Tuesday Talks | Unwanted Books

Yes, I know. It's Wednesday, but here is your Tuesday Talks for the week! Be sure to check out the goodreads group to find out more information about the group and what we do.

What to Do With Unwanted Books 

I will admit that I am somewhat of a book hoarder. I don't get rid of a lot of books, at least not quickly. I have several books sitting on my bedroom floor that I need to find a home for and still haven't. A couple of them have been sitting in there for about a year... But I do have some reasons for not getting rid of books, one of which is that I generally don't buy books that I haven't read or that I'm not almost certain I will want to keep. 

I hate spending money. I always have and I'm sure I probably always will. Even when I'm buying things I need I have a hard time. With books I generally only buy the ones that I've already read and loved (and know I will read again) or ones that I'm almost completely positive I'll like. Occasionally I do buy cheap books that look interesting (that has happened far too often lately). 

When I want to get rid of books I'll give them away, donate them to the library, trade them for store credit at a used book store, or sell them myself. I really want to open my own little used book store. Really just a store of random things where I sell books, things I've knitted, costumes, really anything of interest. I try to ask friends if they are interested in them and give them away before anything else.

So what do you do with your unwanted books? Do you have any?

Tuesday Talks | Ghost Writers

To find out more about Tuesday Talks, the discussion group created by Janie and Janelle, visit the goodreads group. There's a new topic every week and it's always fun to discuss bookish things with other bookish people.

Ghost Writing: Good or Bad?

I have never put a whole lot of thought into ghost writers. For those of you who don't know what this is, it's basically when you craft a story but someone else does the writing. Or at least that's my understanding. I think there are different levels of ghost writing. One is where the ideas, story, and characters are all your own and you have someone else writing down your thoughts with some suggestions. Another would be for you to come up with an idea and then have someone else shape the actual story. Again, this is my understanding so it could be completely wrong. 

Over the last year or so there has been some controversy surrounding ghost writing. I honestly don't really care one way or the other. I definitely think it's something the author should acknowledge, giving credit to the other person. Even discussing exactly what their process as creator/ghost writer was. But if the book is good (whether it be fiction, non-fiction, etc), then I don't much mind who did the writing or who came up with the ideas. Knowing that a book was ghost written would not sway me to read or not read it. What the book itself is about would do that. 

What are your thoughts on ghost writers? Like it, dislike it, don't care?

Yallfest2015 Adventures!

As many of you know, I recently attended Yallfest, a young adult book festival in Charleston SC. This was my third year attending and it was so much fun. I have enjoyed every trip for Yallfest, but this one had just a little something extra that I was excited for. That my friends, comes in the form of my favorite author, Brandon Sanderson. As soon as I saw his name on the list I knew I had to go. No doubt about it. And I also knew I was going to be dragging along some other people to help me get my books signed. So here is a recap of some of our adventures.

Thursday, November 12th 2015

You can't go to Charleston without actually visiting something in the area. The place is filled with history. And I love history. This year we visited Magnolia Plantation and Gardens. We didn't do the house tour, just the gardens and a train tour. And it was so much fun. It was me, two of my sisters, and one of our nephews. If you ever go to Charleston, I highly recommend you stop by this beautiful plantation. There is a lot of history to be learned and I'm looking forward to reading more about the history of the family and the plantation and gardens in the future.    

Friday, November 13th 2015

Friday morning we spent some time visiting another historic site in Charleston: Fort Moultrie. There was a video that shared some of the history of the fort and its roles throughout various wars over the years. It was first used during the American Revolution and was closed short after WWII in 1947. It's another great place to explore and learn. You can wander through the fort and take pictures of the cannons they have on display. My nephew loved it.

By around 12pm we were lined up for the YallCrawl. This is a part of Yallfest that was just introduced last year. Some of the featured authors participate in signings on Friday afternoon before the main events of Yallfest start on Saturday. Brandon Sanderson was among the authors schedule to sign. So we were there three hours in advance of his signing to make sure we were near the front of the line. And it was well worth the wait. Brandon Sanderson was amazing. He chatted with everyone, made jokes, and was just overall the best.

