Dec 30 2013
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Dystopian Reading Challenge 2013 – The Yearly Recap Edition!

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Hosted by Blog of Erised (one of my favorite blogs), this feature challenged readers to pick up as many dystopians as they could throughout 2013. Here’s a look at how I did:

The official tally:

25/24

Level 4: Leader!

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Considering I only read about eighty books this year, you can see how much I love the genre. Just think how many I could have read had I been actively working towards a goal all year (although that way of thinking is dangerous, as discussed in my post on Reading Challenges). I will say, as much as I love it, I’m getting a little burnt out on the genre. I don’t think I’ll get anywhere near 25 in 2014.

 How many dystopian’s did you read this year?

Dec 28 2013
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Book Review: Skinned by Robin Wasserman

SkinnedTitle: Skinned

Author: Robin Wasserman

Series: Cold Awakening #1

Genre: Teen Fantasy

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

The Overview: The Download was supposed to change the world. It was supposed to mean the end of aging, the end of death, the birth of a new humanity. But it wasn’t supposed to happen to someone like Lia Kahn. And it wasn’t supposed to ruin her life.

Lia knows she should be grateful she didn’t die in the accident. The Download saved her–but it also changed her, forever. She can deal with being a freak. She can deal with the fear in her parents’ eyes and the way her boyfriend flinches at her touch. But she can’t deal with what she knows, deep down, every time she forces herself to look in the mirror: She’s not the same person she used to be.

Maybe she’s not even a person at all.

Skinned

The Review:

This is another book that I’ve read before, but it was so many years ago that the second and third books in the trilogy hadn’t even come out yet. I’ve mentioned recently that I don’t often reread books but sometimes it can’t be helped when I want to continue on but there are too many things I’ve forgotten about the first book’s (it really irritates me when that happens – I guess I need to stop reading them before they’re all released #booknerdproblems101). Anyway, because I was on a major dystopian kick this year and kept noticing them sitting pretty in hardcover on my shelves, I decided it was time to give them another go.

This reread was kind of an odd decision because I only mildly enjoyed Skinned the first time around. Here’s the thing, this book is definitely not an “upper” by any stretch of the word, and I found it a difficult read because of the subject matter. There were a lot of elements that were raw, gritty and downright heart-wrenching, and I don’t think my innocent eighteen-year-old self was quite equipped to handle it at the time. This time around, however, I found it completely engrossing. Wasserman used strong imagery and sensations to really make me  feel what Lia was going through. It was superb – I truly felt like I was getting dragged through the mud with the character. I have also learned a lot about writing since then, and can now appreciate it for the beautiful piece of work that it is.

Lia, while not relatable in any way, was totally fascinating and I think that’s why I liked reading about her. It amazed me how much I could be angry on her behalf even though a lot of her conflicts involved her reaping what she had sewn. There was just so many negative things thrown her way… her pain sort of jumped off the page and made me believe that, despite her flaws, she didn’t deserve all she got.

The book also had a lot of great futuristic world building. It was a somewhat cheeky nod to the parts of our society headed down dangerous paths (sort of like the overweight people lounging around the spaceship in the movie WALL-E). I liked that it wasn’t totally unfeasible. In Lia’s world it was clear that not all people led these extravagant lifestyles, just the privileged (which left a lot of room for Wasserman to make it outrageous). It wasn’t preachy by any means, but thought-provoking.

Despite all of the positives, Skinned was still a depressing read. I plan to continue on in the series this time, but there’d better be some sort of silver lining somewhere in the second book or a might have to throw in the towel on the account of too much emotional turmoil.

Recommended Reading: I personally read to escape reality, not to be dragged through the dregs of it, so this one was a stretch for me. Because of that, I would be wary recommending this to other readers even though it had elements that were truly special. This is a book for readers who don’t mind sifting through the grit for some beautiful writing.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes

Dec 27 2013
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Stacking the Shelves – Decembers Edition!

