Bookish Bingo Update #3: November (Fall #3)

Please visit Pretty Deadly Reviews for more information on Bookish Bingo!

Hello everyone, hope you had a fantastic November! This is my final Fall ’16 Bookish Bingo update (Winter Bookish Bingo posts will be starting here on Dec 2nd). I’ve really loved my first season of Bookish Bingo, and although I didn’t get any bingos this time (mostly due to being forced to read books for school that only fit into random categories)  I’ve had a really great time and I can’t wait to start the Winter Bookish Bingo card.

All hail my MS Paint skills!

This month I read four books (yellow is November’s colour):

Rec’d to You – Scar by Carrie Etter [I went to a poetry reading night and Carrie read this poem out which the guy from the book shop said was great. He was right it was fantastic and I had to buy it and read the whole chapbook again.]

Weapon on the Cover – Falling Kingdoms by Morgan Rhodes  [Lovely cover, lovely book]

Graphic Novel – Godzilla in Hell [A quick read, but I didn’t really understand what was going on, or enjoy it that much]

Backlist – Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier [My mum recommended this book to me four or five years ago, and this month I had to read it for my genre fiction class so I finally picked it up. I got the audiobook.]

And that is the end of Fall ’16 Bookish Bingo (awwww) but come back this Friday for the start of the Winter ’16 Bookish Bingo!

~ Lizz

BONUS NEWS: This is a special piece of news just for you for reading all the way to the end – this December I will be be uploading a blog post everyday! I’ve got lots of exciting new things planned for this next month including Bullet Journal related posts, book tags, I’ll be sharing some of my poetry, a few posts to get ready for 2017 and lots of reviews on top of that! I’ll hope you’ll join me for the most exciting month yet on TwoGirlsOnBlogUK.

^This didn’t happen, oh dear…

The Traveller Series by Tiffany Teoh Review // On my Preorder list #1 – Blog Tour

Find the other stops on this blog tour here.

The following opinions are my own. 

This post is an exciting post for two reasons (1) today I’m starting a new series called ‘On My Preorder List’, and (2) this is TwoGirlsOnBlog’s first blog tour!

My idea behind the ‘On My Preorder List’ series was to talk you through a book I’m really anticipating and tell you why. Today I’m kicking of the series with Tiffany Teoh’s  The Traveller Series – which comes out November 23rd! [Her publishers Royal James are giving away vouchers and e-copies of the book  – see the end of this blog post for details]!

Why is The Traveller Series on my pre-order list?

1 – The cover

Now I know people always say never judge a book by it’s cover but I think any bookworm out there will agree with me that when we’re in the bookshop if the cover of the book is pretty enough it’s coming home with us no matter what kind of book it is. The cover for The Traveller Series is absolutely stunning, as soon as the cover was revealed knew I had to buy it.

2 – What over the pre-release reviews are saying about it

So if you don’t judge a book by it’s cover then what do you judge it by then? Well, it’s Goodreads page of course and The Traveller Series has been getting some great pre-release reviews that have made it impossible for me not to pre-order it.

Estelle Harwood said  in her five star review – ‘Definitely a must read for poetry lovers who, like me, prefer the simplicity of words used to create depth that is discovered upon reading and re-reading, tasting the words, rolling them around and stringing them in sequence to evoke and challenge. “See, I consider my angels, to be strong, but I need someone, whose angels are stronger.”’

In her review Lynndell described the poetry and photography in The Traveller series as ‘breathtaking‘  and ‘gorgeous!‘

And in his review the Serial Reader described the book as ‘Young and genuine, The Traveller Series is a window to the world that makes you wonder “what’s next?”. A simple yet powerful example of how we can find beauty in the simplest things, if only we allow ourselves to slow down enough to witness them.’

3 – It sounds exactly like my kind of book

Teoh said that this collection of poems comes from her longing to travel after hearing everyone else talk about it and as a poor student that is something I can completely relate to. I’d love to go hiking in India or exploring New York but I can barely afford to pay my rent, I have classes to attend and essays to write.I think we all have had those moments where our wanderlust doesn’t line up with our bank account or our commitments in the real world. And that’s where books come in, I can travel round the world on a Tuesday morning and still make it into Uni in time to make my lecture on Pindar and Horace. I also have challenged myself to read more modern poetry this year to inspire me in my own writing and Teoh’s work looks like the perfect candidate for this.

 Other bonuses: This book is going to make the perfect Christmas present for all of my friends who love to travel! (Will and Hannah start getting excited because this is coming your way at Christmas time)!

The Traveller Series in Tiffany Teoh’s own words:

“The series started from a longing to want to travel after hearing all the good and bad tales from long term backpackers.

Every single piece that made it and didn’t make it in this is book has a special place in my heart as they were the beginning of a journey of a memory that never happened, but a longing that was constant.

We all naturally have it in us to wonder and wander, it’s just a matter of allowing it to take you to places.”

 About Tiffany Teoh:

Tiffany is a Malaysian born Chinese, of Peranakan heritage. She was raised in Kuala Lumpur until the age of 17 and proceeded to live in Australia for 8 years until the age of 25. She is currently hitchhiking and traveling around the world with her fiancé and their puppy. For more on Tiffany, visit her website. 

