UPDATE: We're Back

Hello everyone! As you may have noticed, I've slowly been returning to blogging since I went on a little break at the end of October. Before I get into this post, I just want to thank everyone who sent me tweets, comments and e-mails - it really, really meant a lot to me. Now, we've got some exciting news for you all!

Firstly, we're getting a new blog design from the wonderful Hazel of Stay Bookish. She's been so patient with us, and the design is amazing! We can't wait for you all to see it :)

Secondly, starting tomorrow, we're doing this thing called 'review week'. It's exactly what it sounds like - a week filled with nothing but book reviews. We've been kind of lacking with the book reviews lately, hence our decision to do this.

Thirdly, Chami is almost finished exams! In fact, her last exam is tomorrow. Do you know what this means? CHAMI WILL BE BACK!

Finally, (I think), we've created another wonderful themed week that'll be happening in two weeks time. What is the theme you, I hear you ask. Welllll, it's Shatter Me.

I think that's about it! I hope you're all having a marvellous week, and we'll see you next time! (because Chami will be back!!!! Can you guess I'm excited?)

Top Five Books To Read In The Holidays

Today, we are teaming up with Bookworld to bring you a post on our top five favourite books to read in the lead up to the holidays. If you don’t already own these books (or maybe you’re just looking for an early Christmas present for yourself), you should head over to Bookworld so you can spoil yourself! Without further ado, let’s get onto the post.

I’ve always found that the days leading up to the holidays are best spent reading some wacked up book with crazy world building and quirky characters. After all, you did just spend months with school or work and what better way is there to prepare yourself for holidays then letting your mind go crazy.

VAMPIRE ACADEMY by RICHELLE MEAD
So if you have read Vampire Academy or are one of the odd few who haven’t, then now is the time to read it again or for the first time! I really have no words for it and I haven’t really met someone who hasn’t enjoyed the whole series. One of the best things is that you don’t have to wait for all the Vampire Academy books to come out as they all have already been released. You can just constantly feed your obsession every second of the day until it is done. It is a good option to go with if you’re not ready to go into epic fantasy or hardcore dystopian. It has just the right level of realistic and fantastical elements in it that you won’t feel totally jolted going into the holidays! If you are put off by this book just because of “Vampire” in its title, then I will personally kill you. In this series, Vampires are a culture so please don’t discriminate before you read it. Give it at least two books until you seriously get into it!

MAXIMUM RIDE by JAMES PATTERSON
Ugh, I don’t know if I am going to regret talking about this damn series because Ely can vouch for me that this series seriously messes her and I up so badly. Picking Maximum Ride is my way of saying; pick something you’ve read before! Rereads are the best, especially when they are childhood reads that you loved. There are too many books to count in this series and sometimes it is not the best of times, but it will earn a place in your heart after having gone through such an extensive journey with it!

Just like Chami, I think series are the way to go during the holidays. There’s nothing quite like marathoning a series you’ve been looking forward to and falling completely in love with the story and the characters (hopefully). I’m also a big believer of re-reading during the holidays, especially re-reading series that I read as a child.

HARRY POTTER by J.K ROWLING
First and foremost, Harry Potter. I think this is probably pretty self-explanatory, but I’m going to explain my personal reasons anyway. For me, Harry Potter has always meant Christmas for me – I watched the first movie for the first time on Christmas Day when I was six years old. Even more than that though, it’s just one of those series that makes me incredibly happy (and also incredibly sad in parts) but it’s my go to series when I need something I know I’ll love.

A SERIES OF UNFORTUNATE EVENTS by LEMONY SNICKET
A Series of Unfortunate Events is my other go to series. I’m sure those of you who’ve read it will probably understand where I’m coming for, though I admit it isn’t the happiest series in the world. I read these when I was a child as well, so it just brings back all these happy memories of my childhood and reminds me why I fell in love with reading, which is especially great when I’m going through a bit of a reading slump. If you’ve never picked these up, then you definitely should these holidays!

SHATTER ME by TAHEREH MAFI
Finally…Shatter Me.
Did you guys actually think we’d make it through a whole post without mentioning this series? (If you did then you clearly don’t know us at all). We both adore this series more than anything in the whole world. It’s such a great trilogy – the characters are amazing (Warner and Kenji are the best, of course), they’re easy to get through and the writing is absolutely beautiful. Together we’ve probably re-read this series about a hundred times – that’s how obsessed we are. What better way to spend your holidays then re-reading your very favourite series?

So those are our top five choices of series to read leading up to the holidays. Leave us a comment below telling us your favourite books to read during the holidays. If you’re interested in any of the books we’ve mentioned, make sure to check them out on Bookworld and take advantage of their free shipping Australia wide!

GUEST POST: Brit's Bookish Habits

So the lovely Ely has asked me to do a guest post here at A Book So Fathomless, which I am very excited about! Today I’m talking about my reading habits and I want to hear about yours too, so don’t forget to leave a comment.

