Top Ten Tuesday: Top Ten Worlds I'd Never Want To Live In

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. For more info about the meme and how to participate, click here.

This is way late because I forgot to publish my list and I meant to elaborate more but before it gets even later here's my list of worlds I wouldn't want to live in.

1. The Handmaid's Tale - Gilead

A world in which women are used as breeding machines? No, no, no!

2. Nineteen Eighty-Four

There is just so much going on in this world that it's probably the scariest vision of future I have ever read. Nobody would want to live in this kind of world, yet sometimes it seems like our world is coming scarily close in certain instances.

3. The Hunger Games - Panem

Sacrificing children for the sake of oppression and entertainment is not okay to start with but the whole way this world is built and the people have to live to get by is not a place I want to ever live in.

4. Delirium

A world in which you're not allowed to love anybody and are not allowed to have any feelings does not seem like one I'd like to live in.

5. Matched

Being assigned a partner and a job and only having a counted number of books, paintings etc doesn't sound like a nice way to live your life.

6. Enclave 

Either living underground, in gangs, or in settlements that are in constant fear of being attacked by  Freaks is a scary vision of the world. It's maybe more dangerous than worlds in other books I mentioned but I think a world that is basically like we know it now with less freedoms is maybe scarier than a world in which survival is the most important thing...

7. Legend - The Republic

Another oppressed society but with lots of military and fighting, a deadly virus and all kinds of things going on that we wouldn't want to endure.

8. Feed

I haven't read the whole series yet, actually I haven't finished the first book yet but while it doesn't seem like a world I'd want to live in but at least it seems relatively safe in a way.

9. Bumped

Another world in which women, or well teenage girls in this case, are used as breeding machines. A big NO! It's either getting pregnant in your teens or living in a religious community where people get babies early in life as well. Doesn't seem like a place I'd want to live in.

10. Fahrenheit 451

A world in which books are burned?! That alone should be enough to not want to live in this world but the whole question of censorship is scary.

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Weekly Wishes

Weekly Wishes is a linkup to talk about your goals and wishes for the upcoming week, you can check it out over at The Nectar Collective.

Haven't done this in a while but I feel like it's a good way to keep track of what needs to be done and actually get things done. I write to-do lists but if they're in my calendar there's not really much of accountability going on...

Goals for this week 

PhD

• Read thesis novels for one hour a day, 30 min Findley & 30 min Atwood
• Write, write write. Ideally every day but I already missed two days so I'm just going with write. I'm having a bit of trouble getting the words right in this part of the chapter I'm working on but I know that I should just keep on writing and get my ideas on paper. I can always edit it later. I'm meeting my supervisor next week and my goal was to have this part finished my then as well.

 Reading

• Finish Gated, the last novel for my Debut Author 2013 challenge which needs to be read by the end of this month.
• Review the book once it's been read.

Movies

• Watch another Oscar movie.

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Top Ten Tuesday: 2014 Debuts I'm Excited For

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. For more info about the meme and how to participate, click here.

 

I went crazy the other day and added all the 2014 debuts that seemed interesting to my Goodreads shelves and ended up with way too many to choose from. Somehow I managed to narrow it down to the ten that seem the most fun. These are in no particular order, just as I came across them on my shelf. I'm excited to discover new writers and stories!

1. A Death-Struck Year - Makiia Lucier

For Cleo Berry, the people dying of the Spanish Influenza in cities like New York and Philadelphia may as well be in another country--that's how far away they feel from the safety of Portland, Oregon. And then cases start being reported in the Pacific Northwest. Schools, churches, and theaters shut down. The entire city is thrust into survival mode--and into a panic. Headstrong and foolish, seventeen-year-old Cleo is determined to ride out the pandemic in the comfort of her own home, rather than in her quarantined boarding school dorms. But when the Red Cross pleads for volunteers, she can't ignore the call. As Cleo struggles to navigate the world around her, she is surprised by how much she finds herself caring about near-strangers. Strangers like Edmund, a handsome medical student and war vet. Strangers who could be gone tomorrow. And as the bodies begin to pile up, Cleo can't help but wonder: when will her own luck run out?
Riveting and well-researched, A Death-Struck Year is based on the real-life pandemic considered the most devastating in recorded world history. Readers will be captured by the suspenseful storytelling and the lingering questions of: what would I do for a neighbor? At what risk to myself?




