Showing posts with label Book Talk. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Book Talk. Show all posts

Monday, April 16, 2018

Book Talk; Covers


It feels like forever since I’ve done a book talk, or a decent post. Bit today I wanna do a post all about book covers. 


I personally hate the saying "Don’t Judge A Book By It’s Cover". Because unless the book is placed on a bookshelf backwards and you can only see the back you have no idea what the book is, the title, or in some cases the author. And even if that did happen your still judging a book by its cover. Just not the front. 


The cover of a book is the first thing you see so you’ve already pre judged what’s inside that book just a tiny bit but still judged it.  

So I will never say that I don’t judge a book by its cover. Because I so do. 

You can’t judge what’s inside the book by the cover but if it’s done well then you’ll get a good idea. 



Series book covers that go together are literally #MyFavorite #Goals

I mean I haven’t finished the Matched Trilogy yet but the covers are so beautiful 😍.  




I also like LA Candy series covers. Both with the dust jackets and without.  








Dorothy Koomson is someone who for me is just beyond amazing. I love her books and the covers of her books are just so beautiful. Especially the earlier UK editions where they are the pastel covers. (Nothing against the North American version or the later books) but I feel that that the pastel colours give it an edge.  






The hard back cover of Nicholas Sparks books are beautiful. With and without the jacket on them. 



One thing I did notice when looking at To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before is how weird the person on the front of the book holds the pen in their hand. It made me laugh out loud and shake my head at the same time.  





I was looking through my book shelf’s to find a book to read and noticed that a fair amount of books have shows on their cover.  

- Cinder
- The Devil Wears Prada
- Chasing Harry Watson
- Last Night At Chateu Marimont 
- Beneath The Glitter ✨ 
- The Time Travlers Wife
- My Best Friends Girl

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I’m not really judgemental on book covers, but I know that I judge them. And I’m not ashamed that I do judge them.  

The way I see judging a book is like a pie. You have all the ingredients to make the pie, where judging a book you have a lot of things to judge, and a small part of that is the book cover.   


While taking pictured for both this post and another post (I’m not sure what one will be first. This one or that one) I thought about the Pretty Little Liars books that I have and how the jacket on the hard cover copies are different than the book cover. So when I took them off there were A messages. Which I think is pretty cool 



I saw someone say that they didn’t like how on paper back copies of books that they sometimes don’t match up with the rest of the book. On such books like Matched and Cinder. But I like it. I like when they fit as well but I like when the cover is a little smaller as well. 


One thing I would like to see more off is hardback covers coming across to paper back instead of both books being completely different.  

One book that I judged hardcore was The Last Song by Nicholas Sparks. I hadn’t read it until recently because of the cover of the book. All because of Miley Cyrus. I dislike her. A lot. Her music. Her voice. Her acting skills.  


One of my favourite series is Harry Potter. I grew up reading the books like everyone my age. So when the Illustrated books came out I was exited. Christmas 2016 I was looking at Chamber of Secrets (my favourite book in the series) at the book store. I put it back and my dad told me that I could have it for Christmas. The cover art. Out. Of. This. World. 



Sunday, October 1, 2017

Book Talk: September Wrap Up

Welcome to September's book wrap up. It's a short one. 
  • Cress
    • Marissa Meyer
✖️nope. I'm having a hard time reading it. I'm enjoying it don't get me wrong it's just taking me a while to read it. I haven't read any in a while because I've been sick and don't wanna use to much brain power. 




  • Marshmallows for Breakfast 
    • Dorothy Koomson 
✔️.  Finished it. Loved it of course I did. 




  • Will Grayson, Will Grayson
    • John Green
I haven't even picked it up mainly for the reason that I haven't finished Cress yet to actually pick it up and read it. 

Friday, August 25, 2017

Book Talk: Dorothy Koomson and Why I Love Her 😍 Books πŸ“š

Welcome to a book Talk all about the amazing Dorothy Koomson. 

  • How I Came Across Her Books
It's a long story and I tend to babble. So I was in sainsburys with my mum, - we normally never went into sainsburys because there were other food stores that were easier to get to where we lived - but this particular day we had gone to sainsburys because it was close to where we were going or had been. It wasn't the one in the town we lived in but the next town over where my mum worked. At the end of the aisle by the tills were some books on sale and for some reason I was drawn to two books in particular. Marshmallows for Breakfast and My Best Friends Girl. So my mum said pick them up. They were on a good deal 2 for £7 or £4.99 each. So I picked them up, we paid and left. From that moment on I loved her books. I found two more of her books (The Chocolate Run and The Cupid Effect and again fell in love) but the saddest thing was I lent three of the books out to someone and never got them back, years later I got one of the books as a present for Christmas and I found two more different books. 


