Top Ten Tuesday: 10 Book Covers I'd Use As Art

I thought it'd be fun to do this week's The Broke & The Bookish Top Ten topic, since I haven't done one in a while and it won't require much writing lol. (Lazy) So let's get to it! Here are some of my favorite book covers that I'd love to have as artwork.

Let's start with a favorite set of covers, the Soul Screamers series. These are the volumes that include 2 books and a short story in each and are such a good deal at around $10 each. And okay, yes, it's one of those covers with a pretty girl in a long, sweeping dress that has nothing to do with the plot. But...look how pretty!! :) I've only read the first 2 volumes so far (review for vol 1) but really enjoy them.

Next up, some random covers that I love:

Backwards Compatible by Sarah Daltry & Pete Clark -I'm going to review this soon, but it's a very cute book about nerd love and the cover just pops.

The Girl With the Cat Tattoo by Theresa Weir -kitty! In a hat! Love!!

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell -my sister bought me this for my birthday last weekend and I'm so happy I now have my own copy to read and look at and pet. (Okay, that was a little creepy.)

Amy & Roger's Epic Detour by Morgan Matson -I've said this before, but this cover just screams "movie poster" to me.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern -love the crisp black and silver and red.

Bitterblue by Kristin Cashore -the blue and the keys would go perfectly in my room!

I also love the covers of the Willow Falls series by Wendy Mass. They are so bright and cheerful, they'd go great in a children's playroom or something like that.

And of course, I had to pull up some of my favorite Baby-Sitters Club covers...this is just up to what I've read so far, it'll probably change later! (If I ever get my lazy butt back to reading them hah!) Do you have a favorite out of these? Or one I should be looking forward to? (Click to make bigger)

30 Things I Learned from "Sideways Stories From Wayside School"

I read the 3 Wayside School books recently and decided to do something a little different for my reviews...so I give you 30 Things I Learned from Wayside School. :)

1. Sometimes you can do math the "wrong way" and still get the right answer.

2. "It isn't how many pictures you have, but how good the pictures are. A person could spend his whole life just drawing one picture of a cat. In that time I'm sure Bebe could draw a million cats. But if that one picture is better than each of Bebe's million, then that person has produced more art than Bebe."
   
   
3. If there is no nineteenth story and no Miss Zarves and no note to deliver from Mrs Jewls, then you've already not done your job.
   
   
4. Everyone else's flavored ice cream will always be better than your own. Except Kathy's. "Kathy-flavored ice cream tasted a little bit like old bologna."
   
   
5. "Pigtails are meant to be pulled."
   
   
6. Sammy is the nastiest, grossest, most disgusting student in Mrs Jewls' class.
   
   
7. The green bouncy balls are the best ones on the playground.
   
   
8. If you eat the cafeteria food, weird things will happen.
   
   
9. Sometimes you have to read the story backwards. It was purple.
   
   
10. Mrs Gorf is "frog" spelled backwards. Also, Louis' meanest teacher was Mrs Drazil (Lizard).
    
    
11. Always go up the stairs on the right and down them on the left, so as to avoid traffic jams.
    
    
12. "You need a reason to be sad. You don't need a reason to be happy."
    
    
13. If you're running late for school, always make sure it's not actually a Saturday first.
    
    
14. When Halloween falls on a Sunday, you always celebrate at school the Friday before.
    
15. Socks make you stupid.
    
    
16. You can be free or you can be safe. You can't be both.
    
    
17. "It is very embarrassing to borrow someones pencil and then chew on it."
    
    
18. You'll know you really love a story when you laugh like a giggle box and cry like a leaky faucet.
    
    
19. "There is no Miss Zarves. There is no nineteenth story. Sorry."
    
    
20. When a hippopotamus gets mad, it wriggles its ears. And so does Mrs Gorf.
    
    
21. It's good to be in a group when nobody is strange because nobody is normal.
    
    
22. Cows will walk up 30 flights of stairs, but you can't get them to walk back down again.
    
23. The "Pet Day" chapter in Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger will make you want to do logic puzzles. Curb this desire. Or get out your paper and pencil.
    


24. "Door" is a bad word. From now on, use the word "goozack".
    
    
25. If you do something bad in elementary school and your teacher writes it down in her blue notebook, it will follow you for the rest of your life.
    
26. Babies don't think in words.
    
    
27. To use the new elevators, take the blue one to go up and the red one to go down. 
    
    
28. You will find these books hysterical even as an adult.
    
    
29. Every other school is way stranger than your own.
    
    
30. The author's name is pronounced "Sacker" not "Satcher".

Review: "Saga: Vol 3"

Saga: Vol 3 by Brian K Vaughan

5 out of 5 stars

I just love this series so much, y'all. It keeps getting better and better and if you haven't started it yet, you are missing out mister. Go read my review of volume 1 here and then get to the store or interwebs and buy it! My one complaint, as usual, is that it is not long enough and that's the best kind of complaint for a book, don't you think? And if you have been reading it, this review will most likely have spoilers for the first 2 volumes, so be warned!

