Top Ten Tuesday #7

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

As it turns out, studying for 2 Curricular Units is just as bad as I thought it was going to be! I have two exams this week!!

Anyway, this week's topic is one that comes very easily for me...popular authors I have never read! (I almost just referred to myself as "we"? Weird...) So, in no particular order:

1) Sarah Dessen

2) Cassandra Clare

3) Tahereh Mafi

4) Marissa Meyer

5) J. R. R. Tolkien

6) Stephanie Perkins

7) Nicholas Sparks

8) Veronica Roth

9) Cora Carmack

10) A. S. King

And since in my last TTT I only got 7, I am going to allow myself 3 more!

11) James Dashner

12) Gayle Forman

13) Marie Lu

Some honorable mentions: Lauren Oliver, Scott Westerfeld, Laini Taylor (I have their books at home, I just need to start them!)

And as usual, I will do my part in helping my babies that really cool portuguese band I have been talking about lately ^_^ I believe they might have an album coming out very soon!!

Top Ten Tuesday #6

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

This week's topic is books that make you swoon! I have to say I had a tough time coming up with ten...so I cheated and I got seven instead! :3

So, in order of swooniness (is that even a word? it is now)

1) The Fault In Our Stars by John Green: This book gives me a lot of feelings that I can't explain! On the one hand I love Hazel and Gus's relationship and I wish I could find one just like theirs...on the other hand we have "the incident" which made me cry like a baby! It's still one of my favourite books! And if any guy wants to win my heart he should take me to watch it in the cinema in June ^_^

2) Going Vintage by Lindsey Leavitt: I absolutely adored this book! Oliver and Mallory's relationship was so genuine and cute! And their both really funny and witty and I like this book a lot, okay? :)

3) The Statistical Probability of Love at First Sight by Jennifer E. Smith: I really liked how this story happens over the space of one day and yet it is so capable of conveying the emotion of young, impulsive love! And Oliver (again) is a great british gentleman!

4) Let It Snow by John Green, Maureen Johnson and Lauren Myracle: This book contains 3 short stories, one by each author and my favourite is deffinitely Maureen Johnson's! A girl gets stuck on a train during a blizzard and manages to get out and find a little Waffle house where she meets a charming stranger! (Of course, in real life he would probably be some sort of murderer...but okay...) Why don't things like these actually happen?

5) After Hello by Lisa Mangum: Another book that happens over the course of 24 hours! Sara is in New York for the first time with her dad who is on a business meeting, leaving her to wander around town alone where she meets Sam who takes her on an adventure (again, in real life Sara would have gotten killed...maybe...)

6) Eleanor & Park by Rainbow Rowell: I have no words to describe how amazing this book is and how real the characters are! Also, the fact that Eleanor is overweight and Park still sees her as beautiful and the way their relationship grew was so real and normal!

7) Phantom Summer by Amy Sparling: I quite liked this one too and I thought that Raine was an amazing character! The passion he had for the ghost tours on that little town was sort of endearing and his and Taylor's relationship was really nice!

And just like I've done in the past couple of posts (you know what's coming!)...here it is our musical moment! They usually only sing in Portuguese but they did sing All You Need Is Love by The Beatles and since most of you doesn't speak portuguese...here it is! Aren't they amazing? :D

They are called Aurora! You can find them at @osauroraoficial, facebook, instagram and youtube!

What do you guys think of them? And what's on your lists this week?

Top Ten Tuesday #5

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

This week's topic is Top Ten Favourite Secondary Characters! So, in order of preference (I know, it's usually in no particular order, but oh well...)

10) Isaac from The Fault in Our Stars: I loved his character! And the relationship he had with Gus and Hazel was amazing! He made me laugh and he made me cry...

9) Steve from Eleanor & Park: Okay, I probably need to explain this one a little bit...I don't think he was mean on purpose, I think that he just didn't understand how what he said could hurt someone. Besides, he did help Eleanor in the end. 

8) The Colonel from Looking for Alaska: What can I say...I love that little firecracker! He was loyal to his friends and really smart!

7) Park's parents from Eleanor & Park: I thought their relationship was adorable and how after all those years they were still completely in love! And I really liked how worried they were about Eleanor and how they tried to help her.

6) Patrick from The Perks of Being a Wallflower: I loved how he seemed to genuinely care about Charlie and hung out with him even if there was quite an age difference (it was just 3 or 4 years, but since they were teenagers...3 or 4 years makes a huge difference). I also thought he was really entertaining. Plus, I think Ezra did a great job on the movie!

