Top Ten Tuesday (3)

November 30, 2011



I am participating in Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Each week, there is a specific topic for a top ten list.

This weeks topic is:
Top Ten Books On My TBR List For Winter


I have SO many books. This was hard to narrow down..


1. Blood Red Road by Moira Young

I am so excited to read this! It sounds absolutely amazing.


2. The Iron King by Julie Kagawa

Another one that I am really really looking forward to getting into.


3. The Perks of Being a Wallflower by Stephen Chbowsky

I am intrigued by this book. And I want to read it before the movie comes out next year!


4. This Lullaby by Sarah Dessen

This book has been on my to-buy pile for AGES! I only bought it recently, though.


5. The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

The sequel to The Maze Runner, which I loved. I want to read this one ASAP and get into the third instalment!


6. City of Bones by Cassandra Clare

I feel so behind and left out! I haven't read any of the Mortal Instruments series :O Plus, the movie is also coming out next year!


7. Uglies by Scott Westerfeld

I started reading the first page because I was bored one day.. so I feel very inclined to continue. Plus, I am really drawn by the synopsis.


8. Catch 22 by Joseph Heller

I will be studying this for school next year, so this will be an important book that I need to read.


9. Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs

I also started reading the first page of this before closing the book and reading Beauty Queens. The pictures are so eerie and I am curious to read the book.


10. Delirium by Lauren Oliver

The Maze Runner by James Dashner

November 28, 2011

Video review of The Maze Runner. Further book details and a quick review overview is located below the video, if you just want an idea of what I thought about the book.





The Maze Runner by James Dashner
Released: October 6, 2009
Series: Maze Runner Trilogy [Book One]
Publisher: Delacorte Press
Pages: 379
Source: Purchased
Buy it: Book Depository (free shipping) | Amazon


When Thomas wakes up in the lift, the only thing he can remember is his first name. His memory is blank. But he’s not alone. When the lift’s doors open, Thomas finds himself surrounded by kids who welcome him to the Glade—a large, open expanse surrounded by stone walls.

Just like Thomas, the Gladers don’t know why or how they got to the Glade. All they know is that every morning the stone doors to the maze that surrounds them have opened. Every night they’ve closed tight. And every 30 days a new boy has been delivered in the lift.

Thomas was expected. But the next day, a girl is sent up—the first girl to ever arrive in the Glade. And more surprising yet is the message she delivers.

Thomas might be more important than he could ever guess. If only he could unlock the dark secrets buried within his mind.


Review Overview:
So much mystery, and extremely creepy. Loved the male protagonist. Incredible and developed characters. The mental imagery it creates is so vivid. Absolutely loved it.

My Big Sib!

November 10, 2011

I recently signed up for this program called Big Sib/Little Sib. It was created by various book bloggers, where novice book bloggers are paired with veteran book bloggers. To find out more or register as a veteran or novice, check out any of the four blogs below (all founders of the program):

Hafsah @ Icey Books
Ivy @ Ivy Reads
Katie @ Katies Book Blog
Kelsey @ The Book Scout


And now, it is time to introduce my Big Sib! Roshini from Bookish Delights:

October Wrap Up | 2011

November 8, 2011

So, um... I kinda forgot to post about the books I purchased in October. Oops.

Here it is now though, along with a wrap up of what I actually read during the month as well - they mainly focus on Halloween-ish related themes.



Books purchased:


- The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
- Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
- Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs
- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
- City of Ashes by Cassandra Clare
- City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
- The Iron King by Julie Kagawa
- Uglies by Scott Westerfeld
- Delirium by Lauren Oliver
- The Scorch Trials by James Dashner
- Tigers Curse by Colleen Houck
- Life As We Knew It by Susan Beth Pfeffer
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley




Books read:

- Marked by P.C. and Kristen Cast
- Far From the War by Jeffrey David Payne
- Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead
- The Maze Runner by James Dashner
- Magyk by Angie Sage
- Crandall's Castle by Beth Ren Wright
- The Lady Grace Mysteries by Patricia Finney
- The Spook's Apprentice by Joseph Delaney
- The Unbecoming of Mara Dyer by Michelle Hodkin
- Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins
- Mystery Stories chosen by Helen Cresswell
- Beauty Queens by Libba Bray
- Frankenstein by Mary Shelley
- Suspence by Jason Letts

NaNoWriMo: Day #5

November 6, 2011



Word count: 6,330/50,000
Days left: 25
Hours slept: 20.5
Chocolate bars consumed: 6 (I have been a good girl. Although, there is a huge block of chocolate sitting on my desk, calling my name.)