  • Range of Topics
In the books that I've read (marshmallows for Breakfast, My Best Friends Girl, Goodnight, Beautiful and The Ice Cream Girls) there are a wide range of topics covered that 
  • Adoption 
  • Alcoholism 
  • Lies
  • Surrogacy
  • Murder
  • Love
  • Prison
  • Children
  • Single parenthood
  • Divorce
  • Betrayal
  • Racism 
  • Friendship
  • Loss of a friendship 
  • Loss of a relationship 


  • Diversity 
I find that most of the women authors that I read are white women who very rarely write a book with a black character in it (in fact even men authors there isn't a lot of black characters in their books or even characters of different ethnic origins. I can only think of four authors who have included different race and colour in their books. JK Rowling in the Harry Potter Series, John Green in Paper Towns, The Help by Kathryn Stockert and To All The Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han are the only books that stand out that have various different ethnic backgrounds in them). But with Dorothy Koomson's book she has covered the fact that the characters are all different and not all just one ethnic background. What I also love about her books is that she covers all the topics and that she doesn't shy away from stereotypes and that people of colour go through more then what we think they do. 
What I liked about The Ice Cream Girls (which blew my mind it was so brilliant) was that even though I thought that one person had done the bad thing, it wasn't at all. It wasn't because of the colour of her skin it was because of the fact that she was the one to stand up for herself first. Also that your mind always changing back and forth between people who could have done it. 

  • Everyday Kinda Problems but not the classic First World Kinda Problems
Because of the vast majority of different topics that Dorothy covers in her books they are very much true to life kind of problems that majority of people go through everyday. They are so relatable to so many different people around the world. By first world I mean internet, tv, cell phone πŸ“± that kinda things. They cover bigger topics that people face everyday. 

  • UK covers
The U.K. Covers of the books are so beautiful  - not that the North American ones aren't - but the uk versions are so beautiful. 

  • Why I Love Her Books
Apart from they keep me hocked. It's the fact that Dorothy Koomson's writing style is right up my ally. Most books I read seem to have the same kind of themes, storyline, plots, how ever you want to put it, unlike most other books I read Dorothy's are from the perspective of black women. Dorothy has a way of bringing me in. For me I know a book will be good when I can imagine the characters off the page, and if they are standing in front of me and that's what Dorothy's books do so well. Admittedly I haven't read all of her books, but those I have are always on top of my recommendations for other people to read. 

Books I Have Read
  • The Cupid Effect
  • The Chocolate Run
  • My Best Friends Girl 
  • Marshmallows For Breakfast 
  • Goodnight, Beautiful 
  • The Ice Cream Girls





Books On My Shelf







Books I Don't Own



Lauren
xoxo

Sunday, May 7, 2017

Book Talk: Being Honest With Myself

Welcome
To another book Talk. This one is basically me being honest with myself. I'm sure a lot of people go through something like this everyday so I wanted to do a post all about it. 


  • The Amount Of Hauls People Do 
Booktubers seem to do a lot of hauls on a LOT of books each month. And if I am being honest i have a lot of mixed emotions about it. 
  • How can they afford it all
  • How come they get so many books
  • Why do they get so many books
  • Why can't I get that
  • Why haul so any books
  • Have they read all the books from previous hauls they have done

Then I remember that they have put them selfs out there a lot more then I have, they get sent books by publishers, or they are a part of a subscription service, or got them from a cheaper/scratch and dent website or what ever the case may be. 
But they seem to have a lot of books. That I then wonder how do they get through them all. Because I struggle with my small (compared to the book tube people I watch) TBR.  



How Many Books They Read A Month

This kind of goes along with the first one where I am wondering all different things. 
How on earth can they read so much. I know I can read a lot to some people but when I see people reading 5/6/7+ books a months I'm wondering if they actually reading the book or just flicking through the book or is it actually quantity over quality. 
Can I really take their advice because they seem to read so many books that I feel as if they are not really taking in what's happening within the book. 

  • Are Hyped Up Books Really Worth Getting Right Away
I learned the hard way with this. There are so many books that people hyped up to be amazing, then when I read them I don't think they are as amazing as everyone is making them out to be, that I put a ban on myself not to get hyped up books right away because sometimes they are not as good as you think they are. 

I like reading, but the only way I can read 5+ books a month is if I read childhood books each month, that can be a bit boring after a while when you've read them. 