5) Candy from Call Me Crazy: That crazy old lady is probably one of the funniest characters ever written! She was witty, inappropriate and really crazy! Besides, she did care about Tally!

4) Rue from The Hunger Games: She was so sweet and really brave! Her friendship with Katniss was really adorable and the flowers scene made me so emotional!

3) Hagrid from Harry Potter: That lovely half-giant! He was so loyal to Harry and Dumbledore. He was also very misunderstood by a lot of people...especially when they found out about the giant thing but he was always nice to people. 

2) Cinna from The Hunger Games: He was always there for Katniss and he was a great friend. Besides I loved how he used every opportunity he had fight the Capitol. He also seemed really smart!

And finally...

1) Dobby from Harry Potter: I know that a lot of people might be shocked about this being my all-time favourite secondary character but I just love him! He was loyal, he always tried to help Harry and his friends and was just adorable! His death is probably one of the saddest things ever and it was the one I had the hardest time accepting!

What are your favourite secondary characters? :)

Top Ten Tuesday #4

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

This week's topic is "Top Ten Favorite Books With X Setting". I decided to do my top ten favourite books set in Europe! In no particular order:

 

1) The Harry Potter series - J.K. Rowling: Even though this magical world doesn't exist (or does it?) it is technically located somewhere in the UK! And besides no list is complete without Harry Potter!

2) The Cherub series - Robert Muchamore: I have to admit that I haven't read them all (even though one my flat mates has the whole collection in our flat...). I think that the idea that the British secret services has a team of children spies quite original.

3) The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo - Stieg Larsson: I haven't gotten around to read the rest of the books in the series but I just loved this one! It takes place in Sweden and it's full of action and mystery. Plus, the main female character is such a badass!

4) Twisted Wing - Ruth Newman: This one takes place in England (it says Ariel College in Cambridge...I am assuming it's in England). It's very dark and full of really unexpected plot twists! It is my go-to book when I want to exemplify a book with a somewhat "not completely true" blurb that actually works in favour of the story.

 5) Goodnight, Beautiful - Dorothy Koomson: This one is set in England (and the author mentions Portugal a couple of times! ^_^). It's heartbreakingly beautiful. Dorothy Koomson is really good at making me cry...

6) My Best Friend's Girl - Dorothy Koomson: This one is also set in England and just like the previos one makes me sob and cry like a 3-year-old who was denied candy...

7) The Fault In Our Stars - John Green: Okay, I am cheating a little bit on this one...it is mainly set on the US but they do go to Amsterdam! This is at the same time cute and heartbreaking. I just love it!

8) Death in Venice - Thomas Mann: This one is set mainly in Venice (not surprising). It's weird how I have read this book several of times but I never read it all, I always skip some pages...ususally the first couple of chapters. There's this quote that I just adore but it sounds better on my old Portuguese (I think it's actually Brazilian...) copy of this book.

9) A Lua de Joana - Maria Teresa Maia Gonzalez: There isn't a version of this book in english...the title can be translated to "Joana's moon". It is refering to this swing that the main character, Joana, had on her bedroom that was shaped like a moon and you could change it so that it would represent all its different phases. I read this book when I was about 10 or 11 and it was very shocking. It takes place in Portugal (if I remember correctly) and the story is told through letters that Joana writes to her friend Marta, who had recently died from a drug overdose. Apparently the teenagers are a bit cliché (according to people who read the book when they were a bit older), but I didn't know that at 11. The ending was one of the biggest plot twists ever and it made me cry.

10) The Maias - Eça de Queirós: This one is a Portuguese classic that I had to read for class a couple of years ago. At first I was a bit scared because there's this joke saying how the author spends the first 100 pages describing just the house! (No, but really, he does spend about 3 pages describing the house...). It takes place in Lisbon on the second half of the 19th century. It is interesting, amusing and a great critique of the rich Portuguese society at that time

What do you think of my picks? What is your list about?

Top Ten Tuesday #3

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

This week's theme is "top ten words/topics that make me not pick up a book"! 

1) Biographies: For some reason, I find biographies extremely boring and I will run away from them if I can.

2) Classics: They just scare me and besides, I always have trouble connecting with the characters and the story

.

3) Historical fiction: I have no interest in queens and kings, which is ironic since I read a lot of historical fiction when I was younger... (I guess that The Game of Thrones is an exception...I mean, can it be considered historical fiction?)

4) Fantasy: Again, ironically this was the genre I read the most when I was like 12, I think I just grew tired of it...

