Make It Sound Adult and I Promise I Won't Read It - Armchair BEA Day 4

Ummm...for those of you who have not yet figured it out by my choice of books or occasional rant about the classics I had to read for school, I'll make it short: I hate reading anything that doesn't sound like pure YA enjoyment. and it's not only that I don't like books set anytime before the 21st century - I especially despise books that call themselves nonfictional.

Now, before you run at me and throw all your Charles Dickens novels and J.F. Kennedy autobiographies at me, let me explain a few things.

1) I usually do what I'm told - especially in school

I'm pretty sure I can proudly call myself among the only ten people of our 200 pupils class that actually read every. single. novel. we were supposed to read in 12 years of school. If it's required (for a good grade) I will read it. However, it will take me hours and hours of moaning and ranting before I actually start. I want to read what sounds good to me. And maybe that's Brave New World (someday), but right now, it's mostly funny/quirky/action - packed YA. There you have it. 

2) It's never as bad as it sounds

Another true highschool fact? None of the novels I was forced to read was actually bad. Not a single one of them. In the end, I usually at least liked the book. And I liked working with it in class. Because, let's face it, books are amazing!!!!

3) Nonfictional Sounds Like Textbooks. Almost.

It's a fact. If there's no story, but just plain information, it's like  a school book - just without the example problems.

I have read a couple (but really, just a few!!) biographies. Mostly German ones, though. One was from a former politician here in Germany, Helmut Schmidt, the other one about a pretty famous German author, Erich Kästner. Both books were amazing and stayed in my head until now. Then, I read parts of a huge nonfictional book. The German title is "Bildung" and the English translation would probably be something like "Education". That's what it does, too. Gives you a bunch of information about history, languages, literature, music and art. You definitely feel educated after reading it. And it is absolutely amazingly interesting. Why - despite my dislike to read books that seem more educational than fun - did I pick those books up? Out of pure interest, my darlings, without a teacher forcing them on me.

Oh, oh, oh! I have a last one! Nonfictional it is,too. Well, kind of.

It's the Princess Lessons by Mia Thermopolis, her friends, her stylist and her grandmére. It taught me pretty much everything I need to know about life. 

Bottom Line of this? I hate stereotyping and I won't do it. Also, I have read enough nonfictional books to know that they can be nothing but amazing - most of them probably are. Anyway, having just escaped school, I don't feel ready (just ignore that choice of words. Please. ) to so some serious reading. Reading serious books, I mean. Oh, you know what I mean. 

If you do have suggestions for nonfiction that rocked your socks, though, then puh-lease leave those down there in the comments! I'd love to know and expand my horizones!

May Wrap Up & June TBR

Ah, yes. When I said I had to catch up on my Goodreads Challenge that sounded so easy. And it turned out being utterly, cruelly hard work. Bout of Books helped, of course, but still. To read all those books and novellas this month I really had to sit down for hours and just read  - and without the school bus and that soothing noise around me. It was a challenge -and I'm still two books behind. But, I mean, two is better than nine, right?

Novellas:

The novellas were all really enjoyable, but for different reasons. Crossing the Line I loved for the characters and swoonworty characters, The Witch of Duva for Bardugo's unique writing style and Hunting Kat was a nice intro into a world I really want to explore (aka read the real series). The only novella I was disappointed with was The Queen's Army. To much blood and fur, if you ask me.

Novels:

Very good mix this month! I don't even know where to begin! On top was - of course - Dare You To...and then there's nothing for a pretty long time. The Elite and My Name is Memory, I enjoyed. They were entertaining, but not life-changing. I kind of had to fight my way through Paranormalcy, The Daughters, Blue Moon, Love is Hell, The Jelly Bean Crisis and The Boyfriend List. On the sunny side, I really liked Shadowland and plan on continuing with that series.

Audiobooks:

Both awesome! I had to get used to the Lucid narrators, but both novels were just brilliant. Reviews to come!

On to June: 

June is my birthday month!!! And as I am turning eighteen, it's quite  a special one for me, as well. Therefore, I want to read a couple of books that "ease" me into that adult-ish state. 