2. Nil - Lynne Matson

On the mysterious island of Nil, the rules are set. You have one year. Exactly 365 days--to escape, or you die.

Seventeen-year-old Charley doesn’t know the rules. She doesn’t even know where she is. The last thing she remembers is blacking out, and when she wakes up, she’s lying naked in an empty rock field.

Lost and alone, Charley finds no sign of other people until she meets Thad, the gorgeous leader of a clan of teenage refugees. Soon Charley learns that leaving the island is harder than she thought . . . and so is falling in love. With Thad’s time running out, Charley realizes that to save their future, Charley must first save him. And on an island rife with dangers, their greatest threat is time.









3. Lies We Tell Ourselves - Robin Talley


In 1959 Virginia, the lives of two girls on opposite sides of the battle for civil rights will be changed forever.

Sarah Dunbar is one of the first black students to attend the previously all-white Jefferson High School. An honors student at her old school, she is put into remedial classes, spit on and tormented daily.

Linda Hairston is the daughter of one of the town’s most vocal opponents of school integration. She has been taught all her life that the races should be kept “separate but equal.”

Forced to work together on a school project, Sarah and Linda must confront harsh truths about race, power and how they really feel about one another.

4. The Secret Side of Empty - Maria E. Andreu

As a straight-A student with a budding romance and loyal best friend, M.T.’s life seems as apple-pie American as her blondish hair and pale skin. But M.T. hides two facts to the contrary: her full name of Monserrat Thalia and her status as an undocumented immigrant.

But it’s harder to hide now that M.T.’s a senior. Her school’s National Honor Society wants her to plan their trip abroad, her best friend won’t stop bugging her to get her driver’s license, and all everyone talks about is where they want to go to college. M.T. is pretty sure she can’t go to college, and with high school ending and her family life unraveling, she’s staring down a future that just seems empty. In the end, M.T. will need to trust herself and others to stake a claim in the life that she wants.

5. Prisoner of Night and Fog - Anne Blankman


In 1930s Munich, danger lurks behind dark corners, and secrets are buried deep within the city. But Gretchen Müller, who grew up in the National Socialist Party under the wing of her "uncle" Dolf, has been shielded from that side of society ever since her father traded his life for Dolf's, and Gretchen is his favorite, his pet.

Uncle Dolf is none other than Adolf Hitler.

And Gretchen follows his every command.

Until she meets a fearless and handsome young Jewish reporter named Daniel Cohen. Gretchen should despise Daniel, yet she can't stop herself from listening to his story: that her father, the adored Nazi martyr, was actually murdered by an unknown comrade. She also can't help the fierce attraction brewing between them, despite everything she's been taught to believe about Jews.

As Gretchen investigates the very people she's always considered friends, she must decide where her loyalties lie. Will she choose the safety of her former life as a Nazi darling, or will she dare to dig up the truth—even if it could get her and Daniel killed?

6. Providence - Lisa Colozza Cocca

The eldest of ten children on a dirt-poor farm, Becky trudges through life as a full-time babysitter, trying to avoid her father's periodic violent rages. When the family's barn burns down, her father lays the blame on Becky, and her own mother tells her to run for it. Run she does, hopping into an empty freight car. There, in a duffel bag, Becky finds an abandoned baby girl, only hours old. After years of tending to her siblings, sixteen-year-old Becky knows just what a baby needs. This baby needs a mother. With no mother around, Becky decides, at least temporarily, this baby needs her. When Becky hops off the train in a small Georgia town, it's with baby "Georgia" in her arms. When she meets Rosie, an eccentric thrift-shop owner, who comes to value and love Becky as no one ever has, Becky rashly claims the baby as her own. Not everyone in town is as welcoming as Rosie, though. Many suspect Becky and her baby are not what they seem. Among the doubters is a beautiful, reclusive woman with her own terrible loss and a long history with Rosie. As Becky's life becomes entangled with the lives of the people in town, including a handsome boy who suspects Becky is hiding something from her past, she finds her secrets more difficult to keep. Becky should grab the baby and run, but her newfound home and job with Rosie have given Becky the family she's never known. Despite her guilt over leaving her mother alone, she is happy for the first time. But it's a happiness not meant to last. When the truth comes out, Becky has the biggest decision of her life to make. Should she run away again? Should she stay--and fight? Or lie? What does the future hold for Becky and Georgia?