I have fallen a little behind these last two days, but I have actually been pretty busy with my social life. Why must it come alive in this month?

Anyway, I have been writing away today and I am making up for the lost words. Hopefully I can get on track soon!

On my NaNoWriMo profile, I have included an excerpt from my story which I will share with you here.

I am not going to explain the story or give a synopsis, because it is incredibly hard to explain in such a way that will make you understand. But basically, this girl has been unconscious for 15 years. No, she was not in a coma.

This is from a scene after she has been awakened, and she is locked up in a jail.

“I’d eat this before it gets cold if I were you,” the man concealed by the door called out, his voice travelling through the still open gap at the bottom of the door.
“Eat?” I asked, staring at the tray. I stood up from the bed, the springs creaking as they retracted, and approached the tray. I lifted the lid to find the tray segregated into four.
There was something brown, mushy and lumpy in texture, a few orange cylinders and miniature trees, a cream mound of something squishy, and a clear tub of what looked like water.
Trails of steam rose from the tray. As I breathed in the steam, it left an impression in my nose. I don’t know how to describe it, but it was pretty good.
The man sighed. “You haven’t eaten yet, have you?”
“I don’t think so.” I replied quietly, poking the creamy mound.
He cursed to himself. “You stick it in your mouth, chew then swallow.”
“Do I have to?”
“If you don’t want to get hungry and die, yes.”
“How do I chew and swallow?”
The tip of a finger poked through the hole and pointed at two long silver things resting on the side of the tray.
“Let’s take this one step at a time. Pick up the one with the four points at the end.” I did as he said. “Now use it to stab one of those orange things. Good. Now put it in your mouth. No, not the whole thing, just the orange thing, you can’t eat the fork.”


I am sorry for any spelling errors, grammar, blah blah blah. It is NaNo, people, come on. I am writing at the speed of light so I may slip up. I have tried to tidy this excerpt though, so hopefully it is void of errors.

If you hadn't gathered, she is learning how to eat. She is discovering the sense of smell and taste as well, seeing as in her 15 years of dreaming, she hasn't had the need to eat or drink in her mind. It was always done for her, and now she is learning how to survive.

Because of her lack of knowledge on how to survive, it is pretty difficult sometimes to express what she feels and what is happening. She is overloaded with these feelings and sensations and doesn't know what they are or what they mean. Staying consistent is probably one of the hardest tasks as of yet.

Another issue is running out of steam and momentum. I have about 5 scene jumps, because things have started slowing down or I am having trouble thinking up how to connect two scenes. Prompts have been really helpful in these situations. I have been exploring the forums at the NaNo site, and I actually used a prompt which was the start to the scene I wrote above. The scene is about 1,300 words in length so far, and I just wrote that all out in about half an hour to an hour. Oh, how I love thee, prompts!

If you have an excerpt or would like to share your experiences so far, let me know! And don't forget to add me as a writing buddy, my name is 'catrionaaa'. If you have some awesome prompts as well, I would love to hear some!

Top Ten Tuesday (2)

November 2, 2011



I am participating in Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by The Broke and the Bookish! Each week, there is a specific topic for a top ten list.

This weeks topic is:
Top ten books, I had VERY strong emotions about (cry, laugh, hurl across the room, etc.)