Just One Day by Gayle Forman

52 Reasons to Hate My Father by Jessica Brody

Then there's this book from Netgalley I'm super excited for:

Ink by Amanda Sun (DAC)

And a few books to shrink my TBR pile.

The Diviners by Libba Bray (TBR Challenge)
Ashes by Ilsa J. Bick (TBR)
Shadows by Ilsa J. Bick (TBR, Sequel Challenge)

It's like a soap opera...almost! - Armchair BEA Day 3

After shying away from the genre discussions these past few days, I thought I should just give it a try and hop into the cold water - since I am not exactly what you'd call familiar with genre classification. From what I read on other blogs today, I figure Literary Fiction - today's topic - is what we'd call life-changing contemporary in YA, yes? Can I please be right and not completely embarass myself? 

How To Save a Life by Sara Zarr

I didn't expect to connect with this book a bit as much as I eventually did. It was supposed to be about grief and teenage pregnancy, but a major theme that came along with that was fear. Fear of life, fear of making decisions and being afraid of the future - which was something I could relate to very well. Also, Sara Zarr's writing is unbelievably awesome.

Perfect by Ellen Hopkins

This book should be required reading for every teenager on this planet. The theme of perfection and society's obsession with it is presented in I'd like to say every way possible. It's about body image and living up to your parent's expectations and trying to get into colleges and score scholarships...and the message at the ending is strong, loud and clear - without ever being preachy.

The Truth About Forever by Sarah Dessen

Sarah Dessen had to be mentioned. The Truth About Forever is special to me personally since it states very clearly how a new group of friends, a new environment, just one step out of your comfort zone can make your whole life brighter, happier and a nicer place to be.

Taking Baby Steps - Armchair BEA Wednesday

So you want to be  a book blogger. To be quite honest I have not yet discussed this topic with any other blogger, ever, so I don't know how it was for everyone else. 

My thinking process went like this.

Day 1: I really want to blog about books, too.

Day 2: I'm way too dumb to get that done.

Day 3: I don't even have the time.

Day 4: Whatever. I'll just do it. Can't hurt.

So, I looked up The Story Siren's blogging tips, went to blogger and created a blog with the title Booksmartie. I still like the name, because it's short and it fits me and my blog.

What happened after the creating the blog was writing my first review. About Sarah Dessen's This Lullaby. And, oh my, did it suck. Not the book, the review, I mean. I just couldn't do it. I didn't even finish writing it, that's how much I hated what I'd written.

All of that happened in February 2012. I stopped working on my blog (it wasn't online then) until the end of March 2012. That was when I finished Divergent and just. wrote. that. damn. review.

And I uploaded the whole thing. And then I just went from there. Read, review and repeat.

I started linking the book covers to Goodreads, I started summarizing my opinion of the book at the beginning of the review to make it easier for the busy people, I created a Twitter account ... and so on and so forth.

Those are all the things you just do. It's like babies breathe without really being told or taught. Trust me, it happens. 

The next few things were what I struggled with - and still struggle with today.

Commenting

The classic. I'm lucky enough to actually like commenting. If I read something, I usually have an opinion on it - and the desire to utter that opinion. My problem is - how do I remember where I commented to see if someone responded to the comment? I honestly don't know. So, I comment on a lot of blogs, actually, but I seldom come back because I just don't remember which blogs I commented on.

Twitter

I mean, it's getting better. I used to be horrible at Twitter consistency. I'd go months without even looking at Twitter. If I use it, I love it. It's easy, it's organized, people are nice and funny on Twitter but still I find myself overwhelmed with the Twitter feed. It does get better, though, as I said. Oh, and one thing I love about Twitter are the Twitter chats/parties. They're a blast!

HTML

Attention!!!! Red Flag!!! Every experienced blogger who ever posted about HTML always has this lecturing tone when they say learning HTML (for blogging use only) is nothing more than a lot of patience and endurance, and Google. The problem? I still find myself way too lazy to even try and understand HTML. It is one of my 2013 goals, though. If only because it's so cool when people can use it.

