Top Five Fictional Worlds I Would Never Want To Live In

For this week, I'll be sharing the top five (couldn't come up with ten, hah) fictional worlds that I would never want to live in - in short, anything dystopian-like in the oppressive sense.

1. Menzoberranzan 

Home of the Dark Elves, Forgotten Realms

Menzoberranzan, by dangercook. Photo Source

Top 10 Goals and Resolutions for 2014

1. Wrap/purge my books. End of fall quarter called for another round of book wrapping, but I haven't done it yet. I also own books that I don't really want to keep but can't trade away because I've scribbled in them. I'll take them to the library and sneak them into the sale cart. 

2. Get rid of distractions. That letter I've been meaning to write will become very tempting as I start working on an essay. Time to put it away until I finish what I have to. My main priorities will be my classes, honors thesis, and looking for an internship. 

3. Keep the room clean. This will help me with #2. Perhaps a weekly purge will help. 

4. Drink instant coffee and tea at home and avoid buying gourmet coffee drinks on campus. 

By sticking to brewed coffee, I was pretty good about this during the fall, but in the heart of winter, a spicy Mayan hot cocoa just sounds so good that I'd be willing to plunk down 4 bucks for a cup. NO. 

Top Ten Books I Read in 2013

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. 

The topic this week is the top 10 books we read in 2013, continuing on the end-of-year theme of 2013's top dogs. Not all of these books were published in 2013, and I had to flip through my Goodreads "read" shelf to recall all of the books I had read. :) 

1. Cracked by Eliza Crewe

A sassy main character who isn't exactly a "good" person, caught in the middle of a battle between demons and Templars.

Top Ten Books I Wouldn't Mind Santa Bringing Me

Hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. 

As much as I would love to just buy whatever book I want to read, my tiny bookshelf would never be able to support all those books! The tomes I do have in physical form are usually the ones I choose to collect. Therefore, for this list I'll include books I definitely wouldn't mind having on my shelf or Kindle from Santa...that I don't own already. ;) 

Going off topic for a sec: I just did 14 minutes' worth of step exercises on my ottoman and I'm a bit sore. Oh, the wonderful uses of an ottoman! 

Top Ten New-to-Me Authors I Read In 2013

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. 

This book has been a great year for reading for me. I've fallen in love with the works of many authors, especially in the YA genre. A few are established authors that I have only recently met, but there are many debut authors that knocked my socks off.

1. H.G. Wells

I read: The Time Machine

Well. I am, embarrassingly, a century or so late. Not that I could really help it, since I didn't even exist for most of the belated century. ;) Wells's vision of the distant future is eerie and speculates on the future of the class division between the proletariat and the bourgeoisie. I got scared reading the scenes between the protagonist and the Morlocks at night. 

2. Rainbow Rowell

I read: Eleanor & Park 

This is the sort of book that I wish existed when I was in high school. I could totally relate. It's not the sugar-coated, escapist version of high school that you get here; you get real teenagers with real conflicts in their lives. It's realistic but still leaves you with a sense of hope about the good people in the world.

3. Lauren Nicolle Taylor

I read: The Woodlands, The Wall (currently reading)

I don't remember how I came across Woodlands but the cover definitely attracted my attention. This is a dystopian novel, and I just love Rosa as a fierce main character. 

4. Cristin Terrill 

I read: All Our Yesterdays

So good. A well-plotted time travel novel. It's a mind-boggler. 

5. Eliza Crewe

I read: Cracked 

The main character is so sassy and made the novel so fun to read.

6. Sarah J. Maas

I read: Throne of Glass 

I also plan on reading Crown of Midnight. Ooh. *shivers* 

7. Dmitry Glukhovsky 

I read: Metro 2033 

A chilling post-apocalyptic novel about survivors of nuclear war who hide and live in the old Russian subway tunnels. Their biggest enemy are the dangerous mutants who compete with them for space and food, and threaten to destroy the last bastions of humanity in eastern Europe.

8. Brent Weeks 

I read: Way of the Shadows

A novel in a fantasy setting about assassins, or more specifically, wetboys. It fits within the deep fantasy genre, as it contains a lot of standard fantasy tropes and doesn't deviate too much from it. The power plays and intrigue along with the physical training kept me reading. It's so good. After I read it, I went on Paperbackswap and requested the other two books in this trilogy. 

9. Ken Dahl

I read: Monsters

His graphic novel made me giggle and cringe. It's great. I look forward to reading more from him.

10. Brian K. Vaughan (Writer) & Fiona Staples (Illustrator)

I read: Saga (Vol. 1)

The dialogue and artwork in this series is breathtakingly good. I can start reading in the middle and get hooked in the addictive narrative. It's a beautifully done series centered around two likable characters. 

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Thanks for reading! What were some authors that you were new to this year?

Top Ten Books I'd Recommend to My Teenage Brother

Hello! Top Ten Tuesday is a meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. This week, I'm going to give a list of the top ten books I would recommend to my teen brother. Some of these I've already recommended to him, and others I haven't but would love to once Christmas break starts. I'm going to limit the list to books I've already read because I feel weird about recommending a book that I myself haven't read. Do people even do that? 

This list is influenced by the fact that my brother enjoys fantasy and historical/political intrigue. 

Top Ten Unusual Character Names

Top Ten Tuesday is hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Check them out!

This week's topic is about the top ten unusual character names that I have come across while reading books.  I think "unusual" is a very relative term. What is unusual for me may be perfectly ordinary to someone else. So here they are. 

Top Ten Books I Was "Forced" to Read (But Enjoyed)

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Check them out! 

This week's topic is the top ten books I was "forced" to read, as in assigned or strongly recommended, either by teachers, friends, bloggers, book clubs...basically anyone (aside from my dad) who has ever (nicely) pushed a book at my face. :P

Top Ten Tuesday: Best/Worst Book Series Endings

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish. Check them out! 

This week's topic is the top ten best and worst series endings. Gosh...This one's gonna be hard for me because I'm notorious for starting series and not ending them (or taking forever to). I mean...which book series have I even finished after high school? *hides* 

I mean, it's not like I don't mean to finish series I like. I just tend to procrastinate on it. 

Therefore...I shall draw on YA-ish series I read in high school as well as after. There's a spoiler for Harry Potter, but no spoilers for anything else. I just figure that most of you have read the books or seen the movies for HP.

Top Ten Tuesday: Book Turn-Offs That You Encounter While Reading

Hey y'all. Top Ten Tuesday's a meme hosted by Broke and Bookish's blog, and this will be my first post in this meme-dom.

This week's topic is on what turns you off while you're reading a book. I can think of a few...