5) "Overweight main character who gets skinny throughout the book and guys start noticing her": This one angers me on a deeper, personal level...being overweight myself I would like to read about someone like me but who doesn't need to loose weight to find love..is it really that hard?

6) Erotic fiction: Just not for me, I think I would feel all cringy reading it.

7) Extremely serious and possessive main guys: I like cute and sweet guys...the serious and possessive ones scare me (not just in books...)

8) "Half naked people looking longingly at each other" and "too much face" in the covers: This one is a little hard to explain for me but there are covers where I take a look at them and I don't even want to know what's inside...some of them just look kind of tacky I guess...

9) Adult fiction: When I say adult, I mean tha age of the characters..if they are like in their 40's (and sometimes even in their 30's) I feel that there is a huge age gap and find it hard to connect with the character.

10) Non-fiction: I just don't see the appeal and I also have a bit of a trauma with my local library which only has non-fiction and a couple of classics..seriously, that thing hasn't seen a new book since 1970!

What about you guys? Do you agree? What are your biggest deal-breakers?

Top Ten Tuesday #2

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

This week's theme is "beach  reads". I came to the sad conclusion that I haven't read 10 books that can be considered "beach reads" (I did read some of them on the beach, but I'll read anything without considering the place I'm in). So, I'm going to cheat (I know, I know...) and list the Top Ten Beach Reads for this summer!

All of these books can be found at:

Book Depository 

Book Depository (US)

Amazon

So, what do you guys think? Have you read any of them? :)

Share your summer reads in the comments!

Top Ten Tuesday #1

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme in which we make lists about a certain topic. This meme is hosted at The Broke and the Brokish

This week was a freebie and there was no mandatory theme, everyone chooses what they want! After thinking a lot, I decided to go with an easy one (since it's my first one) So it's going to be Top Ten Favourite Book Covers of 2013! (You can click the image or the name of the book and it will take you to their Goodreads page)



1) The Color of Rain - Cori McCarthy: I cannot express how much I love this cover. I think the woman is beautiful and the way how she's looking into the distance gives it a nice touch. Another thing that drew me to this cover is the background...the colours are mesmerizing!







2) Hurt - Tabitha Suzuma: So, yeah...I may be a bit biased on this one, but I mean...don't you just want to give him a big hug and take him home with you? Because I want...if any of you know who this majestic creature is, please let me know! :3

3) Fault Line - Christa Desir: I don't even know how to start describing this cover. The close-up of the lighter and the flickering of the flames...all I know is that I would buy this book in a heartbeat if I saw it (yes, I know "don't judge a book by its cover" but the blurb sounds really good too, I promise!)







4) September Girls - Bennett Madison: Yes, I am aware of the fact that if there was a "Worst Book Ever" award on Goodreads this book would take it (from the reviews I read, I haven't had the chance to read it yet...) but there's no denying that the cover is quite good. I really like the silhouette and the sparkling things on the blue part of the cover (are they supposed to be stars? Something water-related?)





5) This Is What Happy Looks Like - Jennifer E. Smith: I really like the covers on her books. I like how the title seems to be handwritten as if it was the created by the people on the photo. Again, I'm a fan of silhouettes and the cartoon-ish sun compliments the rest of the cover very well!

6) Tumble & Fall - Alexandra Coutts: I really love the lights (I'm like a 5-year-old, attracted to sparkly shinny things). And the way how the guy looks so peaceful next to her. I'm also fascinated with the idea that their faces are both on different parts of the "&" symbol and it kind of reminds me of one of those lockets where people put pictures of their loved ones (Am I reading too much into it? Probably...)






7) Disneylanders - Kate Abbott: This one I think appeals to my inner child (I mean, it's Disneyland!). Besides I love how simple it is...sky and mickey mouse shaped balloons. I think it's quite cute...the only thing I'm not crazy about is the font used on the title.









8) Pivot Point - Kasie West: I really like when you can see dust specles in the sunlight and even though there isn't sunshine in here I realy like the dust. (Am I the only one who thinks she looks like Det. Lilly from Cold Cases?)








9) Goddess - Josephine Angelini: This cover is really nice with all the purple, the blue and the flowy dress. Well, that's it really...it's pretty!

10) The Rules For Disappearing - Ashley Elston: I like how the girl is running and you can see those crushed flowers on the ground, like she had to run away in a hurry (which, from the what I could read on the blurb sounds pretty plausible)







So, what do you guys think of my picks? What are your favourite covers in 2013?