Almost Favorite Books

I've finally finished making the reading page (link is below the header - reading) to look as I wanted. For no reason, other than to fulfill my blog's first part of the tagline (reading & scribbling) I thought I share a list of my favorite books and some favorite quotes. It's not a definite list as I might find more favorites later on. Making this list has made me realized my reading taste has changed but I'm not sure if it's for the better. Anyway, I thought I share a list of the books that didn't make it on the list. You can say these are almost favorites books or maybe past favorites.

01 - The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis - I enjoyed the series but not all the books or how the series ended. My favorite or at least, the book I like the best in this series, is The Horse and His Boy.

02 - The Girl with Glass Feet by Ali Shaw - I guess I kind of ignored the sometimes complicated writing which sort of make the story less enjoyable. I didn't completely mind the ending was depressing as I really liked the story.

03 - Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte - This used to be a favorite but now I find it a bit depressing with an undertone of something unsettling that I cannot place.

04 - The Princess Bride by William Goldman - Honestly, I like the movie better but mostly because the grandson is less intruding and the ending ended at the point where all is happy rather than the depressing one in the book. When I re-read the book, I stop where the movie stops.

05 - The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro - I remember I really liked this when I read it but now I find it too depressing to even re-read.

06 - The Complete Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle - As much as I like Sherlock Holmes, I didn't really like the stories all that much. Too much focus on the victims and the culprits' lives, not enough of Sherlock and Watson. And I guess I got spoiled by all the tv/movie adaptations.

07 - Black Beauty by Anna Sewell - Maybe I outgrew this but it's definitely the only book from an animal's point of view that I liked.

08 - Any Agatha Christie books - I read tons of Agatha Christie last year (or it could have been the year before) but I don't have a favorite among them even though I did enjoy Miss Marple and Poirot's company. But mostly because I find murder mysteries are rather harder to be a favorite. Certainly, it's not so great for re-reads.

How about you? Do you have almost favorite books?

Bookish goals I'm sure I'll fail at

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Bookish Goals for 2023 which I don't do so I going with Bookish goals I'm sure I'll fail at. (If I am to make a bookish goal, it would be to find a book and read it, that's it.) For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - Read other people's recommendations — I ought to stop taking other people book recommendations since I seem to fail that a lot. But then again, reviews are like recommendations also because that's usually what got me interested in a book.

02 - Read a certain amount of books — I no longer count the books I finished reading so I can never tell you how many books I read each year nor will I set a goal to read a certain amount of books. What is the point of counting anyway? I find it's just easier not to count.

03 - Finish every book I read — I now DNF (did not finish) like it's nothing unusual. Before, I loath to not finish a book but now I just don't care. Some books are just not worth finishing.

04 - Join a reading challenge — I guess reading challenges aren't made for me because I find them kind of oddly ineffective. If the goal is to read a single book, I can maybe do it but if it's a long or even a short list of books, I can't do it. I don't have the patience to find books to fit the challenge which at times are oddly very specific. And the time limit is something I can't really do either even if it takes a whole year.

04B - Read a book continuously — When I'm reading, sometimes I have these sudden boredom reading attacks. I guess my patience is not always there even when reading a book I really wanted to read and I don't always know why. Often, I owe that to being moody. Even if I'm reading a book that I'm interested in, if I see one that's more interesting, I would read that one instead.

05 - Read more non-fiction — A non-fiction book had to be really interesting to me before I even thought to read it so I'm unlikely to read one. For some odd reason, I always seems to end up reading depressing non-fiction books, don't know why that is.

06 - Buy less books — I take hours and sometimes weeks deciding on a book before I even thought to read it so buying them should be the same but it's not. For some odd reason, now that I read ebooks, I am more likely to buy books (ebooks that is) than before. Of course, the fact that ebooks are cheaper (and they deliver faster) is one good reason but I rarely buy printed books now. I only buy printed books that I know I'll re-read which is rare so I haven't brought a printed book in a couple of years.

