Top Ten Tuesday (4): Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

(Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly book meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. To join in on this weekly meme, visit the blog here)

Top Ten Books Dealing With Tough Subjects

Books that deal with tough subjects are not generally the ones I pick up from the shelf, but the few I have read and enjoyed are as follows...

The Waiting Sky by Lara Zeilin

Our protagonist Jane's mother is an alcoholic who nearly gets Jane and Jane's best friend killed in a car accident. So Jane finally takes up her college student/tornado chaser brother Ethan's offer to join him and his friends for the summer chasing tornadoes. The book deals with dangerous weather-induced encounters, and some struggling realizations on Jane's part of just how dangerous her relationship with her mother is, and what it's doing to her future.

See my full review on this book here.

The Fault in our Stars by John Green

I'm sure this one will be on many other bloggers' Top Ten Tuesday posts this week.

Hazel Grace has cancer. She is dying. Her mother persuades her to join a support group, and there she meets the incredible Augustus Waters - a cancer survivor who attends the meeting as support for his friend Isaac. While John Green fills the pages with wit, comic relief, romance, and hope, the fact that this book left me literally curled up in a ball on my bed sobbing for an hour and questioning life itself makes this book an easy pick for this list (and not just because there are only two books on my list...)




Unfortunately I only have two novels I can contribute to this week's TTT, but they are both fantastic (despite the heartbreak they deliver). Both stories inspire hope and if you haven't read either, I highly recommend you do both.

Book Haul #3: December 2012

No video for this one, unfortunately, as the camera I usually use has no working batteries to use. Perhaps I'll do one later, but for now, a text blog post will have to suffice.


It was employee appreciation weekend at my work, and, well, I took full advantage.
I could have bought more books, but I just finished my Christmas shopping (anyone else done yet? Doesn't it feel amazing?!) and didn't want to put too much stress on my bank account.

(PS, to view more information about each book, click on the covers to be taken to their Goodreads page)


I picked these two lovelies up, checking two more off of my to-read list on Goodreads. And bonus! Lullaby is a signed copy.

                     

If you guys have not had a chance to see these covers 'in person', then I highly recommend that you do. They are shiny and gorgeous. Wake, especially, is my favourite. I cannot wait to read these.

The next is a book I really should have read long ago, but did not get around to it until now (and probably would not have read it had I not started to get myself more into contemporary fiction).

That's right, I'm a Perks virgin, but I own it now! And in my defense, at least I have not seen the movie yet. I'll save that until I've read the book. I took the pledge, after all. I also did not get the movie cover, because I refuse to buy the movie tie-in covers of books. Books are books, and movies on books are a great addition when done right, but I don't want those covers in my collection, not matter how much I loved the movie.

I also picked up the original paperback cover of John Green's Looking for Alaska, because I love this cover so much more than the cover I bought when that was all my store had in stock (and then threw out my receipt so I couldn't even exchange it. Stupid, stupid me). BUT my pickiness benefits you all, because sometime in the new year I will be giving away my other copy of Looking for Alaska, so keep an eye out for that!

And lastly, I bought the debut novel of Jodi Picoult's daughter, Samantha Van Leer. While I am not a Jodi Picoult fan (her ideas are interesting, and maybe I'll try again, but the books I've read by her just dragged on and I couldn't finish them. Couldn't even force myself to. But like I said, maybe I'll try again one day), I'm excited to read this book:

A book character who talks to his reader and they fall in love? Isn't that every fangirl's dream? I expect this one to be a light read, but an enjoyable one all the same. Should be interesting.


(I also bought a cookbook, but that's not as interesting, haha)

Cover Judging aka Book Cover OCD

When it comes to book covers, I am a very picky person.

For example, if I am going to buy a book series, I like their covers to match. Shatter Me is coming out with new covers, so even though I had the original cover, I got the new one so that my collection would match.
You know how Shatter Me used to be this:

And now it's this:

I also like my book series covers to be the same in terms of hardcover, trade, and pocket paperbacks. I have two series currently that greatly bothers my book cover OCD. My Matched trilogy, for example, is a mix of cover types. I have the first in paperback because it was only available in paperback when I bought it, but then Crossed and Reached are hardcover because the series became popular and the bookstores in my city got those. So that series of mine is mixed up, which bothers me a lot, but I try my best not to think about it.

My The Mortal Instruments series collection by Cassandra Clare also suffers from this. I was introduced to the series earlier this year and the first three were out in paperback, so I got those. Then I bought the next two in their hardcovers, so that series is all mixed up. I am justifying this one, however, by saying the first three were meant to be only a trilogy, but then more were made (if this is wrong, don't correct me. It will only drive me insane! haha).

