Finish It February 2016 Wrap Up!

Back at the end of January I announced that I would be taking part in Finish It Feb and I gave myself a nice varied list of 12 books to choose from throughout the month to pick up and read.

I  really enjoyed the idea of this challenge as I have a bad habit of starting a series and then being distracted by something else. So having to concentrate on finishing things off, or at least finishing the books I own in a series so far, was very motivating.

I'm definitely glad I chose to give myself so many books to choose from as I don't think I would have been as successful as I was as I would have felt restricted if I only had one or two options.

Onto the books I read...

The first book I read was Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 4 by Tsugumi Ohba. It's the fourth bind up of Death Note and it is not the final book in the series, however it is the last one that I own so far that I haven't read. I plan on picking up the final two volumes in the next couple of months and will read them as I get them so I stay up to date.

The second book I read was The Kill Order by James Dashner which is a prequel to the Maze Runner trilogy. I own all of the Maze Runner books (so far anyway as I believe there will be another book out this year which I'll also be picking up and reading), but this is the only one I hadn't read.

And finally the last book I read for Finish It Feb was Clariel by Garth Nix, which is another prequel to a trilogy. I've owned it for quite a while now as I was super excited when it was released and then books for review and other books got in the way. While I was reading this Garth Nix actually announced that the next book in the series will be out in October this year (2016), so I'll definitely be picking that up when that comes out too.

Three books doesn't seem like much, but it's three books of series that I now no longer need to read and I enjoyed seeing the pile go down as I chose them, so I will probably do this again at some point in the future.

If you want to check out any of the reviews I did for the books I read, my Goodreads profile is here.

Did you take part in Finish It Feb? What books did you choose to read?

Books I Read - February 2016

My reading mojo continued into February and I've been really enjoying picking up books from my shelf and diving in. I completed some books for Finish It Feb which I'll cover in a separate blog post, which felt really great. I also finally started picking up graphic novels/trade paper backs again after what seems like an absolute age and I've been loving it.

My biggest bookish news during February was that I finally finished reading War and Peace and it was extremely emotional as I really felt that I'd accomplished something after struggling with it for so long. I wrote about my experience and I've linked that blog post in the list below.

I was also part of a blog tour which was very exciting as I absolutely loved the book and I was lucky enough to interview the author for my turn on the tour and she was absolutely lovely. Again I have linked that post and the review I did below.

Onto the books I read in February -

1. Death Note: Black Edition, Vol.4 by Tsugumi Ohba - 4 Stars
2. Murder In Absentia by Asaph Mehr - 4 Stars
3. War And Peace by Leo Tolstoy - 2 Stars
4. Star Wars: Jedi, Volume 1: The Dark Side by Scott Allie - 4 Stars
5. The Kill Order by James Dashner - 3 Stars
6. Sinking by Sarah Armstrong-Garner - 5 Stars (Blog Tour Post)
7. Batman: The Dark Knight Returns by Frank Miller - 2 Stars
8. Batman: Hush, Vol. 1 by Jeph Loeb - 5 Stars
9. Batman: Hush, Vol. 2 by Jeph Loeb - 5 Stars
10. Superman: Last Son by Geoff Johns - 5 Stars
11. The Yellow Wallpaper by Charlotte Perkins Gilman - 4 Stars
12. Clariel by Garth Nix - 4 Stars
13. JLA, Vol, 7: Tower Of Babel by Mark Waid - 4 Stars
14. Superman/Batman, Vol, 1: Public Enemies by Jeph Loeb - 4 Stars
15. MNJ Poetry by Meagan Jennett - 5 Stars

There are two more blog reviews coming up for books I read in February, so I will add their links once they are live. If you wanted to read any of my reviews that aren't on my blog, feel free to add me on Goodreads! My profile is here.

What has everyone else been reading? Let me know and if you have any recommendations for me that would be awesome!

Conquering My Everest - War And Peace

Before I get into the review or any of the details of my reading experience etc I would just like thank every single person who got behind me while I have been reading War and Peace. The people who have liked my tweeted updates or my daily updates on Goodreads. The people who have sent me encouraging messages and memes. And especially to my buddy reader who without her I would never ever have gotten through this book! So thank you F, you're amazing!!!

I started reading War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy on the Readathon Day 2015 which was held on the 24th of January 2015. The readathon was 4 hours long and I was really proud of myself as I managed to read 153 pages and though it was excruciatingly wordy, I was getting through it. As an example of the wordy-ness, this is a sentence from the top of page 6 "As she named the Empress, Anna Pavlovna's face suddenly assumed an expression of profound and sincere devotion and respect, tinged with melancholy, and this happened whenever she mentioned her exalted patroness" - I feel this could have been done in a much more succinct way and in a way that didn't make Anna's face sound like it was performing a drama.

So we move onto April and I finally get around to picking the book up to continue reading it and I manage three pages before I fall fully asleep sat on the sofa.  tried on and off until September and I kept managing the same three pages before falling asleep, whether I was tired or not. In October I had some success and I finally read 26 pages all in one go and then on another day another six, but I just couldn't do it any more. It was so painful to force myself to read it and to keep myself awake, especially as there are so many books that I want to read. So I made the decision that I was going to DNF (did not finish) my first ever book! I made my intention known on Goodreads and then from nowhere one of my Iggle (IGGPPC member) friends said that she had wanted to read War and Pace too and that she would get a copy and catch up with me and we would read it together! I jumped at this as I was upset that I was leaving a book unfinished and had let it beat me, so a few days later we started reading 10 pages a day until new year and then we upped it to 20 pages a day.