07 - Read more books from the library — Now that I borrow ebooks from the library, I kind of read what's available to me so I'm actually reading less library books. The more popular a book is, the more likely the waiting list is long although even unpopular titles have a wait list. I just added myself to a waiting list with over 400 people on it so I might get to read that book in a year or a year and a half which can be frustrating but I try to be patient.

08 - Finish book series — I doubt there are people who actually finish reading series any faster than me which is to say, not fast, sort of crawling in baby steps toward the end. Mostly because I keep starting new series because every book is now a series, even books that had no sequels now have them so...

09 - Read translated books — I am prone to reading translated Japanese books but I just find the translation is never done well. For some odd reasons, they kept translating them to be more American with cliches/phrases and specific saying that one is certain is never mistaken for anything but American. Maybe I just haven't read any good translated books but I certainly didn't try hard to find them.

10 - Read out of my comfort zone — Occasionally, I do try but the result usually deters me even more from reading anything particularly new to me. It's not terrible but at the same time, not having a wider range in reading sort of maybe kept me from new experiences. Maybe, maybe not.

Do you make bookish goals?

Book Wish List

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Books on my winter to-read list but I won't be doing that since I don't make to-read lists. Instead, here's a list of things I would like for books, a book wish list in a way. Everything I listed here is a preference because reading is a preference but I may change my mind on some of these. For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - More friendship, less romance — I like to know why romance is necessary because I haven't read a single book without romance in it unless it's a middle grade book and even then, there seems to be hints of it. I prefer a friendship story over a romance story any day but that isn't due to me hating romance or anything, I just prefer friends fighting over who gets the last pie over men/women fighting over each other.

02 - Less opened-ended endings  — Most books now seems to have more open-ended endings as if they are being prepared for a sequel which irks me. Even in a series, there should be closure. I think what annoys me more is when they introduce a new problem to interrupt the ending when it's clear it should have ended.

03 - Less vampires (and zombies) —  This is more of a personal preference but darn it, vampires annoy me. I find every paranormal or fantasy book are full of them, like authors must have vampires in their books or they can't call their book a fantasy. Considering there are books specifically about vampires, why they need to add this creature to books that really don't need them, I don't know.
    And zombies — seriously, I don't like to read them at all. But what I hate is when an author uses it to compare things. For example, "She longed for a donut like a zombie long for youknowhat" - do I need such an image especially since it's not even a horror book?

04 - Less pop culture references —  I'm not much into knowing all the trends and happenings and who's famous and all that so whenever there is a pop culture reference, most of the time, I don't know who or what they are referring. Maybe if a book takes place in a very specific time period I can understand the need to mention pop culture references, otherwise I see no reason to use them.

05 - Less future scenes to start a book — This is like flipping to the back of the book, read a bit, go back to the front of the book and then start reading. So I only read a few books with this kind of beginning but I really just don't like them. The future scene lures me to read the book because that's what I read when reading a sample of the book but it's such a letdown to find out I have to read 300 or more pages to get back to that scene and usually, I get never there because I lose interest and mostly because it seems like it's a whole different book.

06 - More back covers for ebooks — With an ebook, there is usually no back cover. When you've reached the very last page, a page pops up and asks you to rate the book but once in a while, it also asks you to rate a book even if it's not the last page of the book. If you use the content list and go to the chapter marked 'End', it will go to the end of the story, not the last page of the book.
    Maybe you can ignore the last few pages of a book because it's usually just the author's bio (which I actually like to read), a list of books the author has written, publisher's info/credits, advertisements or a list of content (this is rather strange but some ebooks have their content list at the end of the book). To me, a book does not end until I see the back cover. (I assume all ebooks of the same book would have the same amount of pages and the same no back covers but if I'm wrong, let me know). (Note: I read ebooks on a kindle. And I had only came across two or maybe three books with back covers and that's a couple of years of reading ebooks.)