Stacking the shelves

Hosted by Tynga’s Reviews

As some of you may know, I am undertaking a read 4, buy 1 challenge as of the beginning of December and I am pleased to announce that I have stuck to that goal. Although I kind of cheated this month. You see, I don’t count gifts as part of my challenge purchases so all of the Barnes & Noble gift cards my family got me this year are responsible for the latest additions to my collection:

Hardcopies (Adult):

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A couple of these came from scouring local used bookstores, and my prized find was a hardcover edition of The Beholder’s Eye by Julie E. Czerneda – one of my all-time favorite novels and one that I’ve been actively searching for online. I couldn’t believe my luck!

Hardcopies (Young Adult):

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This is where most of my gift cards went – as you can see I had a lot of fun spending them! Although, because I have the most awesome best friend ever, the copy of The Fiery Heart was actually a Christmas present from her. Not only did she give me the book I was most looking forward to buying, but got it signed and personalized for me by Richelle Mead! Best. Friend. EVER!

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E-books:

Alas, none.

ARCs:

Thank you Edelweiss!! 

 It looks like I have a ton of great reading ahead of me! What books stacked your shelves this month?

by Niki Hawkes

Dec 27 2013
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2013 Review Recap!

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 The end of the year is finally here! And I’m celebrating by putting together the post I’ve been most looking forward to: the annual book review recap!

 I started a book blog for a couple reasons, but one of them was because it is a great way to keep track of all the fantastic books I’ve read (one that didn’t involve a journal and printouts of the covers – the method I was using before I discovered the wonders of blogging).

Sharing my love of books has become a passion all its own, and I have discovered some profound things in my own reading habits that I may not have if not for the blog. Most notably, I have come to truly appreciates the idea that life is too short to read boring books. I finally figured this out at the beginning of the year when I had published three posts in a row with 2.5 or lower ratings a week before sharing the top ten books on my spring reading list. It was eye-opening because I realized the books I was most looking forward to reading were getting left on the shelf in favor of books I felt like I was obligated to read (does anybody else have that problem?). Anyway, I made the decision to read the books I was most excited for first rather than last, and it has made for the best year of reading I have ever had!

So without further a do, here’s a look at The Obsessive Bookseller’s year of book love:

 (You can find full-length reviews for all of these titles under the Review Archive tab at the top of the blog)

DNF:

1 Star:

2 Stars:

2.5 Stars:

3 Stars:

3.5 Stars:

4 Stars:

4.5 Stars:

5 Stars:

Look how many are above 4 stars!! Reading the books at the top of your list, rather than the ones you feel obligated to read really does make a difference – here’s hoping 2014 is an even better year!

 I will say this year seemed rather focused on Young Adult. I couldn’t help it, there were just too many great books in that genre and there are many I still have yet to read. Although, because I’ve recently combed through and reorganized my Fantasy novels, I’ve been reminded of how many awesome looking books I still have in that genre and am thinking 2014 could be a great year for a High Fantasy focus…

What awesome books did you read this year?

Dec 20 2013
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Chronicles of an Obsessive Bookblogger: Reading Challenges

chronicles of an obsessive bookblogger

Reading Challenges

This is the first year that I’ve taken part in the Goodreads Reading Challenge, and I don’t know about you, but when I signed up I thought, “this could be a very bad idea.” You see, adding a reading challenge of any sort has the potential to suck some of the fun and spontaneity out of reading. I was worried that the end of the year would come around and I would be really disappointed if I didn’t hit my goal of 100 books.

Sure enough, around August I started paying attention to the little widget tracker as it helpfully informed me I was 8% behind schedule. Then October hit and I knew I was in trouble: I was a whopping 12% (thanks to easy math, exactly 12 books) behind my goal.

That meant I would have had to read 3.5 books per week to reach my goal by the end of the year (I average 1.75). Rationally, I knew it wasn’t going to happen – between family, work, blogging, and everything else that keeps my life so busy there was no way I was going to finish that many books a week. But, like any stubborn reader would, I tried…

I even came up with a game plan – I would read as many YA as I could because, let’s face it, they are the easiest to get through. Almost all of the adult speculative fiction on my shelves are well over 500 pages which take me at least a week to read. As you can imagine, it wasn’t long before I started to get really tired of reading all YA (I was focusing mostly on dystopian because I was doing a challenge for that as well). It felt like I was reading because I had to, and not because I wanted to. That’s NEVER good.

