid of books.  It seems almost wrong to get rid of them, even if they're being donated, because I love books so much.  But even I have to admit that the amount of books I have is starting to get ridiculous.  Especially since quite a few of those books are books that I didn't really love.  Some of them are even those books that I didn't want to finish, but I've kept them anyway.  And since I know myself and I know I'm never going to stop getting books, I have to start clearing out ones I already own to make way for the new ones.

My 2014 Personal Resolutions

• Read my Bible.  I'm always reading new books or watching TV, but I rarely take the time to read my Bible.  I go to a retreat with my friends every year, and afterwards I'm so pumped to read my Bible every day.  But after a month or two, I eventually stop and go back to almost never reading it on my own.  This year I want to change that, even if it's only a couple of verses a day.
• Start networking.  I really want to start a new career, and possibly one of the most un-fun parts of doing so is the networking.  I'm not a shy person; I'm actually very extroverted, but for some reason, the whole idea of meeting people just for the sake of selling yourself and your company never feels comfortable to me.  But it's something I need to do, whether I like it or not.
• Find a second/different job.  It's probably not the best idea to write in a public blog like this that I want a new job, but it's the truth.  This new career/business I want to start is going to cost a lot of money.  Part of it would come from the bank as a business loan, but most banks want you to be able to cover 20% of the start-up costs.  Right now, I can't even afford to move out to my own place.  And I need to use a huge chunk of my savings to buy my leased car in April.  So a job that pays better or even a second job would definitely help me reach my goal.
• Finish all the unfinished projects.  Like I said earlier, I'm the queen of unfinished projects.  Look around my room, and you will see so many.  Just look at the room itself with only two of the walls repainted, the new bookshelves still not put up, and the new carpet still rolled up in the closet.  Before I can start new projects like a brand new career, I need to be able to finish the old ones in my personal life.  Otherwise, that new business could just end up being another unfinished project to add to the list.
• Get back to being healthy again.  So in 2012, I learned that I had a thyroid condition, started taking medication for it, and joined Weight Watchers.  Over the course of a year-and-a-half, my life got a whole lot healthier.  I was eating better, I had more energy, and my sister even had me working out (which I hate).  I lost a total of 55 pounds and felt really great about myself.  Well lately, I've been pretty bad.  With the holidays and a vacation to Disney, I definitely let myself go a bit, and while I haven't gained a lot back, I've gained enough to make me realize that it's time to get back to being healthy again.  This year, I'd like to start exercising.  Maybe join a yoga class.  I don't just want to lose weight.  I actually want to be fit.

And those are my goals for this year.  I'm hoping I'll do a better job with them than I did with last year's goals.  I totally failed on most of those.  So here's hoping 2014 is the year of met goals, a new career, and finished projects.

Top Ten Tuesday: The Best of 2013

It's the end of 2013, and to celebrate it, Top Ten Tuesday is all about the best books read this year.  I read so many good books, but there were some that were so much better than all the rest.

The Top Ten Books I Read in 2013

• The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
• I read both this and Girl of Fire and Thorns this year, and they were amazing.  (I still haven't gotten to the third book; what's wrong with me?)  I love the characters (especially Hector), the vivid descriptions, and the storyline.
• Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas
• This is one of those books that I can't believe I didn't read until this month.  It was so good!  I cannot wait to get my hands on the next book.
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• This book is beautifully written.  Stiefvater's writing is so good that the story could have been terrible, and I still would have liked it.  Fortunately the story was also great, so this book was a gem.
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Another book I cannot believe I didn't read til this year.  I'm still not too sure about the movie version coming out in March though.
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• I loved Cinder, but Scarlet is even better than the first book.  And people keep saying that Cress is even better than that.  I'm so jealous of all you people who've read it already.  February 4th can't get here soon enough.
• Splintered by A.G. Howard
• Alice in Wonderland retellings are always so much fun, and this one is one of my favorites.  The writing, the descriptions - Wonderland came to life in this book.
• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• One of the most romantic books I read this year for sure.  I'm totally in love with Perry.  I just got swept away into this book.  And it was so awesome meeting Veronica Rossi, who is such a cool person.
• The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer
• And now for the funniest, laugh-out-loud book of the year.  I really was literally laughing out loud while reading this book.  I love Heyer's regency romances because they're usually witty and sarcastic and fun, but this one is probably the absolute best when it comes to witty banter.
• Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed & Larkin Reed
• I loved how different this book was.  I don't usually read paranormal books, so I didn't really think I'd like this.  But I loved it!
• Legend by Marie Lu (and Prodigy too)
• And last but certainly not least, Legend and Prodigy were such great books.  Great characters, lots of action and adventure, and a heart-wrenching cliffhanger.  I seriously need to pick up Champion to see what happens to Day and June.

