Top Ten Tuesday, and Other Things

Hey everyone! It’s Amy here. 🙂 I wanted to apologize for being kind of AWOL for the past week… Last week I was pretty much obsessed with Instagram. Yes, that means I figured it out. And yes, you can applaud me now. No, I’m not kidding. Hey, social media is CONFUSING!!!!!!!!!! So yeah, if you have an Instagram you should click that little camera button on the right hand side right now. See it? Good! Now click it and don’t come back until you’ve checked it out! 😆Anyway…. Sometime around Sunday or something, I realized that I had been spending SO MUCH time on my iPod that I had not been reading much at all. Well, I do have to give credit to Instagram- it was in my headspace because someone on Instagram (I have NO idea who) posted about that, and after sleeping on it I felt like I had done the same thing. So… The next day I just read all day. And knitted (no, it’s not for grannies. Knitting is really calming and quite pleasant!) while watching TV. Anyhoo, that would be my excuse for being AWOL. I just realized that instead of reaching for my book, I was going for my iPod all the time, and I was really suffering from it. But, however, I do feel like I went a bit overboard. Hopefully I can find some balance between crazy bookstagramming and crazy knitting/reading. At least, I’m working on it… 🙂 Since I completely skipped my TTT last week (I meant to do it, but you see how that turned out….) I’m going to do five from last week’s topic and five from this week’s. They both look a little difficult so hopefully this will shake things up a bit. 😉 So, without further ado… The first topic!

Favorite Fairytale Retellings

Okay, I’m kind of excited for this because now that I’m thinking about it I realize it’s not as hard as I first thought! 🙊🙈 *guilty face* Let’s get started before I forget them all!!!

1) Duh… Cinder by Marissa Meyer –

I love this series. So much. YAY!!! Oh wow, here comes the five-year-old… Ugh. Those dot dot dots get so. Annoying after, I don’t know, one time… You see what I’m saying? Okay, I’ll stop using those now. (Cough cough try cough cough) Moving on. For those of you who are oblivious or have been living in a hole since these books came out, this series is all based on fairy tales. Cinder is Cinderella, Scarlet Red Riding Hood, Cress Rapunzel, and Winter Snow White. Speaking of which… Winter comes out Nov. 10!!!!! I’m so excited! I can’t wait. I’m planning to preorder it in the next couple of weeks. 🙂 NEXT!

2) East by Edith Pattou –

Again, I adore this book. 🙂 It is a retelling of the (Norwegian? I believe?) tale: East of the Sun, West of the Moon. If you want to hear my thoughts on it, I talked about it a bit in a What Are You Reading Wednesday post from two weeks ago. My steam is running out; I hope I can come up with three more of these! NEXT!

3) Crimson Bound by Rosamund Hodge –

I actually own this one! It was a satisfying read, and I’m 99.999% positive that it’s based on Little Red Riding Hood, albeit loosely. I’ve also heard that Cruel Beauty is based on Snow White (correct me if I’m wrong here), but I haven’t read it yet or really looked into it much either, so… (Darn! There I go again!) it doesn’t really count. NEXT! 

4) The Wrath And The Dawn by Renee Ahdieh –

I actually almost forgot this one (insert huge OOPS here), but I was scrolling through my Goodreads list and spotted it. TWATD was inspired by A Thousand And One Nights, so it most definitely applies to this category! I loved this book, and I’m most eagerly awaiting the sequel! NEXT!

5) Beastly by Alex Flinn –

Alright, confession time! I literally had to look this one up. Hey, I don’t read that much fairy tale stuff! But yes, I have read this. It’s been a while, but I remember enjoying it. The beast was the most AWFUL guy to start out with, and I guess I just kind of basked in the cheesiness of learning to look past the outside and seeing who a person truly is. Okay, NEXT!

Top Ten Authors I’ve Read The Most Books From 

This is going to be a BIT harder, seeing as how I read everything and everyone… (Okay, I really need to quit with those dots. They’re driving me nuts; I can’t imagine what they’re doing to you!)

6) Carolyn Keene –

I read about fifty of the Nancy Rrew Books in third grade, so…. (Whoops) I’m pretty sure they count! They’re not bad stories, they’re just all the same plot. Over. And over. And over. And over. And OVER again! (Kind of like those dot dot dots) NEXT! (That’s getting old, I’d better switch it up a bit)

7) Rick Riordan –

I’ve read all of those books. And more! ONWARD! (Well, that’s a bit more entertaining.)

8) J.K. Rowling –

When you start thinking about it, seven is actually a pretty considerable amount of books for one author! I haven’t read anything else by her, but I think it still counts. 🙂 ONWARD! (Nope, it’s lost all intrigue. It’s just lame now.)

9) Cassandra Clare –

I’ve only read the first four in the TMI series, but that’s still seven, so she has to count too! UM, ER, CONTINUE! (Uh, that was pathetic. But I couldn’t think of anything else!)

10) Jerry Spinelli –

I know I’ve read at least five by him, and all the others I was thinking of were only four at max, so he gets my last spot. 🙂 THIS WAY TO THE END!

Of this post, that is. Not the world. At least I don’t think so…

Anyway. Nikki mentioned in her post that we were originally going to do a joint currently reading post, but she ended up just doing one by herself. So I’ll tell you a bit about it, and fiche you the synopsis.

I’m currently reading Second Chance Summer by Morgan Matson. I read Since You’ve Been Gone by her a while ago and really enjoyed it, so I thought I’d look into other books by her. Both books have the same feel to them. Fast-paced and fun; they could both be read in one sitting if you wished. I really enjoy this author because her books are very satisfying; every page captures your heart. Here’s the synopsis, via Goodreads:

Taylor Edwards’ family might not be the closest-knit—everyone is a little too busy and overscheduled—but for the most part, they get along just fine. Then Taylor’s dad gets devastating news, and her parents decide that the family will spend one last summer all together at their old lake house in the Pocono Mountains.

Crammed into a place much smaller and more rustic than they are used to, they begin to get to know each other again. And Taylor discovers that the people she thought she had left behind haven’t actually gone anywhere. Her former best friend is still around, as is her first boyfriend…and he’s much cuter at seventeen than he was at twelve.

As the summer progresses and the Edwards become more of a family, they’re more aware than ever that they’re battling a ticking clock. Sometimes, though, there is just enough time to get a second chance—with family, with friends, and with love.

Okay, this sounds like a forced book talk. And I apologize. (I’m running out of things to talk about and I need to watch Glee!!!) By the way, I love Henry. Lucy’s pretty great too. Here’s a teaser, actually from the page I’m on. 😉

…I scanned the beach again. It wasn’t like I was looking for Henry specifically.

Suuuuuuuuure. Okay, let’s wrap this up before I bore you all to death.

Love you all, blah blah blah, I love puppies, TOODLES!

P.S. Hopefully we’ll be doing a couple of new memes soon, like Nikki mentioned!

P.P.S. Leave me a comment, I promise I’ll stalk you back!

Advertisement