Find her on her WEBSITE/FACEBOOK/TWITTER/INSTAGRAM

To celebrate the release of the Traveller Series on November 23rd Royal James Publishers are hosting a giveaway:

Click here  or visit Royal James Publishing’s Facebook page to enter to win a $20 Amazon Gift Card and a digital copy of, The Traveller Series by Tiffany Teoh.

Bonus: Check out Tiffany’s brilliant guest post on The Serial Reader’s blog!

~ Lizz

I’m (almost) finished – books I’m still struggling to finish

We all have some books that we just can’t seem to finish. Whether that’s because we’re not enjoying them or because we’re just not in the mood to pick them up and finish them off.

Today I thought I’d share with you my list of books that have been on my currently reading list for way too long and tell you a little bit about why I’m struggling hit that I’m finished button on goodreads:

Jane Eyre -Charlotte Bronte

I really should have finished Jane Eyre by now, I’ve studied it twice (once for my A Levels and once at Uni), I’ve written two essays on it, I find the themes and motifs of the books so interesting. But for some reason everytime I get around 70% of the way through I loose my steam and can’t seem to get past that page.

Selected Poems – Alexander Pope

I will probably never finish this book. Pope’s poems aren’t for me. I should really DNF it. One of the poems in this book is over fifty pages long – who has time to read that much boring poetry.

The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao – Junot Diaz

I can’t tell if this is a boring book, if I just started reading it too young or if literary fiction is not for me. Whatever reason this book as been sitting half finished on my book case back at my parents house for almost three years and I can’t work up the nerve to pick it back up again.

A Darker Shade of Magic – V. E. Schwab

I don’t know what’s wrong with me. I love this book whenever I pick it up. The characters are great and the world is really unique and exciting, however I really struggle to find the will to read this book. I even couldn’t force myself to pick it up when I tried to do a month of finishing reading half finished books.

Illuminae – Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman

I’m not sure this book is for me, but everyone else loves it so much I think I’ll have to see it through to the end.

Clarissa – Samuel Richardson

I’m currently meant to be reading this book for Uni but I just don’t have the time. It’s 1500 and something pages long, and the text is half the size of most books and the pages are twice as big. It’s also quite a slow book. I really want to finish this book one day, it might just not be any time soon.

What half read books are currently sat patiently waiting on your shelf for you to pick them up again? How do you decide you’re ready to DNF a book?

-Lizz

10 fantasy book series I’m dying to read

Anyone else being crushed under a ridiculously large TBR list? My TBR pile and list are growing daily, it’s terrifying. I can’t help myself if someone tells me about a book I write it down in my bullet journal and run off to the library (whilst in the library I get distracted by more pretty books and even though I only came in for one book I end up leaving with twelve and have ruined my life).

At the beginning of the year I wrote this list as a rough guide for myself for what I wanted to be reading this year. Oh poor naive me from the past who thought she would stick to her plans.

My new plans is to tell you lot that I want to read these series because if I admit on the internet that I’m planning to read these books I feel more obliged to read them (I don’t want you lovely people thinking I’m some kind of reading failure!!) So here is my list of the top ten fantasy series I want to read:

A song of ice and fire – G.R.R. Martin

This is a goal that I’ve talked about quite a bit on this blog already but one of my reading goals for 2016 is to get completely caught up on the A song of ice and fire series (and maybe the TV show as well if I get the time!). You all know that these books are freaking HUGE so it’s taking me a little while to work through this series (and by a little while I mean years because university is cruel and ants to me read at least two books a week for them on top of my own reading)- but I’m currently two thirds of the way through A Dance with Dragons part 1, I’m slowly getting there…

Discworld – Sir Terry Pratchett

These books are nowhere near as big as Martin’s novels but there are so many of them – so many! Not that that’s a bad thing, personally I wish this series was infinitely long and I could just carry on reading them forever. I’m currently reading the seventh book in this series and I’m loving every word of it. Discworld is a satirical exploration of beliefs and British society written by the late, great Sir Terry Pratchett.

Falling kingdoms – Morgan Rhodes

I finished the first book of this series last night on the train and oh my days it is so good. Incestual feelings, witches, hidden lands, war, stunning castles – what more do you need??

Earthsea cycle

All hail Queen Ursula!

The kingkiller chronicles – Patrick Rothfuss

This series tops most lists of best fantasy series which is amazing seen as its not even finished yet! Add to that my love for Patrick. I just have to read this series. I already own all of this series and now it is sat on my book shelf making me feel guilty.

Lord of the rings – J. R. R. Tolkien

A classic. I should be taken out and shot for not having read it already.

The Inheritance Cycle – Christopher Paolini

This list didn’t have anywhere near enough dragons in it. Why didn’t I read this while I was a teenager like every other self respecting reader, I’m not sure…

The Lightbringer series – Brent Weeks

Every review I love who has read this series has given all these books five stars. I’m dying to read them. They’re just so big and they terrify me.