Hosting

And by this I really mean hosting anything. A challenge, a giveaway, a Read-A-Long, a Read-a-thon. Those are the kinds of things big bloggers (in my opinion) do - and I'm terrified of the idea. I guess it's just something you grow into...once you take your fear and throw it over board :)

Vlogging

This is something I've always been tinkering with. I love Youtube, I think I would love making videos. But it's so, SO easy to just sit here and write where noone knows who I am and where noone who knows me in real life can find out that I have a slight obsession with the Vampire Academy's Dimitri.

So, that's it. The steps I've taken, the steps I still have to take. Which of these experiences have you made already? Do you have any tips or advice for me? Or questions about the few things I did manage to do? I'd love to hear!

Mini Review: Shadowland by Alyson Noel

Enter the realm of the Immortals - the #1 New York Times bestselling series that's been acclaimed as breathtaking, mesmerizing, flawless and extraordinary.

Ever and Damen have traveled through countless past lives - and fought off the world's darkest enemies - so they could be together forever. But just when their long-awaited destiny is finally within reach, a powerful curse falls upon Damen...one that could destroy everything. Now a single touch of their hands or a soft brush of their lips could mean sudden death - plunging Damen into the Shadowland. Desperate to break the curse and save Damen, Ever immerses herself in magick - and gets help from an unexpected source - a surfer named Jude.

Although she and Jude have only just met, he feels startlingly familiar. Despite her fierce loyalty to Damen, Ever is drawn to Jude, a green-eyed golden boy with magical talents and a mysterious past. She's always believed Damen to be her soul mate and one true love - and she still believes it to be true. But as Damen pulls away to save them, Ever's connection with Jude grows stronger - and tests her love for Damen like never before....

Hardcover, 339 pages

Published November 17th 2009 by St. Martin's Griffin

RATING:

2/3 Smarties

Characters:

I'm torn about this one. I LOVED Damen - he was such a nice and sweet guy and then again really funny and...ahh, I guess I do get all the swooning over him. I was on good terms with the side characters, too. I thought Jude was very well done and included in the story, Haven and Miles gained some personality - even if they were still thrown in at random. The only one I could not stand throughout the whole entire book was Ever. Woah, annoying!

Romance: 

It's weird how the romance always seems to come short in this Paranormal Romance novel. There's always something getting between these two. Then again, if they are together and everything's fine, they make a great couple, I think.

Plot:

It rocked. Seriously. Nothing more to say. The book did not drag a bit. There was always something happening, always new problems to figure out and plot twists very well done. Applause, please!

Writing:

As always, I find Noel's writing style by no means as special and out there as, for example, Lauren Oliver's or Maggie Stiefvater's. Then again, those two are prone to overdoing it sometimes,too. With Noel we always get enjoyable, fluent writing that keeps the story vivid. She seems to focus more on plot and characters and in my opinion, that's totally fine and works for her stories.

Overall:

Much, much, much better than the first two. I really liked this one and coming from a Paranormal Romance hater that means something, too. After reading Blue Moon, I was sure I'd stop reading the series, but now I just have to find out what happens next! Then ending, guys!! I died, no kidding!

Who am I? - Armchair BEA Introduction

Please tell us a little bit about yourself: Who are you? How long have you been blogging? Why did you get into blogging?

My name is Laura or - online - I like to go by the Booksmartie. I live in Germany, have just finished our equivalent to highschool and will probably go to university in the fall. I have been blogging for a bit longer than a year now (which, by the way) is still unbelievable to me. I am obsessed with the Internet and the possibillities it offers us all - especially sites like tumblr and Pinterest just amaze me. My way into blogging went from my obsession over Youtube Beauty Gurus over Youtube book tubers to the discovery of book blogs. I considered starting one on my own for about four months and then just went with it :)

Where in the world are you blogging from? Tell a random fact or something special about your current location. Feel free to share pictures.

I am blogging from Germany. And right now, Germany deserves a serious slap in the face. Because it just won't get warmer. We had no spring (just snow. masses of snow) and now that it's supposed to be hot and sunny out, we get rain (it hasn't stopped for ONCE) the whole entire day, every day. So, no pictures. It's just depressing.