After meeting Brandon Sanderson and having our large collection of books signed, we ventured down to have a few more books signed by Brandon Mull, Soman Chainani, and Elizabeth Wein. That was also a successful adventure. And they were all really nice and interesting. My sister actually met Elizabeth Wein while I was in line for Soman Chainani, but I saw her because they were sitting two feet from each other.

Saturday, November 14th 2015

On Saturday we were up super early to get more books signed. Sanderson was starting his signing at 11, so we got there at 8. And we were the first in line! Leigh Bardugo was signing at 12 at the same location, so I had my sister get in her line. Once I was finished meeting Brandon Sanderson (for the second time!), I took my sister's place and for Leigh Bardugo. And she was just as nice this year as she was last year.

After that one of my sisters and I stood in line for the First In Line Giveaway to try and get some free books (and meet Brandon Sanderson again). We were among the first 50, so we each got a free book by one of the participating authors. She chose Steelheart, since I already owned that I decided to go with Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon. We were also given tote bags which we got signed by all four authors (Brandon Sanderson, Nicola Yoon, E Lockhart, and David Levithan). 

After the giveaway we attended a couple of panels that Brandon Sanderson was participating in. They were actually very insightful and gave me some good pointers for my own writing and creativity, which was a great bonus. I had never attended a panel at Yallfest before (aside from a keynote) and was glad I was able to get to a couple this year. 

The last event we participated in was the closing Keynote with Brandon Sanderson and Brandon Mull. The two chatted about writing, being friends, what inspires their stories, and general awesomeness. It was definitely one of the highlights of the trip and we all really enjoyed it. 

So there is another successful Yallfest behind us. My nephew loved the trip and is looking forward to going again next year. He's even started reading more, so I'm excited to see what happens on our next book festival adventure. 

 Here are all of my personal Brandon Sanderson novels that were signed.

  

 And here's a comparison: Brandon Sanderson vs The Rest of them! (Note: There is a double of The Way of Kings-paperback and hardback)

Six of Crows~Leigh Bardugo | Review

Title: Six of Crows (The Dregs #1)
Author: Leigh Bardugo
Genre: YA Fantasy
Length: 462 Pages
Release: September 2015
My Rating: 5/5 Stars

Review

I'm not sure if the series is still called The Dregs or Six of Crows, but I prefer The Dregs (not for the naming of a series to be the same as the title of the first novel), so I'm going to call it that until forced to do otherwise. 

Being a huge fan of the Grisha trilogy, I was very excited for this novel when I heard about it. The concept of these outcasts trying to break into a fortified prison was fascinating. And reminded me of some other books that I love, so I had to read it. 

Six of Crows did not disappoint. The characters are shrouded in shadow at the beginning, being slowly revealed as the plot unfolds. At first this was kind of odd to me, probably just because I had been reading other novels where things were more readily known. But it works. In fact, it's one of my favorite things about this book. You don't really know the characters in the beginning. Each of them has layers that are peeled back slowly and they unfold before your eyes. They are all so beautifully broken. 

The beginning of the novel is somewhat slow, building the story up from the roots. For me this was great, but some people might like more in the beginning. Once it gets going it really gets going though. Kaz and his crew of misfits are the perfect cast of characters. They are all from completely different backgrounds and bring so many different perspectives to the table. 

The characters in this are simply brilliant. I cannot get over how much I enjoyed them all. I do have my favorites, but there wasn't one that I didn't like. Kaz is troubled and fascinating, Inej is quiet and stealthy, Nina is loud and flamboyant, Matthias is innocent yet brutal, Jesper is misguided but loyal, and Wylan is a wandering boy (probably the least known throughout the story).

This book is more about the heist than the romance, although there are definitely touches of romance here. There were some nice connections back to the world of The Grisha, but not too much overlap. One thing that pushed this book ahead of those for me is the changing perspective. Alina could get annoying and always being in her head was frustrating. Here we get chapters from all our main characters. And that's one of my favorite things.

If you enjoy fantasy stories, read this book. It's beautiful, dark, and hopeful in equal measure. Ok, I lied. It's not as hopeful as it is beautiful or dark. But it's brilliant.  

Tuesday Talks | Underated and Unusual Books

Tuesday Talks is a weekly meme hosted by Janie and Janelle where we discuss different bookish topics. So check it out and join in the fun!

