A New BookTube Channel!

Sorry guys, this isn’t MY new channel. Although I’ve considered starting a channel for a really long time. Probably all of 2014. But I don’t think I’d only talk about books. Anyway, let me first tell you what BookTube is, at least in my eyes. It’s rather simple. Posting videos on YouTube about books. See! Told ya. Think of all the things that book bloggers blog about. Reviews. Favorite authors. Favorite series. TBR lists. All that fun stuff. That’s what people upload videos about. I guess the best way to say it is that they’re book bloggers who upload videos instead writing of blog posts. That’s how I think of it.

So, remember this post from a week ago in which I revealed to you all who I think are the best bloggers out there? Well it just so happens that Aly from the list decided to upload her first YouTube video last week! I feel like I influenced the decision a little bit. So now here’s what you should do. Watch her first video. And then go ahead and hit subscribe because would you rather read boring posts written by book bloggers or have her upload more interesting videos? I vote for videos.

She talks about her favorite books and she’s a little bit random. Which makes it even more interesting! And you must watch all the way through because I guarantee that you’ll laugh if you do.

That’s all. Here’s the video.

I’ve Never Reread a Series of Books…Until Now

Yep. I’m going to do it. It’s hard to believe that I’ve never once gone back and read a series from start to finish a second time. I mean, I know my last two years of reading have been a joke, but since 2010 I’ve read a good number of books (128). I don’t know exactly how many different series are in there, but there are a few. And never once did I tell myself that I wanted to experience it again. Eh. Oh well.

But now I am telling myself that. Why? Because why not. I’m not going to make a habit of this, but there’s really no difference between never having done something and having done it just the one time. So now I should probably tell you which series I’m going to reread, right? Hm. If you’ve read my blog long enough to remember who my favorite character is, then you know the answer. If you’ve read my blog long enough to know my favorite series of books, then you know the answer. Or if you’ve read my short bio on my About Me page, then you may or may not be able to figure out the answer.

Still wondering? Okay. I’m rereading that kinda sorta popular trilogy written by Suzanne Collins. There’s this girl named Katniss, maybe you’ve heard of her? I’m not doing this to refresh my memory of the series. I know it. I know the story. I know the characters. I know what I think of Katniss. I’m doing this because I simply feel like rereading three of my all-time favorite books. That’s it.

I first read the series in the first half of 2012. I loved every book, though I definitely have a favorite of the three. And oh by the way, I’m also doing something else for the first time…I’ve never read a series straight through all at once. I always jump from author to author and series to series in order to diversify my reading habits. I’ll also be continuing that practice, but only after I finish the series.

Rereading Books

Photo Credit: Glen Ellyn Public Library

Since yesterday’s post contributed to my best day ever of site views and is currently the second most viewed post I’ve written and has the most comments of any single post, I wanted today’s post to be kinda sorta almost related. So we get to talk about rereading books!

I mentioned in the comments of yesterday’s post and in previous posts on here that I’ve never once reread any book, except for my own. Why? Because there are so many books that I’ll want to read in my lifetime that I don’t want to keep reading a book or a few books over and over again. I mean, I just don’t understand the reasoning behind reading a book that you already know. Sure, maybe you haven’t picked it up in a few months or even years, but once you start reading you realize how well you already know the story. That is no longer entertainment, it’s boring.

Are there books on my shelves that I’d like to reread? Of course. Are there books on my shelves that I read so long ago that I have no idea what they’re even about? Yes. But will I be going back through my own little library any time soon to reread either of those types of books? Nope.

I know I’m going to be in the minority a second day in a row, but that’s okay. Tell me why you reread books. And don’t you dare just say that there are some books that are so great that you have to reread them. We’ve all read great books. If that’s your reasoning, get away from me.

Quoting Your Favorite Authors via Their Books

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I mentioned in yesterday’s post that today’s would be related. If you missed it yesterday, you can read it here.

Yesterday’s post focused on the first lines of books. How there may even be greater importance placed upon the first sentence of a work containing well over 100,000 words. That some seem to think that the author can lose a reader within those first few words.

Well, in today’s post we’ll be talking about quotes from your favorite books. I guess they don’t necessarily have to be your favorites, but I don’t know many people quoting books they didn’t much care for.

There are so many writing quotes floating around the internet. So many. And quite a few of them have to do with the fact that reading a book lets the reader into the mind of the author. You’re getting to experience something attributed to a single person, and to some, myself included, that can be a wonderful thing. I mean, let’s think of some of the more popular series today. We’ve all gotten to experience life at Hogwarts with Harry and company. Many of us have gone to the Capitol with Katniss and Peeta. Or Narnia. Or Middle Earth. Imagine if these authors I’m speaking of had never created these wonderful worlds for us readers. We’d have missed out on something very real to us.

So with all that being said, there have got to be many quotes from some of your favorite books that you just can’t seem to forget even if you wanted to. I’m a little hesitant to say that I have many fewer than I would have thought when I decided to write this post. Eh. That’s okay. Here are the ones that I know. The punctuation in the actual quote may differ slightly.

“I volunteer! I volunteer as tribute!” Seriously just got chills typing that out. We all know it’s from The Hunger Games and Katniss.

