Sunday, October 4, 2015

Where'd You Go September?: Monthly Wrap-Up!

Where in the world did September go?

Actually though, I feel like we just skipped over September it went by so fast. The blog was silent last month because I was So Dang Busy and was having Lots Of Trouble writing reviews. I didn't get much reading done either! But, I had an incredible September that I wouldn't trade for the world. Here's an update!

Top Three Things I Did (Outside of Reading!)

1. 101 Week!
- This was my third year being a guide (my first as an exec member) and it was incredible, exhausting, and memorable. I didn't get much of anything done that first week of September (and I'm still playing catch-up!) but it was totally worth it.

2. CityFolk Fest! Kodaline! Live Music!
- CityFolk Fest relaunched this year and featured an absolutely incredible line-up. My favourite bands almost NEVER play in Ottawa, so having two of them in one weekend was mind-boggling. I went (along with Jess from Read My Breath Away!) to three of the five days and got to see The Sheepdogs, The Avett Brothers, Of Monsters and Men, and Passenger. I was basically in musical heaven. And then the next week (not part of CityFolk) I got to see the incredible Kodaline live! It was quite the month for live music here in Ottawa.

3. Madly Launch Party!
- Another thing we don't have a lot of in Ottawa is bookish events. So when they do happen, it's always hugely exciting. This month, the lovely Amy Alward launched her new book Madly here in Ottawa! Amy is so sweet and wonderful and I had an awesome time at the launch party. I'll do a full recap (hopefully) this week!


Books, Books, Books!

Read
1) A Curious Tale of the In-Between (Pram #1) by Lauren DeStefano (3 stars)
3) Where the Stars Still Shine by Trish Doller (4.5 stars)

Purchased
The Book of Broken Hearts by Sarah Ockler
Madly (Potion #1) by Amy Alward

Received for Review
The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner
Julia Vanishes by Catherine Egan
The Smell of Other People's Houses by Bonnie-Sue Hitchcock
The First Time She Drowned by Kerry Kletter

Soundtrack of My September

I don't download a ton of new music last month, but I did listen to a couple of songs on repeat. 

"Vicious Love" - New Found Glory (feat. Hayley Williams)
Favourite Lyric: "Living in tension with you still feels better than anything I've ever known."
Why I Love It: Hayley Williams voice is, as always, incredible and the harmonies with New Found Glory are perfect. It's just an awesome, addicting song.

"Laundry Room" - The Avett Brothers
Favourite Lyric: "I am a breathing time machine, I'll take you all for a ride"
Why I Love It: Man, this song just gets me in the gut. I really do love everything about it.

"Victorious" - Panic! at the Disco
Favourite Lyric: "50 words for murder, and I'm every one of them."
Why I Love It: This song was only released at the end of September but I've listened to it approximately a thousand times since then. I'm obsessed.
 
Looking Forward to October
- October will probably be less life-busy but definitely more school-busy. It'll be midterm/assignment season soon which means I'll be hiding from the world and frantically flipping through textbooks. But! I hope I'll actually have time for more reading and catching up on blog stuff. I've already read two books (which is more than half of what I read last month!) so I have a good feeling!

 What did you do last month? What are you most looking forward to in October?

 Let me know in the comments!

- Ciara (Lost at Midnight)
Posted by at 1 comment:
Labels:

Tuesday, August 25, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday (18): Top Ten Books That Would Be On My YA Syllabus

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish in which bloggers post their "Top Ten" of whatever that week's theme is! This week's theme:

TOP TEN BOOKS THAT WOULD BE ON MY YA SYLLABUS 

This topic is made for me. I've actually thought about this for YEARS. Although I've never wanted to be a teacher, teaching a university English class on YA is basically a life goal. I just think it would be so much fun to get to talk about and analyze YA with a group of engaged students.


- Themes and imagery just ooze out of this novel and I would love to dive deeper into this story.

- As I said in my review, I really didn't expect how intense this novel would be. There is just so much to unpack here, and I feel like I could write a killer essay on it.