And those are my personal favorite reads from this year.  How about you?  Have you read any of these?  Did you like them too?  I'd love to know!

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Must Reads

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is 2014 releases that I'm dying to read.

Top Ten Nine 2014 Must Reads

• Cress by Marissa Meyer
• The Lunar Chronicles is such a great series, and I'm really looking forward to the next book.
• The Blood of Olympus by Rick Riordan
• Cannot wait!!!  Rick Riordan is one of my favorite authors, and this series has been so incredible.
• The One by Kiera Cass
• I think all of the books on my list are in series.  I'm hoping Cass ends this series really well.
• Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi
• Perry!  I'm seriously in love with him, and I'm so excited for the next book.
• Unhinged by A.G. Howard
• I really enjoyed Splintered, and hopefully this book will be just as unique and fun.
• The Seeker by Stephenie Meyer
• So it's not definite that this book is actually coming out in 2014, but I'm including it anyway.  My feelings on this book are mixed.  I loved The Host and would love to read more about those characters, but at the same time, it ended perfectly and I don't want Meyer to mess with that.
• Neverwas by Kelly Moore
• I had no idea what to expect from The Amber House, and it turned out to be so good.  Please let this book be as spooky and surprising and awesome!
• Shadow Scale by Rachel Hartman
• Anything with dragons, and I'm hooked.  Looking forward to this sequel, which will hopefully have way more dragons in the story.  (Technically they pushed the publishing date to 2015, but maybe they'll come to their senses and go back to the original 2014 date).
• Erased by Jennifer Rush
• Another sequel that I can't wait to read.  I need to know what's going to happen to Sam, Cass, Nick, and Anna.

And that's my list.  What do you think?  What are you looking forward to reading in 2014?

Top Ten Tuesday (40) - My Fall TBR List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week, it's all about what you're planning to read this Fall.

I love autumn.  It's my favorite season of the year, and even though it technically doesn't start till the 22nd, I'm pretty much saying it's already here.  The weather's starting to get chilly, the leaves are changing color, and Dunkin Donuts is selling it's pumpkin and apple products.  The only downside of Fall is that it also means it's time for the seasonal TBR list post for Top Ten Tuesday.  I have a love-hate relationship with these TTTs.  I love them because I discover lots of new, interesting books while reading everyone's blogs.  And I hate them because my TBR list is already crazy and overwhelming, and these posts just add on to it.  The simplest solution would be to not read anyone else's blog, but I'm a glutton for punishment apparently, because there's no way I'm not finding new books to read someday.

My Top Ten Books to Read This Fall

• Allegiant by Veronica Roth
• The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater
• The House of Hades by Rick Riordan
• The Preservationist by Justin Kramon
• Champion by Marie Lu
• Rise by Anna Carey
• The Paris Architect by Charles Belfoure
• Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
• The Enchanter Heir by Cinda Williams Chima
• Marie Antoinette, Serial Killer by Katie Alender

And those are the top books I'm looking forward to reading this Fall.  Are you excited for any of these too?

Top Ten Tuesday (39) - Books that I Wish Could Watch

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week, the topic is about books we wish they'd make into movies or TV shows, but only if we lived in an ideal world where they didn't cut stuff out or change the plotlines.  I really do enjoy movie/TV adaptations of books... when they get them right (BBC is one of the best at this).  So these are my picks for books I'd love to watch, just so long as they don't screw it up.

Top Ten Twelve Books I'd Love to See on the Screen

The Movies

• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
• The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
• Ink by Amanda Sun
• Stonefly by Scott J. Holliday
• Arabella by Georgette Heyer

The TV Series

• The Girl of Fire and Thorns trilogy by Rae Carson
• Any and all series by Rick Riordan
• The Looking Glass Wars trilogy by Frank Beddor
• The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer
• The Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth
• The Artemis Fowl series by Eoin Colfer

And those are my picks - if we lived in a perfect world.  Anything you agree with?  Anything you want to add?  Any adaptations that are coming out that you're excited about?  Let me know!

