i solemnly swear.

Thursday, January 9, 2014

Feature and Follow Friday - 2014 Bookish Resolutions

Happy Friday everyone! This week's topic for Feature and follow Friday is: Blogging resolutions for the new year. So I hate to be the bearer of bad news but I did almost the exact same post on Top Ten Tuesday a few days ago... so I hate to simply repost the same thing, but my goals haven't changed, so here it goes:

MY BLOGGING (AND BOOKISH) RESOLUTIONS FOR 2014

1. Read 65 books. I read 60 in 2013, so let's see if I can beat that!

2. Finish all series that I've begun (or read all books released, if series isn't finished), except for ones that I have decided not to continue with. I have a nasty habit of starting book 1 of a series, then not getting to the next one until months later.

3. Read 2 classics. I read one last year, so I'm going to try to beat that while still going easy on myself.

4. Read 1 non-fiction book. I had a goal of 5 for last year and didn't read any. I am going to try to at least read 1 and see how it goes.

5. Never read more than one book in between series books. Another attempt to thwart that nasty habit of never finishing a series. I want to start reading them back to back, or at least with only one non-related book in between.

6. Get my physical TBR below 40 books by the end of the year and maintain it. This is to exercise self-control over my excessive book-buying habit.

7. Not to force myself to read things I don't want to read, especially in a series that I'm not interested in. More specifically, I will try the first two books in a series and if I don't like it after the first two, I will not force myself to go on.

8. "Complete" my Review Archive by reading a book by authors whose last names begin with letters I haven't listed under yet. For example, I haven't read and reviewed any books by an author with the last name beginning with the letter A. I shall rectify this.

9. Finish the A Song of Ice and Fire series. This may fall under 'Finish All Series,' but in the event that I don't accomplish that goal, I still wish to finish this particularly long and difficult series.

10. Read 25,000 pages. This is kind of a random 'lets see if I can do it' thing. I read over 22,000 last year and since my book goal this year exceeds last, I'm hoping to surpass pages as well. We shall see.

What are your resolutions for this year?! I can't wait to hear about them all!

Also, don't forget to scroll down and check out the giveaway I'm having for my one year Blogoverary where you'll have a chance to win a purchase of up to $20.00 from the Book Depository!! The giveaway is international based on the countries to which the Book Depository will ship. Thanks for stopping by and good luck

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Review: Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling

ISBN: 9780545139700
Source: Purchased
Series: Harry Potter #7
Release Date: August 1, 2007
Goodreads | Amazon

See my past reviews in this series

SYNOPSIS:

In this seventh and final book, Harry discovers what fate truly has in store for him as he inexorably makes his way to that final meeting with Voldemort. In this thrilling climax to the phenomenally bestselling series, J.K. Rowling will reveal all to her eagerly waiting readers.

REVIEW:

Oh... how to talk about this book in coherent sentences? Where do I begin? With this final book we see the end of all innocence in the series - the end of all of the lighthearted moments that made the rest of the series so fun to read. Not that this book wasn't fun to read. It was just... different. The Deathly Hallows brings us more adventure, more mystery, and ultimately all of the answers we've been waiting for in the last six books. And Rowling does not disappoint. We've got action, romance, betrayal, everything you could ask for in a series-ender like this one. And despite the fact that this is one of my favorites in the series for those reasons, its still a bit of a sore spot that the majority of this book took place outside of Hogwarts.It literally changes the dynamic of the books that we've been so used to... it was hard to accept that it was really then end.

The first time I read this book a few years ago, I remember finding the camp scenes in the middle of the book pointless, slow, and sometimes annoying. This time around I didn't feel that way - probably because I knew what was coming - and it set up perfectly for everything that was to come later in the book. In that same regard, though I wasn't bored by it, I think we can all agree that after the Gringotts scene around the halfway mark, things really take off and its hard to put the book down at all. It probably helped that this was only my second time reading the books, too, so there were still a lot of smaller details that I didn't remember from before.

I had such a "hangover" after I finished reading The Deathly Hallows. Actually, I was kind of surprised by the way I felt afterward. I was definitely pretty weepy during those last few chapters, but I continued to be pretty weepy afterward and just felt sad overall. Even a little mad, and I'm still not quite sure why. Probably because I now know at this late stage that the series is really and truly over. I imagine this was how many people felt back when the book first came out, and its a testament to Rowling's writing that it can still make people feel that way. I also realized, shockingly (or maybe not-so-shockingly) that I'm going to have to do this again. As in, re-read them again. I mean, I always figured I'd keep coming back for pleasure, but there is still so much more to be discovered, especially in the latter half of the series, so I'm planning on diving back in again soon, some time this year.