7. Something Real - Heather Demetrios


There’s nothing real about reality TV.

Seventeen-year-old Bonnie™ Baker has grown up on TV—she and her twelve siblings are the stars of one-time hit reality show Baker’s Dozen. Since the show’s cancellation and the scandal surrounding it, Bonnie™ has tried to live a normal life, under the radar and out of the spotlight. But it’s about to fall apart…because Baker’s Dozen is going back on the air. Bonnie™’s mom and the show’s producers won’t let her quit and soon the life she has so carefully built for herself, with real friends (and maybe even a real boyfriend), is in danger of being destroyed by the show. Bonnie™ needs to do something drastic if her life is ever going to be her own—even if it means being more exposed than ever before.









8. Rites of Passage - Joy Hensley

Sam McKenna’s never turned down a dare. And she's not going to start with the last one her brother gave her before he died.

So Sam joins the first-ever class of girls at the prestigious Denmark Military Academy. She’s expecting push-ups and long runs, rope climbing and mud-crawling. As a military brat, she can handle an obstacle course just as well as the boys. She's even expecting the hostility she gets from some of the cadets who don’t think girls belong there. What’s she’s not expecting is her fiery attraction to her drill sergeant. But dating is strictly forbidden and Sam won't risk her future, or the dare, on something so petty...no matter how much she wants him.
As Sam struggles to prove herself, she discovers that some of the boys don’t just want her gone—they will stop at nothing to drive her out. When their petty threats turn to brutal hazing, bleeding into every corner of her life, she realizes they are not acting alone. A decades-old secret society is alive and active… and determined to force her out.
At any cost.

Now time's running short. Sam must decide who she can trust...and choosing the wrong person could have deadly consequences.

9. Creed - Trisha Leaver


Dee Langley is seventeen and mere months away from total freedom and a life where state social workers, counselors, and foster parents don’t dictate her every move. She has spent years trying to eke out a normal existence, hiding from her past and walking the tenuous line between denial and self-preservation. A weekend away with her boyfriend, Luke, and his brother, Mike, seems like the perfect opportunity to forget and start over. Little does Dee know that she's just trading one hell for another.

When an unexpected storm and a lack of gas force their car off the road, Dee, Luke, and Mike find themselves with no other choice but to wander into the nearby town of Purity Springs for help. But it’s not good Samaritans they find, but rather complete and utter silence, every store and every house abandoned. Forced to seek shelter in one of the deserted homes, they uncover a disturbing book with explicit instructions on how to correctly rear a child, complete with a hand written record of its use. It’s not until the next morning, however, that they discover the alarming truth – the town isn’t abandoned; it is populated by a deadly cult, and the leader, Elijah Hawkins, has plans for the three of them. The group’s only hope for survival lies in the hands of Elijah’s son, Joseph. But is Joseph really their ticket to freedom or is his game just as deadly as his father’s?

Three went in, and three will come out, but not a single one will ever be a shadow of who they once were.

10. Love Letters to the Dead - Ava Dellaira

It begins as an assignment for English class: Write a letter to a dead person. Laurel chooses Kurt Cobain because her sister, May, loved him. And he died young, just like May did. Soon, Laurel has a notebook full of letters to people like Janis Joplin, Amy Winehouse, Amelia Earhart, Heath Ledger, and more; though she never gives a single one of them to her teacher. She writes about starting high school, navigating new friendships, falling in love for the first time, learning to live with her splintering family. And, finally, about the abuse she suffered while May was supposed to be looking out for her. Only then, once Laurel has written down the truth about what happened to herself, can she truly begin to accept what happened to May. And only when Laurel has begun to see her sister as the person she was; lovely and amazing and deeply flawed; can she begin to discover her own path.

