5 Topics That Make Me Pick Up A Book

Texas

I've always been a sucker for cowboys and since I read Texas Gothic my romance with Texas even strengthened. I can just imagine what it's like there - nice people, wonderful atmosphere, blazing sun and shirtless cowboys... I can just imagine myself fitting there real nice and it's an ideal book setting.

Jerk hero

What can I say - they're definitely not boring. We all love to hate them - and then in the end just love them...

Magic

This is Matilda's fault. And Potter's. And Prue and Phoebie and Piper's. I still sometimes cry myself to sleep at night because I can't do magic (yet I still try every day).

Boarding School

A closed-off setting is bursting with potential! No parents, no real supervision; crushes and romances; mass of teenagers - something interesting is always bound to happen. Just take a look at Hex Hall or Vampire Academy or Harry Potter! 

Pretend relationship

It's my guilty pleasure. I like the complexity of the situations, the character development, the tension between the hero and heroine and I'm always interested to see in what way are they going to get their happy ending (because, let's be frank - it always ends up with a HEA).

Creepy Book Covers

Have you ever come across a book whose blurb was extremely intriguing... but then you didn't dare buy it because it would haunt you forever from your bookshelf? Here are a few such books I encountered while perusing the bookshelves of Goodreads:

Tainted Grace (Grace #2) by M. Lauryl Lewis

Can you imagine getting this for Christmas or birthday? I mean, it's awesomely gruesome, but gruesome nevertheless.

The Passage by Justin Cronin

A black and white picture of a child with a creepy look in her eyes and the tagline 'Something is coming' is not something you'd find on my night stand. Especially since I hate horror movies and evil children in horror movies are the worst kind of horror movies.

Night Of The Living Dummy by R. L. Stine

Even in Slovenia we've got R. L. Stine books (fun fact: In Slovenian goose bumps are chicken bumps, kurja polt) and I remember them being scary as heck. Night Of The Living Dummy gave me a lifetime fear of ventriloquist dolls. And Buffy also had an unpleasant encounter with a doll that came to life. I'm a little traumatized.

The House Of Dead Maids by Clare B. Dunkle

Eee, she's got no eyeballs, am I the only one disturbed about this? It's giving me the heebie-jeebies.

Prophecy Of The Sisters by Michelle Zink

Everyone who's ever watched Doctor Who and knows of Weeping Angels will understand.

Top 5 Book Characters On Screen

Since my fellow bookling Aotee is off enjoying the wonders of Ireland and I am slaving away at work for days at a time, we've been neglecting our baby a little bit, but we still managed to agree on top 5 book characters that were brought to life on the big screen.

5. Aragorn from The Lord of The Rings Trilogy

Who can resist the ever so dashing and brave Aragorn and his mighty sword? (Never mind the double entendre.) 

4. Tyrion Lannister from A Song Of Ice and Fire Series

3. Lyra Belacqua from His Dark Materials Trilogy

Why was there only one movie? And there were 5, five Twilight movies...

2. Dolores Umbridge from Harry Potter Series

"When they entered the Defence Against the Dark Arts classroom they found Professor Umbridge already seated at the teacher’s desk, wearing the fluffy pink cardigan of the night before and the black velvet bow on top of her head. Harry was again reminded forcibly of a large fly perched unwisely on top of an even larger toad."

She did not only resemble a toad, a few other animals also come to mind. For example a bi..... Yea, we totally meant bipolar monkey.

1. Severus Snape from Harry Potter Series

We LOVED to HATE him. We also loved him. 

What do you think? Do you agree with our (wonderful) choices or do you have other contenders?

Top 5 Bookish OMGs

We happened to come across these awesome thingies while exploring the strange and often creepy world that is the inter-web. We want them people, we want them bad. 

5) Cat Paws Bookmark

If you like books and cats, then this bookmark is an awesome addition to your extensive collection of book stuff. Plus, it totally looks like the book squished a cat, which is hilarious. (Not that cats being squished are hilarious ... You know what I mean! Just.. Look at it! Hee. )

We found it on Etsy.com.

4) Comfy Reading Chair

Don't you just want to curl up on this pretty chair and read for days on end? It looks so deliciously comfortable you'd even want to sleep on it! In the words of that small girl from that cartoon: "It's so fluffy I'm gonna die!" Just change fluffy with comfy and you get this chair.

Buffalo Sisters found it on Etsy.com.

3) Harry Potter Bookshelf Necklace

Need we say more? I mean, anything?

Check out Cory Cuthbertson and more of her pretty handmade jewellery.

2) Portal Bookends

This bookend is a triumph. We're making a note here: huge success. It's hard to overstate our satisfaction. 

If you're a gamer I'm sure you can appreciate the awesomeness on your left. If not, you should go play some Portal.

              ~At the end of the experiment, you will be baked and then there will be cake. ~

Geek up at ThinkGeek.com.

1) TARDIS Bookshelf

The TARDIS is a ship that can travel though time and space. It can take you anywhere you want any time you want. And incidentally, so can books. This bookshelf is just one great metaphor and we absolutely love it and want it. Now. Seriously. Now.

Bookshelf Porn at its finest!

Top 5 Books Read in 2012

Anyone else loves lists? They're so listy, and nice. Don't you think? So here we go, we made two nice listy lists just for you.They contain the top 5 books Inx and I have read in 2012. I'll go first because my name starts with a superior letter, which means I get to do everything first. True story.

Aotee's Best of 2012 List

5) The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak
 Why do I intentionally read books that I know are going to make me cry? And also, if I know that a book is going to make me cry, why do I decide to read it in a park? I did the same with HP5, I read the last few chapters in the middle of a water park. Luckily then I could say that my face is all wet because I’d just got out of the pool. But I digress. The Book Thief is a wonderful book; it follows the life of a German girl during the Second World War and the narrator is, appropriately enough, Death. It’s a wonderful book and despite all the horror and pain in it, it’s one of hope.

