Bout of Books Day 1

Day One of Bout of Books 8.0 went surprisingly better than I thought it would. I had planned to finish 'Rebecca' by Daphne Du Maurier before the read-a-thon started, but I ran out of time so I added it to the list of books I would like to finish and then by some miracle- I actually managed to finish it today. I also started my re-read of City of Bones.

The Books

1. The Gatekeeper's Daughter by Eva Pohler
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (re-read)
3. The Haunted by Jessica Verday
4. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
5. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney (reading in class)
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
7. The Go-Between by L.P Hartley
8. All That I Am by Anna Funder
9. Ink by Amanda Sun 
10. Happily Never After by Missy Fleming 
11. Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier

Pages read today: 383
Books finished today: 1
Pages read overall: 383
Books finished overall: 1

Bout of Books 8.0 Goals!

I'm literally counting down the minutes until the Bout of Books Read-a-thon begins so to get ready, today I'm sharing my goals for the week. So without further ado...

The Goals

• Read at least 200 pages per day
• Write reviews of all finished books
• Complete at least four books

The Books

1. The Gatekeeper's Daughter by Eva Pohler
2. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (re-read)
3. The Haunted by Jessica Verday
4. The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
5. Beowulf by Seamus Heaney (reading in class)
6. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
7. The Go-Between by L.P Hartley
8. All That I Am by Anna Funder
9. Ink by Amanda Sun 
10. Happily Never After by Missy Fleming 

REVIEW: Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Title: Vampire Academy (Vampire Academy #1)

Author: Richelle Mead

Publication Date: August 16^th 2007

Publisher: Razorbill

Format: Paperback

Pages: 332

Rating: 5/5
Blurb: St. Vladimir’s Academy isn’t just any boarding school—it’s a hidden place where vampires are educated in the ways of magic and half-human teens train to protect them. Rose Hathaway is a Dhampir, a bodyguard for her best friend Lissa, a Moroi Vampire Princess. They’ve been on the run, but now they’re being dragged back to St. Vladimir’s—the very place where they’re most in danger...

Rose and Lissa become enmeshed in forbidden romance, the Academy’s ruthless social scene, and unspeakable nighttime rituals. But they must be careful lest the Strigoi—the world’s fiercest and most dangerous vampires—make Lissa one of them forever.

Review: I first read Vampire Academy way back in 2009 but with the movie coming up next year (hopefully), I decided it was about time that I re-read it so that I could become reacquainted with one of my absolute favourite series ever (beaten only by Harry Potter). I am so unbelievably glad that I decided to do that because I didn’t realise how much I missed all of the characters. Also, I can’t promise that this review won’t contain spoilers for the other books or even the spin off series, Bloodlines, so exercise some caution if you haven’t read those.

Rose is probably always going to be one of my favourite badass females and Rose and Lissa will probably always be one of my favourite set of best friends but there were other characters that I didn’t realise how much I missed. Dimitri, of course, is still as amazing as the very first time I read the books. Mason and Eddie were two characters that I didn’t realise I missed. I have read the first two books in the Bloodlines series so I didn’t have too many Eddie withdrawals, but admittedly I prefer his friendship with Rose and Mason rather than Sydney.  One of the characters that I think I was most surprised about being happy to read about again was actually Christian- the first time around I think I paid so much attention to Dimitri and Adrian that I failed to notice how much I liked Christian. I mean, he’s never going to be on the same level as Dimitri and Adrian but I really do love him with Lissa. Can you say like cutest couple ever?

I don’t think I can really comment on the plot because I obviously know everything that’s going to happen in the next five books and so the things that are sort of ‘mysterious’ in the first book are completely ruined by that knowledge. I still enjoyed reading it though, even if I did feel like dancing around chanting ‘I know what’s going to happen!’ for most of the book. I’m just as excited to continue my re-reading of the rest of the series, though I doubt I’m any more prepared for the heartbreak than I was the first time. But whatever...bring it on Richelle Mead!

One more thing I’d like to comment on is that blurb. Ugh, it makes the book sound so bad and so boring compared to what it is actually like. Like seriously, they could make that sound so much better in my opinion.

 

June Wrap-Up and July TBR

Last month I set myself 34 books to read, I manged to complete eleven of them which include: Pennies for Hitler,Wentworth Hall, Lola and the Boy Next Door, Zoe Letting Go, Chase and the Fallen Angel, The Short Stories of F. Scott Fitzgerald, Scarlett Fever, The Elite, Northern Lights, The Princess Bride and Warm Bodie. As usual, if reviews haven't been posted already for these books, they will be posted within the upcoming weeks.