A few weeks ago, I finally threw in the towel. I was so tired of reading books that I knew would help me towards my goal that I randomly snatched an 800 page book off my shelf to reread and concentrated on that for a solid two weeks… it was bliss.

So what have I learned? It’s no fun to read things because you feel like you have to (even if they are really good books) and reading challenges can be stressful if you don’t pick goals that are consistent with your current reading habits.

In 2014, I’m going to start with 80 books as my Goodreads challenge goal and if I read more I’ll just bump it up accordingly at the end of the year. I’m still going to continue with the Dystopian Challenge (hosted by Blog of Erised), although I don’t think I will come anywhere near that 24+ books I read for it this year. Finally, I’m doing a Series Challenge (hosted by Read. Sleep. Repeat.) with the hopes that I can finish out a few of the dozens of unfinished series still hanging over my head. I’m worried about the last one mostly because I don’t want to feel obligated next year and I kind of already do when it comes to finishing what I start.

What about you? How many challenges do you have for yourself in 2014? Does participating stress you out like it does me?

by Niki Hawkes

Dec 19 2013
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Book Review: Rhapsody by Elizabeth Haydon

RhapsodyTitle: Rhapsody

Author: Elizabeth Haydon

Series: Symphony of Ages #1

Genre: Fantasy

Rating: 4/5 stars

The Overview: Rhapsody is a woman, a Singer of some talent, who is swept up into events of world-shattering import. On the run from an old romantic interest who won’t take no for an answer, Rhapsody literally bumps into a couple of shady characters: half-breeds who come to her rescue in the nick of time. Only the rescue turns into an abduction, and Rhapsody soon finds herself dragged along on an epic voyage, one that spans centuries and ranges across a wonder-filled fantasy world– a world so real you can hear the sweet music of Rhapsody’s aubade and smell the smoldering forges deep within the Cauldron.

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The Review:

Finishing Rhapsody was my first step towards rereading this epic series by Elizabeth Haydon. The fact that I’m doing a reread at all should say something about how much I liked this series, espeically considering how many unread ones I still have on my shelves (I don’t usually pick up books I’ve already read more than once or twice a year… unless it’s an audio). I had three motivations behind the reread: I really enjoyed it the first time around (about ten years ago), I caught wind that the author is finally back to writing the series and wanted to get ready for the next release, and I felt compelled to figure out why I seldom recommended it even though I really liked it.

And what’s not to like? This book is the gateway into an epic world filled with unique cultures and histories unlike anything I’ve ever read before. It lets us explore the world through the eyes of several brilliant, vibrant characters who are incredibly likable and memorable despite their flaws. My favorite character, Achmed isn’t even human, but it’s his personality and interactions with the main heroine, Rhapsody, makes him the most entertaining and endearing in my eyes (he doesn’t even like her much, haha). Achmed, along with most of the characters, are so rounded that you don’t even scratch the surface of the mysteries surrounding them in this first book. Learning more about them was my main motivation to keep reading this series, and I have to say it didn’t disappoint!

So, why don’t I recommend this book even though I’ve just sung its praises? Because the first hundred pages (excluding the prologue) are among the most confusing and boring-assed of any that I’ve ever read. If not for a single thread of hope and interests in what was to come, I’m not sure I would’ve made it through the first time (much less the second). I just can’t bring myself to suggest it’s to people because a 100 page courtesy is too much to ask of a reader trying to find their next engaging book. It’s a shame too, because this really is one of the most memorable, unique fantasies I’ve ever read and would love to share the story as a whole with more people.

Overall, if you have the motivation (and time) to suffer a long winded book (and series) for an epic payoff, then you could possibly get the same enjoyment out of it as I have. Otherwise, perhaps stick to the great fantasy novels that provide a more, shall we say immediate gratification.

Recommended Reading: For brave fantasy readers who aren’t scared of long-winded authors. Also for those who don’t mind sex, violence, and language, as there’s a fair bit of all three.

Other books you might like:

by Niki Hawkes