Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish & Introverted Book Protagonists

This week’s TTT topic is “Book Characters I’d Love to Be Besties With” but because there are so many characters to choose from and I’d probably just pick the same YA characters anyone else was picking who despite my hopes, would never actually be friends at me (Aelin from TOG would take one look at me and deem me too shy/wimpy/awkward to be a part of her court), thus, I decided to put a spin on the topic and do a shoutout to my fellow booknerd & introverted book characters…Who I guess I could all easily befriend?!?! Okay I guess I’m still technically doing the same topic, I’m just calling it by a different name. 😅

Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish in June of 2010 and was moved to That Artsy Reader Girl in January of 2018. It was born of a love of lists, a love of books, and a desire to bring bookish friends together.

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1. Cath from Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Our classic booknerd/fangirl/writer and fellow introvert! And in an New Adult book set in college! Also, eating granola bars in her room because she didn’t want to go to dining hall alone is 110% relatable (I didn’t cancel my meal plan–even tho I can’t cook–because returning to the dining hall for another year sounded like too much effort, NOT AT ALL). Ahhh, I want more quality contemporary NA books set in college. PLEASE UNIVERSE I’M BEGGING YOU.

2. Eliza Mirk from Eliza and Her Monsters by Francesca Zappia

Another artsy introvert (I mean that’s this whole list, but shhh) who lives in her sweat pants and baggy t-shirts and has anxiety. Guys, she’s definitely one of us! I read both this book and Fangirl back in 2017 and they totally made my reading year.
Also, I started reading webcomics this summer, so I have a whole new appreciation for Eliza AND I REALLY WISH HER WEBCOMIC WAS REAL AAAAHH!

3. Laila Piedra from Final Draft by Riley Redgate

An aspiring sci-fi writer wishing she did more in life and whose self-view as a writer heavily depends (at first) on her teachers’ praise? Yeah, I relate to that. A lot. I discovered this book this summer and Laila’s journey is SO GREAT! Really, it’s only flaw is that the story needed to be a lot longer in order to properly explore all of it’s important topics!

4. Jane Grey from My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows

Jane is Super Booknerd™ to a T. She prefers books to practically everything else and she reads everything out there and she’s hella smart and witty. I feel like she needs to take me on as an apprentice and teach me all her supreme bookish ways.

5. Mateo Torrez from They Both Die at the End by Adam Silvera

Mateo is the definition of a soft & precious cinnamon roll. He’s super sweet, kind, pure, and hella introverted. COME BACK MATEO!!!

6. Elle Wittimer from Geekerella by Ashley Poston

Probably more geeky and nerdy than bookish, but Elle definitely still deserves a spot on this list! We always stan a fangirl and a fellow blogger here.

7. Jane Hayes from Austenland by Shannon Hale

Hey look, another Jane! Okay, but any girl who’s read Pride & Prejudice over a dozen times and dreams of her own Austen romance definitely belongs on this list.

8. Jessamin Olea from Illusions of Fate by Kiersten White

It’s been quite a handful of years since I last read this book, but I remember adoring this fantasy STANDALONE, so I love to scream about it whenever I can. I do remember that Jessamin is a strong & independent scholarly woman and HELLA SMART. She leaves her island home to pursue a higher education and she will not be messed with.
(I quickly flipped through a couple pages of this book and wow, I really wanna reread this one now.)

9. Stella Lane from The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Stella is FRICKING BRILLIANT and a total introvert, so this list wouldn’t be complete without her. Though I loved the book’s romance, I think Stella’s character truly made The Kiss Quotient and I will forever completely adore her character.

10. Maddy from Gamer Girl by Mari Mancusi

Okay, this one might be a stretch, because I read it at least 8 years ago (in middle school) and I don’t remember much. But any character who wishes that they lived in a fantasy world, struggles with friends, and spends hours upon hours gaming, has a friend here.

