WWW Wednesday – February 7, 2018

WWW Wednesdays is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On A World Of Words.
Each week we answer the following three questions:
-What have you recently finished reading?
-What are you currently reading?
-What are you reading next?

  

Recently I have finished 3 books and DNF’ed 1 book.  I started Without Merit on the first day of February and finished it two days later.  It wasn’t my favorite Colleen Hoover book but I still really liked it!  I decided to DNF a review copy I had been reading for Blogging For Books.  It was just not working for me at all.  I put Drums of Autumn on pause for a little bit while I let my friend catch up and pass me a ways.  I was having a really hard time trying to decide what to read in the mean time.  I even dumped out my TBR jar to try and look through the slips towards the bottom but still couldn’t find anything that sparked my interest. I happened to sit down on my bed and glance at my Jane Austen shelf which has some retellings and decided to try one of those.  That seemed to work very well as I started and finished Captain Wentworth’s Diary on Monday, then started and finished Mr. Knightley’s Diary yesterday!  They seem to be just what I needed.

 

I decided since I was on a roll with the Austen retellings, to continue with the series written by Amanda Grange so I started Edmund Bertram’s Diary last night after finishing Mr. Knightley’s.  Mansfield Park is one of my favorite books ever so I’m really enjoying this one.  I plan to pick up Drums of Autumn again this weekend and catch up to my friend now that she has passed me.

 

Up next I will continue on reading Amanda Grange’s Austen retellings.  I will only have two left after I finish Edmund Bertram’s Diary: Colonel Brandon’s Diary and Henry Tilney’s Diary.  I anticipate reading and finishing those both by Friday evening if I continue at the rate I have been making it one book per day this week!  After I finish those and read more in Drums of Autumn I hope to pick up a book from my February TBR.

What have you been reading lately?

Top Ten Authors I’ve Read The Most

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.  Each week there is a new topic and this week’s topic is:  Top Ten Authors I’ve Read The Most Books From

Robert Jordan – 16 books

These books were all a part of The Wheel of Time series which is one of my absolute favorites!

Nicholas Sparks – 16 books

I grew up reading and collecting these with my mom.

Charlaine Harris – 15

All of the books I have read of hers are from the Sookie Stackhouse series.  Although the end of the series was not my favorite, I’ll still love these books forever.

Janette Oke – 14 books

Another group of books I grew up reading with my mom.  I’m not into Christian Fiction anymore but her books were a big part of my childhood so they’ll stay with me forever as well.

Valerie Tripp – 13 books

She is the author of a few of the American Girls series.  I’ve read all of the Molly and Felicity books plus one of the Josephina series.

Laura Ingalls Wilder – 9 books

Another series of books that was a huge part of my childhood.  I’ve been in the mood to reread these lately.

Jane Austen – 8 books

She being my favorite author, I clamor to get my hands on anything and everything Jane Austen.  I’ve read her 6 full novels plus The Watsons, Sanditon, and Lady Susan.

L.M. Montgomery – 8 books

Yet another series that has had an impact on my childhood and my entire life.  Anne Shirley will always be a kindred spirit and bosom friend to me.

J.K. Rowling – 8 books

I first fell in love with Rowling with Harry Potter, as everyone else.  Along with The Casual Vacancy, I just love her writing.

L.J. Smith – 7 books

I have always had an interest in vampires so I finally read The Vampire Diaries books in the last year or two.

So those are the top ten authors I’ve read the most books from.  Were any of these authors on your lists this week?  Who are some of the authors you’ve read the most books from?

Book Review: Austenland by Shannon Hale

Austenland by Shannon Hale

Published May 29th 2007 by Bloomsbury USA (first published January 1st 2007)

197 Pages

Goodreads Summary: Jane Hayes is a seemingly normal young New Yorker, but she has a secret. Her obsession with Mr. Darcy, as played by Colin Firth in the BBC adaptation of Pride and Prejudice, is ruining her love life: no real man can compare. But when a wealthy relative bequeaths her a trip to an English resort catering to Austen-crazed women, Jane’s fantasies of meeting the perfect Regency-era gentleman suddenly become realer than she ever could have imagined.