07 - More books with good guys who are generally nice  — Good guys who are generally nice is probably boring to people and it might be a bit old fashioned as well but I like them. I don't think you have to be an asshole to be a badass and this goes for males and females. I prefer good guys who are actually good, not good guys who are considered good just because he/she does the right moral thing but still teeters on the edge of darkness. I call them assholes because most of the time, they behave like one. There seems to be a lot of series where the main lead is a general asshole but people still like those books and I don't understand it but then again, people also like serial killers as main characters so what do I know?

08 - Make book series shorter — Perhaps book series should be shorter as they seem to be getting way too long. I think a series should be three books or less with some exceptions. I see series that are 40 books long and I'm not going to read 40 books, I don't care how short they are. And the longer a series is, the more the reader have to spend but it's not the money, it's more like, who has time to read a long series? Or why do we need more than three books to tell a complete story?

09 - Make the first book in a series free  — Since most books are series, it makes sense to allow the reader to get the first book free. I always know if I want to read a series by reading the first book. Frankly, I don't go by the 'it gets better in book two' reading method because if I didn't care one bits about the first book, why would I read the second one?

10 - More standalones — Unless I count reading the first book in a series and quitting, I pretty much haven't read that many genuine standalones. I'm not saying there aren't a lot of standalones but in the types of books I read, there just aren't that many. Or maybe I just haven't found them? (I read a lot of fantasy, paranormal murder mysteries, regular murder mysteries, adventures, middle grade and once in a moon blue science fiction books.)

What bookish things do you wish for?

Reasons why I would purchase books for my library

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Books I loved so much I had to get a copy for my personal library (Submitted by Alecia @ The Staircase Reader) but I will tweak it a bit to Reasons why I would purchase books for my library. When I say library, I meant one skinny bookshelf and I usually like to get paperbacks or occasionally, when the paperback has a really awful cover, then hardcovers. For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

Reasons why I would purchase books for my library:

01 - To re-read them in paper form —  I do re-reads when I don't want to read my current books or if I'm feeling particularly wanting to read a book in paper form since I now mostly read ebooks. I definitely prefer to re-read books in paper format rather than in ebook format.

02 - To love them — I don't know if that's true. Can you be loving a book if you just look at them on the shelf once in a while? Or if you flip through them thinking you might read them but end up not doing so?

03 - So I can have them — Yes, it's a real reason. I do have books that I have never re-read, I just have them after reading them only once. I don't particularly love them and yet, I don't know why I can't give them up.

04 - To display them — No one sees the books but me but I guess it gives me a certain satisfaction to see certain books around me. I suppose this is probably the same as #3. But I do only like to surround myself with books I have read and loved.

05 - To read them later — I would purchase books in paper format of books I haven't read before but I am sure I would love them which is a gamble because if I didn't love them, well, I guess it would be a pity. It's very easy to believe you would love a book even without reading them. I don't do this often because it can get very expensive.

06 - Impulse purchases — With impulse purchases, whatever reason I had when I'm at the store, somehow becomes different when I got the books home. Strangely, I haven't any impulses to buy books these days. I guess since I can borrow books from the library, there is no real reason to buy books unless I just go and make up a reason because who needs a reason to buy a book?

07 - 10 — Because they are books — So I really don't have ten reasons to list but for reasons I can't really explain, I just love owning books (in paperbacks or  hardcovers). My collection is small but it's better than not having any books at all. I think I saw in a movie or perhaps read in a book about a girl with a small collection of books that she kept reading over and over because that's all she have and yet, she enjoyed reading them which kind of makes me wonder if everyone has a small collection of books (even if it's just two or three books), then life would be wonderful but sadly, we can't consume books and live on them.

Do you purchase books to put them in your library because you love them or maybe you don't need any reasons to do so?

Types of readers I might be

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Books I Love That Were Written Over Ten Years Ago but I decided not to use it. Usually, I do not know when a book is published nor do I care to find out unless it's something I need to know and most of the time, I don't. So I'm listing types of reader I might be. Oftentimes, I can and will change my mind about a book and maybe these all sound a bit similar but it seems to describe me, for today anyway. For more Top Ten Tuesday, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - Random Reader — I read anything as long as it's a book or so I think sometimes. Generally, I do not have any specific reasons for reading a book. Sometimes I do not read the synopsis or reviews or know anything about a book before I start reading other than I find the covering interesting or I am able to get my hands on it, ie, a library loan or a low-price book or a free book.