4) The Fault in our Stars by John Green
I fell in love with this book as soon as I heard John Green read the first chapter on the vlogbrothers channel. I pre-ordered it right away (signed copy!) and I must say that I'm really glad it was published in January. That made it slightly more impossible for me to go out and embarrass myself with another session of public crying. And oh boy, it’s a crier.
The Fault in our Stars is a story about a young girl called Hazel who meets a handsome and charming boy with the most awesome name ever: Augustus Waters. And he asks her out. And she says yes. Sounds like your average teenage romance story? I kinda wish it was. They both have cancer.

3) Kiss Kiss, a collection of short stories by Roald Dahl
I started reading this book during the exam period, because I didn't want to start reading a novel. My plan was very cunning: I was to read short stories, because I assumed that that would not be as absorbing as a novel. So I planned to read one story and then put the book down and go back to studying. Yeah. That didn't happen. I pretty much read them all in one sitting.
Dahl’s short stories are twisted, unpredictable and often gruesome. They make the reader question morality and show what lies hiding in the strangest corners of the human mind. Even Dahl’s children stories can be disturbing (Matilda anyone?), but Kiss Kiss takes disturbing on a whole new level. And I absolutely love it.

2) A Dance with Dragons by George R.R. Martin
 A Dance with Dragons is the fifth book in The Song of Ice and Fire series and with series there’s always a possibility that every next book will be disappointing. George Martin, however, doesn't have that word in his dictionary. If anything, this one is his best so far. There are so many characters, so many points of view brilliantly woven together and so many story-lines to follow. Martin is a genius when it comes to creating suspense, he knows what to reveal and what to keep hidden. He tells enough to keep the reader satisfied and the story going, but at the same time there are so many things he doesn't reveal, which keeps the readers on their toes. And the toe-standing will continue while we wait The Winds of Winter. Write George, write, my toes hurt!

1) The Way of Kings by Brandon Sanderson
I finished A Dance with Dragons somewhere during the summer and I had pretty much accepted the fact that that would be the best book I would read in 2012. But then, suddenly: Sanderson.
I didn't expect The Way of Kings to pull me in as much as it did and it’s difficult for me to say why I liked it as much as I did. It has all the magic and fighting and strange traditions you’d expect from a fantasy book, but at the same time it’s just so much than your regular fantasy. Sanderson is so good at describing this brand new world of his, presenting the people and the way things are and always have been. He makes you feel secure in this world, makes you feel a part of it. And then demolishes everything in the last few chapters. I stayed up until 4 am just to finish it. Enough said.

Inx's Best of 2012 List

The best for last, huh? Here are my top 5 books I've read in the past year. I must confess 2012 was not the best reading year for me as I was busy with my BA thesis and other boring adult stuff. But these are the books that caught my attention:

5) On the Island by Tracey Garvis-Graves
 On the Island tackles a controversial topic - a relationship between a woman and a boy, a teacher and her student. In this case Mrs. Robinson is Anna, a 30-year-old English teacher, who is accompanying a 16 year-old T.J. to a tropical island where she'll tutor him because he has to catch up on all the school stuff he missed because of cancer. Come the plot twist: their plane crashes somewhere in the middle of nowhere; well, there is a tiny island they're stranded on and the sea is full of yucky sharks and no one knows they've survived. And they slowly fall in love. 
The author beautifully described the transition from friendship to love, so the "ick" factor was absent. There was also the fact that their relationship remained platonic until T.J. was 19 years old, and he was the initiator. All in all, a nice summer story that reminded me I have to re-read Jules Verne’s The Mysterious Island soon!

4) Stealing Heaven by Elizabeth Scott
This is one of those books that really speak to me. As if it was written solely for me. It makes me feel good, makes me laugh out loud, and the dialogue between the two main characters was the best part of the whole thing. I really don't have much more to say about this book, except "You had me at hello, sweetie."





3) Hunting Lila (Lila #1) by Sarah Alderson
This book has one of the most important ingredients for me to like a book - a kickass heroine with an actual spine! They are so rare in the land of YA! Seriously, they are.
Lila also has a secret, and it's something I've always dreamed of having - she can move things with her mind (just like Roald Dahl's Matilda)! Hunting Lila is action-packed supernatural story filled with suspense and with a few romance elements thrown in. A perfect package. 

2) Obsidian (Lux #1) by Jennifer L. Armentrout
 I had reservations about reading a book that everyone raved about and fell in love with, not to mention the fact that I hate books with aliens and/or angels in them. But, oh boy, was I in for a treat! Let's just say that certain someone (let's call him Damien) is one of the most refreshingly annoying pieces of hot alien meat I've read about in YA genre. There's also some action and paranormal activity, but I can't offer you more details. Damien was just too darn distracting. *wipes drool off chin*

1) On the Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta
Melina Marchetta is one of those authors who write with so much heart and soul, and she creates a very real and raw affect that draws people to reading her masterpieces over and over again. Reading this book felt like a thrilling roller coaster ride of epic proportions.
The beginning is somewhat confusing, but once you dive into the book, you see how nicely all the pieces are tied together, there is even a big red bow at the end. I don't want to give anything away so I will not discuss the plot, but please take my advice and read the book! It will change your view on life and you'll carry the book with you for the rest of your life (figuratively speaking, but if you're like me, you'll keep a copy somewhere nearby).
During the read my allergies kicked up - I kept sniffling and my eyes were all red and this liquid thingy was running down my cheeks. One might think that I was crying, but that's not was that was, those were allergies. I don't cry!