This volume starts off with a new story-line following two journalists who are out for the story of the rogue soldier Alana and her mysterious former prisoner Marko. They helped us get some back-story on Alana and introduced a very intriguing character related to Marko. I really can't wait to see where that story goes. In the meantime, Hazel is continuing her story of their trip to the infamous author of the love & war story that brought the two lovebirds together. Mister Heist was pretty awesome. 

"There are only three forms of high art: the symphony, the illustrated children's book, and the board game."

I am loving The Will more and more as this story goes on. He saved the Slave Girl (who gets a name finally) and along with Gwendolyn and Lying Cat (my second favorite), he helps her start to overcome her horrible past. There is one heart-breaking moment that I'm going to refrain from posting here, but you'll know it when you see it. 

The two parties finally collide and chaos ensues. People die, people live, there are lots of adventure and twisty turns and cliff-hangers. So much cliff-hanger. And really, that's all I can say without spoiling it for you.

Review: "Night" Classic a Month #3.2014

Night by Elie Wiesel
4 out of 5 stars

You may have noticed that I'm a month behind in my classics. Well, I just couldn't get it together in March, so I decided not to worry about it. I'm sure I'll catch up eventually, probably with my Summer Steinbeck-palooza. And Night is actually the second classic I started for April...I first started with Vanity Fair, recommended by a few friends, but I just couldn't get into it and things were stressful at work (which is where I was reading it) so I wanted something lighter and switched books.

Then my 14 yr old sister said she was reading Night for school and I decided to read it too. Mostly because it's a super quick read, but also because I hadn't read it since I was her age. She spoiled it a little for me too, I hadn't remembered who had died and who hadn't. Also, I learned recently that Wiesel had written 2 other books about that time and I'd like to get them soon.

It's hard to review a book like Night. At 109 pages, it is a succinct account of Wiesel's harrowing years in Auschwitz and several other concentration camps. It doesn't have the same flow and poetry that The Book Thief does, but this is a true story. Elie Wiesel is still alive. He will never forget what he went through. He still remembers how he never got to say goodbye to his mother and sisters.

"Men to the left! Women to the right!"

And that is what makes this an important story. I remember being so fixated on this book and Auschwitz in the 8th grade. It was probably the first time I really questioned historical events. I couldn't believe something like this had happened in recent history. Survivors of that time were still alive. How could the rest of the world not know? And if they did know, how could they just keep letting it happen?

"Humanity? Humanity is not concerned with us. Today anything is allowed. Anything is possible..."

Review: "Haunted"

Haunted by Eileen Maksym
4 out of 5 stars

A very good Twitter friend suggested this book to me...it is a first novel written by a close friend of hers and she thought I might enjoy it and be able to pass it on to my few loyal followers here. :) (Thanks to those sticking with me still btw! I'm trying my hardest to get back into the blogging thing.) I have to say, starting out, I wasn't sure about the story but I am very glad I kept reading. I thoroughly enjoyed it and think Maksym has a talent for telling spooky, hair-raising tales. This is definitely a good read for around Halloween.

There was a distant rumble of thunder. Paul stepped beside her. "Yeah, nice of the weather to cooperate with a haunted house investigation."

Haunted is a quick read, only around 120 pages, and leaves you wanting more. And as always, if the biggest problem you can find with a book is that you want it to be longer, than that's a pretty darn good book. We don't get a lot of back story on the three main characters: college-aged friends Steven, Tara, and Paul. And Maksym makes us want that back story. How did these 3 kids start hunting ghosts? How and when did Paul get his special talent? What is the full story about Tara's family?

The 3 ghostbusters find out about an empty house in the area that has supposedly been haunted for 40+ years. They get in touch with the homeowners and get permission to do some investigating with their paranormal equipment. And sure enough, there are some ghosts there, but not the ones they were expecting. Someone from one of their pasts shows up and they are not Casper the Friendly Ghost. And seriously? I got a little freaked reading that part. And also the real story on the house's ghosts that they find after a little digging in the library. Okay, actually there were several times that just wigged me out lol...I'm a bit of a weenie.

So if you're a weenie like me, you can still read this book. Just do it in the middle of the afternoon when the sun is shining and there are plenty of (living) people in the house, but make sure they can't sneak up on you! Oh and watch out for jumpy cats who like to stare at the wall behind you until you're sure there's a giant spider hanging over your shoulder. Yeah, don't read this with them in the room. But do read it! :)

Another Book Haul? Yes, Please!

