My Favorite Book of 2015

My Favourite Book of 2015 | All The Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

 

On this very special day, the first of many Christmases I will hopefully be spending on this blog, I am here to write about my favourite book of the year 2015.

All The Bright Places.

Theodore Finch is fascinated by death, and he constantly thinks of ways he might kill himself. But each time, something good, no matter how small, stops him.

Violet Markey lives for the future, counting the days until graduation, when she can escape her Indiana town and her aching grief in the wake of her sister’s recent death.

When Finch and Violet meet on the ledge of the bell tower at school, it’s unclear who saves whom. And when they pair up on a project to discover the “natural wonders” of their state, both Finch and Violet make more important discoveries: It’s only with Violet that Finch can be himself—a weird, funny, live-out-loud guy who’s not such a freak after all. And it’s only with Finch that Violet can forget to count away the days and start living them. But as Violet’s world grows, Finch’s begins to shrink.

This. Book. Is. Outstanding.

There is no other way to describe it simply.

An amazing contemporary romance, this book combines well written romance and contemporary, creating some beautiful quotes. And I cannot go without telling you some of these beauties. Because sometimes, it’s best to let the book tell the story, rather than the fan.

WARNING: SPOILERS BELOW!

“You are all the colors in one, at full brightness.”

“You make me lovely, and it’s so lovely to be lovely to the one I love.…”

 

“You have been in every way all that anyone could be.… If anybody could have saved me it would have been you.”

“sometimes there’s beauty in the tough words—it’s all in how you read them.”

“I learned that there is good in this world, if you look hard enough for it. I learned that not everyone is disappointing, including me, and that a 1,257-foot bump in the ground can feel higher than a bell tower if you’re standing next to the right person.”

“She is oxygen, carbon, hydrogen, nitrogen, calcium, and phosphorus. The same elements that are inside the rest of us, but I can’t help thinking she’s more than that and she’s got other elements going on that no one’s ever heard of, ones that make her stand apart from everybody else. I feel this brief panic as I think, What would happen if one of those elements malfunctioned or just stopped working altogether? I make myself push this aside and concentrate on the feel of her skin until I no longer see molecules but Violet.”

“No more winter at all. Finch, you brought me spring.”

“Stars in the sky, stars on the ground. It’s hard to tell where the sky ends and the earth begins. I feel the need to say something grand and poetic, but the only thing I come up with is “It’s lovely.”

“I am on the highest branch.

We are written in paint.

I believe in signs.

The glow of Ultraviolet.

A lake. A prayer. It’s so lovely to be lovely in Private.”

Honestly…I could go on forever.

-Beth

May your shelves forever overflow with books! ☽

Bookish Problems (and How we Deal with Them)

Okay so I found this tag on WordPress about problems we have as bookworms, and I decided I should post about it here!

I’m going to be listing 10 bookish problems and how I, personally, deal with them.

1.You have 20,000 books on your TBR! How on Earth do you decide which one to read next?

I use a TBR jar. They’re cute and it’s a really fun way to find your next book!

2. You’re halfway through a book but not enjoying it that much. Do you stop or force yourself through it?

Unless I really, really don’t like it, I carry on. If I’ve started reading a book, even when I don’t really like it, I tend to want to find out what happens, and have an overall opinion. Throughout my entire life, I’ve only ever not finished two books.

3. The end of the year is approaching but you’re no where near your Goodreads target. Do you attempt to pick up the pace or give up?

I try and pick up the pace. I joined Goodreads about 3 months ago, so I did a measly target of 15 books before the end of the year. I’ve done over that, but I think I’d try and finish it regardless.

4. The covers of a series you love do not match. How do you cope?

I actually haven’t come across this yet. But if I do, I will give the un-matching book(s) away and purchase the matching ones.

5. Everyone and their mother loves a book you really don’t like. Who do you bond with over shared feelings?

Sophie, my friend Emma or my mum. She usually understand my hate for books that are way too over-hyped

6. You’re reading a book and you are about to start crying in public. How do you deal with it?

I can usually hold back the tears if forced, and just do an awkward choked cough and hope it goes away.