Top Ten Tuesday (38) - Books That Should Be Taught in Schools

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is about books that we think should be taught in schools, or contemporary books we'd pair with classics for required reading.  I personally don't love this topic since I dislike the idea of "required" reading.  I think it ruins the enjoyment of a book when you're being forced to read it in order to do homework on it.  But I also understand that for some kids, especially in today's screen-obsessed society, the books they read for school may be the only books they ever read (if they actually read them and don't use sites like Sparknotes to cheat).  The way I set up my list was by choosing books (contemporary or classic) I think would be good to teach in school, and including books (contemporary or classic) that they would pair with well.

Top Ten Books that Should Be Taught in Schools (with Possible Pairings)

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley
• Dystopian novels are all the rage right now, but they tend to be more about the action or the romance, rather than about the society.  Brave New World primarily focuses on its depiction of society as a self-serving, instant-gratification-obsessed population that's had all the "negative" emotions removed, and no one thinks for themselves anymore.  It's simply about getting what you want when you want it, and never having any sort of real emotions or critical thinking.  It sounds great at first, but then you get to see the flaws in this kind of amoral, hedonistic system.
• 1984 by George Orwell  
• The Giver by Lois Lowry
• Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
• I personally think this book is a great read for today's screen-obsessed society.  People are getting more and more gadgets for games and movies and web-surfing.  Yes, some people use them for reading too, but when I'm walking through the mall, all these kids (and adults) are using them to play games, not read.
• Matched by Ally Condie
• Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick
• I Have Lived a Thousand Years by Livia Bitton-Jackson
• Sad but true, the holocaust has simply become a blurb in history textbooks for some kids (probably the same kids who didn't realize that the Titanic was real, not just a movie).  This book is the autobiography of a Jewish girl who describes how she went from an aspiring student to living in a ghetto to trying to survive a concentration camp.  It's gritty and real and painful, but it's something we shouldn't forget.
• The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank 
• The Hiding Place by Corrie Ten Boom
• Paper Towns by John Green
• I just feel that Paper Towns is a great coming-of-age story.  It showcases the hierarchies that exist in high school, and it includes the all-important road trip.  I think some of the best coming-of-age books I've read all have a road trip in there at one point.
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green 
• Dash & Lily's Book of Dares by Rachel Cohn
• I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
• This book is so underrated.  Besides giving insight into the imbalance between classes in the 1920s & 1930s, it's just a beautifully written story.  The prose is amazing; it's one of the books I credit with inspiring me to be a writer.  It could be taught simply as an example of really good writing.
• The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery (for the romance/money elements)
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater (for the prose)
• Looking Backward by Edward Bellamy
• There's so much of a focus on dystopian novels right now that I think it would be interesting to also read utopian novels as well.  What do people see as their ideal society?  How do they achieve it?  What sacrifices had to be made to reach utopia, and were they worth it?
• Utopia by Thomas More
• Island by Aldous Huxley
• Jane by April Lindner
• Sometimes the best way to get someone interested in the classics is to have them check out a modern adaptation first.  While I will always prefer reading the original first, I also know that adaptations are great teaching tools.  This adaptation of Jane Eyre is incredibly similar to the original book and would be great paired with another classic.
• Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
• Catherine by April Lindner
• The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
• I push this book so much I'm sure people are sick of hearing about it, but it's so good, I can't help it.  I'd use this book as a lesson in coping with death or illnesses, whether it be our own or a loved one's.
• A Ring of Endless Light by Madeleine L'Engle
• For One More Day by Mitch Albom
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• I think it's incredibly important to continue to teach about this era of our country's history and to discuss how we should treat others.  I think people want to gloss over it and pretend like it didn't happen, or that it doesn't still happen, but unfortunately, racism still exists.  But books like The Help are great for reminding us of how far we've come and how far we still have to go.
• To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
• To Sir, With Love by E.R. Braithwaite
• Inkheart by Cornelia Funke
• Because every book you read shouldn't be an object lesson, because sometimes you need to read a book simply for the fun of it, and because books about books (or the love of books) are inspiring and enjoyable.
• The Eyre Affair by Jasper Fforde
• Matilda by Roald Dahl

So those are my picks.  Sorry if I got a little serious with this list, but I think the topic is a more serious one anyway.  Do you agree with any of these?  What would you add?  What other books would you pair with together?

Top Ten Tuesday (37) - Most Memorable Secondary Characters

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is about memorable secondary characters.  There are so many amazing secondary characters out there.  I can't believe I can only choose TEN.  But I did, and here they are.