1. Deciding what to read next
One of those questions that comes up every time we turn the last page is what do we read next? I’ve always been a systematic reader – I have stacks of unread books all organised in the order I’m going to read them, usually based on when I bought them. I figure this way, everything gets read (eventually!). The problem of course appears when you buy a book you really want to read but have to wait until you get through the other ones first. So this rule slightly got changed when new books in series came out and those books got bumped up the stack. And now that I accept books for review, these books take precedent over the books I bought for me, but I always make sure that I mix it up a bit and read books that I bought as well as books for review, or else I think I would always be reading review books and would miss out on all the others! I still put a lot of thought into my immediate TBR stacks though and am perhaps even more of a systematic reader than before – but that’s how I like it!

 Caption: My immediate TBR - there are another eight piles like this!

2. What bookmark to use?
Over the years I have become an accidental bookmark collector. I always used bookmarks and hate the idea of using old receipts or ripped pieces of paper, although I am not against the dog-ear (because sometimes its necessary) and have at times been known to use photos to mark pages (I have a lot floating around – also I found that photobooth strips work great!). But I really love bookmarks. Unfortunately I lose them quite often :/ so I make sure I have a lot of replacements. I especially like to buy bookmarks when I’m travelling or if doing something or going somewhere new and exciting. Like most bookworms, I have a number of Book Depository bookmarks, as they just accumulate! My favourite is the one that my boyfriend had made for me for my birthday with a picture of us on it. It’s so cute!

Caption: my favourite bookmarks: on the left is the one my boyfriend had made for me; top right is from Singapore; middle right is from my favourite secondhand store that has since closed down; and bottom right I picked up from Megalong Books when visiting Sydney last month.

3. Organizing your shelves
After finishing a book, once recovered from the book hangover and ready to let go of the book itself, there is always the problem of where to put the book, especially when your shelves are overflowing, and how you organise those shelves. Much like I have a systematic order for my TBR pile, I also have one for my bookshelves. It is simple and not at all original but it does work (and in part stems from the desire to be a librarian when I was younger). I use an alphabetical by author last name system. And the only downfall is when you get a new book, you have to move alllllll the other books to make room for it. But I don’t really mind that much. I just like to be around my books and am lucky to have a whole room in my house devoted to them, so I don’t mind reorganizing and rearranging and shifting all my books around. I also have a couple of shelves of childhood favourites – one of these is dedicated to exclusively horse books and the other has a mixture of books I read when I was younger, like Animorphs and Sweet Valley High, that I just can’t bring myself to get rid of.

Caption: a couple of my mismatched bookshelves

So tell me: What are your reading habits? How do you decide what to read next? What does you use for bookmarks? And how do your organize your bookshelves?

Thank you Ely for having me on your blog! This was a lot of fun and hope the readers have enjoyed it as well :)

You can find the wonderful Brit on her blog, Crash My Book Party. I just want to thank Brit for being so lovely as to write this post for us and I hope you all enjoyed it as much as I did!

UPDATE: Top 14 Books That Must Be Read in 2014

I wrote this post way back in January outlining the books I decided I definitely had to read this year. I did my last update in July, so I thought it was time for another update. In July, I'd only three of the 14 books so let's see where I'm up to now!

1. The Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis
I finally finished the last two books off, and it was a great feeling. I can't even begin how great it was to finally move this onto my 'read' shelf.

2. Anna Karenina by Leo Tolstoy
I still haven't read this one. To be honest, I haven't even thought about it since I did my last update. I still want to read it, but it's not on the top of my list.


3. Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson
I've read this one too - woo! I enjoyed it, but it wasn't as good as I was expecting.


4. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
5. North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell
6. Legend by Marie Lu
I'd finished these three last time, so I won't go into detail about them.

7. The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
I finished this one last week. It was just beautiful.

8. The Sweet Far Thing by Libba Bray
I haven't progressed any further with this since my last update. I'm still stuck on page 300 or so, but I will get it finished this year!

9. Crome Yellow by Aldous Huxley
Still haven't picked this up...

10. The Parasites by Daphne Du Maurier
Or this one :(

11. The Maze Runner by James Dashner
I have, however, finished this one. I really liked it, and the movie too.

12. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth Wein
I'm actually terrified to read this.

13. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux
I still don't have a copy of this book, but I do have it on hold at the library. Hopefully I can get to it soon.

14. Paper Towns by John Green
Still haven't read anymore of this either.

So I've read seven of these books now, which I'm pretty happy with. I've just realised that I'm probably not going to make it through the other seven books by the end of the year but I'd be happy to get through just one or two more of these. I won't be doing another update on this list until the end of the year. I'll see you all next time!

