August 2019 TBR

It's the beginning of August which means it's time to choose books and movies!

I think this is the first time the movie prompts fit perfectly with books I already wanted to read this month. So I'm extremely excited to be reading everything these!

The Picks:
The Many Adventures of Winnie the Pooh - Read your favorite book growing up
Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J.K. Rowling - I'll be reading the illustrated edition, which I haven't actually read before. I love this story so so much, and it definitely has it's place near the top of my favorite books growing up. There's a lot of emotion associated with this series for me, so I'm excited to take the time this year to reread this gem again.

A Goofy Movie - Read a book featuring a parent/child relationship
Bridge of Clay by Markus Zuzak - This book I believe is all about a family and their estranged relationship with their father. I don't know too much about it, but I think I can pretty safely guess that  a parent/child relationship will be featured at least a little bit. I'm really hoping this book is excellent.

 

Book Club:
Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens -  This was almost unanimously picked for our book this month. I've been hearing lots of good things about this book and so I can't wait to read it. I'll probably end up listening to it and I'm hoping it'll have a good narrator.

The Reading Rush Wrap Up!

So it's been a couple weeks since The Reading Rush ended and so I thought I'd share with you how I did! I did pretty well, especially since I had a lot of things going on in my life that week. Let's get right to it:

I managed to read 4 books, just over 800 pages:

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman
Runaways Vol 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson

With these books, I was able to complete all the challenges!

Read a book with purple on the cover:
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman

Three of the four of my books have purple on the cover, and I didn't even try to plan that!

Read a book in the same spot the entire time:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

I read both of these in the same spot, but I read Runaways first so I counted that one for this challenge.

Read a book you meant to read last year:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

I'm forever buying trades and then not reading them in a timely manner, so these worked perfectly for this challenge.

Read an author's first book:
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

I started but didn't finish Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo, but luck for me Good Omens is technically Neil Gaiman's first book!

Read a book with a non-human main character:
Runaways: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

There's a whole slew of non-human main characters in this series: a robot head, a dinosaur, and an alien just to name a few!

Pick a book that has five or more words in the title:
Hawkeye: Kate Bishop Vol. 2: Masks by Kelly Thompson
Runaways Vol. 2: Best Friends Forever by Rainbow Rowell

The trades are coming in really handy this year, what with all the words in their titles and all.

Read and watch a book to movie adaptation:

Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and Terry Pratchett

Technically I didn't complete this challenge because I didn't manage to watch the adaptation but I read the book and that was fun.

That's it! I collected 10 badges on The Reading Rush website and enjoyed putting more time and effort into my everyday reading! I think I should participate in more regularly in read-a-thons. So which one will it be next?!

June/July Wrap Up

Time for the Recap!

The Picks:
As a review, here are my pick for June and July
Home on the Range - Read a book that takes place on a ranch or features a cowboy
Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure - Read a book featuring a nature word in the title
Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet - Read a book that features the Internet/technology
Finding Nemo - Read a book nominated for an award

I was able to complete three of the four prompts these last two months. I'll put Finding Nemo back in the pool for another time. Here are my short reviews for the books I read and their corresponding movies.

The Books:
When the Sky Fell on Splendor by Emily Henry - I really enjoyed this book. It definitely has a Stranger Things vibe to the story, and I really liked that aspect. This group of friends thrown together after an accident that affected most of the families in the small town. I loved the dynamic between characters, especially between Franny and her brother, Arthur.

Once & Future by Amy Rose Capetta and Cori McCarthy - I wanted to like this book so much.  It had all the makings of something that I'd love and unfortunately I just couldn't get into the book.  I counted this book as my Home on the Range because they ride horses at some point during this story (I know it's a stretch but it's my challenge, so.) I ended up putting this book down, but maybe I'll come back to it later.

Book Scavenger by Jennifer Chambliss Bertman - This book was so much fun! I really enjoyed the book scavenger game aspect of this story. It was a story of friendship and puzzles, family and adventure. There's a little bit of mystery and suspense which glued me to the book. I wanted to know what would come next, which clues our main characters would solve and where it would take them. Middle School is rough, but it's always nice to have a friend to share the experience with and these two main characters do just that.

The Movies:
Tinker Bell - Even though I pulled Tinker Bell and the Lost Treasure, I watched Tinker Bell so I could watch them in release order. This was a very cute movie about embracing who you are and what you're made to do. I really enjoyed watching Tink's origin story and I can't wait to pull other Tinker Bell movies.

Home on the Range - This is one of the few movies on the list that I haven't seen before. It's not your typical Disney musical; there were no singing animals, which did disappoint me a little.  Three cows go on an adventure to help save their Little Patch of Heaven, fighting against all odds. It's not my favorite movie, and I'm not surprised this isn't one of the more popular Disney movies, but it was fun.

Wreck-It Ralph 2: Ralph Breaks the Internet - This movie is a gem. I love the musical number that Vanellope sings while she's in Slaughter Race. My favorite part of this whole movie is the princesses. I would absolutely watch a feature length film with all of them interacting like they do in this movie!

August's picks are coming shortly. So until next time, happy reading!