Top Ten Most Memorable Secondary Characters

• Neville Longbottom and Severus Snape from The Harry Potter series
• There are so, SO many good secondary characters from this series, but these two stand out to me as the best.  Neville is amazing because he starts out incredibly timid and self-conscious, and then he blossoms into a hero.  Severus also turns out to be an incredibly deep, complex character who surprises everyone in the end.
• Hassan from An Abundance of Katherines
• I would read an entire book just about Hassan.  He's funny and irreverent; he has no problem smacking some sense into his best friend; and he's way less whiny than all the other characters in the book.
• Captain Thorne from Scarlet
• I love the addition of Captain Thorne to the Lunar Chronicles.  He added just the right amount of humor to the series, and I can't wait to read more about him.
• Haymitch from The Hunger Games trilogy
• Of all the people in the series, I think Haymitch is the most real.  He's not a hero; he doesn't show fake sympathy; he doesn't say meaningless fluff to cheer up Katniss or Peeta; and he's actually really smart when he's not drunk.
• Squijum from The Unicorn Chronicles
• I love Squijum purely for his ridiculous cuteness.  He's pretty much only in the series to provide both a comic relief and an annoying sidekick, but he's the one you remember.  If I could have a pet Squijum, I would.
• Nico di Angelo from the Percy Jackson series
• Nico is another character who gained a lot of depth and character throughout a series.  He changed from a whiny little kid to an interesting nemesis to a powerful ally.  I'm especially interested to see what kind of a role he plays in the next book, The House of Hades.
• Calcifer from Howl's Moving Castle
• I'm definitely cheating here and picking this character based on both the book and movie version.  His sarcasm is honestly what I love the most about him, and in the movie, he's voiced by Billy Crystal, who does a perfect job bringing Calcifer to life.
• Inigo Montoya from The Princess Bride
• Once again, I'm basing this choice on both the book & the movie.  Inigo Montoya is such a great character; I think I like him the most of all.  His dedication to avenging his father, as well as his friendship with Fezzick, gives him great depth.  And who doesn't love quoting him? "My name is Inigo Montoya.  You killed my father.  Prepare to die."
• Faramir from The Lord of the Rings
• Like Harry Potter, this series has tons of amazing secondary characters, but as I'm not including anyone in the fellowship as secondary, I have to pick Faramir as my favorite.  Besides having great emotional depth, he also has an interesting backstory that shapes who he is and the decisions he makes throughout the books.

And there you have it.  Sorry I was lazy and didn't provide any links to Goodreads.  I will next time; I promise.  But I was in a rush to get this done, since I've fallen behind on my blogging (stupid wisdom teeth).  What do you think?  Anyone here you agree or disagree with?  Anyone you'd like to add?  Who are some of your favorite secondary characters?

Top Ten Tuesday (36) - Things that Make Blogging/Reading Easier

(Such a crazy, stressful day at work so far.  Time to take a break and finally write this meme.)  Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is things that make your life as a reader/blogger easier.