Well, after spending a day or two wanting to curl up in my bed and sleep off the rather depressing book-hangover I developed from it, I spent some time thinking about the book and the series in general. I don't think it was my favorite in the series overall, but it is definitely toward the top of the list. I just can't get past the fact that even at the beginning of this book, it was really over. There was no more school for them, no more lighthearted fun. It took a little bit out of me, I can't lie. It might not be fair to the book but that definitely took away from it for me just a tiny bit.

Either way, I loved it, of course, and it ended in a way that did the series justice, wouldn't you say?

RATING: ★★★★★

For those of you who are curious, after weeks of careful deliberation, I've finally decided the order of my favorites in this series:

(from favorite to least favorite)
The Goblet of Fire
The Prisoner of Azkaban
The Deathly Hallows
The Half-Blood Prince
The Order of the Phoenix
The Sorcerer's Stone
The Chamber of Secrets

It was hard to do, and even looking at it now, I could probably rearrange one or two of them, but that could go on forever and I'd never come up with a concrete list. Best to leave it as it is. Which ones are your favorites? How did you feel about The Deathly Hallows overall as an ending for this amazing series. I love talking HP, so lets hear it!

A.

Tuesday, January 7, 2014

Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Bookish Goals (and Blogoversary Giveaway!!)

Happy Tuesday. Also, I have to toot my own horn here, but: Happy 1 year Blogoversary to me and to I Solemnly Swear Book Reviews! I really hope you all will check out my Blogoversary Giveaway wherein I am giving away a bookish purchase from The Book Depository of up to $20.00!!! (Not just one book/item, but any amount of items totaling up to $20.00) I've added the widget to the bottom of this post! The giveaway is international based on the countries The Book Depository ships to.

Back on topic here, its Tuesday - to be more specific, its the first Tuesday of the year wherein we make our New Year Bookish Goals via Top Ten Tuesday hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.

So, here they are - My Top Ten (Bookish) Goals/Resolutions For 2014

1. Read 65 books. I read 60 in 2013, so let's see if I can beat that!

Monday, January 6, 2014

Review: Forever in Blue by Ann Brashares

ISBN: 9780385734011
Source: Purchased
Series: The Sisterhood of the Traveling Pants #4
Release Date: January 1, 2007
Find it on Goodreads
See my reviews on other books in this series

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

With unraveled embroidery and fraying hems, the Traveling Pants are back for one last, glorious summer.
Lena: Immerses herself in her painting and an intoxicating summer fling, fearing that the moment she forgets about Kostos will be the moment she sees him again.
Carmen: Falls under the spell of a sophisticated college friend for whom a theatrical role means everything and the heritage of the Pants means nothing.
Bridget: Joins a dig for an ancient city on the coast of Turkey and discovers that her archaeology professor is available in every way except one.
Tibby: Leaves behind someone she loves, wrongly believing he will stay where she has left him.

REVIEW:

I really thought that this would be my favorite book out of the whole series - mainly because I'm so much closer in age to the main characters in this one than I was four books ago (24 to their 18). Surprisingly, it wasn't my favorite, but I did enjoy reading about the deeper issues the girls dealt with in this "final" installment.

One of the smaller reasons for me not absolutely loving this one was that I found the writing to be... for lack a better term: strange... as compared to the previous three. Not the narrative, but the dialogue felt stunted and awkward, which made no sense to me considering the previous three in the series were written very well. It was easy enough to look past as a whole, but strange nonetheless and at times distracting.

As far as the characters and their development, the fact that they were entering a new life stage and changing very much was evident. I think all of the characters showed a lot of development throughout the series, but I wondered at times in this book if the girls had forgotten all of the lessons they'd learned over the previous three summers?

Bridget was always my favorite out of the girls, probably because I related best to her. I enjoyed the fact that she was such a free spirit a lot of the time, but sometimes fell victim to a deeper sadness and bad decisions. I always thought, though, that Bridget was the one who learned most from her mistakes and made the biggest effort to change when she did learn. Then came this book and Bridget basically reverts to all her old ways. It was just eye-roll inducing when she (and all the other characters) went back on all the awesome character development they'd acquired previously.

The other girls will always have a spot in my heart alongside Bridget, my fave, though they usually made me roll my eyes a little more often than she did (especially Carmen). Carmen has gotten much less bratty since the first book, though, thank God, and actually begins to develop as an adult and use her attitude to get what she wants in the right way.

Sometimes Lena's reaction to emotion-inducing events seemed unrealistic and too nonchalant, but I suppose she was always a bit of a downer. And Tibby... in this book, Tibby was the opposite of every 18-year-old girl I know while somehow being exactly like them. I don't want to spoil anything for the 5% of people who've never read these but I felt for the girl because I have been in some of those situations before (definitely not the biggest one, but some).