Then I have my Tamora Pierce's Protecter of the Small series which is all mucked up because I have First Test and Page and Lady Knight as trade paperbacks, but when I bought the series, they only had the pocket paperback for Squire and I did not want to wait to order in the trade. So that series is all weird and I'm SUPER tempted to but the trade paperback of Squire because we have it at my work, haha.

But then sometimes I get even pickier, and this is what I really wanted to write about for this blog post.

I bought John Green's Looking For Alaska in the new cover. You know, the one with the girl's face? This one:

WELL. A little over two weeks after I bought it (you know, just over the 14 day return policy at my work - not that I kept the receipt anyway), my work got in the original covers in paperback. The awesome-looking one that I had wanted to get but we didn't have them... To clarify, this one:

And now I have what I refer to as the 'ugly' cover (it's not ugly; I just prefer the original) and I pass the 'nice' cover multiple times per day at work (I work at a bookstore, in case that wasn't already clear :P) and it's TORTUROUS. Because all I want is the pretty candle cover.

So I'm pretty sure I'm going to give in and buy the candle cover. Then I'll have two copes of LFA, which is just silly.

So look out in the future for TWO giveaways from me. One featuring the 'ugly' LFA cover (sorry. The content is still the same and it's perfect condition - just not the nicer candle cover :P) and one featuring the old Shatter Me paperback.

Yay free books!

Again, the giveaways won't be until 2013, because the end of the year is just too busy for me to focus on anything like that. Plus shipping costs money and Christmas is coming up and yadda yadda. You get it.

Anyway, I just had to share that.

Anyone else extremely picky with covers?

I had to borrow copies of the Harry Potter series as they came out because I had the first three in paperback. Now THAT was torture. I don't know how, but I managed to avoid spoilers for each book, and sometimes I had to wait months before I could get my hands on a borrowed copy because I was not about to go out and buy the hardcover when I began the series with paperbacks. (Speaking of HP, my covers are getting worn. I really like the adult covers, so I'm probably going to buy them when I can justify the purchase. But hmm. Hardcover of paperback? The paperback covers are pocket, which I love. But hardcover will be more durable... Yeah... HC it will be.)

As I was asking, is anyone else extremely cover-OCD like me? I'm sure I'm not the only one out there. I've had discussions about this with customers at work, but I'd like the reassurance on here, too. Plus talking covers is fun! Haha.

Keep Writing

Happy day nine, NaNoWriMo participants!

The goal word count for the end of today is 15 000 words!

If you are there, congratulations and keep it up! You are 30% of the way there!
If you are over 15k, then wow! Keep it up! At this rate you'll finish before November 30th, which is a great accomplishment.
If you aren't quite at 15k yet, don't worry! Don't focus on the numbers. Just keep writing. I feel that is the most important thing to remember here. Yes, the end goal is to reach 50 000 words by November 30th, but we are still near the beginning. The time is not yet to panic. The important thing to keep in mind at this point in the game is just to keep writing. If the writing is crap, who cares! First drafts are supposed to suck. That's where editing and re-writes come in. But you have to push through that first draft first, and that's where just keep writing comes into it. Forget about what your writing. Does the dialogue sound fake? Ignore it! Are you pretty sure your character started out as a blonde and now they are magically a brunette? Forget it! Edits are for later. Writing is for now.

Remember, it's not NaNoEdiMo. The time now is to write. Editing comes later. Make December your NaNoEdiMo.

Three years ago on VlogBrothers, John Green made some of the above points plus a few more genius ones.
You can watch his video here: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PCTO91aBFXk or by watching below:

Keep up the discipline. Close Twitter/Tumblr/Facebook/Pinterest. Let the amazing John Green motivate you! Why are you still here and reading this? Write, write, write! You have 35000 (or more or less) words to go!


My current progress: 15 201 words.

Book Haul #2

My second book haul video!

Featuring:
The Forsaken by Lisa M. Stasse
Sacrifice by Cayla Kluver (book #3 in her Legacy trilogy)
The Lost Prince by Julie Kagawa (book #5 in The Iron Fey series)

and a special mention of Looking For Alaska by John Green

Reviews to come of The Lost Prince and The Forsaken soon, for sure (and possible Looking For Alaska and Sacrifice).

Book Haul #1

My first book haul video!

Featuring:

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green
The Waiting Sky by Lara Zielin
Eve and Adam by Michael Grant and Katherine Applegate
Siezure by Kathy Reichs
and
Fathomless by Jackson Pearce

With a special appearance by my current read, Tiger Lily by Jodi Lynn Anderson.