Top Ten Things That Make My Life as a Reader & Blogger Easier

1. My sister & my coworker  -  Whenever I'm struggling with a review or trying to figure out how I feel about a book, I will talk it out with my sister or my coworker or both.  Usually, neither one of them has read the book, but they're always willing to listen and give advice, or just let me talk at them until I figure out what I want to say in my review.
2. My parents  -  I am extremely fortunate to have parents that are not only very supportive, but also forgiving.  My room is a mess of books.  They're stuffed wherever they'll fit, piled on every flat surface available, and stacked in towers on the floor.  Even though they are forever "threatening" to kick me out if I bring home any more books, my parents still haven't yet (and I keep bringing home more and more books).  Even crazier - it was my mom who told me that I should have brought a suitcase to BEA in order to get more books.
3. Other book bloggers  -  My fellow book bloggers are awesome, because they're a super-supportive community, and reading their reviews helps me make up my mind about whether to add a book to my TBR pile.  If a lot of bloggers dislike a book, they've just saved me from wasting my time on it.
4. Goodreads  -  I love being able to keep track of the books I've read (including pre-blogger reads) in one place, as well as all the books I own.  I also almost never pick up a book now without reading about it on Goodreads first.  And I use it to get all my cover images and book blurbs for my reviews.
5. Fotor  -  Before I discovered Fotor, I was making collages and banners using my computer's Paint application.  It was extremely time-consuming, and the images never looked as nice as I wanted them to.  Fotor is my go-to place now for making fun collages for TTTs and other posts.
6. Amazon  -  I wish I could put my library on this list, but it's terrible.  And our interlibrary loan system is okay, but there are certain rules that are annoying.  So what usually happens is - I buy all my books.  And Amazon has almost every book out there, and the prices are amazing.  I used to be all about Barnes & Noble, but Amazon has better prices, I don't have to drive 30-40 minutes to the nearest store, and thanks to Amazon Prime, I get my books within a day or two of ordering them.
7. Twitter  -  I resisted Twitter for a long time.  I couldn't see what all the fuss was about.  Now that I'm using it, I get why people love it.  And it's one of the best ways I've found to promote my blog.  (And to go along with this, tinyurl has been a great tool as well, helping me keep my tweets at 140 characters.)
8. Excel spreadsheets  -  I would like to thank all of the bloggers I talked to at BEA who said they kept spreadsheets of their TBR lists.  I originally thought that was kind of extreme, but it's been really helpful in keeping me organized.
9. Bloglovin'  -  I never had Google Reader, and I only recently discovered Bloglovin'.  Which meant that I followed blogs either through email (my inbox was constantly flooded, especially on Tuesdays) or by bookmarking the website and visiting it about once a day to see if there was a new post.  Then people started talking about Google Reader discontinuing and what alternatives to use, and Bloglovin' came up, so I figured I'd check it out.  I'm obsessed with it now.  Not only can I keep track of all the blogs I'm following on one page, but it's also the best way for finding brand new blogs to follow. 
10. Blogger  -  And of course, I wouldn't be able to do any of this blogging at all if it wasn't for the Blogger platform.  Since my html/CSS code knowledge is minimal or mostly forgotten, when I started, I wasn't brave enough to try Wordpress or to host my own blog.  Blogger is super-easy to use, and the longer I've used it, the more I've been able to do with it.

And those are some of the things that help make my reading & blogging life easier.  How about you?  What makes your life as a reader and/or blogger easier?

Top Ten Tuesday (35) - Books Set in the Western & Southern US

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic was about the top ten books set in a specific time or place.  As I was looking through my books, I realized that I read A LOT of fantasy, especially epic fantasy set in other worlds.  But I didn't want to have to pick ten from that list, so I looked for books with settings that I don't tend to read as much, and I found ten books set in the western and southern U.S.A. (four in the West and six in the South).

Top Ten Books Set in the Western & Southern U.S.

The West

• Stargirl by Jerry Spinelli
• The Gentleman Outlaw & Me ~ Eli by Mary Downing Hahn
• The Magic of Ordinary Days by Ann Howard Creel
• A Gown of Spanish Lace by Janette Oke

The South

• Amber House by Kelly Moore, LarkIn Reed, & Tucker Reed
• The Help by Kathryn Stockett
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
• Always the Baker, Never the Bride by Sandra D. Bricker
• The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater
• Strands of Bronze and Gold by Jane Nickerson

How about you?  Are there any books set in the South or the West that you love?  Are there any settings or times you like better than others?

Top Ten Tuesday (34) - Write a Sequel, Please!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is books you wish had sequels, either because you loved the world/setting or you loved the characters.  I did not think I would have such a hard time choosing books for this, but as I was thinking about it, I realized that I mostly read series.  So most of the books that I love already have sequels.   But I was able to pull together a list anyway, and here they are, as spoiler-free as possible:

Top Ten (Technically Twelve) Books I Wish Had Sequels

• Miss Pettigrew Lives For a Day by Winifred Watson
• I love Miss Pettigrew and her adventures, and would love to see if her life changes even more the next day.  And perhaps part of the reason I want a sequel to this is because I want another movie with Lee Pace and Ciarian Hinds.
• The Witch of Blackbird Pond by Elizabeth George Speare
• There are two romances in this book that I loved, and I would love to read a book about the future for either one of them.
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• Sean and Puck.  Races with man-eating horses.  Enough said.
• The Princess Bride by William Goldman
• So Goldman totally teases you by including the first chapter of the fake sequel "Buttercup's Baby."  Don't tease us!  Write it for real!
• Arabella by Georgette Heyer
• This book makes me laugh so much.  Arabella gets Beaumaris into so many hilarious situations, and I want to read about even more of them.  Plus, Robert Beaumaris is amazing.
• An Abundance of Katherines by John Green
• Colin's best friend Hassan is so funny and sarcastic and irreverent.  He's my favorite character, and I'd love a book just about him.
• The Blue Castle by L.M. Montgomery
• I actually prefer this book to Montgomery's Anne of Green Gables series.  I love Valancy's character, how she evolved into an outspoken, passionate person.  And I was always in love with Barney.  I want to see how things changed in their relationship after Barney's secret is revealed.
• Robin McKinley's books  (So I cheated here, but all of her books need sequels)
• Spindle's End  -  I love the world/setting, and the romances that develop.  Will anyone ever figure out the truth about Rosie?
• Rose Daughter  -  Even though I prefer McKinley's other Beauty & the Beast adaptation, I'd still love to read more about Beauty's choice in the end, and whether or not she regrets it.
• Chalice  -  The world in this book is amazing, and as much as I'd like to know more about Marisol and the Master, I'd be perfectly happy just to have another book with this same setting.
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier
• I understand that there's no way they could write a sequel to this book.  But I still want to know more about what happens to Mr. & Mrs. de Winter.  They had to be deeply affected by everything that happened to them, and I'm curious as to how much it changed their future and their relationship.
• Austenland by Shannon Hale
• So technically, there's already a sequel to this book, but it focuses on a completely different character going to Austenland.  I want to know more about Jane Hayes and what happens to her after returning to NYC.