7. A sequel of a book you loved just came out, but you’ve forgetten a lot from the prior novel. Will you re-read, skip the sequel or just hope you remember?

I would re-read. If I really can’t remember what happens, then I’d like to have it fresh in my mind.

8. You do not want anyone, ANYONE, borrowing your books. When they ask, how do politely decline?

I would either 1) force them (in a joking way) to look after them, or just flat out decline. After all, if they can’t understand my love for books, how can we be friends?

9. You’ve picked up and put down 5 books in the last month. How do you get out of your reading slump?

I don’t often get into them. Normally, I force myself through them and I end up loving the next book just as much as the past one.

10. There are so many new books coming out that you’re dying to get and read! How many do you buy?

I normally don’t buy many. I just simply don’t have the money. Unless I find books really cheap that I’ve wanted for a long time, then I have no choice but to be controlled.

-Beth

Beth: TBR Jars – The Joys and Horrors

Today’s post is going to be about TBR jars: the joys and the horrors!

Before I got Goodreads, I had no idea about ‘TBR‘ in general.

If you didn’t know, TBR stands for To Be Read, and it is basically books you’d like to read in the future, whether that be next week or next year.

You may be thinking “if I can have it all on Goodreads, why on earth do I need a jar too?”

Well, firstly, let me explain what a TBR jar is.

It’s basically a jar filled with slips of paper which have the names of books you want to read on them.

I’ve had a TBR jar for quite a while now, and I can definitely see the benefits and the downsides of having one. I’m going to list them below!

Benefits

• Being controlled with your spending. It is pretty hard to resist purchasing books, but having the excitement of picking a book from your TBR jar helps you do this.
• The excitement. Whenver you need to buy a new book (if you haven’t got one to read next), then you dig in to pick a new read.
• They look so pretty, and they’re really creative.
• There’s loads of great ideas for them, some of which I’ll tell you about below.

Downsides

• They’re not very portable. It would be slightly weird to carry around a glass jar full of your favorite book names.
• You have to find a jar. Okay, this isn’t the hardest, but it does require some effort.
• It takes a while to write them all out, especially if you have a long TBR list.

Ideas

• Plain paper or lined paper: Best if you want to be quick!
• Patterened & colored paper: To be extra pretty.
• Oragami: Specifically paper stars, can be really nice.
• Watercolor or painted paper, also really pretty!
• Decorate your jar, with either stickers, paper cut outs or glass paint.

As you can see from the featured photo in this post, my massive TBR jar is no where near full. I’m going to be filling it with watercolor and plain paper strips.

Thanks for reading!

-Beth

May your shelves (and TBR jar) overflow with books! ☽

NaNoWriMo: How to Write a Novel

Hey guys!

I would firstly like to say a massive sorry to Sophie for not being around more. Yes, we’re all busy, but that’s no excuse.

So, I’m back! With a post about NaNoWriMo, which I’m sure many of you have heard of.

NaNoWriMo stands for National Novel Writing Month, and it’s an online based November project, for anyone to join.

The overall goal is to write 50,000 words in 30 days, or 30,000 words if you’re in the YA NaNoWriMo.

Now, writing is not for every person, but it’s not for every bookworm either…yes, we all love reading, and I’m sure many of us have written a little something at some point, but it takes a LOT to write 50,000 words in a month, that equals 1.6k every day.

But sometimes, it’s a challenge that we need. And in the end, it doesn’t matter if you don’t finish on time, because YOU have still achieved something massive, something amazing. You have written a 250 page novel. And that is certainly something to boast about.

And if you think your novel is a load of crap? That’s fine! There’s no one there to read or judge your book, unless you want them to. Plus, if it really IS crap (which I’m sure it isn’t) it’s all practice. There are many years of NaNoWriMo to come, so if you don’t manage to write a full novel this year, it’s fine. If you do, you deserve an enormous pat on the back! Congrats!

