Wednesday, May 27, 2015

WWW Wednesdays #1: May 27, 2015



Welcome to WWW Wednesday! This meme was formerly hosted by MizB at Should be Reading and revived here on Taking on a World of Words. Just answer the three questions below and leave a link to your post in the comments for others to look at. No blog? No problem! Just leave a comment with your responses. Please, take some time to visit the other participants and see what others are reading. So, let’s get to it!








I'm currently reading "The Assassin's Blade" by Sarah J. Maas.  It's pretty good so far and I can't wait to check out the other books in the "Throne of Glass" series!




If we are talking about young adult or adult books, then the most recent book I've finished was "Shadow Game" by Christine Feehan.  This was the first book I've read from Christine Feehan and I really enjoyed it and I can't wait to check out more of Christine Feehan's books in the near future!









I definitely want to read "Scarlet" by Marissa Meyer next because I really enjoyed reading "Cinder" and I want to see more adventures from Cinder and her new friends!



Friday, May 15, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday #9: Exhaustion!






The Feature and Follow Friday Meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read and basically what this meme is all about is that you get to new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogging Community by following each blogger!  All you have to do is leave your name and your blog name on the post on the main Feature and Follow Friday Meme page and then create your own post on Feature and Follow Friday and link back to the main page and then you visit as many blogs as you want and you tell the other bloggers "hi!" in their comments (on the post that has the Feature and Follow Friday Image). You follow that blogger and they follow you back!  Just make sure to follow back if that blogger follows you back!

Oh man! I'm so exhausted from my new job!  I have to work almost 7 hours a day, dealing with customers who constantly make my job more difficult and there are many days where I just want to lie down at home and sleep forever!  I'm trying to figure out a way to trudge through this job without getting so tired all the time and anyone who wants to give me some friendly cashier advice are welcome to give all the advice they could give out!


Question of the Week: How do you organize your books? Either at home on your bookshelves or on your reading-device, or on your bookish platform like Goodreads, Leafmarks or Booklikes. - Suggested by Unconventional Book Views

 On my bookshelf, I normally have the adult and chapter books on the top of the shelf and the children's books on the bottom shelf, that way I could find where each books are placed on my shelf when I want to read any of those books.  For my Goodreads and Booklikes accounts, I shelved my books as books I had read for a certain year such as having a shelf that says 2000 reads and 2015 reads, so that way I could keep up to date on what books I've read each year.


How about you? How do you organize your books?

Please feel free to comment!



Friday, May 8, 2015

Feature and Follow Friday #8: May Beginnings!







The Feature and Follow Friday Meme is hosted by Parajunkee and Alison Can Read and basically what this meme is all about is that you get to new followers and make new friends with the Book Blogging Community by following each blogger!  All you have to do is leave your name and your blog name on the post on the main Feature and Follow Friday Meme page and then create your own post on Feature and Follow Friday and link back to the main page and then you visit as many blogs as you want and you tell the other bloggers "hi!" in their comments (on the post that has the Feature and Follow Friday Image). You follow that blogger and they follow you back!  Just make sure to follow back if that blogger follows you back!

Well, it's the beginning of May and things are starting to get better for me at my new job at Dollar General.  I'm starting to get everything that I need to do for this job and I just need to perfect the rules and the cashiering to make this job worth getting through (I just really hope I can get through this job)As for reading, I'm starting to get back into reading, now reading Rachel Hartman's Seraphina book!


Question of the Week: How do you decide what books to read? - Suggested by So Many Books, So Little Time


I decide what books to read based on these two factors:

1)  Recommendations from my book friends:  if my book friends recommended me a book that they really enjoyed and they think that I might like it, then I am more than likely to give that book a try since my book friends also liked that book.

2)  Depending on my mood:  I also choose books depending on what mood I am in.  If I am in a happy mood, then I am more likely to read romance novels and if I want to read books that quick and enjoyable, then I read graphic novels and picture books.

How about you? How do you decide what books to read?

Please feel free to comment!



 

Sunday, May 3, 2015

April Monthly Wrap Up!



Hey everybody! I'm going to go through everything that I had done for April which includes how many challenges I was able to complete to how many books I've read during this month!


April Challenges Wrap Up:



2015 I Love Picture Books
Completed:2
1.  You Are Special by Max Lucado: Completed: 4/14/2015

 

[BOOK REVIEW] Rin-ne Volume 3 by Rumiko Takahashi




Title:  Rin-ne Volume 3


Author:  Rumiko Takahashi



Genre: Horror / Adventure / Comedy / School


Year Published: 2009


Year Read: 2015


Series: Rin-ne #3


Publisher: VIZ Media



Source:  Library


Content Rating:  Ages 8+ (Scary Imagery)


Buy on:  Amazon  //  Book Depository 





Man, I just cannot put down Rumiko Takahashi’s newest work “Rin-Ne” for nothing!  This series continues to be extremely interesting and much different from Rumiko Takahashi’s other works that I just cannot wait to see where this series take the characters next!