Sorry if there were anything even remotely spoilerish.  So what do you think?  Are there any here you agree with?  What books do you want sequels to?  Or what books do you hope are left as stand-alones?

Top Ten Tuesday (33) - Best Opening Sentences

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is the top ten best book openings/closings.  Since I wouldn't want to give anything away by including closing sentences, I decided to do opening sentences only.  There are just so many amazing first sentences out there, I had a really hard time getting it down to ten, but I managed to do it anyway.

Top Ten Opening Sentences

1. "It is a truth universally acknowledged, that a single man in possession of a good fortune, must be in want of a wife."  - Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen
2. "I write this sitting in the kitchen sink."  - I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith
3. "There was a boy called Eustace Clarence Scrubb, and he almost deserved it."  - Voyage of the Dawn Treader by C.S. Lewis
4. "Mr. and Mrs. Dursley, of number four Privet Drive, were proud to say they were perfectly normal, thank you very much."  - Harry Potter & the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling
5. "It was a pleasure to burn."  - Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
6. "It's a funny about mothers and fathers.  Even when their own child is the most disgusting little blister you could ever imagine, they still think that he or she is wonderful."  - Matilda by Roald Dahl
7. "My mother thinks I'm dead."  - Legend by Marie Lu
8. "I was sixteen the first time my grandmother died."  - Amber House by Kelly Moore, Larkin Reed & Tucker Reed
9. "It is the first day of November and so, today, someone will die."  - The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
10. "I've been collecting bugs since I was ten; it's the only way to stop their whispers.  Sticking a pin through the gut of an insect shuts it up pretty quick... Crickets, beetles, spiders... bees and butterflies.  I'm not picky.  Once they get chatty, they're fair game."  - Splintered by A.G. Howard

So what do you think?  Any you agree or disagree with?  What are some of your favorite opening sentences?

Top Ten Tuesday (32) - Favorite Non-Bookish Sites/Blogs

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is the top ten words and/or topics that will make you NOT want a book.  But I actually did something very similar yesterday for the 15-Day Book Blogger Challenge.  We had to write what our deal breakers were (read it here, if you'd like), and I listed all of the things that ruin a book or turn me away from a book.

So because I already covered this topic yesterday, I've decided to do a Top Ten from the past.  Today I'll be writing about my favorite blogs/sites that aren't book-related.

Top Five Non-Bookish Sites

• Entertainment Weekly  -   I go here for all of my TV & movie news.  Yes, they have a section for books too, but I rarely get my book news from them.  I love going here for the recaps of TV episodes I've missed, or peeks at upcoming movies.
• People  -  I admit that I like to read some of the celebrity gossip out there, and People's my favorite source.  I especially like their own top ten list; every Friday they print their top ten favorite celebrity quotes.  And they're almost always hilarious.
• AllEars.Net  -  I LOVE Disney World!  I go there as often as possible, and this site is the best for updates, menus, photos.  They even have host several blogs, all about Disney, on their site too.
• Weight Watchers  -  Besides being a great tool for tracking points, the site has hundreds of yummy recipes, tips for eating out, articles, and a supportive community.  One of my favorite features of the blog is the cheat sheet section.  You click on a cheat sheet, and it will bring you "into" a restaurant, where you can place what's on the menu onto a plate to see the points.
• IMDB  -  This site is one I use a lot because it has all the trailers, info about actors, pictures.  It's the perfect place to go when you can't remember a specific actor's name, or where you've seen them before.  It also has quizzes and forums to try too.

