new on my bookshelf

A Midsummer Tights Dream by Louise Rennison

The sequel to Withering Tights, this is the second book Rennison's newest tween series about Tallulah Casey, Georgia Nicolson's younger cousin. Yay! I love the bright stripey cover with the shiny blue bits and the huge pop of colour! 

Shakespeare's Sonnets by William Shakespeare

I chose this Folger Shakespeare Library version to buy because I wanted to read the sonnets but I needed help understanding them. Shakespeare can really confuse me sometimes! OK, let's face it - all of the time. This version has detailed notes etcetera so hopefully they'll help break it down for me!

Out of Sight, Out of Time by Ally Carter

I love the Gallagher Girls series a lot. I can't believe it has taken me this long to get my hands on the fifth instalment! Excited to get into Cammie's spy life again. Ally Carter is AWESOME.

More photos:

my thoughts on: mini shopaholic by sophie kinsella

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

published 2010, read synopsis.

It's a wonderful feeling, reading a book for the first time, reading the last page of a story and finishing it for the first time. Nothing compares. 

That is why I'm sitting on my bed at 2am, wide awake and scribbling in a notebook, trying to somehow articulate all of what I'm feeling right now. 

For the most part, Mini Shopaholic was not like Sophie Kinsella's other novels, or even like the other Shopaholic books either. Sophie Kinsella fooled me for the first two thirds of the book - she made me think Mini Shopaholic would be a big disappointment (and in a tiny way it was a bit of a disappointment). Becky was up to her usual antics - deceiving everyone, keeping secrets, telling fibs left, right and center and satiating her hunger to shop. I was halfway through the book and felt disappointed that her character was still the same as ever, disappointed that Becky hadn't grown or matured since the first book. She had though, it was just difficult for me to see that at first. 

the tippy top of my reading pile/TBR list

This is just a quick little update-y type of post telling you the books that are at the very top of my to-be-read pile that I want/need to read (or finish reading) ASAP! 

There really should be more on here such as The Perks of Being a Wallflower and The Fault in Our Stars, but anyway, here is the list (for now):

(pretty much in order of urgency)

Rhubarb by Craig Silvey

Mini Shopaholic by Sophie Kinsella

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

Cassandra by Kerry Greenwood

Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins

Trying War by S.D. Gentill

Pan's Whisper by Sue Lawson

The Invention of Hugo Cabret by Brian Selznick

Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro

what I got from the library..

It's the mid-semester break right now, so I still have a few more weeks until uni restarts and while I was running a few errands yesterday at uni I had some time to spare so I popped into the library for a look-see.

These are what I borrowed! 

Cassandra by Kerry Greenwood

published 1995. goodreads synopsis

Cassandra caught my eye not only because it looked Greek myth-y but also because of the title. After reading On the Seas to Troy by Caroline B Cooney, Cassandra became one of my favourite characters of Ancient Greek mythology, so I'm excited to see how this book tells her story. The author is from Melbourne I think!

new on my bookshelf: selznick + gentill

THE INVENTION OF HUGO CABRET by Brian Selznick

(published 2007; read synopsis)

I first heard of this book after watching the film Hugo, which I quickly became a huge fan of. I didn't realise it was a book to film adaptation until I saw the special features on the DVD. I loved the movie so much that I quickly ordered it online. The book looks huge, but it is jam-packed with beautiful illustrations and pictures galore, as well as words of course.

Below are photos of the hardcover's jacket and the book without the jacket. And I also took a short little video of me flipping through the book quickly, so you can get an idea of what it's really like (awesome is what it's really like!). 

my thoughts on: INSURGENT by Veronica Roth

Insurgent by Veronica Roth

published 2012, Harper Collins

click here for the synopsis

This sequel to Divergent did not disappoint... but I can't say it was equal to or better than its predecessor, either.

To its credit, the ending of this Roth novel once again had me gripping my seat with nervous, inexplicable anticipation. It was action-packed, intense, and OH-MY-GOSH the very last page literally made me gasp, my mouth went into a O-shape and my hand slammed over it.

Anyway, let's talk about the other parts of the book.

The Divergent Tag! {video!}

On the weekend I filmed the Divergent Tag with my sister!!! 

Questions: 

1)Which faction would you most likely choose to be in?

2)Which faction would you least likely choose to be in?

3)Which character did you most like/identify with the most?

4)Which character did you like the least?

5)What was your favourite moment?

6)What was your least favourite moment?

7)If you had the power to cast one character, which character would you cast and who would you choose to play that role?

8)Do you think Summit can pull it off?

9)What are your top predictions for the next book Insurgent?

my thoughts on: the lover's dictionary by david levithan

The Lover's Dictionary by David Levithan

published 2011, Farrar, Straus and Giroux

click here to read the synopsis

This is a novel written in the format of a dictionary. Dictionary entries for words, listed in alphabetical order and pertaining to the romantic relationship between two people. The concept of writing a story in the style of a dictionary is really unique. I can appreciate the difficulty one would be faced with having to create a narrative within the restrictions of a certain format. David Levithan did it superbly. Superbly.

Book Blog Do's/Don'ts : Formatting (my preferences)

These are just a few things I look for on the home page when I'm visiting a book blog for the first time and I want to gauge whether or not I should bother following. 

(NB: this post is similar to the post I did last December entitled Book Blog Pet Peeves. It covers different things though.)

1. CONDENSE THE HOME PAGE: Please don't make me scroll down the page for yonks and yonks in order to look for certain info/widgets. This probably means the size (or quantity) of your posts need to be reduced. Use jump breaks so I don't have to scroll through long posts, or limit the number of posts that show on the home page to about a dozen. Otherwise it's just way too much content for a first-time visitor like myself to look through.

2. ARCHIVES: Have them somewhere I can find them easily! I want to know what kind of posts you put out - some book bloggers do a crapload of reviews, some only post about books they are pining for, some tend to mainly post about books they have bought, and some bloggers post a lot about the publishing world. The easiest way for me to see what sort of stuff you like to write about is to have an archives widget that allows me to see post titles, not just dates. 

3. I LIKE PRETTY THINGS: But don't over do it. I respond well to things that entice me visually. However, too much of anything is a bad thing, so if you want a fancy background, don't use lots of bright colours or too many graphics. It's possible to have funky or ornate backgrounds but you can mute the tones so the focus is still on the content. Also, when I see an awesome header I'm more likely to follow the blog. Possibly shallow of me, but nevertheless true.

4. DON'T OVER BUTTON IT: Too many banners and buttons will give me a headache! Promoting friends/challenges/contests is A-okay with me, but don't sacrifice the integrity of your blog for any reason - whether it's for showing everyone how active you are or for getting a couple extra entries in a giveaway. All I'm saying is, as long as it's important to you and aligns with the purpose of your blog, it's alright. But if you really must have a lot of buttons down your sidebars, think about the placement of them.

5. BLOGROLLS: I like to see your blogroll. Especially if you're an Aussie blogger - there are less of us, so it's interesting to see which other Aussie bloggers you like.

Well that's about it for this round of Arielle-whining-on-about-book-blog-stuff-as-if-it-would-actually-help-someone-ha-ha-but-really-it-makes-her-sound-so-critical-who-is-she-anyway?

image source: cherryblossomgirl