The Top Ten Books On My Summer Reading List

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their post on this week's theme here.

Summer! Freedom from exams, coursework and stupid amounts of stress for four whole months! This summer I mainly want to stick to contemporary/young adult books as they're my favourite kind of easy-reading books which will be perfect for reading curled up in the sunshine! Also as one of my bookish resolutions this year was to finish off some of the series I've started, I've included a few books to work towards this goal.

In no particular order:
1. A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall
I've just started reading this and it seems like a really cute and fluffy read - perfect for the summer!

2. The Longest Ride by Nicholas Sparks
The film adaptation comes of The Longest Ride comes out in the UK this week so hopefully I'll get the chance to read this before I see the film. The storyline looks so adorable/heartbreaking from the film's trailer!

3. We Were Liars by E. Lockhart
I know next-to-nothing about this book (I didn't even read the description before ordering it!) I've just seen it raved about everywhere so I thought I'd give it a go. Plus as it's a fairly slim book, I'm hoping I can save it to use for BookTube-A-Thon later this summer.

4. The 100 by Kass Morgan
I absolutely devoured the first two seasons of The 100 TV show so I'm hoping I'll love the books too. So many kickass female characters! Plus Bellamy Blake *swoons*.

5. The Coincidence of Callie and Kayden by Jessica Sorensen & 6. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson
Another two books I don't know much about but I've seen being mentioned a lot! They both look like they'll be cute, quick reads though which I'm looking forward to breezing through.

7. The Mortal Instruments series by Cassandra Clare
There's currently a TMI readathon going on on Twitter in the lead-up to the new television adaptation where you read one book of the series per month, starting in June. I haven't read the last book in the series yet as I need to re-read the rest of the series beforehand, so I thought this would be the perfect opportunity to finish this series without having to attempt to re-read all the previous books in one go!

8. Where She Went by Gayle Forman
This book sounds so cute! I'm looking forward to catching up with Mia and Adam's stories again and as this book is the second of a duology, that'll be another series checked off my list.

9. All I Know Now by Carrie Hope Fletcher
I absolutely love Carrie Fletcher for her lovely, positive personality so I had to buy her book when I saw it in Waterstones! I hope this will make a lovely, feel-good summer read!

10. Allegiant by Veronica Roth
I read Insurgent about two years ago but I still haven't read Allegiant yet. However I saw Insurgent in cinemas recently so I have no excuse not to get this one finished off this summer!

What are you planning on reading this summer? Have you read any of the books I plan to read?

Currently reading: A Little Something Different by Sandy Hall

Currently drinking: Chai Tea by Twinings

Currently listening to: Love Me Right by EXO

My Top Ten Bookish Heroines

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their post on this week's theme here.

One of my favourite elements of any book from any genre is a confident, kickass female character, whether they be strong in the physical sense or badasses that won't take no for an answer! Here is my list of my top ten favourite heroines in no particular order:

Rose Hathaway from Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead

Rose is like the ultimate badass. She doesn't let anyone walk over her and I love her for it.

Hermione Granger from Harry Potter by J.K. Rowling

I've already had a peek at a few other bloggers's lists this week and Hermione is a very popular choice for obvious reasons! The sacrifices Hermione makes to keep her friends and family safe are incredibly admirable. I so loved reading about her as I grew up.

Tessa Gray from The Infernal Devices by Cassandra Clare

Tessa certainly doesn't have a great start in this series but she seems to go from strength to strength afterwards. I also have to make a special mention for Charlotte from this series as well. Cassandra Clare sure knows how to write her heroines!

Margaret Hale from North and South by Elizabeth Gaskell

Margaret is so kind and caring and always stands up for what she believes is right, no matter how powerful the opposition is.

Penryn Young from Angelfall by Susan Ee

Even before the whole angel apocalypse situation, Penryn already had a lot on her plate but no matter what comes her way she just gets on and deals with what's in front of her.

Elizabeth Bennet from Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

It's hard to find anything to dislike about Elizabeth. She's witty, confident in herself, kind and caring. And even though she makes mistakes she's not afraid to own up to them which I really respect her for.

Tessa from Blind Beauty by K.M. Peyton

Although Tessa starts out the book as a rude brat she completely transforms by the end to a strong, confident person and her character is one of the main reasons why I re-read this book at least one a year!

Nasuada from the Inheritance Cycle by Christopher Paolini

I don't know if you can get more kickass than this woman. Leading the Varden, fighting battles, winning The Trial of the Long Knives...