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Have you read any of these books? Do you also adore these protagonists? Do you have recommendations for other bookish & introverted protagonists?

If you participated in TTT this week, feel free to link up your post in the comments below–I would love to check them out!

November Wrap-Up: Too Much Homework, Leather Jackets, and I finally started Six of Crows! [ALSO My Semi-Hiatus Continues]

Hey guys, just popping on here real quick with my November wrap-up before I return to my hiatus. I will officially be back and active on my blog come December 14th, when my semester ends and all my final projects are turned. I literally have all 3 of my big projects due within 12 hours of each other (but so far I am somewhat managing to live in denial of the stress, so that’s good).

Let’s see, November was…a stressful blur and I’m not sure I really remember much of what I did, or if I care to, honestly. I think it was me really just holding out for the end of the semester (which is sooo close, ahhhhh).

ALSO I just finished a rough draft of my 10 page paper for my Jane Austen class and I feel so accomplished, omg.

Good gracious, why are intros so hard to write? I never know what to say. Okay, let’s just move on because I need to go to sleep after I post this. 😴

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BOOKS I READ:

1. Bridget Jones’s Diary by Helen Fielding

Rating: 2 stars

Yeah, not a fan. I get that it was written in the 90s and that feminism was different then, but there was just so much self-loathing in this book and I hated reading about it. Not to mention that Bridget is a ditzy character and arghhhh, she drove me insane.

2. All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr

Rating: 4.5 stars

Definitely had a slow start (and the book totally could have been shorter), but omg the writing was amazing. I also loved how instead of being written in chapters, the book was written in vignettes (which was so much more engaging). I don’t know if I can concisely summarize this book, so definitely look it up if you haven’t heard of it before!

(also this book ended up being helpful for a project that I had to do for my Cultural Heritage class which was sooo nice).

3. Emma by Jane Austen

Rating: 3.25 stars

As always, I loved Austen’s writing, but as for the rest of the book? Not a big fan. The protagonist is annoying, not a lot happens plot-wise (I swear like a third of the book takes place in Emma’s thoughts & imaginations), the romance is too creepy, and the ending was too easy/passive (Emma did nothing to bring about these resolutions).

4. Austenland by Shannon Hale

Rating: 3 stars

Basically a loose Pride & Prejudice retelling featuring an Austen fanatic and an Austen-inspired resort. A quick, cute & fun read but there wasn’t a lot of substance to it. This novel was literally under 200 pages. I loved reading all the shout-outs to other Austen books though!

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DECEMBER TBR:

Okay, this is more like my TBR for the rest of the semester (so until December 14th). I plan to do a separate post about my Winter Break TBR (for the Top Ten Tuesday on December 18th). Also, I’m already technically reading Six of Crows (I’m just over 1/3 of the way through), but I still wanted to include it in my TBR. Marbles is a graphic memoir that I have to read for Cultural Heritage class (and then get write a 6-8 page final paper on, yay me!!😭)

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RANDOM LIFE UPDATES:

• My roommate and I watched the first season of She-Ra and the Princesses of Power on Netflix and fricking adored it!
• I got to see my pets while home during Thanksgiving break! Came home to find that my third cat, not featured below, has taken over my room and lies in my bed on a daily basis, the darn rascal. 😝
  • Aahhhh, I can’t wait to see them when I return home!

This is Gamer and Rome, respectively.

This is my chocolate lab, Bailey!

• My fiction writing class had lunch with Emily St. John Mandel, the author of Station Eleven, who gave us such helpful writing advice!
• My friend and I completed our goal of finding leather jackets! We noticed when we attended the YA Fandom Frenzy last year that the majority of authors seemed to wear black leather jackets, so we decided that in order to accomplish our dreams of someday becoming authors, we needed to acquire leather jackets. 😁

• I HAVE TWO WEEKS LEFT IN MY FALL SEMESTER! Praise the freaking lord.