I think I am going to have to make this a top five, because I am struggling with books that I had strong emotions for. There are many that I love, but not so many that can bring out strong emotions in me. I used to never cry or laugh whilst reading a book, but recently, there have been a select few which have caused such reactions from me:

1. Naughts & Crosses by Malorie Blackman

This one came to my mind first. And for an appropriate reason - I cries my eyes out at the ending of this book. Utterly heartbreaking, and I was just so upset!
Initially, I was in a bit of a shock. I couldn't really believe what had happened. I was a bit numb. I ended up re-reading the last few pages over, and over, and over again. After the second re-read I was in tears. Then I just kept going over it, because I was still shocked and wishing that what had happened didn't.


2. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

I cried my little heart out for this one, as well. Another heart wrenching ending to an amazing book. Although this book, as well as Naughts & Crosses made me cry so much, and the endings were so depressing, I loved them. The book is incredible, and the ending brought out such a strong emotional reaction, enforcing my love for it all the more.


3. Divergent by Veronica Roth

My emotions within this book were slightly different. I did cry towards the end, but I wasn't as upset - I didn't have a strong connection to particular characters which caused the upset. I was more emotionally attached to Tris. In my review, I mention how I felt so in tune with Tris' emotions - I felt what she felt as I read the book, whether it be butterflies in my stomach, upset or distraught etc. I also had plenty of laughs whilst reading witty comments by some of the supporting characters.


4. The Hunger Games by Suzanna Collins

I get so completely drawn into the story and the world, that when I finished each book, I was stunned and I didn't know what to do. I had such strong emotional connections with everyone involved and I felt like I was there with Katniss in the arena, experiencing everything alongside her. This was a little different to Divergent where I felt as if I were the protagonist. I was inside Katniss's head, but at the same time I felt like I was accompanying her.


5. Last Sacrifice by Richelle Mead

As the end of an amazing series, I was a bit emotional when the end came around. I loved Rose's adventures and I will certainly miss her stories.
I also got fairly emotional, by this I mean extremely giddy, when the romantic scenes popped up. I found myself blushing, with butterflies in my stomach.


How about you? What books make you really emotional?

NaNoWriMo: Day #1



Word count: 1,950/50,000
Days left: 29
Hours slept: 7.5
Chocolate bars consumed: 6 (Come on, it was Halloween yesterday! We had a lot left over..)

NaNoWriMo has officially begun! So for my first update, I am just going to give you some kinda.. vague... details about what my story is about. Well is about a girl. And there's a guy involved... That's always fun. It is dystopian. There are some sci-fi elements, but it is very scarce.

As for hours slept, that began from 12:00 am on the 1st November. And hopefully I don't end up completely exhausting myself, but it will be very interesting!

I am off to a reasonable start. I have discovered that I need to do a bit of research as well so I have been doing a little snooping on the interwebs for relevant information.

If you are doing NaNo, tell me how you are progressing so far! I will be back later with more updates and hopefully a video.

NaNoWriMo 2011

November 1, 2011


Click the badge to check out the official NaNoWriMo website!


Yes, this year I will be participating in the madness that is NaNoWriMo, aka. National Novel Writing Month. For those of you who are unfamiliar with NaNoWriMo, it is where crazy people like me, who love to write, attempt to write a 50,000 word novel throughout the month of November.

I attempted NaNoWriMo last year and got off to a pretty good start, but seeing as I had 2 weeks of exams in the middle of November, I fell off the wagon and abandoned my story. So, I am trying again this year! And thankfully I have no exams during the month.. I just have a couple of important assignments due but hey, NO WORRIES!

As writing 50,000 words in 30 days will most definitely take up a lot of my time, alongside school and work, my posts will be reduced to NaNo updates and rambles (I will try to post some good tips and hints I come across for those of you who are also joining in), and I will have a few memes and reviews posted, hopefully. This is just a heads up.

I will be back tomorrow with a Day #1 update.

Also, if you are participating, please leave me a comment or send a tweet my way. I would love to chat with other NaNo'ers! Or if you want to become buddies, add me: /catrionaaa

I shall be back to normal next month. Maybe. If I am not completely insane by then..

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