Disney's Inside Out Book Tag!

(darn it, I missed my time by thirty minutes but I guess not many people live in the UK time zone so whatever I suppose...enjoy!)

I haven't actually seen Inside Out yet, although I'm really interested to, because as you guys know I have social anxiety and a cinema is the last place I want to be, alone or not. I'm just waiting for it to be super cheap on DVD or something, but I do have some basic idea on what the movie is about thanks to my Facebook friends and introductions to this tag in videos I have watched (which I really enjoyed!). 

It's basically about this one person, with five other characters' who live inside their mind. Which are their emotions. These emotions are joy, fear, disgust, sadness and anger (isn't it odd how only one of those is a positive emotion to have?). 

So, you guessed it, these emotions are what the questions are going to be based from. 

Joy! : What book gives you the most joy?

This one is actually kind of hard to answer, because well all books give me joy, that's why I read. An obvious answer to this question would be the first three books from the Harry Potter series, but I don't want to say that just because it's such a cliche answer, especially for me at this point. From a book picked from my 2015 reading challenge list, I'm going to go with "Eleanor and Park" by Rainbow Rowell. You guys know that I had mixed feelings about that book, it was more a three star for me personally (I have a full book talk on this up on here!), but I felt so happy when I was reading it. The relationship gave me the fuzzies, even though I thought they were best as friends - that book just made me feel good (and also bad), I can't deny that. Even if it wasn't as good as it had been hyped up to be. 

Disgust! : What book grossed you out the most? 

A lot of books, but the one that is really standing out to me right now is one I read back in February of 2014, "It's Kind of a Funny Story" by Ned whatever-is-name-is. The over-sexualisation of the characters in this book - all female - made me want to throw up. Even of a rape victim and his own mother. I hate that book with a passion, even though I am mentally ill with depression/social anxiety. It just didn't do anything for me, and I'm sorry to everyone who loved it, but it was disgusting from my feminist point of view. But, a lot of books pop to mind when I think of disgust. Like the domestic abuse theme in "IT" by Stephen King that was wrote to graphically, I was left shivering days after I had read it. I'm just sensitive. 

Fear! : What book scared you the most? 

I have two options for this one. Firstly, the "Gone" series by Michael Grant. I've only got up to book three in the six-part series, but it mostly scared me due to the fact that it was something that might actually happen. Maybe not to the extent it happened to in the series, I don't think people could be gaining powers because of Darkness, but more along the lines of anarchy and having dumb people like Sam be in charge of things and not letting women still into places of power. Second book that I'm going to mention here is an author I'm really not fond of but I just liked this book, and that is "The Secret of Crickley Hall" by James Herbert. I don't know why, but the whole dark paranormal child abuse aspect of the story really scared me not while I was reading it but when I was alone and it was dark. 

Sadness! : The book that made you cry the hardest?

This one is easy - "A Monster Calls" by Patrick Ness. I won't talk too much about it here as I do have a book talk published, but I don't cry very often at books, hardly ever. This one, though...I started to read it late in the evening, before bed, just because I like to that sometimes but I never put it down till 4am and tears were falling from my face. My heart felt like it had been ripped out - it was just absolutely crushing to me. I was a mess after reading that book. But, don't let that put you off please. If you're one of the few people who hasn't read that book, I urge you go do so now. 

Anger! : What book made you the most angry?