Top Five Non-Bookish Blogs

• Paper & Stitch  -  I love scrapbooking and creative ideas for DIY decor.  This blog covers party decorations, home goods, clothes, plate settings, flowers, holiday projects... you get the idea.  And all of them are so bright and pretty.
• Young House Love  -  I've always wanted to design and decorate a home just the way I want to, and that's what the couple who created Young House Love are doing.  They share tips on remodeling, painting, and design, and they share the ups & downs of their own DIY home projects.
• The Pioneer Woman Cooks  -  Ree Drummond's cooking show on the Food Network is one of the best (in my opinion).  She's funny and creative; she homeschools her kids, just like my mom homeschooled us; and she makes delicious food.  I can't wait to try some of her recipes, like her jalapeno quesadillas and cowboy quiche.
• My Baking Addiction  -  My second favorite hobby after reading is baking.  I think it's so much fun to come up with new ideas for cupcakes or cookies, and even better to share them with people.  This blog has so many amazing recipes (Oreo cheesecake, tiramisu brownies, rosemary lemon shortbread), as well as great tips and how-to guides for baking.
• The Disney Blog  -  As I said before, I LOVE Disney, so it makes sense that I would be following a Disney blog.  This is one of the best with multiple updates a day about all the latest news and updates from Disney.

And that's my Top Ten list of non-bookish sites and blogs.  Do you have any favorite sites or blogs, bookish or not?

Top Ten Tuesday (31) - Authors Who Deserve More Recognition

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic - top ten authors who deserve more recognition.  I really love this topic because it means I get to shine a spotlight on some of my favorite authors.

Top Ten Authors Who Deserve More/Better Recognition

• Frank Beddor
• I love retellings, and Beddor's adaptations of Alice in Wonderland are some of the best.  He wrote both The Looking Glass Wars trilogy and the Hatter M graphic novel series.  If you like Splintered by A.G. Howard, I think you'd really like Beddor's books as well.
• Louisa May Alcott
• Yes, Alcott is already widely known for Little Women, but most people don't know about any of her other books.  She wrote so many good books, and I've loved all of them.  My favorites (besides Little Women and its sequels) are A Long Fatal Love Chase, The Inheritance, Eight Cousins, and Rose in Bloom.
• Jerry Spinelli
• I love, love, love his book Stargirl.  It was the very first book we read for my high school book club, and I thought his book was so sweet and perfect.
• Patricia C. Wrede
• I grew up reading Wrede's fantasy novels, and she's probably the reason that I love the fantasy genre so much.  Her Enchanted Forest Chronicles are funny and exciting, and her other books are fun reads too.  I especially love Mairelon the Magician and The Magician's Ward.
• Lloyd Alexander
• I read Alexander's Prydain Chronicles shortly after reading Wrede's series.  While Wrede's books are much more lighthearted, Alexander's books are much darker and more serious.  His books would probably be considered closer to epic fantasy.  He also wrote the Westmark trilogy, which is a great series with a military/political edge.

• Stephenie Meyer
• Ok, ok.  Cue the eye-rolling.  I'm not trying to say that Meyer doesn't get enough recognition.  She gets plenty.  I'm just saying that a lot of it isn't the good kind of recognition, thanks to the Twilight movies and final books.  But I think she deserves better for The Host.  I loved that book (and the movie too), and thought it far surpassed her other series.
• Kaitlin Bevis
• I'm absolutely in love with Hades/Persephone stories, and Bevis' series is one of my favorites.  She definitely deserves some praise for The Daughters of Zeus trilogy.  It's exciting and romantic with killer cliffhangers.
• Stephen R. Lawhead
• Lawhead has written so many books, and I feel like so few people read them.  He's written both science fiction and fantasy, but he's mostly known for the fantasy.  Some of the series I own are The Pendragon Cycle (a retelling of King Arthur), the Dragon King trilogy (epic fantasy), and the King Raven series (a retelling of Robin Hood).
• Anne Bronte
• I feel like poor Anne Bronte is always being overshadowed by her sisters.  Everyone's heard of Charlotte's book Jane Eyre and Emily's Wuthering Heights, but no one ever talks about Anne.  I admit that I'm guilty of not reading her books either (although they are on my TBR list).  I've only seen the BBC adaptation of her novel, The Tenant of Wildfell Hall, but I think that's because so many more people know her sisters' novels better.
• Donita K. Paul
• Besides being the author of the DragonKeeper Chronicles (a great fanstasy series with dragons), Paul is also just a very fun person in real life.  Even if I hadn't read and loved her series, I would have thought she was so cool from her bio on goodreads.com.  It says, "I am an author of Christian Fantasy. My first 7 books were Christian Romance, but I came over to the Dark Side when I heard there were cookies".