02 - Specific Genre Reader — When I said genre, I really meant, a variety of similar books which can be a certain genre or just a bunch of books with similar themes or even exact storylines but written differently. So I sometimes would read similar books in a short period of time. (Most of time I don't know what genre a book is placed under anyway.)

03 - Sudden Interest Reader — Even if I heard about a book for a hundred times and never had any desire to read it for those hundred times, that would suddenly change for silly reasons like a good book cover or something just click in my head and I had to read that book. So I would call these 'sudden interest' because I don't know if I even have a good reason for wanting to read a book.

04 - Review Reader — Often I read a tons of reviews before deciding to read a book and they do influence me. I think the ones that compare a book to another book is the most influential. It's why I think people should stop comparing books to other books because it's never like those books and also because, there are books that I can't stand and if you mention a book is like this or that book that I can't stand, I am most likely not to read them.

05 - Non-Horror Reader — I don't read horror as I'm a scaredy cat and I wouldn't get any sleep if I did but I'm okay with spooky or slightly creepy books. But sometimes it's not so much as something is scary but more like I get grossed out so easily and most horror features a lot of grossed out things that I simply cannot stomach.

06 - Persuasive Reader — So it's not necessary reviews that make me read a book or not but things such as movie adaptation, a blog post (not a review) gushing about a book, someone mentioning the book having relations with something, etc. I'm not saying I'm easily influence but some people and things can be very persuasive and maybe my state of mind sometimes can be an influence as well.

07 - Re-Read Reader — I like to re-read my favorite books now and then. There is a joy in knowing how the story ends or reliving some moments that just appeals to me. I guess we are generally nostalgic about things so re-reading is nostalgic. When I don't like what I'm currently reading, I would re-read some of my favorites.

08-10 - Moody Reader — I listed this from 8 through 10 because this defines my reading habits for most days. Being moody means I never know what I might want to read. I think it's easier to enjoy reading if you don't make goals like what books to read at what specific times or finishing a book on a specific day, whatever suits you at whatever moment is what you read, that's what I do most of the time. (I might also call this Picky Reader since I can be very picky when I'm in a bad mood.)

What type of reader are you? Or perhaps you don't need specific terms to describe what type of reader you are?

Books from my past wish-to-read list I still haven’t read and probably never will

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Books From My Past Seasonal TBR Posts I Still Haven’t Read (Submitted by Dedra @ A Book Wanderer) but I'm going to tweak it slightly to Books from my past wtr (wish-to-read) list I still haven’t read and probably never will. Of course, just because I said I wouldn't read them doesn't mean I won't. As a moody reader, I might just suddenly change my mind. Here are some Books from my past wtr list I still haven’t read and probably never will (unless I change my mind). For more Top Ten Tuesdays, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - Mansfield Park by Jane Austen > link
I should have liked reading this since I enjoyed most of Jane Austen's books but this one, I barely got half way when I got really bored so I gave up. I didn't really care much for Fanny and I think the guy (Edmond, I think) sort of settled for Fanny and not really chose her but that's from the movie but I think the ending is the same. Mansfield Park is unlike the other Austen's books (Pride and Prejudices, Persuasion, etc.) in that there was no delightful interactions between characters and the parts I read seem quite depressing. But I guess I'm sort of judging by the movie so maybe it's unfair? The few times I tried to read the book, I just find it boring. Maybe I shouldn't have seen the movie before I start on the book.

02 - The Witchland series by Susan Dennard > link
I had wanted to read the series and even brought the ebook of book 1 and 3 when it was on sale but now I think I'm never going to read them. I started on book 1 but I keep putting it down maybe out of boredom, maybe out of a sheer unenthusiastic feeling that I'll have to slough through this book and book 2 to get to book 3 which is the book I really want to read but I don't like skipping books when I read a series.