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Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Resolutions

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme created by The Broke and the Bookish. For more info about the meme and how to participate, click here.

I'm super late but I only thought about the ten resolutions now so here we go.

Bookish Resolutions 2014

1. Read 75 books
I managed this last year, I hope I can do it again!

2. Participate in the Debut Author Challenge.
I had a lot of fun with this last year so I'm going to do it again. It's a great way to discover new authors and books.

3. Participate in the Back to Classics Challenge.
I decided to read some more classics this year. I was aiming for 5 but then I found this challenge and it seemed like a fun way to read some more diverse classics than just randomly choosing them so I upped my number to 10.

4. Collect the Literary Merit Badges at I Believe in Story.
Some of these are for books I'll read anyway, others are fun ways to branch out my reading a bit.

5. Write reviews shortly after I finish a book.
I have been getting better at this so let's keep it up.

6. Read and review galleys and books I won.
I don't have a whole lot of these that I have to review but it would be nice to finally read and review the ones I do have.

7. Read the four remaining books from my ten books I resolved to read in 2013
Two of 

8. Clear my to-read shelf.
Either by actually reading them or deleting them because I'll never read them anyway.

9. Participate in Bon's Book Club.
I don't think I'll be reading all the books because some aren't really something I'd enjoy but I want to participate in some of the discussions because there are some that I want to read anyway or others that seem interesting.

10. Keep my resolutions.

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End of Year Book Survey 2013

Time for the end of the year book survey created by Jamie from The Perpetual Page Turner!

1. Best Book You Read In 2013? (If you have to cheat — you can break it down by genre if you want or 2013 release vs. backlist)

Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi Harmonic Feedback by Kelly Tara and Vain by Fisher Amelie where my only five star book these year so I'm going with those. I read four more five star books but three were re-reads and one was a cook book so they don't count.

2. Book You Were Excited About & Thought You Were Going To Love More
But Didn’t?

Allegiant by Veronica Roth, I didn't dislike it and I actually did give it four stars but it I guess I hoped I would have loved it even more because I really like the first two books in the series. Although I have to mention Greed by Fisher Amelie as well, I was less excited for it than I was for Allegiant but because I loved Vain so much, I jumped right on the second one in the series, which unfortunately was super disappointing.

3. Most suprising (in a good way!) book of 2013?

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1) I guess, I had read good and bad things about it and because the bad things were pretty bad, I didn't think I'd like it but I ended up liking it a lot, the whole series actually.

  4. Book you read in 2013 that you recommended to people most in 2013?

I don't think I necessarily recommended anything a lot but I guess the Razorland trilogy could count.

  5. Best series you discovered in 2013?

Shatter Me (Shatter Me #1)

  6. Favorite new author you discovered in 2013?

Tara Kelly

  7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?

 I'm still reading Feed (Newsflesh #1), or actually still have to go back to it but I did read the prequel novellas of the series and I really enjoyed those. I never really read zombie novels so this was something new for me. Unless you count Razorland but I don't really count that as a zombie series.

 8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2013?

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2)

 9. Book You Read In 2013 That You Are Most Likely To Re-Read Next Year?

None, I think. There's enough new stuff to read! So far, my only planned re-read is Divergent before the movie comes out but I didn't read that in 2013 so that doesn't count.

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2013?

11. Most memorable character in 2013? 

  Toss up between Danielle from OCD, The Dude, and Me and Mallory from Going Vintage.

 12. Most beautifully written book read in 2013?

I'll have to go with Erase Me and The Heart Goes Last, both installments in Margaret Atwood's Positron series. If there's anything by her that I read, nothing else can beat it for me. And I'm not even counting my re-read of The Edible Woman.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2013? 

I guess Going Vintage in the sense that it made me think about all this modern technology we use and mostly take for granted. Can't say it was a huge impact or anything but it's the only book that comes to mind here.