What about you?  Any here that you agree or disagree with?  Any authors you'd like to add?

Top Ten Tuesday (30) - Best Book-to-Movie/Miniseries Adaptations

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week's topic is the best and/or worst book-to-movie adaptations.  I've already done a post on worst book-to-movie adaptations; it was actually the first Top Ten Tuesday I ever participated in (if you'd like, you can read it here).  So now I'm going to do the best adaptations, but with a little twist - I'm including miniseries in the list because I honestly think they're way better at bringing books to life than the movies.

Top Ten Best Book-to-Movie/Miniseries Adaptations

• The Lord of the Rings trilogy  -  While I hate to pick one movie as my favorite, I will definitely say that this trilogy is in my top five.  There were some changes from the book, but there weren't too many, and they were changes I could live with.  Even if I hadn't read the books, I would still love these movies, simply because they're so well-done and exciting.
• Pride and Prejudice  -  Colin Firth as Mr. Darcy.  Enough said.
• Jane Eyre  -  I like almost all the adaptations I've ever seen of Jane Eyre, but this one is definitely the best so far.  The actors have great chemistry, the script stays true to the story, and the tension between Jane & Mr. Rochester is amazing.
• I Capture the Castle  -  This is one of those movies I saw before reading the book, and I loved it.  (I love the book infinitely more.)  I think it has a great cast, and while certain parts were cut for time, all of the best parts are still there.
• Persuasion  -  As much as I LOVE Pride & Prejudice, I think Persuasion has so much more emotional depth to its love story.  And this movie adaptation is so good.  Ciaran Hinds is an amazing actor, and he makes such a great Wentworth.  And Amanda Root as Anne...all of that regret & longing & hope & love - it's all in her eyes.
• Emma  -  I'm obviously an Austen fan, and this is perhaps the best miniseries adaptation of one of her novels.  With an extremely talented cast - Romola Garai, Johnny Lee Miller, Michael Gambon - and the sets & costumes, Emma just comes to life so beautifully.
• Under the Tuscan Sun  -  This is one of those rare times that the movie is better than the book.  I found the book so boring I didn't finish it (which is rare for me), but I loved the movie.  They took the core idea of Mayes' story and turned it into a sweet movie about travel, family, love, and self-discovery.
• Twelfth Night  -  I love Shakespeare adaptations, and this is one of my favorites.  I could not stop laughing; the actors were brilliant, and their timing perfect.  I loved the time period and setting they used - late 1800s in Prussia (or maybe Poland?).
• Going Postal  -  I've enjoyed all three Discworld adaptations, but Going Postal is the best of them.  For one thing, either they had a bigger budget or a better special effects team, because the CGI and effects were much higher quality than in the first two.  I also loved the story - the thief/cheat is given a second chance at life to redeem himself, which leads to a hilarious adventure. 
• The Hunger Games  -  Besides being an adaptation of an amazing book, this movie was great because it only adjusted a few of the original story elements (mostly small details), and the material added enhanced the storyline, rather than drastically changing everything.  I'm sure it helped that Suzanne Collins worked on the screenplay.  Plus, the cast, the costume designs, and the cinematography itself all worked together to make this an incredible adaptation.

So what do you think?  Any you agree with?  Disagree with?  What are your favorite book-to-movie adaptations?

Top Ten Tuesday (29) - Best Read Books of 2013... So Far

Top Ten Tuesday is an awesome weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  This week we're covering the best books we've read in 2013 so far.  I thought this would be so hard, but it actually turned out to be pretty easy.

Top Ten Books I've Read So Far This Year

• Daughter of Earth and Sky by Kaitlin Bevis
• Scarlet by Marissa Meyer
• The Talisman Ring by Georgette Heyer
• The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
• Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
• Amber House by Kelly Moore, Tucker Reed, & Larkin Reed
• The Crown of Embers by Rae Carson
• Divergent by Veronica Roth
• Eve by Anna Carey
• The Host by Stephenie Meyer

*Honorable mentions -  The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson and Legend by Marie Lu.

So what about you?  What are your favorite reads so far this year?  And do you like or dislike any of the books in my top ten?  Let me know!  :)