03 - Winternight Trilogy by Katherine Arden > link
This is said to be a Beauty & the Beast retelling (the first book anyway) so that's why I wanted to read it and I really thought I would like the series but somehow my brain keeps putting off reading the first book (The Bear and the Nightingale) which I brought an ebook of when it was on sale. I read a few pages and they sounded good, put it down but then when I tried to continue, I got bored. And now I just found out there are vampires in this series which I think makes me want to read it even less.

04 - Little Women by Louisa May Alcott > link
I tried to read this several times but couldn't even get pass chapter 2. And the fact that I know what would happen to Beth because of the movie I saw, makes it less fun to read. But then I also think Jo made a bad choice so I think I'll just leave this alone.

05 - The Sevenwaters Series by Juliet Marillier > link
Daughter of the Forest (the first book) is exactly the kind of book I would like reading but there is a graphic rape scene that I know will disturb me enough to stop reading. This book and series is on my 'Maybe I'll read this when I thought I could get through without cringing at the rape scene' list. I think since it was told in first-person, it might be even harder to read.
    One of the reviews I read said, why are rape scenes so detailed and long while normal, consensual sex scenes are simply fade to black? Not that I care to read any sex scenes but I think the fact rape scenes are extended seemed a bit too much. Why do we need the gruesome details so vividly? Isn't it enough to know it happened? I find even half-attempt rape scenes a bit hard to read.

06 - Never Die (Mortal Techniques) by Rob J. Hayes > link
This was an impulse buy since it was on sale and I really sort of wanted to read something similar to this and also one of the youtuber was gushing about it. It had the shortest prologue I had ever read: Itami Cho woke to the screams of her own death. She remembered it all. That sounded really good and also even though it's part of a series, it's a standalone as you don't have to read the other books since it's only connected by the world. So maybe I'll read this one. Someday.

Are there any books you had considered reading but now changed your mind about?

Some of my favorite book series

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a Freebie (Come up with your own topic!) I thought I list some of my favorite book series. I would say I love these series but not entirely as there might be a book or two in a series that I didn't love. (Go to the link to get more info about the books.) For more Top Ten Tuesdays, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.

01 - East by Edith Pattou (2 books) > link
This is a retelling of East of the Sun and West of the Moon which is sort of like Beauty & the Beast but with a bear. I read East (also published as North Child) first and I really love that book so I was not expecting a sequel but West was good but I did wish it had been more of the bear's story then Rose's (the main character). I honestly don't think the sequel is needed but since I enjoyed that, I can't complain.

Book series I've only read one book of

I seem to have read a lot of first book in a series and quitting a lot of them. As I do not read book series out of order (most of the time anyway), I only have the first book to judge whether I want to continue reading the rest of the series or not. But is this fair judgement? The 'it gets better in later books' could work but still, why do readers have to hope the series will get better in later books? What if it takes three or five books to get better? For a standalone, maybe, but for a series, I don't think readers should waste time reading books they don't enjoy just to get to one that they do enjoy.
    Of course, I'm not saying I am unwilling to slough through a few books to get to the good stuff because I have and half of the time, it's worth it and the other, not so much. And just because I quit a series doesn't mean I won't pick them up at a later time. I could have a sudden interest and boom, I'm reading a series I have quit. I have a long list of series that I didn't finish but I'll list ten that I think are worth mentioning.
    Here are ten series that I have quit reading after the first book (only the first book cover is shown). Spoilers for #4 and #9.

01 - Nevermoor - The Trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend > link
I guess I have too high an expectation because I was disappointed by the magic (or the lack of as some of the magic didn't seem to be magic at all) and the lack of humor considering the premise sounded so much fun. There was a giant cat and even a vampire dwarf - why wasn't it fun? The way this was written bothered me a bit as it sometimes it seem like it could a fun adventure, sometimes a sophisticated story, and then there was a brief moment of horror (why would you compare something to 'entrails from a carcass'?) and toward the end, it seems like it was going to a darker storyline but it didn't. I don't know. All I know my brain refused to find any enjoyment when I tried to read the second book.