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What books did you read in November? Do anything fun? If you’re in school currently, how are you doing now that the semester is coming to a close?

SEMI-HIATUS ANNOUNCEMENT/ WWW Wednesday: November 21st, 2018

As you guys may have noticed, I have not posted for the last 2 weeks. The only reason I’m managing to post now is because I’m on Thanksgiving break (lol and it’s still 15 minutes until Thursday here, whoops). As this semester has been coming to a close, I’ve found myself stressed and swamped over all that I have to do for my classes and I have not been able to find the time, energy, nor motivation to post. Thus, I am announcing a semi-hiatus until my semester ends in the middle of December. I will be around to respond to the comments of this post and I also plan post a November Wrap-Up at the end of this month, but besides that, I will be absent and focusing on college. Thank you guys so much for understanding; I can’t wait to be fully reunited with guys come winter break! 🙂 ❤

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Now for a brief update on my reading:

(For those of you who don’t know: WWW Wednesday is a weekly book meme hosted by Taking on a World of Words where you answer 3 ‘what’ questions about your reading.)

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What are you currently reading?
(again, a lot)

• Olive Kitteridge– Reading this for my fiction writing class!
• Station Eleven– Was suppose to read this for November 13th when the author visited my college. As you can see, I did not succeed. Only got 1/3 of the way through…
• Rule– Still at 34%…(since September 7th, yikes!)
• Celtic Tales– Haven’t picked this one up in awhile either.
• Ruin and Rising– Ditto here. 😅

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What have you recently finished?

As always, I loved Austen’s writing, but as for the rest of the book? Not a big a fan. Emma is annoying, not a lot happens plot-wise (I swear like a third of the book takes place inside Emma’s thoughts & imaginations), the romance is kinda creepy, and the ending was too easy/passive (Emma did nothing to bring about these resolutions).

This marks the 4th Jane Austen book I’ve read (I’ve previously read P&P, S&S, and Northanger Abbey). I am still looking forward to reading Mansfield Park and Persuasion someday though!

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What do you think you’ll read next?

• Austenland– Going to read this for my Jane Austen class! I love Shannon Hale, so I really hope this book doesn’t disappoint me.
• Six of Crows– I’m finally hoping on this bandwagon!! I mean, I kinda have to since my book club is reading it and we’re meeting on Monday to discuss the first half, so yeah…but still! I meant to finish my reread of the Grishaverse trilogy, but as you can see by my “currently reading” list, that didn’t happen. Oh well 😆

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What books are you currently reading? Any books you’re looking forward to reading? What’s your favorite Jane Austen novel?

If you’re in school, are you hanging in there? (If you’re managing to blog while also balancing school, can you give me tips?)

If you made a WWW Wednesday post this week, feel free to link it up in the comments below, I would love to read them!

October Wrap-Up: Lots of Books Read for Classes + a Road Trip to See Sarah J. Maas on her KOA Tour!

Wow, I really need to get better about working on these posts during the month or at the very least not trying to craft these posts last minute (like I’m attempting to right now).

Ahhh, this month was a whirlwind of stress and homework and I’m kinda anxious about the rest of semester, so I’m really looking forward to December 14th when my semester will over.

Same as the last 2 months have been, I’ll probably continue to be pretty spotty with my presence on my blog in November. Hoping I’ll be able to continue to get about 6 posts up per month, but we’ll see.

(wow, that was a rough intro, but I won’t dally any longer because I don’t think any more rambling from me will improve this.)

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BOOKS I READ:

1. The Curious Incident of the Dog at Night-time by Mark Haddon

Rating: 3.5 stars?

I read this whole book in one day! I read this book for my cultural heritage class on disability. Now, after looking up the author, I realize Haddon does not have autism like his protagonist, Christopher does, so it seems that the representation isn’t completely accurate, but from what I observed and read from other reviews, the rep still seems to be fairly decent.