I don't really get very angry in books (apart from the ones I mentioned in disgust) unless they're very anti-feminist, such as slut-shaming or viewing a woman as a sexual object or a woman treating a man like crap when he has done nothing wrong just because she can, things like that. However, I rarely read a book without doing background research on it first and coming across books like this is pretty rare for me, it usually never happens. But, a book I was pretty mad about was "Bridget Jones: Mad About the Boy" by Helen Fielding. Right, let me tell you a story. I found this book for pretty cheap at my supermarket. but I briefly saw something at the back about Bridget having kids. I disregarded the fact that this book was written in the future, and I went out and got the first two books, £20 in total. At the same supermarket a couple of weeks later, I found these books for £2 each...£4 altogether. To make matters worse, they were the exact editions I wanted which is why I spent so much money on them at the bookstore. Then I found two other versions of these books in a discount book store for even less. It made me so mad, but that's not why I got mad when reading this book. It was cheap, a complete rip-off, a cheat. I believe I also have a review on this book up here somewhere, and I might have deleted it, I hope not. But, Mark's dead, firstly. Secondly, Cleaver hadn't changed at all and you think he would have seeing as he's now a middle-aged man. Thirdly, she never looked after her kids and never did her work but still complained that living a life like she had was hard, and she stayed thin even after eating cheese out the packet almost everyday. She had lost her larger-then-life Bridget Jones quality, it was a huge let down!

Thank you for reading this very long post!
If you could take a second to follow me on whatever is your preference, I would be so grateful, I would really appreciate the motivation right now, I know I usually don't ask for this! 

- Loz x

Mid Year Book Freak Out Tag!

I've done so many tag posts recently, but this is probably the one that's going to be published first because, well...mid year tag. It's basically like a time limit. This is another tag created by ReadLikeWildfire. I wasn't tagged, I wasn't tagged to do any of these and I never tag anyone, I just think they're fun to do so if you want to do, why not? 

Best book you have read so far in 2015?

I can't even remember what I read in 2015, let me go check Goodreads one moment.  

Oh my goodness, I loved so many of them, this is going to be hard.

Hmm, it's probably going to be "Carrie" by Stephen King because, quite frankly, I realted a lot to Carrie in the movies but we related even more in the book, it was fast paced and enjoyable with a few slow parts but honestly it was a great book and will probably eventually be re-read. 

Best sequel you have read so far in 2015? 

This one is easy, I haven't read any series really apart from Bridget Jones and the Gone series by Michael Grant, and I have to say from the Gone series so far it's probably going to be "Hunger". It was fast paced, gruesome, action packed, wasn't slightly boring, so much conflict and insanity, it was excellent. 

New release you haven't read yet but want to?

I don't much care about new releases, I see a book and if I think it looks good and it's cheap then I buy it, and that's the extent of how I read. But, I am really looking foward to Ransom Riggs' "Libiary of Souls" coming out in September, which I believe is the finale of the trilogy. "Hollow City" left with such a cliffhanger, it was horrible, I'll be re-reading those this late August so that my memory is refreshed by the time Souls comes out. Although, I do have a new release that I'm planning to read soon, "Mind Games" by Terri Terry. It came out in March, so I guess it doesn't count as a new release anymore, does it? I don't know, I don't care, I'm interested in the book. Nobody on my GR's has read it yet, though, and I'm not sure how good or bad that sign is yet. It'll let me develop my own opinion on it though so I can't wait to read it.

Most anticipated release for the rest of the year?

Again, "Libiary of Souls" by Ramson Riggs, I'm pretty ecstatic about that. 

Biggest dissapointment? 

An awful lot of books lately have been a dissapointment, probably because of the reading slump (that I think I have reached the end of, yay). Probably a middle-grade favourite for a lot of you Americans, but we never read it here in the UK - at least not in the school I went to - but "Hatchet" by Gary Paulson, it was so boring and so slow paced and I get that in a real survival, it wouldn't all be on your toes so yeah, it was realistic in some parts - although, not really - and I want more of it explained, like how life was like when he got back home in more detail, but he never really described anything I wanted to know in the book in detail. No idea how he managed to stretch that book out into a five part series, but he did. 

Biggest surprise? 

I haven't read that many books this year yet, so I really don't have very much to go from, but it was probably "Hunger" by Michael Grant as I really didn't like the first book very much, it was okay but it wasn't my sort of thing and the only reason I wanted to continue on with the story in the first place was that I had the whole series on my bookshelves and I didn't want to give them away without at least trying them first, because if I didn't hate or dislike the first book I will usually go ahead and read the second book anyway. I thought it would be just the same as "Gone", but it wasn't, it was better. 