Underrated and Unusual

This is kind of a tough topic for me. I'm not sure what I can consider unusual or underrated, but I'll try and find something among my books. Most of my favorites, while widely read, aren't huge, so I almost feel like just spouting a list of my absolute favorite books. But that gets old, so here are some more serious thoughts. 

This is a book I read just over a year ago and fell in love with. It's a YA time travel with complicated characters and an exciting plot. I seriously loved it. And it doesn't seem to be very widely read. So go read All Our Yesterdays.

This is Brandon Sanderson's middle grade series that had me laughing the entire way through. The fifth and final book is set to release in June 2016 and I am so excited. If you like to laugh, enjoy magic, and like middle grade books read this one. It's not all that widely known, but it's worth reading. 

While I'm sure that there are many more books out there that are unusual or underrated, I will stick with these for now. I could go on all day about books that people need to read and I don't want to bore you. 

Please comment and let me know what some of your favorite unusual or underrated books are. I would love to have some more suggestions so I can read some more!

Tuesday Talks | When the Spine Size Decides

Tuesday Talks is a weekly discussion group created by Janie and Janelle where we discuss bookish topics. Join the discussions and have fun on the goodreads group (linked above).

How Book Size Influences My Reading

As many of my blogger/booktuber friends probably know, I love fantasy novels. They are absolutely brilliant (when done well) and make me love reading even more each time I pick one up. One thing that is popular in the fantasy genre is to have gigantic books. And I love this!

When I was a teenager I wouldn't pick up a book that wasn't "big" enough. Basically this amounted to me browsing shelves and determining which books had the biggest spines, then seeing what the books were about and picking the ones I thought I would like. Small books were ignored. So yes, when a book is at least 500 pages I'm happy. However, I do not think it's necessary for every book to be this long. I've done some growing up in the past ten years. 

I try not to let the size of a book either encourage or discourage my reading. If I'm interested, I'm interested. Sure I've picked up short books because they were short and I wanted a fast read, but in general that's not something I do. If I'm interested in the story I will pick it up and read it no matter how long it is. My favorite novel (The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson) is around four hundred thousand words, which is roughly a thousand pages in a hardback format. I've also read some excellent short stories and novellas this year, some of them coming in at only around ten thousand words, far under a hundred pages. 

If a writer has a story to tell that I'm interested in reading, then I will read it no matter the length. I do love long novels, but there are some excellent short ones as well. So for me length isn't really a factor in most cases. 

How do you think the lengths of novels plays into your reading?

The Golden Braid~Melanie Dickerson | Review

Title: The Golden Braid (Fairy Tales #6)
Author: Melanie Dickerson
Genre: YA Fairy Tale Retelling
Length: 368 Pages
Release: November 2015
My Rating: 3/5 Stars

I received a copy of this novel through Netgalley in exchange for an honest review.

Review

This novel was enjoyable, but not great. I've never been a huge fan of fairy tale retellings, but recently I've read a few and really enjoyed them. An interesting spin can be put on things. That's what this one sounded like, so I decided to give it a read. 

The idea of Rapunzel wanting to become educated and being forbidden (basically) by her mother (Gothel) was interesting and different. It's a tale set in an old time, so it's not been modernized and it has an interesting story line. Rapunzel wants to learn to read, but has never had the opportunity because her mother is controlling and prevents her from doing so. She has several other useful skills, however, such as knife throwing. 

After being rescued by Sir Gerek and then rescuing him in turn, Rapunzel seeks out a way to learn to read. Gerek becomes her teacher (although no willingly) and the two start to develop a friendship. But boy does her mother have problems with that. 

At first I was not at all into Rapunzel and Gerek's relationship. They were both annoying and I didn't like how they fit together. Later on in the story they grew on me, however. I would have liked more building in their relationship, but we did get some toward the end. 

I've never read any of Dickerson's other works, so I don't know how this compares. I did find the writing style somewhat stilted and difficult to follow at times. Too much was left open about the characters in the beginning. 

This wasn't the best fairy tale story I've read, but I do think it would appeal to fans of the genre. There's also a strong Christian presence throughout the novel which would appeal to many.