Monday, March 16, 2015

A Bookish Update


Note: I just want to say a quick thank you to everyone who commented on my last post! You all were so encouraging and helpful. I appreciate it so much!


At the beginning of this year, you might have seen this reading challenge floating around:


I thought it was pretty awesome, so I've been tackling it this year. I've read 12 books, and each of them let me check something off of the list. Here's what I've done so far!

A Book Set in the Future: The Death Cure by James Dashner

 FUTURE. This is the last book in The Maze Runner trilogy. Even though it wasn't my favorite out of the three, I still really enjoyed it. And by "enjoy", I mean I was hyperventilating the majority of the time. I love this series, y'all.

A Book More than 100 Years Old: Tales from Shakespeare by Charles Lamb & Mary Lamb

This was written in 1807, so it's over two-hundred years old. It's a collection of Shakespeare's plays that have been simplified and re-written as prose. I loved it! It's a perfect introduction to Shakespeare's plays. I feel so much more educated now...

A Book that Became a Movie: Mary Poppins by P. L. Travers

This is such an adorable children's classic! So witty and imaginative. The movie is still #1 though, for me. Because Julie Andrews.
 
A Nonfiction Book: Think Biblically by John MacArthur

This book goes through a lot of different issues, and shows what the Bible says about each of those topics. Really great.

A Book Published This Year: Fairest by Marissa Meyer

This book was published in January. Man, who would have believed that such a little book could be so EMOTIONALLY SCARRING?

A Book You Finished in a Day: The Ordinary Princess by M. M. Kaye

On Valentines Day I wanted to read something cutesy, so I picked up this favorite of mine. It's such an adorable little fairy tale! 

A Book Written by Someone Under 30: It Took a War by Emily Ann Putzke

My lovely blogging buddy, Emily, is not only under thirty, but she's also under twenty. #Impressive. This book is so wonderful! I wholeheartedly recommend it.

A Book a Friend Recommended: On the Edge of the Dark Sea of Darkness by Andrew Peterson

A sweet friend in my church and I often do "Book-Swaps", and last month she gave me this one. I was sososo impressed with this book. I'm dying to read the rest of the series!

A Book You Started by Never Finished: Christian History Made Easy by Timothy Paul Jones

 
I've had this book for years, and I've even started it up a couple times, but I never finished it until just recently. It's an incredibly thorough yet simple book on Church History. Really awesome.

A Book that Scared You: The Rime of the Ancient Mariner by Samuel Taylor Coleridge

Okay, so this poem didn't scare me, but it was a very eerie and strange story. I had to read it for school, so naturally I thought it was going to be super boring, but it actually rocked.

A Book with Nonhuman Characters: Watership Down by Richard Adams

The characters are very nonhuman in this. Goodness gracious, Watership Down is such a such a great story.

A Book with a One-Word Title: Divergent by Veronica Roth

*FANGIRLS MANIACALLY* I'm laughably late to this band wagon (I even watched the movie first, oops) but wow, guys. Just. Wow. What. (I finished this book today so that's what's wrong with me.)


What are some books that you've read this year? Are you working on a reading challenge, too? Do tell.

love,
Hannah

18 comments:

  1. This sounds like such a neat challenge! I haven't read any of the books on tis yet, but I've been meaning to--especially Watership Down. The Maze Runner trilogy too...

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    1. It is a really fun challenge! And I definitely recommend both of those. Thanks for commenting, Alex!

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  2. this is so cool! Ive only read Divergent out of your list. which I liked, but not enough to finish the rest of the series.

    great post!

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    1. Thank you, Faith! I'm planning on finishing the series - hopefully I'll like them as much as the first one.

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  3. Anything with Julie Andrews is good. I have to agree with you on the Death Cure; not the best, but still a great ending.

    xoxo Morning

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    1. Agreed! Julie Andrews is wonderful. You're right, The Death Cure is a good ending - and I suppose most dystopian finales are a bit...shocking? :D

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  4. Good luck on your challenge! I couldn't put The Death Cure down until I finished it :')

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    1. Thank you, Jo! I couldn't put that whole trilogy down...so brilliant.

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  5. This is awesome! I'm doing this challenge, too, and I love seeing how someone else is checking off the list. :) So far 11 of the books I've read have met something on the challenge.

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    1. That's so cool, Kristin! You'll have to keep me updated on how you're doing...I love hearing about it, too!

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  6. OHMYGERSH YOU READ FAIREST. All of these bloggers reading it and I'm sitting here trying to avoid the spoilers. Gahhhh.
    Other then that, what a great list. Please keep doing these posts! I'm always looking for more book ideas:) :)

    Chloe | Curious Ramblings

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    1. Thanks Chloe! Glad you liked this. You should definitely read Fairest ASAP!

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  7. Oh, I’m doing an A-Z book challenge this year, along with the goodreads one, but this sounds fun, too! Maybe I’ll bookmark it and quietly make my way through it, too!
    I’m glad The Death Cure was enjoyable (and brilliant, by the sounds of it) for you! It really annoyed me and was my least favourite in the series by far, but I’m happy it worked much better for you!
    Mary Poppins was such a surprise when I read it in 2012! I’d only ever seen the film and it was so different- I really disliked Mary, she seemed horrid! It’s interesting how different the two seem.

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    1. I think we probably have similar feelings on The Death Cure - I just still had to love it because I was already so invested in the story and character's lives. You know? Thanks so much for sharing your thoughts, Romi!

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  8. I also just finished Divergent just a few days ago (and I watched the movie first... three times)! And now I'm working my way through Insurgent, which is massive, but I'm going to do this one the right way and finish the book before watching the movie. :)

    Good luck with the challenge! Although I don't think I'll actively pursue it (I created a challenge of my own back in January), I might save the list somewhere to look back on a the end of the year and see how many I can check off just for curiosity's sake.

    P.S. I just discovered your blog through Entirely Bonkers' "blogging it up" post, and I love it! Your photos are beautiful.

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    1. Aren't they awesome books?!? I'm doing the same thing - I hurriedly read Insurgent before I saw the film. I'm now on Allegiant! Thanks so much for commenting, Serena!

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  9. Wow - you're breezing through this challenge, aren't you Hannah? ;) Looks like you've read a lot of great books!

    I'm so glad you read Fairest and that you liked it as much as I did. It was so emotionally scarring, wasn't it? And yeah! You've finally jumped on the Divergent bandwagon! xD And JULIE ANDREWS! Yes! She is my absolute favorite!

    Thanks for sharing, and great post! ♥

    ~Zoe @ Stories on Stage

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    1. Ah, Fairest was so good! And bad. Haha :D Glad you liked this post, Zoe!

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