Overall, this was a really interesting and fun read, but I wouldn’t call it incredible.

2. The Diving Bell and the Butterfly by Jean-Dominique Bauby

Rating: 4.5 stars

Another book I read in a day, lol, but this one was only 132 pages. This is a memoir written in vignettes about a magazine editor who suffered a stroke in 1995 which resulted in ‘locked-in syndrome’. After the stroke he was only able to slightly move his head and blink his left eye (which with a translator, is how he wrote this book). His writing is so amazing and beautiful and ahhhh I’m just in awe that his man composed this entire book in his head.

3. Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

Rating: 5 stars!

ALL THE STARS FOR JANE AUSTEN! I just love her sassy writing. I want to read all her books and the watch/read all the adaptations of P&P.

Also, this is really nerdy, but I made a Buzzfeed quiz inspired by this book called Which Bennet Sister Are You? if you guys wanna check it out! ☺️

4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Rating: 5 stars

Could I really be expected to rate this otherwise? But guys, I finally hopped on this bandwagon! Omg, this book was so incredible and gripping! I loved all the characters, especially Starr and her family. From the situation to the fleshed-out characters, the realism in this book is astounding. Ahhh, I’m gonna stop this mini-review here because I don’t think I can write a coherent enough review to do this book justice.

5. Empty Hands by Abegail Ntleko

Rating: 3.5 stars

An autobiography about a South African woman who essentially dedicated her life (seriously, I don’t think this woman ever slept) to helping others, especially those affected by the AIDS crisis. It was an interesting and relatively eye-opening read, it’s just that it seemed to fall short? I guess at only 125 pages, I wanted more?

6. El Deafo by Cece Bell

Rating: 4.5 stars

A graphic memoir! How cool is that?
Such a cute, quick, and important read! I loved the art, and the insight into Cece’s imagination and feelings.

7. Love Medicine by Louise Erdrich

Rating: 5 stars

A super amazing and incredible collection of short stories, I’m just annoyed that my professor made us spend forever reading this book and that she treated it like a flawless work (since no writer is perfect).
I do still plan to read more of Erdrich’s work in the future.

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November TBR:

I technically started reading All the Light We Cannot See on Halloween, but I’m still counting it for this TBR.

I’m also (unrealistically) hoping that I’ll finally be able to finish reading Ruin and Rising and Rule, but we all know that’s not going to happen.

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RANDOM LIFE UPDATES:

• MY FRIEND KELSIE AND I WENT TO SARAH J. MAAS’S KINGDOM OF ASH EVENT IN CHICAGO!!!!!
  • Driving there and back took 6 hours but it was sooo worth it.
  • We also got there right before it started so we didn’t have a chance to do any of the extra activities beforehand but I honestly didn’t mind because there was wayyyy to many people crammed into that small area.
  • SJM is such an amazing person and author and I will be a loyal fan forever.
  • She brought out her baby and he was sooo cute!

• My roommate, a couple of our housemates, and I started watching Avatar: The Last Airbender!!!! We just started Book 2 the other day and I’m so psyched because I can’t wait for Toph to be introduced (my roommate has never seen the show before).
• I saw the movie adaptation of The Hate U Give!
  • It was definitely different in that scenes & details were shifted in order to get rid of a couple subplots and make the story-line simpler. There were also some details about the ending that were changed that I LOVED. Perhaps even more than the book’s ending?!?! I haven’t decided yet. I also choked up at least 5 times during the movie.
    So overall the movie was somewhat different, but a good different in my opinion. 🙂
• I’M GOING TO NEW YORK CITY NEXT SEMESTER!
  • On Halloween, I found out that I got accepted into an off-campus study program in NYC!
  • Instead of taking classes I’ll have internships and be attending seminars and workshops. I’m super excited because I think I’m at the point where I need to be in a different learning environment and away from my college for a little bit.

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How was your October? Did you do anything fun for Halloween? Did you gorge on candy like me?