But then I came to the realization that everyone is so different. And because we are all different that it makes us unique and the points I talked about earlier in the post I can do my self. I can get myself out there a lot more then I already have done. I don't have to read lots of books each month. 

Monday, March 20, 2017

Book Talk: Hyped Up Books; My Feelings Then vs Now.

Welcome Back 
Today's post is another Book Talk, this time on  Hyped Up Books,



Back when I started getting into reading again I would go on YouTube and see what people were loving, and there were so many books that people loved.

Some of them I waited to get until they were on sale because after reading Fan Girl by Rainbow Rowell, and a few other books that were hyped up and didn't love I didn't want to buy a book full price. That's why I like getting books that hardly anyone seems to have reviewed or hyped up.

It's great to hype a book up if you loved it, but it's also great to have people who have different views on a book.

HYEPED UP
Some books that I have read are really hyped up and I can totally see why while others I have no idea why, and some I find ok.


- To All The Boys I've Loved Before
This is a book that I feel I want to read with the other books in the series.  I'm just thankful that I didn't spend more then $10 on it.


- My Life Next Door.
I personally loved the book.  Maybe because I had read it right after TATBILB, but it's a perfect summer read. I like how Samantha wasn't as dumb as what most girls can be in these kinds of bolls


- Since You've Been Gone
I am on the fence with this book. I liked it, I wasn't crazy about it. I think it's a lot like Paper Towns but I prefer SYBG a lot more then Paper Towns.


- Fan Girl
This is the book that started it all off for me. It was so hyped up that I went and got the book. Peer pressure. Book tube pressure. And I was so disappointed with it.  It wasn't good enough in my opinion for the hype it was getting.


- Paper Towns
Paper Towns and Since You've Been Gone are very similar. But for me since You've Been Gone just takes the mark at being better. It's nothing against John Green or anything.

- The Fault in our Stars
The Fault in our Stars deserved all the hype it got. It's such a brilliant book and I enjoyed it.

- Twilight
If you have read any of my reviews on the twilight series you will know I really hated it. For me it went so downhill and so quickly.


NEED TO BE HYPED UP MORE

I personally think that there are many books out there that should be hyped up more but aren't. I find that people who do Book Related things on YouTube always go for the same kinds of books. They don't branch out and look elsewhere in the bookstores.

- My Best Friends Girl by Dorothy Koomson
My Best Friends Girl (or anything by Dorothy Koomson) is a must read for me.  Yes they deal with hard hitting topics but they are done so beautifully it's hard not to like My Best Friends Girl or any book by her





- The Ice Cream Girls
Again another Dorothy Koomson book. She is that good that I couldn't recommend her enough.


- Marshmallows for Breakfast
Lauren recommending another Dorothy Koomson book. Get outta town. Dorothy could write about a black garbage can and it would be fantastic.

- Hate List by Jennifer Brown
Hate List was a complete surprise to me. I hadn't heard anyone talk about it. Blogged about it. Nothing. When I read it my heart broke. It's such a powerful book. When I went on YouTube to see if anyone had reviewed it or even hauled it there was one video. That was it. It's so under hyped it should be more hyped up but I think people are scared to read it because of the premise of the book. I would highly recommend it. For me to read a book again because I dislike it is rare but when I find a book I love I will read it over and over again.



Rules of Summer duology
It's cheesey but it's a good kind of cheese. It's a great summer read and I have never ever seen anyone haul it or review it. I enjoyed it.



Even though I like the fact that there is so many opinions on books that everyone seems to love or as I put it the more popular books, I am that person who gets books that are on sale that no one thinks about looking at in the book store. I've found some amazing books on sale at the book store, or at the end of an aisle of a grocery store or by an author who has more books then a popular book they are known for. Everyone has different opinions on books, but I like to see variety.


Each book that's hyped up I tend to wait and get it until the hype is died down a bit because I want to wait and not have everyone's opinions on them right away. What ever book you hype up or is hyped up there will always be someone disagreeing with what you say about a book. And while that's ok, it's ok to not like a book or like a book that not everyone enjoys or enjoys. I hate it when people say it's the best book and that everyone will enjoy it.

This is a part of the reason why I like getting books on sale. Because you'll find books that no one seems to have read and you can make your own judgement on them.

One of the main things with hyped up books that I have found is that I find them hard to get into. I recently finished Cinder and while I like it it did take a while to get into it for me.

I tend not to pre order books. I think it's pointless.

Lauren
xoxo