Bookish Questions

1. What is your favourite book? I have three: Wuthering Heights by Emily Bronte, The Fault in Our Stars by John Green, and Persuasion by Jane Austen (although it's so tough to pick my favorite J.A. book).
2. Who is your favourite author? Very difficult question. I'm going to have to go with Jane Austen. 
3. What genre do you prefer? Classics and YA.
4. What is your favourite book series? The Harry Potter series, the Infernal Devices, the Mortal Instruments, and The Lord of the Rings. 
5. What books did you hate reading in school? I honestly don't remember having to read any that I disliked. 
6. What is the first book you remember reading as a child? A book with Mickey Mouse and Donald Duck.
7. Bookstores or libraries? I love both. 
8. How many books do you own? I have no idea. I haven't kept count.
9. Do you read before bed? Yes.
10. What is your most comfortable reading position? Sitting curled up.
11. What is the most recent book you read? Galapagos by Kurt Vonnegut. 
12. What quote from any book will you never forget? "I wish I were a girl again, half savage and hardy, and free." from Wuthering Heights. 
13. Science Fiction or Fantasy? Fantasy
14. What books do you regret reading? None.
15. How large is your bookshelf? I don't have a traditional bookshelf, so I have books everywhere. 
16. On average, how many books do you read per year? It depends, but I've read anywhere from 50 to 100. 
17. What book can you read hundreds of times and never get tired of? Wuthering Heights, Jane Eyre, Northanger Abbey. 
18. Do you like to read outside? I love it. It's one of my most favorite places to read.
19. What’s the biggest lesson you’ve learned from a book? I think that when you're an avid reader you're constantly learning important lessons from the books that you read. It's difficult to pick just one.
20. Of the past year, what is the greatest book you’ve read? The Fault in Our Stars, The Book Thief, and Rebecca. 

new kindle! & what i'm reading

I finally got a new Kindle Paperwhite. I had wanted one since they had came out, and it was well worth the purchase price. It's so great to read books on at night. Much easier and cozier than leaving the lamp on the nightstand on while I'm reading in bed. I absolutely love it!

Last night I started The Lightning Thief, the first book in the Percy Jackson and the Olympians series. 

It's such a fun and difficult to put down read. I love that it's very YA. It sort of reminds me of how I felt when I first read Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone. It has that youthful intrigue. I have the first three books in the series, so I'm looking forward to those. 

What are you reading?

what i'm reading

It's been extremely windy and cold today. It keeps changing from rain to ice to snow and back again.
Aiden and I went for coffee, and I took my Kindle to read. I decided to start Curtsies and Conspiracies, as well as The Prince and the Pauper. Both are relatively quick reads. I'm enjoying them thoroughly.

I've always been a fan of Mark Twain. At the age of ten I read The Adventures of Tom Sawyer and The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn in elementary school and loved them. I was always partial to Huck Finn, even more so when Brad Renfro portrayed him in the 1995 movie Tom and Huck. My young heart swooned.

Curtsies and Conspiracies is the second book in the Finishing School series. It's very steampunk, which I absolutely love and is one of my favorite genres. I love the main character Sophronia. It's such a fun, inventive series. 

what i'm reading

I'm reading quite a few (& very different from one another) books at the moment. Instead of talking about all of them, I want to mention the classic.

Semi-recently I decided that I really want to read more classical literature, so I've been delving into that again.

I'm introducing myself to Kafka with his book The Metamorphosis.

I'm also planning to read two Jane Austen novels that I hadn't, The Hounds of Baskerville by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, The Prince and the Pauper by Dickens, and to reread Oliver Twist as well as the Complete Works of Shakespeare. 

francesca woodman

I sort of fell in love with Francesca Woodman's photography when I watched the documentary The Woodmans on Netflix.

I honestly had never heard of her before watching the film. Afterwards I Googled everything that I could possibly find about her.

You can read a bit of her story here.

I find her work so intriguing. It has an eerie quality, so human while conveying a spontaneous emotion. 

If you're interested in photography, or the biography of a girl who created incredibly thought-provoking art, check out the documentary. 

city of fallen angels review

Book Four in the Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare

 ***

From Goodreads: 

The Mortal War is over, and sixteen-year-old Clary Fray is back home in New York, excited about all the possibilities before her. She’s training to become a Shadowhunter and to use her unique power. Her mother is getting married to the love of her life. Downworlders and Shadowhunters are at peace at last. And—most importantly of all—she can finally call Jace her boyfriend.

But nothing comes without a price.

Someone is murdering Shadowhunters, provoking tensions between Downworlders and Shadowhunters that could lead to a second, bloody war. Clary’s best friend, Simon, can’t help her—his mother just found out that he’s a vampire, and now he’s homeless. When Jace begins to pull away from her without explaining why, Clary is forced to delve into the heart of a mystery whose solution reveals her worst nightmare: she herself has set in motion a terrible chain of events that could lead to her losing everything she loves. Even Jace.

The stakes are higher than ever in the #1 New York Times bestselling fourth installment of the Mortal Instruments series. 

***

I've fallen in love with this series from Cassandra Clare.  

City of Fallen Angels continues with Clary, Jace, Simon, Isabelle, Alec, Magnus, and the others. It primarily focuses on the relationship between Clary and Jace, as well as Simon and his tangled love life. There are new plot twists, and added drama to all involved.

Simon has been a favorite of mine from the beginning. I love how his character has evolved, and the new changes that he's dealing with. He's nerdy and witty, which is a perfect combination.

I really like Jace, however, I feel that none of Clare's male characters will quite live up to her Will Herondale from the Infernal Devices trilogy. He is in my top three favorite male literary characters. Utter perfection. Jace is sort of a watered down version of Will. He lacks the wit, the sarcasm, the spark that Will had. 

Isabelle is probably my favorite female character from this series. She's reminiscent of Jessamine from the Infernal Devices trilogy, but I think that she's much more grounded and less self-absorbed. 

Clary, is generally likable but I think that it's those around her and the situations that she faces that makes her so. I love her abilities and how she is still discovering new things about her true self and her new world.

All in all this was a really great book that I thoroughly enjoyed. 

I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars on Goodreads.