Before I finish off, I want you all to know, this is my first year participating in NaNoWriMo, so I am a complete greenie. But from what I’ve gathered, all we need to complete this challenge is coffee (or tea, tea drinkers, we can DO THIS.), comfy clothes, a hell of a lot of stamina and just enough time (doesn’t have to be a lot, but having a lot can definitely help).

At the end of this, guys, at the end of this torture. We are going to be authors. Remember that. Let it sink in.

And write.

-Beth

Hi, I’m Beth! And here’s some book chat!

Hi everyone!

I suppose I should start with an introduction about myself, and, as I saw Megan do, answer a few bookish questions.

So, I’ve been reading since I can remember, but it’s only been this year when I really got into YA novels. The book that really got me out of my at least months-and-months reading slump? All The Bright Places. Ever since then, I’ve been completely book and reading obsessed, once again. Anyway, here’s some bookish questions about me:

Favorite novel?

Oh gosh, obviously this is a hard one for most people. But as you probably know, it’s even harder for us bookworms. I (obviously) don’t have an absolute favorite, there are so many. But a few of them are: Paper Towns, Eleanor & Park (and anything from Rainbow) and Amy & Roger’s Epic Detour.

Favorite genre?

I don’t know. I’m up for any, but I have to say I’m a sucker for a good romance. But overall, probably contemporary with a bit of romance thrown in.

Book quote?

Ah, there are so many good ones! But one of my favorites has to be this one:

“It’s not because I want to make out with her.”

“Hold on.” He grabbed a pencil and scrawled excitedly at the paper as if he’d just made a mathematical breakthrough and then looked back up at me.

“I just did some calculations, and I’ve been able to determine that you’re full of shit.”

-Looking For Alaska, John Green

Broke your heart?

There are many. All The Bright Places is one that really touched me, though.

Bookish best friend?

Cath from Fangirl! I looooove her.

Bookish boyfriend?

Probably Levi xD Or Quentin from Paper Towns, you’ve just got to love him.

Favorite series?

THE HUNGER GAMES. I have to say, sometimes I HATE when I like a book/series that I think it overhyped, but I don’t know how to not love THG?

Favorite classic?

Jane Eyre. As I say, I’m a sucker for romance. (And I haven’t read many/any other classics, but hopefully I will soon!)

With that over, let’s have some book chat!

As I do reviews on my own blog, I thought it would be best to post something a little different here. I know Sophie doesn’t always have the time to post about book hauls, or just talk about books, as school is pretty busy for her, so I feel like it’d be good to just have a chat with you guys.

I want to talk about how dangerous being a bookworm can be. For a start, books aren’t always that cheap. Especially when you add up all of the books we want to own or read.

The other thing is, is if you’re a hardcore bookworm like me, you fall in love by just glancing at a cover. This is the most dangerous love of all. Piles and piles of TBR books stack up, and now I have over 200 TBR books on goodreads. But, because of how much I love physical books, I want to own them all. And I don’t have a Kindle, and would actually prefer not to.

I can easily see the benefits of having Kindles and e-readers. But I just don’t like reading on a screen. Blogs and forums, yes, but books, no. I am extremely traditional when it comes to books. I would even pay a small cost to have the paperback rather than the e-book for free.

But, even when sometimes the paperback is soft and beautiful (you know that soft, cloth like feeling when you stroke it?), I fall for the hardback edition. And here comes another chance to spend my money, because as you all know, hardbacks are expensive. But how, how, could anyone purchase a paperback edition of ATPB when this exists? (Sorry for tagging a random blog there, it was the best photo I could find.)

One of my favorite tags on Instagram is #ditchthatjacket, because what is more beautiful than a hardback book without its cover? I would even go as far to say that printed hardcovers (you know when the same picture is printed on the actual cover undearneath the jacket) are just ugh. Because what is a hardback without the soft actual cloth covers? That are just so nice to stroke and stroke and stroke?

Anyway. I need to stop ranting about my bookish peeves. I’ll be back soon, with more book talk, probably. Meanwhile, you can find me on my blog and Instagram!

Also, a massive thank you to Sophie for inviting me to join her and the team♥

Beth || @illgiveyouthebooks || www.illgiveyouthebooks.wordpress.com