 14. Book you can’t believe you waited UNTIL 2013 to finally read? 

Shatter Me I guess, it had been on my to read list for a while. But also A Streetcar Named Desire, I was an English Lit major after all.

 15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2013?

Portia De Rossi's foreword in Vegan Cooking for Carnivores, I always love stories about how people became vegan. This is a bit of a cop out but I don't really remember anything else in particular.

16. Shortest & Longest Book You Read In 2013?

Shortest: Origins: The Fire (MILA 2.0 #0.5)
Longest: Allegiant (Divergent #3)

 17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!

I can't really think of anything but Horde (Razorland #3) maybe because of all the stuff happening.

18. Favorite Relationship From A Book You Read In 2013 (be it romantic, friendship, etc).

I'm gonna go with Danielle and Daniel from OCD, The Dude, and Me but the group from Harmonic Feedback has to be mentioned as well.

19. Favorite Book You Read in 2013 From An Author You’ve Read Previously

I'm going with Here Without You (Between the Lines #4)

20. Best Book You Read In 2013 That You Read Based SOLELY On A Recommendation From Somebody Else:

Pushing the Limits(Pushing the Limits #1)

  21. Genre You Read The Most From in 2013?

Young Adult

22. Newest fictional crush from a book you read in 2013?

Can't say I have one.

23. Best 2013 debut you read?

OCD, The Dude and Me and Mila 2.0 (MILA 2.0 #1)

24. Most vivid world/imagery in a book you read in 2013?

I don't really know and to not repeat myself as I already mentioned a lot of the same books, I'm going with Requiem (Delirium #3).

25. Book That Was The Most Fun To Read in 2013?

  Even though it dealt with some serious stuff, Flat-Out Love (Flat-Out Love #1).

26. Book That Made You Cry Or Nearly Cry in 2013?

I don't remember... Requiem I think? But I can't say for sure. Horde maybe as well. No wait! I think that for sure Vain made me cry!

27. Book You Read in 2013 That You Think Got Overlooked This Year Or When It Came Out?

OCD, The Dude, and Me is a little gem that only has 534 ratings on Goodreads.

I don't really blog enough to answer all of these but let's give it a go.

1. New favorite book blog you discovered in 2013?

I never really keep track of what I find when but I recently came across Pop! Goes The Reader which has to be awesome judging by the name alone already and it really does seem like a pretty awesome blog.

2. Favorite review that you wrote in 2013?

OCD, The Dude, and Me at La Caseta de Paper

3. Best discussion you had on your blog?

NA

4. Most thought-provoking review or discussion you read on somebody else’s blog?

NA

5. Best event that you participated in (author signings, festivals, virtual events, memes, etc.)?

NA

6. Best moment of book blogging/your book life in 2013?

NA

7. Most Popular Post This Year On Your Blog (whether it be by comments or views)?

NA

8. Post You Wished Got A Little More Love?

NA

9. Best bookish discover (book related sites, book stores, etc.)?

NA

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year? 

  I wanted to read 50 books, which I reached at some point so I upped my challenge to 75 books, and I ended up reading 79. I also participated in the Debut Author Challenge but this will continue till January, I still have 1 more books to read for this one. I tried the Autumn Challenge but I really failed there. I also had a list of ten books that I wanted to read in 2013 and I ended up reading 6 of those.

 1. One Book You Didn’t Get To In 2013 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2014?

The Book Thief because everybody loves it and I want to have read the book before the movies comes out here. Ready Player One because it was on my list of books to read in 2013, lots of people love it, and I really finally want to read it

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2014 (non-debut)?

Ignite Me (Shatter Me #3), Fairwil (Wilfair #4), Into the Still Blue (Under the Never Sky #3)

3. 2014 Debut You Are Most Anticipating?

I have only checked some of the debuts but this one seems pretty interesting: Pretty Girl-13 by Liz Coley

4. Series Ending You Are Most Anticipating in 2014?

See question 2, they're all series endings.

5. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2014?

Read 75 books, participate in another Debut Author Challenge because I had a lot of fun discovering new books and authors and branch out my reading through the Literary Merit Badges over at I Believe in Story.

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