Having someone else reading this with me gave me the motivation I needed to get through this tome. It didn't seem as much effort to get through the pages and with deciding to read a set amount of pages a day, it really felt like I was making progress. I am eternally grateful to F for helping me out with this and I look forward to all out future buddy reads to get through books we want to read, because we should read.

Onto the review. I am being very, very generous giving this two stars instead of one. The only reason that I am doing this is that during the times of "peace" there were bits of scandal and gossip that kept me almost interested. There is a whole host of characters that come and go so often that you forget who they are as a lot of them have very similar names. Some characters disappear for a long time, only to come back and die in nothing more than a sentence. One character has more lives than a cat and is pronounced dead so many times, you just don't care any more. There was character that I did like and I was pleased that he got his happy ending that he deserved.

The sections which were from Napoleans point of view, to me felt like they were added as an after thought or were written at a different time by a different person as they read so different to the rest of the story, I discovered through F that War and Peace was originally released as a serial so it is actually possible that these parts were added as an after thought. Towards the end of the book, Tolstoy seems to forget he is telling a story and there is more than one chapter which are just his opinions on war and history. It's very jarring getting to these parts when the chapter before and after are jut continuations of the story as if the middle bit never happened.

As I've said at the start, I would not have got through this book without the support of my buddy reader and I really respect people who can do it alone (and enjoy it!) I'm proud we got through it and I'm certainly glad that I can honestly say that yes I have read War and Peace.

Have you ever read War and Peace? What was your reading experience and did you enjoy it?

I started reading this book on the 24th of January 2015 and finished it on the 10th of February 2016.
I gave this book 2 stars on Goodreads

Books I Read - January 2016

I just realised that we're part way through February and I haven't done a round up of the books I read in January!

I started off the year with quite a bang and I managed to read a whopping 12 books as well as continuing to read 20 pages a day of War and Peace (but that's a whole other blog that will be coming your way very soon)!

I read a really wide variety of books in January and it really kept me motivated to read the next book as I'm just picking up whatever I feel like reading at that moment instead of planning out in advance what I should be reading.

The books that I read in January are as follows

1. FullMetal Alchemist (3 in 1 Edition), Vol. 1 by Hiromu Arakawa - 5 Stars
2. The Theseus Paradox by David Videcette -  5 Stars
3. After Anna by Alex Lake - 5 Stars
4. The Fall of Icarus by Ovid - 3 Stars
5. Pet- Friendly Francie Scores a Pooch by Kat E. Erikson - 5 Stars
6. Black Butler, Vol. 12 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
7. Black Butler, Vol. 13 by Yana Toboso - 5 Stars
8. Black Butler, Vol. 14 by Yana Toboso - 4 Stars
9. How to Survive a Sharknado and Other Unnatural Disasters by Andrew Shaffer- 5 Stars
10. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo - 5 Stars
11. Scarlet by Marissa Meyer - 5 Stars
12. Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 3 by Tsugumi Ohba - 4 Stars

Two of these books were ones I received for review and I have linked them to their reviews if you feel like going to check them out.

I'm looking forward to keeping up my reading momentum for as long as I can and having a productive February as I have a couple of books for review as well as taking part in a blog tour and having a go at Finish It Feb.

What have you been reading recently? Have you read any of the books that I read in January and if you have, what did you think of them? Let me know in the comments, I'd love to hear from you!

Finish It Feb 2016

Hello! I'll start off by apologising for such a long gap between blogs. I got hit by the flu quite badly and I just haven't been up to much at all recently, but fingers crossed I'm finally getting my energy back to get stuff done and I can go back to my regular posts, I've a couple of reviews coming up and I'm part of an exciting blog tour in February.

Anyhoo, though as of yet I'm not participating in any specific challenges this year, I have decided to take part in Finish It Feb where you concentrate on finishing books you're half way through or finishing off series that you're part way through reading. It's being hosted by Faye over at A Daydreamer's Thoughts.

I do have a lot going on in February with reviews and blog tours etc but I am planning on trying to read some more books in series that I have started but haven't got through yet. I have a ridiculous amount of series that I have started and then I've been distracted by starting reading another series and I'd just like to at least get to the stage where I've read the books in the series that I own.

I feel this challenge will work well for me as I have a nice variety of books and genres to choose from so I should be able to match my reading mood without feeling restricted. I will be posting a picture of the books I have chosen to pick from for the month on my Instagram, Twitter and Facebook on Monday and I'll also update this blog with the list too at that time, so keep your eye out for all of those! At the end of February I'll do a wrap up of how I managed and if I got any completed.

I'm really looking forward to all the exciting things coming to my blog over the next couple of months and I really hope you enjoy them too.

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So the complete list that I have to choose from are:

Cress by Marissa Meyer
The Kill Order by James Dashner
Crown of Midnight by Sarah J. Maas
Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas
The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas
Clariel by Garth Nix
A Dance With Dragons: After the Feast by George R.R. Martin
I Am Dead by Gareth Wiles
Icon's Request by Gareth Wiles
A Matter of Dark by Gareth Wiles
Where the Birds Hide at Night by Gareth Wiles
Death Note: Black Edition, Vol. 4 by Tsugumi Ohba

As I said a nice varied selection to choose from! Here's hoping that I can get through a good chunk of them. I've linked each on to their Goodreads page so if you want to check any of them out you can do.