Hi, my name is Jenn and I'm addicted to buying books. :) I do this every year around springtime. Some people give their mini-blinds a good washing and air out their mattresses (I don't even know if that's a real thing) but me? I stock up on enough books to (logically) last me thru the end of the year. Luckily, I slow down once summertime hits. I've been contemplating buying a new bookshelf too, I desperately need one. I'm even considering getting rid of other furniture to make room for more than one hah! Okay, let's get on to the haul, yes? This was all purchased at Half Price Books for $40, which averaged out to $2.85 per book. Lots of good clearance buys this time!

I think I'm slowly turning into an Austen-ite. I bought 3 books on the clearance shelf by her: Northanger Abbey, Persuasion (which my Goodreads says I already have? not sure), and Emma. I am actually pretty excited to try them.

My sister (who was kind enough to follow me around and carry my basket lol) insisted I get Pippi Longstocking. When I was sick a few weeks ago, I got sucked into the new cartoon, so that should be fun. I was excited to find the first 3 Willow Falls books by Wendy Mass, I just need to pick up the last one sometime. (Reviews of all 4 books here.) And yes, I got two Gossip Girl books. I know, they're so trashy and they're not even as good trashy as Sweet Valley High, but I just really need to finish the series out now. And I am so mad because I just realized I'm still missing one! That is soooo irritating! Rounding out the young adult, I couldn't resist a good spooky Lois Duncan book on clearance, Locked in Time. I don't think I've actually read this one.

The Paris Wife is one I've heard lots of good things about, along with Code Name Verity (even the girl at the cashier said she loved this one!) Hopefully The Paris Wife doesn't drown in my "no Hemingway" quirk. :) And next to last is an impulse buy called The Beginning of After. It looks dark and depressing, but also interesting.

Okay, my last purchase I was so excited about, I might have squealed a little. I had this BSC Chain Letter book as a kid and I got rid of it. I know, the only BSC book I ever got rid of! It doesn't have the friendship bracelet (darn!) but everything else looks intact. I'll probably review this as a real BSC book eventually. :)

And that's my haul! Hopefully the last one for a while, my bookshelf and wallet can't take anymore! Lol...what have you bought lately? I want to hear about it!

What's Your Reading Quirk?

You may already know this, but I am very open-minded about what I will read or try to read. If someone recommends it to me personally, I'm going to give it a shot. I may not like it in the end but I'll give it the benefit of the doubt in the beginning. There are very few reasons I will absolutely refuse to try a book. These are the few that I came up with:

• It's written by Ernest Hemingway
• The main plot is about animal/children abuse
• It has been optioned for a movie starring Kristen Stewart
• And that's about it. Seriously, I can't think of any other reasons.

Now, let's talk about my 14 year old sister. After seeing the first Hunger Games movie with me (which I forced her to go see), she read the entire series 3 times front to back within a month or so. So it's safe to say she enjoys a good dsytopian, right? After she devoured those, I (and my dad) suggested that she try Gone by Michael Grant or Uglies by Scott Westerfeld. We knew she would really enjoy them if she gave them a chance. But she refused to even go past the first page. Why, you ask? Because they were by male authors? Nope. Because they hadn't been optioned for movies (yet)? No. Because they were both written in third person.

Is that the most oddly specific reason you've ever heard to not read a book? I asked her what her reasons were for this and here's what she said: "I like thinking from the main character's view. I like thinking like them and hearing their thoughts. If it's romance, I don't wanna know that the dude likes the girl early on, I like getting in her or his shoes and think what I would've done. And it just bothers me. I want to read 'I' not 'Anna' 'walked across the room'." And I get that. I really do. It's fun knowing all the main character's thoughts and feelings. But sometimes you need that element of surprise. That shocker moment when a character does something seemingly out of nowhere and you wonder what their motivation is.

I'll be honest...I had to really think about what exactly 3rd person was. I've been out of school way too long for that kind of stuff to stick. I gave her this lovely stack of books the other day after she requested new stuff to read and specifically "horror and romance" lol. And I didn't pay attention to the "voice" at all. She's already zoomed thru Anna & The French Kiss and is "totally addicted to it" as I knew she would be. :) I also gave her a list of books, including Eleanor & Park, which is in 3rd person. I'm hoping she will still give it and others a chance, because she's going to miss out on some amazing books if she doesn't.

And here's where you come in! How do I convince her to give 3rd person a chance? What's your favorite book written this way? Or are you like me and don't even notice it? And...what's your reading quirk? What makes you say, "No way, I am not reading that ever ever ever." Is it male authors born in 1852? Books with green covers? Plots about vampire unicorns? (I'd totally read that lol.) Let's discuss!

(Thank you, B, for your help with this post! <3)