“I’m not allowed to bet, but if I could, I’d bet on you.” The Hunger Games, Cinna

“May the odds be ever in your favor.” Said by just about everyone in THG

“You’re a wizard, Harry.” Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, Hagrid

“Thank you, for your consideration.” The Hunger Games, Katniss Everdeen

“That’s okay, I think crazy stuff like that about you all the time.” Divided Within, Andrew Banks

“You have the eyes of an angel.” Divided Within, Andrew Banks

“Oh my stars!” Divided Within, Vanessa

“Let me in! Let me in!” Divided Within, Sydney Durham

Unfortunately, that’s all I have. I sat here thinking of every book I’ve read trying to come up with quotes and it just didn’t happen. BUT I know you guys must have some quotes from your favorite books. Please do share!

Books You MUST Read

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I’m sure you’ll recall that last week I wrote about several books that I would never read under any circumstances. If not, you can read that post here. Immediately after writing that post I thought it only fair that I write the opposite post. So now you guys get a few books that you absolutely positively must read. Ready? Off we go.

1. The Diary of a Young Girl

I was lying in bed trying to come up with a short list of books to include on this list and this one was a given. It took about eight seconds for me to come up with it. Any person over the age of probably 12 who has studied any bit of world history knows something about the story of Anne Frank. I learned about it in high school and I’d already known a bit about it before. The thing is that when you’re being taught about the happenings of her family in the middle of a curriculum that is already overloaded with information you get to spend so little time on specific topics. Which is why her diary is a must read. You get EVERYTHING. From her. Fear. Hope. Depression. Happiness. Everything. You should have read this by now. I wrote a post about this book as part of my journey to read the Amazon 100 books list that you can read here.

2. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone

This needs little to no explanation. My reasoning for naming the first in the series is because I’d never recommend reading any series from a middle book, and especially not one as great as this. I’ve also written a post about this book for the same reason as Anne Frank that can be read here.

3. Dracula

This was another easy pick for me. I surely hope you’ve read it by now because this is definitely one of my favorite books that I somehow don’t own! But seriously, when I think vampire I think Dracula. When I think evil I think Dracula. When I think monster or man vs monster I think of this book. It makes no difference that it was published over a hundred years ago. This is one of those books that will remain for all time. At least I hope so.

4. The Hunger Games

You didn’t think I would write a post like this and leave my favorite series ever out of it, did you? No. I couldn’t do that. Honestly, I like Catching Fire just a bit more than the first in the trilogy but again, I can’t recommend that you begin a series with the middle book. That’s crazy. I stated in my post about my favorite series that Suzanne Collins had me crying within the first chapter of the first book of her series. The rest of the book was just as well written, paced, and truly fantastic as that opening chapter. If you don’t want to read this, fine, leave my slice of the blogging world. Leave now!

5. Divided Within

Did you catch what I did there? That’s MY book! Ha. No, I don’t think my book is anywhere near any of these others. BUT I would love for you guys to read it. It’s my baby. I’ll stop short of demanding that you buy it as soon as you read this post because, quite frankly, I’m not that worried about it at this point. If you’d like to read it thennnnn please go ahead. If not, I still like you. Okay, I like you a little less now. Can’t be helped.

A little note about this list. I only included books I’ve actually read. So I’m sure some of you guys will wonder how come none of the all-time greats are listed. That’s why. Because I haven’t read them. Remember, that’s the whole point of my tackling the Amazon list. One book that I almost included on this list was The Great Gatsby. But I read that book so long ago and so many since that I just don’t remember hardly any of it. And I haven’t read LOTR. Yet. So don’t yell at me that my list is flawed. It can always be updated.

What do you think of my little list here? Like? Dislike? Want to throw me out a window? Let me know!

Never Ask a Reader About Their Favorite Book

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It seems like a simple enough question when you ask, but can turn into a whirlwind of things for the person who is trying to come up with an answer. Because any person who has read as few as fifty books will likely struggle for an answer. Here’s what would happen to me if asked about my favorite book.

The first thought to enter my head would be the list I keep of my top/ favorite books read. It’s a list in the ballpark of 150 books. I would think of the top five. The top five includes Michael Connelly, Suzanne Collins, T. Jefferson Parker, Marcus Sakey, and Eric Nylund. Three of these authors are crime novelists and two are not. I would think back to each of the books and decide that it’s near impossible to pick any one over another, no matter how I have them ranked.

Then I’d think of my first book. Could that be my favorite? I’ve read it more times than I’ve read any other book. I wrote it. The protagonist is me. Surely it’s at least in the conversation. But does the book stand up against the others I’m thinking of? And how could I forget The Great Gatsby?

Then my Excel spreadsheet of all of the book authors I own would come to mind. I would think about the fact that a handful of authors make up a huge chunk of my reading. My favorite must be written by one of them. Maybe Robert B. Parker or Steve Hamilton? Maybe Robert Crais or James Patterson?

Then all of the series I read would jump into the equation. Katniss Everdeen is one of my favorite literary characters ever. And Alex Cross. And Spenser. And Elvis Cole. And Karen Vail.

And finally, with my head spinning in circles, I would accept the fact that it’s impossible to pick a single favorite. All while the person asking the question was simply trying to make small talk by asking in the first place.

BUT if you had to pick one favorite book that you’ve read, what would it be?