Favourite new author? 

Not a huge fan of romance, but probably Lucy Diamond, I just love the type of people she writes about and how...sweet and lovely it is to read one of her books, especially when going through difficulties in life or having just pushed through a particularly difficult book. I love her. Even though her writing is not perfect. I also really like Saskia Sarginson, and can't wait to buy her next new book, "Without You". 

Newest Crush?

Eh, nobody. None of them really struck me as the type of charecter I would want to know in real life. I haven't got around to reading my new Rainbow Rowell books, though, so maaaaybe one might come soon, who knows? Right now, though, none of them. 

Favourite charecter? 

Diana from the "Gone" series, Coraline from "Coraline", Carrie from "Carrie"  and Nella from "The Minaturist", I can't really pick between them. 

Book that made you cry?

Books...books don't make me cry. "Carrie" made my heart feel quite sad, and "Diary of a Young Girl" (Anne Frank) always does make my eyes water, but books don't really make me cry. I haven't cried since I read TFIOS two years ago, but that was two years ago, if I read that now, I don't even know if I would like the book enough to make me want to cry. 

Book that made you happy?

All of them did, in their own way, I can't really pick out one. "Coraline" by Neil Gailman is a book I am reading right now, so I'm just going to go with that one, the cover is gorgeous and it's such a scary, awesome story that if I ever had kids, I would love to read it to them. 

Favourite book to movie adaptation that you saw this year?

Aside from "Coraline", I'm not a big movie person, I just watch horror/thriller/suspense type of movies, or family friendly type of movies, and I never usually watch movie adaptations from books, I just read the book. 

Favourite review that you have written?

I'm not really a fan of any reviews that I have written so far, I'm still learning my style of writing and the way I want to write and what I want to write about and how I will entwine the information I want to say about the book into a well written and well structured review, so right now, I haven't written anything I can look back on and be proud of just yet. 

Favourite books you have bought this year or received? 

"My Sister's Keeper" by Jodi Picoult because I only have that on kindle but I loved the book so much that I don't understand why I never bought it in paperback, and I saw a non-movie edition for cheap in a charity shop and was amazed. I also found a first edition hardback of Harry Potter "Order of the Phoenix" and a first edition paperback of "Deathly Hallows", so now I have three first edition hardbacks and three first edition paperbacks. I'm pretty happy about that. I'm pretty glad that I finally own "Carrie", and I also found the White Rabbit Chronicle trilogy for £5 and I was thriled about that, too, but I still haven't read it. 

What books do you need to read by the end of the year?

Uh, hmm. I want to get the White Rabbit Chronicles out the way, read that book by Ransom Riggs, finally finish the "Gone" series, and that's all I really want to finish by the end of the year, anything else is just going to be freestyled, I read what I please.

Thank you very much for reading, I hope you stick around to see more, g'day!

 

Inside Out Book Tag!

Hey there!

I'm constantly looking for some new blogs to follow, so while I was doing that, I came across one that had this tag (I'd link it but I haven't figured out how to do that from an iPad yet, I shared it on Google+ so if you're curious, that's where you will find it!) and thought "hey, that looks like fun!", and that is why I am writing a blogpost at midnight on a school night instead of doing the tasks I was supposed to do three hours ago. 

I - Inside flap/back of the book summaries: too much info? Or not enough? Discuss. 

First off, I hate inside flap summaries, I think it's just a pet peeve of mine. Secondly, to answer the question, I do prefer short and snappy at the back of the book just so when I'm book shopping, I can quickly scan through them all, pick out a couple (or 12) and go back home. I also like to go into a book only with a small, general idea, I don't like knowing too much information when I'm going into a book - in fact, the less I know the better. 