- I'm of the opinion that everyone on this planet should read this book. I think it would be such a powerful read in a high school class setting, and such an important one. 


- I adore magical realism, and no one does it like Nova Ren Suma. The Walls Around Us was stunning, and I would love to discuss the different ways it could be interpreted.

- I'll talk about this more in my review (which I hope I'll actually finish by tomorrow!) but this book had So Much Going For It. I would love to have an in-depth discussion about it.

- A really interesting novel that turns the idea of good vs. evil on it's head. Lots of lore and history to be analyzed!


- Stream of conscious writing style, themes of mental health and sibling relationships all packed into a powerful story. I would love to discuss this one in-depth! 

- Another book I really believe everyone should read. It's discussions of homophobia and poverty are incredibly important, and Lauren Myracle's writing is powerful.

- I actually recommended this one to student for an essay about a year ago. My favourite book of 2014, Falling Into Place and it's non-linear timeline would be so interesting to discuss in the classroom.

- I have to throw a mystery on this list! (Although The Walls Around Us has a good mystery element). The way this novel is structured (and the reveal, of course!) would be such an interesting topic to discuss. 

What books would be on your YA syllabus?

- Ciara (Lost at Midnight)
Posted by at 2 comments:
Labels:

Tuesday, August 18, 2015

Top Ten Tuesday (17): Top Ten Auto-Buy Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish in which bloggers post their "Top Ten" of whatever that week's theme is! This week's theme:

TOP TEN AUTO-BUY AUTHORS 

I actually have a lot of auto-buy authors. There's so many YA authors out there that just kill it every book and I need them alllll. Here are some of my many auto-buy authors: 

- lololol like this surprises anyone.

- Again, no surprise here. Nova's books are magic.

- A newly added auto-buy author! Tiffany is a wonderful human and such an awesome writer and if you haven't checked out her books GET ON THAT.
 
- I've been reading Richelle Mead's books (both YA and adult) since I was 15. And I don't plan on stopping anytime soon.
 
-  Another author I've been reading for many years, and whose books I always love.

- I know, I'm surprising everyone with my list right now. Jodi's books = the best books.

- Kiersten White always writes unique and fascinating books and ugh, so much love.
 
- Although I haven't finished the GG series, Ally Carter books are must-haves.

- SASS MASTER. Her books are awesome sauce.

- No explanation needed.

Who are your auto-buy authors?

- Ciara (Lost at Midnight)

 
 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Thursday, August 6, 2015

Goodbye July: Monthly Wrap-Up!

Hi, everyone!

I've decided to start doing a monthly wrap-up post (inspired by Jamie from The Perpetual Page-Turner's Monthly Rewind) here on the blog! I've loved reading wrap-up posts and thought it was about time I did one myself. This one is coming a bit late (August is always a crazy time for me!) but here it is!
Top Three Things I Did (Outside of Reading!)
1. Visited my bestie.
- My bestie lives about seven hours away from me, which means we get to see each other once a year. This time, it was my turn to go down to her place and I spent six awesome days getting to hang out with one of the best people I know. We went shopping, played dinosaur mini-golf, went to Wonderland, got lots of and lots of ice cream, went to Niagara Falls and basically had the best dang time. It was definitely the highlight of my summer.

2. Got my nose pierced!
- I've been thinking about getting my nose pierced for, like, ever. And the bestie got a little obsessed with piercings and I decided if I was going to do it, I might as well have the moral support and here we are! I don't have a good shot of it just yet (my hair needs a bit of a re-dye so after that) but here's the pic right after it happened. (You can't see hers since it's flipped up).

3. Went to Calypso!
- Calypso is the awesome waterpark about 45min outside the city and I was so happy I got to go this year! My friends and I got discount tickets and spent a hot (and then creepy storm cloudy) day going on awesome rides and laughing. Twas wonderful.

Books Read

I didn't read as much as I would've liked, but what I did read was really damn great.