Overall, awkward dialogue aside, it was fun to watch four girls that we'd seen grow up go into adulthood, making mistakes (as always) and learning from them in the end- and even teaching some lessons in the process. I enjoyed this one and though I wanted to scream sometimes, I was satisfied with the way it ended, even if it was bittersweet.

RATING: ★★★★

I highly recommend this series as a whole to all YA contemporary lovers. Its a wonderful story about true friendship, love, growing up, and how to deal with life and its tragedies. Though I can admit that sometimes reading about four teenage girls could be a bit eye-roll inducing, if you want to reminisce on your young-adulthood, pick up these books! I loved them!

How many of you read the entire series? What did you think of it as a whole? There's one more book (technically an adult novel) which I've read and will be reviewing. Its the "10 years later" novel.. I bet you can't wait! :)

A.

Thursday, January 2, 2014

Review: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

ISBN: 9780545582995
Source: Purchased
Series: Harry Potter #6
Release Date: July 16, 2005
Find it on Goodreads
See my reviews of other books in this series

GOODREADS SYNOPSIS:

The war against Voldemort is not going well; even the Muggle governments are noticing. Ron scans the obituary pages of the Daily Prophet, looking for familiar names. Dumbledore is absent from Hogwarts for long stretches of time, and the Order of the Phoenix has already suffered losses.

And yet, as with all wars, life goes on. Sixth-year students learn to Apparate—and lose a few eyebrows in the process. Teenagers flirt and fight and fall in love. Classes are never straightforward, though Harry receives some extraordinary help from the mysterious Half-Blood Prince.

So it's the home front that takes center stage in the multilayered sixth installment of the story of Harry Potter. Here at Hogwarts, Harry will search for the full and complex story of the boy who became Lord Voldemort—and thereby find what may be his only vulnerability.

REVIEW:

*(If you have not read the previous books, please be advised that there may be spoilers for all previous books in this series)*

I think we can all agree that the basics are all the same in this series. You can't arrive at your review of the sixth book and pretend that you'll be saying anything new about the writing, world building, characters and development, plot progression and execution, etc. As always, all of these elements are impeccable in this sixth and second-to-last installment.

I enjoyed it a bit more than the last one because our teenagers are feeling a little less angsty and are just about on the brink of adulthood. Well, Hermione and Ron, by wizarding standards, have or will have come of age during or shortly after this book, having turned 17. Harry will follow, of course, in July of the seventh book, which is usually where our books pick up. We have some added romance by way of Ron and Lavender... uh.. and Hermione, and Harry and Ginny. I don't particularly think romance is a strong suit for Rowling - she really is a genius by way of mystery and fantasy, but I didn't completely buy the Harry-Ginny thing. I've always felt a bit like that and I really made an effort to connect with them a bit more this time to see if I was maybe missing something, but I feel like I only made a small bit of progress. I like the idea of it, of favorite characters in a favorite series being together. I just didn't like the execution and didn't really feel much of the chemistry with them.

I've never really felt that way about Hermione and Ron because their feelings for eachother are hinted at earlier on in the series and its easy to accept what you've been hoping for all that time. However, I did realize that I didn't feel much in the way of chemistry on that front either, but like I said, it just is... meant to be... so it didn't really bug me.

The ending of this book still shocks me to the core no matter how many times I've read it or watched it play out on the big screen. I just hate it, though I know it serves a much bigger purpose. I tried hard to study Snape and his actions and dialogue, because really, we all know what happens, but I'd just like to understand it better. Something I've never understood, even from book one, was Snape's rage and hatred toward Harry... or well, anyone who isn't like Snape himself, I guess. I get the whole thing with his dad and the friends, but come on. Aren't we all grown ups here? Well, again, I know it all serves a higher purpose, but its something I could never quite come to terms with. I can understand being cold and detached, but there were times throughout the series that Snape was downright cruel and even in this book, knowing what we know about book 7... I guess I won't go getting all spoilery for the random person living under a rock who hasn't read the book.

There isn't much else to say about this book other than how much I loved it and truly enjoyed it deep down in my bones. I've only read the last two books once before so I loved going through it all again, being able to study the parts that once confused me and really see deeper into the books. Though it was heartwrenching, it was enchanting and wonderfully done and I think it did the series justice.

RATING: ★★★★★

Its still going to take some time for me to figure out how I feel about it in reference to the other books. Definitely more toward the top of the list and there are only 7, so its not like they can all be my favorite.

Silly question, but have you read book 6 in the Harry Potter series yet? If so, have you read it recently? Do you agree or disagree with the points I've made about the story? Did you love it just as much as I did a? Love talking HP, so lets hear it!