Some Books I Would Not Read

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is Bookish Memories (Share stories of your reading life as a child, events you’ve gone to, books that made an impression on you, noteworthy experiences with books, authors you’ve met, etc.). I have no book memories as all my reading memories are of the story and not where I was or what I was doing so here's a list of books I would not read instead. I'm not saying I would never read them, I'm just saying I don't want to read them now.

Some books I don't want to read or maybe will never read:

01 | Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
They said it's like a prequel or sequel or whatever to To kill a mocking bird but it sounds very much like a first draft. I wish not to ruin the original book by reading this so, nope.

02 | Marilla of Green Gables by Sarah McCoy
There seems to be some changes to characters/story that I don't think I'll like. Plus, this wasn't written by L.M. Montgomery. I've never liked when authors write other author's characters/books, it never seems right and most of the time, it seems like fan fiction.

03 | Romeo and Juliet retellings
I have no love for Shakespeare's Romeo and Juliet. I've always find Romeo's way of dying a bit cowardly and also, both of them dying is just stupid to me considering they are just teens and why are they being so dramatic? I guess I just don't get the book. Retellings of Romeo and Juliet are usually kind of annoying to me, I'm not sure why. It may be teenage love never appealed to me especially the kind that involves suicides or it could be that I just hate love stories that involves opposing families, I don't know, I just know whenever a book is said to be a Romeo and Juliet retelling, I immediately want to avoid it.

04 | Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll
I'm not drawn to the story at all. I don't know why. Maybe seeing all those movie adaptations has sort of spoiled the book for me but I simply have no desire to read it. I might change my mind and read it some day but just not now. Nor would I like to read any Alice retellings either.

05 | The Wizard of Oz by Frank Baum
The movie really kind of spoils it for me. I doubt I would like the book. Like Alice in Wonderland, I find having watched the movie, I simply don't want to read the book.
   

06 | Peter Pan by J. M. Barrie and Retellings
I don't know why but I just don't like Peter Pan but maybe I just don't like how he seems a bit creepy because he's neither a child nor an adult, more like an overgrown man disguised as a young boy and luring young children out of their homes. It's one thing to be a child but it's another to be a child who seems perhaps to be a hundred years old, much like a vampire, someone who never matures to be an adult - it's just not appealing to me. Plus, I read samples of the book and the writing is just so oddly, unendearing, I just didn't like it. I think the Disney movie is really the one thing I can tolerate about that character but even then, he's just weirdly creepy for no reason.
    And Peter Pan retellings kind of annoys me as well. And whenever they try to make Wendy and Peter a couple, it creeps me out. Or when they make Tinkerbell and Peter a couple, that's just as bad.

07 | Beauty and the Beast Retellings
So maybe I'll probably still read some Beauty and the Beast retellings as the story appeals to me a lot. The many retellings that I read were quite disappointing with a few exceptions. I really wish people would stop referring to any books as a Beauty and the Beast retelling whenever the man is a bit beastly. It would only be a true retelling if the beast was a man that got turned into a beast and actually became a better person at the end. I guess the Disney movie (the animated version) sort of sets my standard for a Beauty and the Beast retellings minus the singing.

08 | Vera Stanhope Mysteries by Ann Cleeves
I really like Brenda Blethyn as Vera Stanhope in the tv series and somehow I can't see anyone else playing that character and if I read the books, I think that character will sort of get ruined. Maybe it's a silly reason not to read the books but I have read reviews and I'm pretty certain I would hate the books.

09 | Aurora Teagarden Mysteries by Charlaine Harris
The books aren't like the the movies. So maybe I prefer the movies. It's hard to see the characters in a different way after I have seen the movies. Plus I don't like that the books are written in first person - it's not a good way to get to know the other characters.

10 | Books that have fictional versions of authors
I have read some of these types of books and they weren't bad but I just don't like reading about authors doing things they would never do such as fighting zombies and vampires or solving murders or living a life that they never had - it's just not something I like anymore.

How about you? Are there any books or type of books you would not read?

For more Top Ten Tuesdays, visit That Artsy Reader Girl here.