N - New book: What form do you want it in? Be honest: audio book, e-book, paperback, or hardback? 

Nine times out of ten, I will go for the paperback. As much as I love hardbacks (especially discovering what they did with it underneath the dustcovers and how long they last), they're too awkward to hold, really hard to find it a placement, and I can't carry it around with me very easily without it feeling like a brick in a bag that was already heavy with notebooks and the tears of men. Not to mention, they're much cheaper. 

I haven't tried audiobooks, but the voice of humans usually annoys me so I can't imagine i would like them very much, I do appreciate Ebooks for the use of travelling purposes, highlighting/note-making qualities, etc. 

S - Scribble while you read? Do you like to write in your books, taking notes, making comments, or do you keep your books clean clean clean? Tell us why! 

With a lot of books that aren't really expensive, or valuable to me, I will underline quotations I like, fold pages if I want to go back to that in the future (I never have tabbed post it notes, for some reason) and write small little notes in the sides of the pages. I write notes for reviews in a seperete notebook, but most of the time, I'm not all that fussed on whether or not the book is overly tidy or not. My Harry Potter and world domination handbooks, though, are as spotless as an elephant! 

I - In your best voice, read for us your favourite first sentence from a book.

I won't, simply because I don't have a favourite and I can't be bothered with walking all the way to my bedroom and flicking through every single book I own just to find one, either. Instead, I will read you the first line from the last book I read, Mad About the Boy, and so I don't seem so lazy, the book I am currently reading, Marina (which I'm already planning the review for, yay me!). 

"Talitha just called, talking in that urgent, 'let's-be-discreet-but-wildly-over dramatic" voice she always has"

"Marina once told me we only remember what never really happened". 

Fun fact: both of the books' first sentences were from a prologue. Weird how many books have prologues, I once read an article that writers should really avoid it, but that's a discussion for another time. 

D -Does it matter to you whether the author is male or female when you're deciding on a book? What if you're unsure of the authors gender? 

No, truth be told I don't even know who the author is until I've already bought the book, read it and I have to look at the book of the author to either find it on Goodreads or to write a blog review on it. Pretty bad to do, I know. I used to care when I was younger because I thought men wrote more about sex and attractive women, but women wrote more deeper into relationships (on the genre of romantic books, that is) but as I grew older, I realised this was untrue and either gender can write it in either way. 

E - Ever read ahead? Or have you read the last page way before you got there? 

If the book is really good, I don't. But if the book is slow paced or the curiousity becomes too much, I am guilty of reading the last line in the book, which oddly I usually don't regret, it makes me think a certain thing is going to happen because obviously I don't have all the information to that sentence yet, and then something entirely different does. It's like I gave myself a plot twist. 

O - Organized bookshelves, or outrageous bookshelves? 

I have an attic room, so even if I did have a bookshelf, it wouldn't fit. Instead, my books fit perfectly around the edge of my room in that space that's more or else book size and I couldn't fit anything else back there anyway. Maybe in a future blog post, I'll show you where I keep them, it's hard to explain what I mean. 

U - Under oath: have you ever based a book on its cover alone? 

Guilty. In fact, when I first bought The Invention of Hugo Cabret I had no idea what it was about, what genre is what in or even if it was any good. I bought it purely because it was a pretty book. 

T - Take it out or stay in? 

Because of factors like wind, distractions, people, etc, I much prefer to stay in where I can cozy up at night in a comfy chair wearing a onezie where's it's usually pretty noiseless and nobody is around to bother me. Although, reading only when nobody is around isn't a great idea because I can't get much reading done in a day and it's going to make my Goodreads 2015 reading goal that much harder to accomplish. But, during free lessons at school when I have nothing to do, I read...inside. Does that count as taking it out or staying in? 

Please tell me if I have made any mistakes, I would love to improve, and if you have written this on your blog or you want to tell your answers in the comments, do share! Agree with me or nah? Thank you for reading.