1) Moonglass by Jessi Kirby (4 stars)
2) Right of Way by Lauren Barnholdt (4 stars)
3) Yes Please by Amy Poehler (5 stars)
4) Bright Before Sunrise by Tiffany Schmidt (5 stars)
5) Through the Ever Night by Veronica Rossi (5 stars)
6) Into the Still Blue by Veronica Rossi (4.5 stars) 

Blog Activity
Well, the blog was pretty inactive this month. In fairness, I was pretty dang busy and on vacation much of that time.



Soundtrack of My Summer
 
Something you guys might not know about me is that I'm a huge music lover. I'm really passionate about the bands I love and push them on as many people as I can. I read all the liner notes, collect CDs, and quote lyrics like it's going out of style. This month I've been listening to:

"Miles Away" - The Maine

Favourite Lyric: "A tongue full of only tomorrow's will never quench your thirst for today"
Why I Love It: This is such a fun, summer song and I adore it with all my heart.

"21 and Invincible" - Something Corporate
Favourite Lyric: "We're 21 and invincible, I can't wait to f**k this up."
Why I Love It: I'm only 21 for six more days (OMG WUT) and this song has been the soundtrack of my year. It's all about how much possibility is it front of you 

"Human" - Of Monsters and Men
Favourite Lyric: "I am lost and led only by stars"
Why I Love It: It's so enchanting and the lyrics crawl right into your soul.

"Brand New Day" - Kodaline
Favourite Lyric: "I'll be flicking stones at your window, I'll be waiting outside 'til your ready to go, won't you come down, come away with me?"
Why I Love It: Currently my favourite Kodaline song. It captures that feeling of wanderlust while also reminding me of all the possibilities summer has to offer.

"Keep In Mind, Transmorgrification Is a New Technology" - Mayday Parade

Favourite Lyric: "You'll say you lack the courage and guts of a hero even when they're on your side"
Why I Love It: NEW MAYDAY PARADE. Mayday Parade is my favourite band. Has been for the last eight years. This new song is a bit of a throwback to their original EP but also a new kind of style. And I really like it. October 9th can't come soon enough. 
Looking Ahead at August
- August is always nuts for me. I usually try to squeeze in every last bit of summer I can out of the month, and it always goes by too fast. It's also my birthday month (eee!) and the month 101 Week starts. I'm an exec member of my student association now which means I'm even more involved in 101 Week than usual. August is  So! Lots of stuff happening!

 How was your July? I hope it was awesome!

 - Ciara (Lost at Midnight)

Posted by at No comments:
Labels: ,

Wednesday, July 22, 2015

Waiting On Wednesday (77): The Boy Most Likely To by Huntley Fitzpatrick

Waiting On Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jill over at Breaking the Spine in which bloggers talk about the books they are most eager for!

Publisher: Dial Books
Release Date: August 18th 2015

A surprising, utterly romantic companion to My Life Next Door—great for fans of Sarah Dessen and Jenny Han 

Tim Mason was The Boy Most Likely To find the liquor cabinet blindfolded, need a liver transplant, and drive his car into a house

Alice Garrett was The Girl Most Likely To . . . well, not date her little brother’s baggage-burdened best friend, for starters.

For Tim, it wouldn’t be smart to fall for Alice. For Alice, nothing could be scarier than falling for Tim. But Tim has never been known for making the smart choice, and Alice is starting to wonder if the “smart” choice is always the right one. When these two crash into each other, they crash hard.

Then the unexpected consequences of Tim’s wild days come back to shock him. He finds himself in a situation that isn’t all it appears to be, that he never could have predicted . . . but maybe should have.

And Alice is caught in the middle.

Told in Tim’s and Alice’s distinctive, disarming, entirely compelling voices, this novel is for readers of The Spectacular Now, Nick and Norah’s Infinite Playlist, and Paper Towns. (Summary from Goodreads)

My Life Next Door was such a wonderful contemporary. It surpassed my very high expectations and I was delighted when I heard there would be a companion novel! The Garrett family is such a wonderful one and, for an only child like me, it was so interesting to read about such a huge family. I cannot wait for this one!

What are you waiting on this week?

- Ciara (Lost at Midnight) 
Posted by at No comments:
Labels: , , ,
Subscribe to: Posts (Atom)