Temeraire – Naomi Novik

‘Dragons-‘ I’m sold already. Dragons fighting in real historical battles, does it get much better than that?? The ninth and final book came out earlier this year, better late than never I guess.

The Malazan book of the Fallen – Steven Erikson

I’ve never heard anyone talking about this series on Booktube/ or on their blog but one day when I was reading buzzfeed’s The 51 Best Fantasy Series Ever Written (I don’t know why I did this, my TBR list is already way too long, it’s like I enjoy torturing myself…) and it sounded so good it went onto the list with any hesitation.

Pray for me.

-Lizz

November ’16 TBR

I’m going to try and keep it simple this month because I’ve got so many deadlines coming up at Uni and I’m trying to do NaNoWriMo this month so I’m not sure I’ll have time to read anything other than my required reading for Uni. (I’m really behind on my yearly reading goal but I’m going to have to leave the mad, last minute reading rush until December I think).

1. The Big Sleep – Raymond Chandler

‘When a dying millionaire hires Philip Marlowe to handle the blackmailer of one of his two troublesome daughters, Marlowe finds himself involved with more than extortion. Kidnapping, pornography, seduction, and murder are just a few of the complications he gets caught up in.’

A classic I’ve been wanting to read for a long time, and now I get to study it. I’m over the moon about this.

2. The 9th Life of Louis Drax – Liz Jensen

‘Nine-year-old Louis Drax is a problem child: bright, precocious, deceitful – and dangerously, disturbingly, disaster-prone. When he falls off a cliff into a ravine, the accident seems almost predestined. Louis miraculously survives – but the family has been shattered.
Louis’ father has vanished, his mother is paralysed by shock, and Louis lies in a deep coma from which he may never emerge. In a clinic in Provence, Dr Pascal Dannachet tries to coax Louis back to consciousness. But the boy defies medical logic, startling Dannachet out of his safe preconceptions, and drawing him inexorably into the dark heart of Louis’ buried world.
Only Louis holds the key to the mystery surrounding his fall – and he can’t communicate. Or can he?’ -Goodreads

I’m a big fan of crime TV shows but I’ve never really read a crime novel before. I’m excited to delve into the world of crime and Louis Drax.

3. The Silent Land – Graham Joyce

‘THE SILENT LAND is a brooding and tender look at love and whether it can survive the greatest challenge we will ever face. The film rights have been optioned by the producer of BROKEBACK MOUNTAIN. A young couple are caught in an avalanche during a ski-ing holiday in the French Alps. They struggle back to the village and find it deserted. As the days go by they wait for rescue, then try to leave. But each time they find themselves back in the village. And, increasingly, they are plagued by visions and dreams and the realization that perhaps no-one could have survived the avalanche.’ -Goodreads

Spook spook. I’m reading this book for the horror section of my genre fiction course. I’ve never read a horror book before so I’m both excited and very scared about starting this.

4. War of the Staffs – K.M. Tedrick & Steve Stephenson

‘The goddess Adois brings a powerful vampire warlock named Taza through the void to turn Muiria into a planet of evil using her powerful staff. Needing an army, he turns a race of dark elves into vampires, but Prince Tarquin is born to fulfil a prophecy to stop Taza.

The prince cannot do it alone. The Wizard Celedant sends him to the Borderers, an elite group of dwarves to learn how to fight, while the wizard begins his search for the Staff of Adaman, the only thing capable of thwarting Taza and Adois’ Staff.

War of the Staffs is the search for two pieces of the ancient Staff of Adaman to counter Adois’ plans. The darkness is rising and using the black power of the Staff of Adois and his army of dark elves, giants, and orcs, Taza will begin a reign of terror the planet will not soon forget.’

One of these days I’ll get around to reading this…*guilt intensifies*

5. Falling Kingdoms – Morgan Rhodes

‘In the three kingdoms of Mytica, magic has long been forgotten. And while hard-won peace has reigned for centuries, a deadly unrest now simmers below the surface.
As the rulers of each kingdom grapple for power, the lives of their subjects are brutally transformed… and four key players, royals and rebels alike, find their fates forever intertwined. Cleo, Jonas, Lucia, and Magnus are caught in a dizzying world of treacherous betrayals, shocking murders, secret alliances, and even unforeseen love.
The only outcome that’s certain is that kingdoms will fall. Who will emerge triumphant when all they know has collapsed?
It’s the eve of war…. Choose your side.
Princess: Raised in pampered luxury, Cleo must now embark on a rough and treacherous journey into enemy territory in search of magic long thought extinct.
Rebel: Jonas, enraged at injustice, lashes out against the forces of oppression that have kept his country cruelly impoverished. To his shock, he finds himself the leader of a people’s revolution centuries in the making.
Sorceress: Lucia, adopted at birth into the royal family, discovers the truth about her past—and the supernatural legacy she is destined to wield.
Heir: Bred for aggression and trained to conquer, firstborn son Magnus begins to realize that the heart can be more lethal than the sword…’ – Goodreads

Travelling and work loads have got in the way of me finishing this book. I’m about halfway through (and have been for a month) – hopefully I’ll get the time to finish it this month.

What are you  reading this month? Let me know in the comments!! Happy reading.

Lizz