A.A. update 6/17/13

Hey the second week of the readathon has come and gone what did you read this week?  So I have currently read 7 books this month and the list will start now...

Progress

Pages read today: 157

Pages read total: 2255

Books finished: 8

So I feel really good about how this month is turning out and hope everyone else is having a good one. I hope to be to be to my goal for this readathon by my next update so I am supper excited.

JRReadathon wrap up!!!

Woah that week went by really fast. I feel really good about the books I read this week and I had a lot of fun trying this out so thank you  Krazzyme from YoungReaders, Sarika and Janhvi from TheReaddicts, and Ankita from Booklokcoffee for this fun opportunity. The books I read are below.

I gave this 5 stars loved it!

 This one got 3 stars on Goodreads.

This one also got 3 stars on Goodreads but it is more of a 3.5

I just finished this one right before this so its unrated for now but I really liked it! If you participated in the readathon make sure you leave a link below so we all can see what you read this week too.

~Arya~

JRReadathon June 10-17

 

Hey guys I know I am already participating in a readathon for the whole month but I found this one today and I really want to join in. So this readathon starts today with the goal to lessen our TBR pile. So the only goal of this readathon is to read as much as we can this month. This readathon is hosted by Krazzyme from YoungReaders, Sarika and Janhvi from TheReaddicts, and Ankita from Booklokcoffee.
 
  The-read-a-thon is between the 10th-17th of June. You can still enter by going to one of the host blogs. Just click on one of the links and it will take you the the sign-up page. You can also tweet your updates on Twitter using the hash-tag #JRREADATHON.

I'm Reading now: 

Good luck to everyone participating and luck to making that TBR list smaller!!!!!

{Review} Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

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The Boy in the Striped Pajamas was written by John Boyne and published on  September 12th  2006 by David Fickling Books.

Summary 

Berlin 1942

When Bruno returns home from school one day, he discovers that his belongings are being packed in crates. His father has received a promotion and the family must move from their home to a new house far far away, where there is no one to play with and nothing to do. A tall fence running alongside stretches as far as the eye can see and cuts him off from the strange people he can see in the distance.

But Bruno longs to be an explorer and decides that there must be more to this desolate new place than meets the eye. While exploring his new environment, he meets another boy whose life and circumstances are very different to his own, and their meeting results in a friendship that has devastating consequences. 

Review

 In all honesty I don't even know what to write about for this book. I really wanted to love this book. Everyone I know absolutely loved this when I heard about it thought I would too.  In all honesty I try to not hear or watch anything to do with a book that I plan to read. For this book I couldn't really escape the influence because I watched the movie before I knew it was based on a book.

  To start off I was really intrigued by the concept and thought behind the book. One boy on each side of a fence befriending each other even though they come from two completely different worlds. However I found that the story was really unrealistic and the writing really was bothering me almost the whole time I was reading it.

One of the biggest things that bothered me was how the characters never acted the same age. Bruno the main character is 9 years old but in some scenes he acted very young but in others he acted above his age. Another big thing that bothered me was that  he called Auschwitz, "out-with" I could see an American child or a foreign child in general calling it that but not someone who is German since he speaks German and it is a German word. Also I didn't get any emotional connection to the characters that everyone was talking about. I believe it was because I read so much books and true accounts from the Holocaust that i wasn't able to connect with the characters at all. I felt that the author skipped over the parts that would of made me feel that connection. Just because the main character was  a child didn't mean his reads were in fact it put on the inside flap that it wasn't for children but was written like it was meant for them to read it.

I just felt like the author didn't do his research. Parts of the story just didn't correspond with what really happened in real life. Bruno and Schumel were so innocent and I can't find that realistic in real life Hitler portrayed his plans everywhere. In all the schools from the beginning the teachers preached Hitler's plans and feelings everywhere. The fact that Bruno's father was a Nazi meant he for sure should of got the lessons in school.

Remember guys this is just my opinion and I absolutely hate writing negatively about any book.

My rating 2/5

~Arya~

   

A.A. Update 6/7/13!

Hey so the first week of the readathon is almost almost over so I thought I would do a little update for you all. To start of this month I read...
                                                 

On Goodreads I gave the book two stars I plan to post a review later, on my blog.

The second book I read this week was....

On Goodreads I rated this three stars and I really liked it and a review will be posted later.

I am currently reading 

I have about 50 pages left and will finish this book tonight!!!

Progress

Pages read today:141

Pages read total:679

Books read so far:2

Over all I feel really good about the readathon and hope everyone participating is having a really great time and reaching for their goals. How did your first week turn out?

A.A. Read a thon!!!!

   Hey guys since i missed out on the Bout of Books read-a-thon and school is official done for me I really want to join this one so this event is hosted by missbookreader and Piper's Book Blog. The links will take you to their posts on the event with all the information on what is going on and will have the official updates there.
  The main information though is that the read a thon will last a month and your goal is to read more than what you would typically read in a month. Other than that no other rules are specified i.e. no requirements. The hosts asked to see what we will try to read and I am going to try to read at least 10 books on average I read 7-8 books a month so its an okay number to start off with.

The books I will for sure be reading are (in no order):

The Fellowship of the Ring By J.R.R. Tolkien

Lemonade Mouth Puckers Up By Mark Peter Hughes

The List by Siobhan Vivian

Dream Girl by Lauren Mechling

Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne

White Cat by Holly Black

So theses are the 6 books I am going to start with. All he books are from the library and was already checked out (finished 2 already) or I would of picked at least 10 books if I knew about the challenge before I went to the library. I will be going to the library though for sure again early to mid June to pick up more books. To make the challenge extra challenging for me my minimum goal is 10 I would really like to get 17 or higher and match how many books I read in January the most I have read in a month.

I will try to update and review some of the books as I go. I will also post a book haul of books when I get them so you can see the other books I am adding to my list for the readathon.

~Good Luck, Arya~

Tiger's Curse by Colleen Houck

Tiger's Curse

Category Young Adult

Published by Sterling

Pages 403

Read in 2 days

Overall 4/5

I read this book a while back and I loved it. Anything that involves Mythology just adds to the story and makes me really happy. Overall I adored this book and will for sure be reading the next in the series.

I liked that it took place in India I don't think I have read anything based there before. It was beautifully described and the culture of India was written really well and explained the  religion and beliefs very strong as well without being interesting without being over baring Other than Indian mythology there was some Japanese Myths in here too. I don't know about you but I adore anything Japanese.

I liked watching the characters interact and most of the time I thought it was written really well but somethings the things the characters said were odd. Not just the guys from different time periods than us but the main character who supposedly was a modern American teen girl. Being a teen girl myself some of the words and phrases she was saying was extremely dated. How many teens do you know that say "Wiley Scoundrel" ? I can't think of anyone.  That one is really the only one that stuck out in my mind but there was for sure more.

I liked the adventure and the settings for them were really explained well and the actions were described excellently. I liked watching the characters evolve and fall for each other. The ending was pretty predictable but I still loved it and will for sure be reading the next book in the series. I gave it a 4/5 because of the hot-and-cold romance and the strange wording from Kelsey.  If you like adventures and romance it is an excellent book to pick up! 

~Arya~