DISCUSSION: Books I've Started but Haven't Finished Yet

I'm sure some of you have those books too, those ones that you started one day but you just haven't finished. I definitely have a lot of these, so I thought I'd share a couple with you today.

1. Wither by Lauren DeStefano
Don't get me wrong, I was really enjoying this book. I started it while I was away for the weekend, and once I got back, I had all these other books around me to read and so this one got put back on the shelves. I only got a measly 16 pages into this, but I will finish it one day!

2. Stray by Monica Hesse
Interestingly, I started this one around the same time as Wither. In fact, I put down Wither to this one up and then ended up putting this one down for something else. I only got 12 pages, but it was interesting.

3. The Pickwick Papers by Charles Dickens
I'm not so embarrassed about not having finished this one, mainly because it's so long. I got 60 pages into this one which I read in one afternoon, but I haven't picked it up since. I think it's going to be a winter holiday read for me.

4. Matched by Ally Condie 
I know a lot of people have marked this as a 'dnf' but I'm determined to finish this. I was actually interested by the book, and I got 70 pages in but then I hit a very philosophical part which just was not what I wanted at that particular moment.

5. The Girl in the Steel Corset by Kady Cross
This was another I was really enjoying, until I put it down for something else. I only made it 37 pages in, but I'm going to pick it up again as soon as I possibly can.

6. The Dark is Rising by Susan Cooper
I picked this one up around Christmastime, but I put it down to pick up Cinder (and there was no going back after that). I think I only made it to about page 3 before I gave up.

7. The Hunchback of Notre Dame by Victor Hugo
This is another one that I don't feel so bad about, this is a big book too. Not only that, but it's a rather dense book (and sometimes, rather boring). I made it 138 pages in, and then gave up but I WILL finish it one day.

8. All That I Am by Anna Funder
After reading Stasiland by Anna Funder, I was desperate to pick this up. Stupidly, I picked it up during a heavy assignment period at school (including essays on Stasiland) so I only made it 10 pages in at the time.

9. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
I've actually picked this up twice, once just randomly and the second time as part of a buddy read. Surprisingly, both my friend and I put this book down at page 24 and neither of us have picked it up since. I will get to it before the movie!

10. Paper Towns by John Green
I know what you're thinking...how have I not read this yet? Well, I started it and I think I made it to about page 70 or so before I put it down. I was enjoying it, but it just wasn't what I wanted to read at that time.

So that's some of the unfinished books I have, I might do an update on these books in a few months (granted only if I've read at least one) or a part two to talk about another bunch of books I haven't finished yet. Are there any of these books that you want to scream at me for not finishing? Are there are any books of your own that you haven't finished yet? Let me know!

BOOK DISCUSSION: The Family of Books

Most of these book discussion posts focus solely on Chami and I, but today that's going to change. This post, in fact, is going to include my family and the types of books that they read.

So starting with dad. My dad works a lot and when he isn't working, he prefers to spend his time watching TV and films rather than reading. On top of this, he's an incredibly slower reader (it takes him about three months to read one book). Therefore, the only books my dad ever reads are either sport biographies or travel books, though he does have an extreme fondness for trivia books too, which is why our house is filled with them!

My brother is a very difficult reader to define. Throughout the years he's gone through different stages- when he was younger he used to read heaps, then as he grew older he completely stopped reading and declared that he hated it, but now, at almost twenty-one, he's decided he likes books again. As a child he used to read Harry Potter, Star Wars, Warhammer, Horrible Histories etc. but now he's starting reading John Green's books, Game of Thrones, History books- both fiction and non-fiction, Japanese books and even (to my absolute delight) classics. Surprisingly, he's even started giving me recommendations!

Aside from me, my mum has always been the biggest reader in our household and so she is absolutely the person that I picked my love for books up from. Over the years she's read a bit of everything- when she was my age she used to read a lot of classics and Agatha Christie books (both of which, I love more than anything), then as she got older she started reading books that focused more around Europe and travel (while she was travelling through Europe especially) and now she reads a variety of everything- like me, mystery/crime and historical novels are among her favourite which means we read a lot of the same books. Out of everyone in my life, my mum is definitely the person that I get recommendations off.


I hope you enjoyed this post for something a little different and if you'd like, leave a comment about the sorts of books that you and your family read! See you next time guys!

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.

BOOK DISCUSSION: Books that made you cry

For this post, I’ve decided to branch out from the sort of post that we’d usually do here, and because I hope to do more posts like this in the future, I’ve decided to call them ‘Book Discussions’. I don’t think they really need explanation, though I have no idea how I would even begin to explain it with all these thoughts that are running through my head at the moment. Anyway, the point is that I plan to do one of these posts about once a month.

This month’s topic is, books that made you cry. This topic has been circling in my brain for about six months now at which time the majority of my ‘reader’ friends and I first read ‘The Fault in Our Stars’ by John Green. Now, I cried during that book- I mean I really sobbed uncontrollably for the period of about two hours after I had finished reading the book. The thing was, when I told my friends this about 90% of them send that they didn’t shed a single tear through the whole book. Others went further to say that they had never cried in any book, ever.

Personally, I cry in books all of the time. All for different reasons and whatnot, but I’m not afraid to admit it. So I’ve compiled a list of books that have made me cry over the years...

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

Looking for Alaska by John Green

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix/Half-Blood Prince/Deathly Hallows by J.K Rowling

The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank

Annexed by Sharon Dogar

Alice Bliss by Laura Harrington

A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness

The Vampire Academy series by Richelle Mead (so many tears!)

Charlotte’s Web by E.B. White (this was probably the first book that ever made me cry)

Those are the ones I can think of at the moment, though I’m sure there are others. Have you read any of those books? Did they make you cry at all? Are there any books that aren’t on that list that made you cry? You can answers these questions below, or talk about them on your own blog (if you do this then please send us the link, I’d love to hear from you).