REVIEW: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

Title: The Bell Jar
Author: Sylvia Plath
Genre: Classic.
Publication Date: 1996 (first published 1963)
Publisher: Faber and Faber
Format: Paperback
Pages: 234
Rating: 5/5

We follow Esther Greenwood's personal life from her summer job in New York with Ladies' Day magazine, back through her days at New England's largest school for women, and forward through her attempted suicide, her bad treatment at one asylum and her good treatment at another, to her final re-entry into the world like a used tyre: "patched, retreaded, and approved for the road" ... Esther Greenwood's account of her year in the bell jar is as clear and readable as it is witty and disturbing.

I don’t remember how I discovered The Bell Jar, but I know it’s been on my TBR for the longest time. I’ve checked it out from the library two times before and I always returned it unread for some reason. I don’t know why, but I do know that I regret that because I totally needed this book in my life.

I think it’s actually become one of my favourite books of all time, and definitely one of my favourite classics. There are so many reasons I love this book. Firstly, the writing – it’s just beautiful. I don’t really know how to describe it, but it’s amazing. Some of the ideas and events in this book are quite confronting at times, but the language is so beautiful that I didn’t feel like I was reading about such a heavy subject. I feel I should probably mention at this point, that this is my first experience of reading Sylvia Plath (and now I love her). Back to the heavy subjects- I think they were expressed really well in the book. I’m sure you’re all aware of Sylvia Plath’s own history of depression, so it makes sense that it was written so realistically.

Finally, I want to talk about Esther Greenwood – the narrator. The Bell Jar is semi-autobiographical, so it makes sense that Esther is quite realistic, but I found that I could connect to her a lot more than I anticipated. There are a few superficial similarities between us – we’re the same age, both writers etc. but there’s a deeper level to it to. Esther doesn’t really know what she wants to do with her life, and I was feeling the exact same way only a few months ago. She’s definitely not a role model for how to sort your life out or anything, but it’s a nice reminder that you’re never really alone- there’s always someone who feels the same way you do, even if she’s just a character in a novel.

Tell me your thoughts about The Bell Jar, if you’ve read it or suggest where I should go next with Sylvia’s works. If you haven’t read any Sylvia, you should definitely try her out.

Also, I decided to post this review today because it would have been Sylvia’s eighty-second birthday today. So Happy Birthday Sylvia!

Author Facts About: John Green

1. John Green has a stable of unicorns he feeds with goldnuggets he pulls out of the ground like carrots.
2. John Green doesn’t sleep.
3. John Green has never had to deal with ads while watching web videos. He squints his eyes when they start and they immediately turn themselves off.
4. Kryptonite is actually John Green.
5. An intergalactic treaty was signed by the leaders of all the major galaxies agreeing to leave Earth alone as long as John Green is alive. Little do they know, he’ll live forever.
6. John Green knows who shot Tupac and Biggie Smalls. He made sure justice was served.
7. One drop of John Green’s blood makes any wish come true. Too bad he’s never bled.
8. The original title of Interview with a Vampire was Interview with John Green, before Anne Rice got scared and claimed the biography was a fictional novel.
9. Mosquitos hide from John Green.
10. The human brain is 75% water. John Green’s brain is 75% jet fuel.
11. The day John Green was born, his doctor retired, stating that his career had reached its pinnacle achievement.
12. The three most spoken English phrases are “Hello,” “Stop,” and “John Green Saved Us!”
13. In ancient Rome, it was considered a sign of leadership to be born near John Green.
14. Dueling is legal in the United States as long as one of the parties is John Green.
15. It is biologically impossible for a rose to smell better than John Green.
16. John Green can live for three years without eating. And then all he needs is one rasher of bacon.
17. NASA uses videos of John Green doing push-ups as part of its training program.
18. It’s not impossible for John Green to lick his elbow. He does it all the time.
19. Michael Jackson learned how to do the moon walk from John Green after seeing him at a party.
20. John Green’s bones are stronger than concrete. Heavier, too.
21. John Green karate chops a block of word to create 7.5 million toothpicks whenever he’s running low.
22. A strand of John Green’s hair is one of the ingredients in dynamite.
23. Mice have a phobia of John Green.
24. In every episode of Seinfeld there is a picture of John Green somewhere.
25. Everyone but John Green lives about 80 milliseconds in the past, because that’s how long it takes our brains to process information. John Green lives in the future.
26. Over 30% of Twitter accounts are fake accounts created by the FBI and CIA to spy on John Green and monitor his social networking activity.

http://www.barnesandnoble.com/blog/true-facts-about-john-green/ 

UPDATE: A Break from Blogging

I'm sure most of you know by now that Chami is doing her final year of school. Her exams are about to start, so naturally she's not going to be active around here.

There will be a few of you who will already know this (and I couldn't have made it through this past week without you), but I lost my beautiful mum to cancer yesterday. As you can probably guess, I'm not really feeling up to blogging right now.

I don't know how long this break is going to be for, but I've been looking into get some people to do a few guest posts so that this blog isn't completely inactive so we'll see how that turns out. There are already a few posts scheduled, so I hope you enjoy them.

Thank you.