Decked out in empire-waist gowns, Jane struggles to master Regency etiquette and flirts with gardeners and gentlemen;or maybe even, she suspects, with the actors who are playing them. It’s all a game, Jane knows. And yet the longer she stays, the more her insecurities seem to fall away, and the more she wonders: Is she about to kick the Austen obsession for good, or could all her dreams actually culminate in a Mr. Darcy of her own?

Review: I read this book for the #ReadingMyLibrary Challenge.  I am a huge Jane Austen fan so I was happy to find this at my local library to read.  I had seen the movie several months ago and really liked it.  I love the idea of going to a place like Pembrook Park and experiencing the culture of Regency England but it if was anything like the Pembrook Park in the book I don’t think it would be possible for it to exist.  I thought Hale’s writing had different facets that I enjoyed – it was funny but also heartfelt when it came down to Jane’s struggles with not knowing what it was she truly wanted.  I think there is a bit of Jane Hayes in all of us who fall “in love” with fictional characters and find yourself comparing the real people in your life to those characters.  It was very easy to compare Jane to Elizabeth Bennet and Mr. Nobley to Mr. Darcy.  I really really really disliked Miss Charming’s character though.  She just seemed like a complete fool and had absolutely no idea what she was talking about.  I was really confused why she would even want to be there in the first place.  Overall this book was a fun read.  I liked reading it but I don’t see myself buying it or reading it again.

3/5 Stars

Top Ten Heroines Additions

After some thought about my Top Ten Tuesday post yesterday, I realize that I had completely forgotten some of my favorite heroines when I made the list I posted.  Normally I would just forget about it and move on with my life but I feel the need to post these additions to my list!  I’m sure I’ll never be able to come up with a complete list of my favorite heroines but after remembering these, I can’t have just a limit of ten on my list.

Here are my additions (in no particular order):

Nynaeve al’Meara, Egwene al’Vere, Elayne Trakand, and Moiraine Damodred – The Wheel of Time series by Robert Jordan

Fanny Price – Mansfield Park by Jane Austen

Claire Beauchamp – Outlander series by Diana Gabaldon

Mary Boulton – The Outlander by Gil Adamson

Tris Prior – Divergent trilogy by Veronica Roth

Lena Duchannes – Beautiful Creatures series by Kami Garcia & Margaret Stohl

Sookie Stackhouse – Sookie Stackhouse series by Charlaine Harris

Evie Claremont – Premonition series by Amy A. Bartol

I’m sure that there are still more I haven’t thought of but these I just couldn’t pass up posting.  Did you forget any of your favorite heroines on your list yesterday?

2014 TBTB Secret Santa

I received my gifts today from my Secret Santa!  Thank you so much to Jennifer at The Leaning Stack of Books for such awesome presents!  My hubby was at home when the package arrived and he sent me a Snapchat of the box… I could not wait to get home and open it!

When I opened the box I found all of these goodies inside!  I debated opening the chocolate right away but in the end, I just couldn’t wait to see what was underneath the wrapping paper!

And behold, my gifts!  When I started to open A Walk in the Woods by Bill Bryson I only had to see the bottom corner of the book and I jumped up with excitement!  I think I scared my cats a little haha!  The other two books she got me were Doctor Zhivago by Boris Pasternak and The Tenant of Wildfell Hall by Anne Bronte.  I have always wanted to read all three of those books and now I finally can!

She also got me the coolest bandaids ever created!  Jane Austen!  I didn’t even know they made those!  I told Ethan that I couldn’t wait to cut myself so I could use one.

The final gift is the awesome candle holder.  It’s called a Glassybaby.  They are handblown in Seattle.  10% from the sale of every Glassybaby is donated to organizations dedicated to helping people, animals and the environment heal.  Jennifer tells me that the proceeds from this particular Glassybaby go to an organization called First Book, which helps provide access to new books to children in need.  How great is that?!  Plus look how beautiful it looks with a tealight glowing inside!

So I thank you again, Jennifer!  Everything you picked out for me was perfect!

I am already looking forward to participating in next year’s secret santa exchange!