Sakura Mamiya and Rinne Rokudo still have adventures dealing with the afterlife, even in this volume.  But one day, an old childhood friend of Sakura’s named Tsubasa Jumonji moves into town and wanted to go on a date with Sakura! At first, Sakura was wondering how Rinne would feel about this and even though Rinne told Sakura that he does not care about Tsubasa’s feelings for Sakura, it seems that Rinne just might have feelings for Sakura…



This volume was pretty interesting as a standalone volume, as I liked the fact that Rumiko Takahashi introduced a new character in this volume in the form of Tsubasa Jumonji.  I honestly think that Rumiko Takahashi did a brilliant job at portraying Tsubasa’s character as Tsubasa is a pretty interesting character as he is the only other character (besides Sakura and Rinne) who can see the spirits in the world of the living and like Rinne, can fight them off (even though he is not as good at defeating spirits as Rinne is).  Even though I have seen the formula about a love triangle forming between the characters being played out before in Rumiko Takahashi’s other works (especially “Ranma ½” and “Inuyasha”), it was still interesting seeing a relationship develop between Sakura and Rinne and I would like to see their relationship develop even further in future volumes.  Rumiko Takahashi’s artwork is as usual unique and gorgeous to look at, especially the scenes of Rinne and the gang seeing various spirits pop up in the world of the living and the spirits look so unnatural compared to the human characters which really brings out the creativity of this series.



Like the previous volumes, this volume does have some scary images, including images of spirits menacing the main characters.  However, due to the comedic tone of this volume, some readers might be able to get through the volume.



Overall, “Rin-Ne Volume Three” is a truly interesting standalone volume that anyone who is a huge fan of Rumiko Takahashi’s works and anyone who loves the “Rin-Ne” series in general!





[BOOK REVIEW] The Samurai's Daughter by Robert D. San Souci









Title:  The Samurai's Daughter

Author:  Robert D. San Souci

Artist:  Stephen T. Johnson


Genre: Family / Japan / Bravery

Year Published: 1992

Year Read:  2015

Publisher:
Dial Books for Young Readers

Source:  Library

Content Rating:  Ages 5+  (Parental Separation)

Buy or Add on:  Amazon  //  Goodreads

I had read many Japanese folktales over the years, but I had never read a folktale quite like this before!  “The Samurai’s Daughter” is a Japanese folktale that is retold by master storyteller Robert D. San Souci along with illustrations by Stephen T. Johnson and with these two elements combined; this is definitely one story that is worth reading!







Once upon a time on the east coast of Japan, there lived a loyal samurai who lived with his beautiful daughter, Tokoyo. When Tokoyo was young, her father used to teach her everything about being a samurai and Tokoyo would learn how to defend herself in battle.  However, when Tokoyo got older, her father decided to teach her to be more ladylike, which Tokoyo did not enjoy doing.  One tragic day however, the ruler of Japan decided to banish Tokoyo’s father to the Oki Islands due to suffering from a mental illness and Tokoyo is forced to separate from her father.  After this incident, Tokoyo decided to journey to the Oki Islands by herself in order to reunite with her father.

Will Tokoyo be able to reunite with her father while facing all kinds of danger on her journey?

Read this book to find out!



Wow!  I cannot believe that I have never read this book before!  I have always loved Robert D. San Souci’s retellings of many folktales and fairy tales as Robert D. San Souci’s narrations were always intriguing to read and this book was definitely no exception!  I loved the way that Robert D. San Souci wrote Tokoyo’s character as Tokoyo is shown as being a strong and independent woman who was willing to go through any kind of danger in order to reunite with her father and I really loved the fact that Tokoyo learned how to fight like a samurai as it made her into a truly unique and strong character.  I love the way that this story compares strongly to “Mulan,” as both stories take place in an Asian setting (“Mulan” in China and “The Samurai’s Daughter” in Japan) and both have strong female protagonists who are willing to go through so much danger in order to protect their loved ones (Mulan enters the army to save her father and Tokoyo travels to the Oki Islands to reunite with her father).  Stephen T. Johnson’s artwork is truly beautiful as the artwork is done in pastel paintings and they really give an authentic Japanese feel to the story that made me feel like I am actually visiting ancient Japan through these illustrations!  I loved the way that Stephen T. Johnson drew the ocean and the characters themselves as they look truly gorgeous and really complement greatly to the story.



Overall, “The Samurai’s Daughter” is a truly fantastic book for anyone who loves strong female protagonists and loves reading about ancient Japan!  I would recommend this book to children ages five and up since the length of this book might be a bit tiresome for smaller children.