This or That? #91

This or That? #91

This week Bookmark Chronicles would like to know:

If your favorite author released a surprise novel today, how likely are you to buy it?

Buying it for sure ~ Very likely ~ Somewhat likely ~ Not likely – Not buying it

I am totally buying it!

Especially at the moment, I was sooooooo lucky this Christmas and my brother bought me a Dymocks $100 gift certificate. I’ve already bought a couple of books with it, and I couldn’t definitely afford another one. Since it’s already been my birthday and it’s not close enough to ask for it for Christmas, I would definitely be getting it when it comes out. I don’t think that I could not buy it to be honest,lol

The Makeup Book Tag

I found this awesome tag on Hot Shot Headlines (and you should definitely check them out) and considering how little I wear makeup, I thought that this would be great!lol…I usually wear make up if I have a lot of “things” on my face and I want to cover them, or if I’m going out.

Primer – Pick a book that left a lasting impression on you.

Playing Beatie Bow by Ruth Park.

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Concealer – Pick a character you wish didn’t exist.

I don’t have a good answer for this one – I think most characters, if written well, should exist!

*While I agree with the above statement there is actually a character from a Jodi Picoult book, that I just don’t like. It’s also probably my least favourite Jodi Picoult and he is a big reason for that*. 

Nicholas from Harvesting the Heart – Jodi Picoult

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Foundation – A favourite first book in a series.

Clockwork Angel/Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare.

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Powder – Pick your favourite last book in a series.

Clockwork Princess/Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare.

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Eyebrows – Pick a book you think everyone should read.

Any ancient classical reading, for example, The Odyssey, Art of War, .

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Eye Shadow – Pick a book with your favourite colours on the front.

A Faery Guide by  – It probably sounds a little childish, I’ve had this book for years and the cover is just gorgeous.

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Eyeliner – Pick a dark and mysterious book.

I have a book I swear! I have been trying to find it all weekend. It’s based on the premise on Andy Warhols “15 minute of Fame” and the lengths some people will go to get that fame and that kind of “being noticed”. 

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Mascara – Pick a long book.

The Hobbit by JRR Tolkien … It’s just one book, it’s not split up like LotR, those are long even so,lol

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Blush – Pick a book with a cringe-worthy romance.

I don’t really read romance  type books, I kind of find them all cringe-worth. 

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Highlighter – Pick a book that brightens your day.

Not really a “book” but whenever I read “Archie Comics” I enjoy them a lot. #TeamVeronica =P

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Lipstick – Your favourite book kiss.

As mentioned above one of my favourite series is Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare, and one of the reasons for that is the love between Tessa Gray and Will. (I still hate the ending of that series though).

This or That? #73

This or That? #73

This week Bookmark Chronicles (please check them out) would like to know:

Are there any authors that you strongly dislike? Who are they and why?

(This could be overall, maybe you can’t get into their writing, don’t like the characters/world they create, or any other reason that has turned you away)

Shall I do it? Yes I shall…The author I probably dislike the most is E.L. James…The author of the famous book series “50 Shades of Grey”.

The reason for my dislike has nothing to do with the overall theme of the books. I have no problem with BDSM, I don’t do it myself, but I really honestly don’t care if you do. I also have a few acquaintances, that do work in the field. From what they told me the books are such a bad misrepresentation of the field. It makes me wonder if EL James actually even bothered to do any research.

I felt like the writing was just kind of bad as well. It seems to have odd descriptions and I guess what you might call a lot of “lazy descriptions”. I did actually try reading it, even though I actually just don’t enjoy the Genre of romance in books at all. I just barely got through the first chapter. I just felt the book could have been more. I get that the Grey books are supposed to be “naughty” for us more “delicate” types, but that doesn’t mean it has to be badly written.

This or that? #70

This week Bookmark Chronicles would like to know:

Do you  have a favorite classic? If so, what is it and do you remember when you first read it?

Now I don’t know if you’d call this a “classic” since it was written in 1980. Too me it is a classic book, it’s won numerous awards and in Australia we don’t have too many well known books, or authors and Australia is a fairly well young Country. In fact quiet a few of our books/authors. The author of the book I consider to be my favourite classic book has been called the “Sydney’s Dickens”.

My favourite classic is “Playing Beatie Bow” by the Australian/New Zealand born author, Ruth Park. This book was first published in 1980 and over the years has won different awards.

To simply break the book down, the book is placed in time in the 1980’s, Australia, Sydney and has a time slip in it. Beatie’s Bow’s family believe Abigail is the promised ‘Stranger’ who will arrive to save ‘The Gift’ for future generations of Bows. Within the story a lot of changes happen to Abigail.Which means it’s a book that goes from the present (or at least 1980’s present) back in time to the colonial Sydney 1873. The setting is around the real life location in historical Sydney rocks district. This was a location where a lot of ships were coming in and out, docking for various reasons.

A movie was actually made in 1986 and I haven’t seen it, but by all accounts it’s not as good as the book.

This or That? #69

This or That? #69

So, this week I want to know……

Do you have a favorite author? If so, who are they? Which of their books would you recommend to someone who has never read their work before?