Tell us one non-book-related thing that everyone reading your blog may not know about you.

I have mentioned it a few times, but one of my passions besides reading is running. I started doing it the summer I turned fourteen. I haven't stopped in four years. I run every day if I can. I ran when it was wayyy below freezing outside, in snow storms and in the pouring rain. The only thing I need to have on my runs is music and my Ipod. Another fact that goes along with that? I have the worst taste in music - and movies. I didn't watch or listen to anything but Highschool Musical and Hannah Montana for years and though I do listen to some artists besides that now, I have never really moved on from my tween years :D

Name your favorite blog(s) and explain why they are your favorite(s).

Such a difficult question, but I chose it anyway since I there are so many blogs I should mention way more often in my posts!

Cuddlebuggery Book Blog

This is it, guys. I have no idea how they come up with all their post and feature ideas, but CB is probably the most diverse book blog I've ever stumbled upon. I don't always (almost never, actually) fully agree with their reviews, but then again they are so eloquent and fantastically written that I read them for the joy of it!

My Not So Real Life and Singing and Reading in the Rain

Aneequah and Eileen are both super funny and I like reading their reviews and book recommendations. They are not too short, not too long and although I find it awesome that so many adults blog about YA books, sometimes I like hearing the opinion of someone my age :)

Dee's Reads

I just "met" her during Bout of Books 7.0 and she's a really fun blogger! We tried pulling an all-nighter to get even more reading done. I failed miserably, but she succeeded! And she's participating in Armchair BEA, too :)

What literary location would you most like to visit? Why?

Hogwarts....Is that literary or fictional? If that doesn't count as literary, I will go with BEA because visiting that would also mean travelling to the USA and that would be...all my dreams come true!

Review: Love is Hell (Anthology)

In these supernatural stories by five of today's hottest writers--Melissa Marr (Wicked Lovely), Scott Westerfeld (Specials), Justine Larbalestier (Magic or Madness), Gabrielle Zevin (Elsewhere), and Laurie Faria Stolarz (Blue Is for Nightmares)--love may be twisted and turned around, but it's more potent than ever on its quest to conquer all.

From two students who let the power of attraction guide them to break the hard-and-fast rules of their world to the girl who falls hard for a good-looking ghost with a score to settle, the clever, quirky characters in this exciting collection will break your heart, then leave you believing in love more than ever

Paperback, 263 pages

Published November 25th 2008 by HarperTeen

RATING: 1/3 Smarties

There certainly is one word that describes this anthology perfectly: weird.

And when I say it, I mean it. Each of the stories in this book had a very random element to them - sometimes that element made them unique and wonderful, other times it was too much for my rational brain and I had to really work my way through the story bit by bit.

Anthologies, just like short stories in general and novellas, are something you have to be in the mood for. They are the type of writing you turn to when you are sick of good ol' 300 pages YA, but don't have the time or the endurance to devour something a bit more...intense? In depth? You know what I mean...I hope.

What I liked about Love is Hell were the different Paranormal or - in Scott Westerfeld's case - dystopian worlds we got to see. And the authors all did a very good job at squeezing just enough worldbuilding in while still keeping the short stories at reasonable and appropriate length. 

I even think some Paranormal Romance authors should turn their novels in short stories. The most important details and plot twists were definitely present in all of these stories - but all the waiting and asking and despairing that usually comes with PNR is cut out.

Then again, with so many different authors and such a variety of stories it is almost inevitable that readers who like one story probably won't fall for the other one. I, for example, loved Scott Westerfield's. Yup, that's it. The others were okay, in my opinion, but some of them just

 freaked me out and seriously gave me nightmares. 

To cut it short - if you're up to just explore all the facettes YA has to offer and if you want to read something special without spending too much time, you should try Love is Hell. Although it's not something I'll reread or a book that will stay in my head for long, it sure was a nice distraction from the usual. And if you are craving a beach read that's a bit different from the usual you might want to check this book out of your library...