I've got a fair portion of this month off from school so I'm going to use as much of it as possible to get some reading done. I've set myself 37 books to read in July- they come in four main categories as you'll see below. I'm desperately trying to reduce my TBR pile because it is seriously out of control (about 1,300 books as marked as 'to-read' on my Goodreads currently). I'm also re-reading a few books this month, which is not something I do regularly. Hopefully, I'll be able to get through a good number of these books this month.

* = currently reading
- = re-reading

Author requests
The Gatekeeper's Daughter by Eva Pohler *
OMG by Bob Wernly and Kathy Clark *
Storm of Arranon by R.E. Sheahan
Arabelle's Shadow by Fleur Gaskin
The Serpent's Ring by H.B. Bolton
School related
The Zoo Story by Edward Albee
Endgame by Samuel Beckett
The Crucible by Arthur Miller
Cat on a Hot Tin Roof by Tennessee Williams
Library books
Angels and Demons by Dan Brown
The Hunchback of Notre-Dame by Victor Hugo
Rebecca by Daphne Du Maurier
Room by Emma Donoghue
If I Stay by Gayle Forman
Where She Went by Gayle Forman
The Winter Palace by Eva Stachniak
My Soul to Save by Rachel Vincent *
From my bookshelves
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley -
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald -
Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead -
Belle Epoque by Elizabeth Ross
The French Promise by Fiona McIntosh
The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo
The Subtle Knife by Philip Pullman
Under the Never Sky by Veronica Rossi
Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin
Unearthly by Cynthia Hand
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte
The Madness Underneath by Maureen Johnson
Book of Lies by James Moloney
Benedict Cumberbatch by Lynette Porter
Duncton Wood by William Horwood
Belladonna by Fiona Paul
Labyrinth by Kate Mosse
The White Queen by Philippa Gregory
The Book Thief by Markus Zusak *

BOOK DISCUSSION: Books that you can re-read

Welcome to the second installment of a little thing we like to call 'Book Discussion' here on A Book So Fathomless. The deal with this is every month Chami and I will create post discussing a certain topic that has to do with books in some way, we'll tell you what we think and then you have a chance to tell us your opinions either in the comment section or in a post on your own blog (please send us a link if you do this!). This month's topic is 'books you can re-read'.

The following list aren't all books that I have re-read at this point in time, but ones I feel I could re-read if I got the chance or ones that I do plan to re-read in the upcoming months.

The Harry Potter Series by J.K Rowling:
This is definitely the series I have re-read the most amount of times. I started reading them when I was about seven (the first movie came out when I was five, but my mum didn't think I was old enough to read the books or see the movie at that time. Little did she know that my older brother used to trick my grandparents into letting me see the movie whenever we were at theirs). Anyway, I've read this series about fifteen or so times since.
The Vampire Academy Series by Richelle Mead:
I haven't read this one as many times as Harry Potter, in fact I've only read it about once or twice again (certain chapters and scenes have been read more than others) but I am actually planning to read through the entire series in the upcoming months in preparation for when the movie actually comes out.
The Mortal Instruments Series by Cassandra Clare:
This is another book that I've only sort of skim re-read, though like VA I am planning to re-read at least the first book before the movie is released this year and then possibly go onto read the rest of the series before the last book is released.
The Fault in Our Stars by John Green:
I've read this book twice since I read it about this time last year and both times I've ended up as a wreck for days afterwards, but there's something about this book that makes me just want to constantly re-read it for the intense beauty of it and of course, for Augustus Waters.
Atonement by Ian McEwan:
This is a bit of a strange book I suppose, especially considering it's the book I'm currently studying in my Literature class but I read this book in January this year in its entirety on a three hour plane flight and I just adored it more than anything. I'm currently in the process of re-reading it again for class and then I plan to re-read again just before exams. If I'm totally honest with myself I'll probably read it again even after we've finished studying it, it's honestly that good.
Brave New World by Aldous Huxley:
This is another slightly strange book and another one I studied in Literature (last year). Going into this book, I wasn't sure whether I'd actually enjoy it, after all I'd heard nothing about it and we'd just come off the back of a little George Orwell reading spree (I wasn't a fan of 1984), but two chapters in I knew this book would be amazing. I haven't had the chance to re-read it yet, and sadly I don't own a hard copy of it (yet) but once that is fixed I definitely plan to read this!

So those were my favourite books to re-read, now it's Chami's turn to tell you about hers!

Alright ALRIGHTY! Let us get straight into this business.

Shatter Me Series by Tahereh Mafi
This has been a book that I have endlessly talked about on this blog and read multiple times and Ely sure hell knows it. I haven't counted how many times i've read it, but I read it as a weekly occurrence. It is a habit of life. It is just...unbeliably everything I've ever wanted in a book and it hooks me in and takes me down under.