Well I’m sure if you are a regular reader of mine, you will probably notice that I write a lot about Jodi Picoult and out of all the books I have. I have the most books, written by her, at the moment I have roughly about 22-23 out of her 26 books. I don’t have it, but I have read her book/comic about Wonder Woman. I am sort of anticipating getting her newest book for Christmas as well, Small Great Things

If I had to recommend a book for a first time reader. I would probably recommend Second Glance. Breaking it down it’s about love transcending time and space,  looking at mental illness, looking at Native American culture and rituals, and also taking a look back at a time when people were exploring Eugenics. For those who don’t know what Eugenics is, Eugenics represents a time were some people, roughly from the 1820’s, thought that you could irradiate things like, mental illnesses and what they considered to be “faults” by  selective breeding and sterilisation. Things like not being able to speak or write English, if you stole, if you tried to commit suicide etc.

Second Glance asks if truth is always something that can be measured… and if what can be measured is indeed always true.

It might sound a bit horrific, but one of the reasons I love Jodi Picoult, is because she has found a way to write her books with each characters point of view, without it being confusing. That’s what I love, you get to see the point of view of the character that you would consider to be a “villain”. You don’t necessarily feel sorry for the villains, but you understand better. This is one of the reasons I would choose this book for a first time reader. It has a lot of issues and you never get bored while reading it, but you don’t become confused either…I also had lot of “I didn’t see that coming” with this book as well.

I DID IT!!!

Keeping Faith – Jodi Picoult

Sometimes there comes along a book and when you start to read it, you realise that you are just never going to be able to finish. Now before I start this I just want to say that if you start reading a book, even by your favourite author, and you realise you cannot read it, then by all means PLEASE put it down. Never force yourself to read a book that you are just not going to enjoy.

I have literally had this book for years and have not finished it until this year, well, this weekend. It was one of the first books that I bought by Jodi Picoult, I had become a fan of hers. Keeping Faith first came out in 1999 (can you believe it!).

I still had my personal issues, but Jodi Picoult is such a fantastic writer! I can’t really fault her, she does a lot of research, to make sure she gets it all correct. I love how she tells things from different points of view.

To break the “story down” so to speak. The story is about Faith, literally, the theme of the story, and the name of the main character. Faith is a 7 year old girl, the daughter of a recent broken home and after an accident, she starts seeing “her guard”. An invisible friend who starts to help Faith perform “miracles”. The little girl is suddenly thrown into the spotlight, with a custody battle ensuing. The story is about those who do believe and those who don’t, and those who listen to our children, and those who don’t.

I would give this book a 4 out of 5 books. The main reason I went with this is because I felt like the guy who I’m assuming (you know that saying) is supposed to be the non-believer kind. I felt like he wasn’t very strong in his “non-believing”. Not too say that he just fell to his knees and started to believe, he didn’t start Believing. I think it comes from having a few very strong willed Atheist friends, they wouldn’t just fall over for a pretty face so quickly. Not that there’s anything wrong with being an Atheist. They just wouldn’t,lol

This or that? #65

This or That? #65

This week Bookmark Chronicles would like to know:

This week I want to know….

Are you on Goodreads? How do you like it?

If so, add me! – Rae Coleman (Bookmark Chronicles)

I do have a Goodreads account and it’s kind of a weird relationship I have with it. I do like it but sometimes I also feel like it has so many options and so many ideas of what you can read, that I get kind of overwhelmed. I have a lot fo books on my “want to read” list. I also feel sometimes once I’ve selected and let people know what I’m currently reading, I HAVE to read that book. Even though absolutely no one is pressuring me too.

At the moment I’ve had the same books up that I’m “currently reading” for about two months or so, and I still haven’t finished reading them. I’m not even honestly sure when I will finish them. I’ve taken up other crafts recently.

It is a great resource though for your favourite authors. A lot of authors are on there and they do share a lot on Goodreads.

Goodreads Profile – Lolsy’s Library

This or That? #61

This or That? #61

This week Bookmark Chronicles would like to know:

How often do you read the description of a book before you read it?

I’m feeling generous today so you have five options:

Always – Almost Always – Sometimes – Almost Never – Never

I would have to go with almost always. It does depend for me though, if it’s a series I’ve been interested or an author that I love, I will hardly every read the descriptions of a book before I’ve read it. In fact, I probably read it afterwards to see if it matches the descriptions. If you can’t describe something simply, you don’t understand it.

The only time I will really read a description is if I’ve never read a book by the author, or have never read the series before. The reason I said almost always is because I always ask for books that I know I want for presents, for Birthday, Christmas etc. So I usually am reading a description because I’m in a bookstore seeing what the book, which I know nothing about, what it may be about…Or even if the book is on sale, does it look interesting?

New book excitement!

I was so excited to read over this past week that one of my all time favourite authors Jodi Picoult is having a new book coming out and I am so excited! I haven’t bought a new Jodi Picoult book in a really long time.

Jodi Picoult’s New Novel About Racism Was ‘One of the Hardest’ She’s Ever Written (People/Online article)

It looks like an amazing book, not that I’m bias or anything. With most of Jodi Picoult books that are usually about some kind of topic that can cause some controversy. What I love the most about her writing is that she tends to write the book from every point of view and she does a lot of research for her books. I am not going to write a little short of the article, because I want to try and encourage you all to read the article. Instead of listening to just my point of view of the article and what I think.

Jackie Collins

So I was a bit shocked to discover that the great Lady Jackie Collins had passed away, I hadn’t even realised that she had breast cancer and was so sick.

Now I am not a fan of the whole “romance genre”, that’s just me, but I knew very well of Jackie Collins and the impact that she has had on that particular genre (or as some have said the “BonkBuster” genre). R.I.P to the great lady!

Jackie Collins