Anne Elliot from Persuasion by Jane Austen

Anne is one of my all-time favourite characters because she strikes the perfect between being gentle and strong, proving you don't have to be just one of them!

Catelyn Stark from A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin

I have a feeling I'll be the only one that chose Catelyn, haha! Although she could be a bit of annoying at times Catelyn always knew where her priorities lay which I couldn't help admiring her for.

Who would make your list?

Currently reading: Tsarina by J. Nelle Patrick

Currently drinking: Pomegranate Green Tea by Twinings

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Recommended Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish which each week features a differently-themed list related to reading or books. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their original post on this week's theme here.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic is to list the top ten books that are most recommended to you. Most of my recommendations come from Instagram, but I've also listed a few books the boyfriend has recommended me and some books that I've seen widely hyped in general!

Recommendations from Instagram

1. The Luxe by Anna Godbersen: This one has been recommended a lot to me on Instagram! It's got mixed reviews on Goodreads but I'm definitely going to give it a go when I get the chance.

2. Longbourn by Jo Baker: SO EXCITED TO READ THIS. I've only heard good things about this book. I plan to read this as soon as I've finished my current TBR list!

3. Fallen by Lauren Kate: Another book with mixed reviews but I want to try to read it before the film comes out next year.

4. The Host by Stephenie Meyer: This has been recommended to me both through Instagram and through one of my friends who kindly bought me a copy of this book! The Host is my book jar of the month for August so hopefully soon I'll understand all the hype.

5. City of Heavenly Fire by Cassandra Clare: I KNOW. The only thing putting me off is the fact that I need to re-read all of the previous books in the series before I start this one and at the moment I've got so many books to read that this will have to wait for a while!

6. Cinder by Marissa Meyer: I've had this on my Kindle for over a year but I've not got round to reading it yet. I see this book constantly recommended on Instagram so I will definitely read it at some point.

Recommendations from the boyfriend

7. A Song of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin: I started the first book last month and while it has been taking me forever to read, I've been really enjoying it so far (even if I have had to keep a track of all the characters's names on multiple pieces of paper...)!
8. The Lord of the Rings by J. R. R. Tolkien: I read the first book/half of The Fellowship of the Ring about a year ago but I never got round to finishing it. I hope I pick this series up again because The Hobbit is one of my favourite books so it would be nice to complete the story!

General recommendations

9. Sarah Dessen's books: I've seen her books talked about everywhere and although I've read two of her books (That Summer and The Truth about Forever) I didn't get on with them very well but I'm determined to persevere!

10. Rainbow Rowell's books: I read Fangirl for the first time last month and fell in love with it so it's no wonder the rest of Rainbow's book are also highly recommended!

Have you read any of these books?

Twitter | Instagram | Goodreads

Book covers from Goodreads

Top Ten Tuesday: Most Owned Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish which each week features a differently-themed list related to reading or books. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their original post on this week's theme here.

- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -

This week's Top Ten Tuesday topic was to list the authors you own the most books of. As you can see from below, I don't own that many books by the same author! These are excluding e-books because I'm too lazy to trawl through both my e-readers, haha!

1. Cassandra Clare = 11 books

All The Mortal Instruments books + an additional copy of the first book: City of Bones + a Cantonese copy of the third book: City of Glass and all The Infernal Devices books

2. J.K. Rowling = 10 books

All Harry Potter books, The Tales of Beedle the Bard, The Casual Vacancy and The Cuckoo's Calling (as Robert Galbraith)

3. Jane Austen = 7 books

Pride and Prejudice, Mansfield Park, Sense and Sensibility, Persuasion, Northanger Abbey, Jane Austen: The Seven Novels bind-up, Pride and Prejudice and Zombies (if that counts?)

4. C.S. Lewis = 7 books

All Narnia books

5. George R.R. Martin = 7 books

All current A Song of Ice and Fire books + an additional copy of the first book: A Game of Thrones

6. Lewis Carroll = 5 books

5 copies of Alice in Wonderland (I'm obsessed with the original Disney film so my family and friends buy me copies of the book, which I'm definitely not complaining about!)

7. Stephenie Meyer = 5 books

All of the Twilight books and The Host

8. Christopher Paolini = 4 books

All Inheritance books

9. Jennifer L Armentrout = 4 books

Obsidian, Onyx, Opal and Origin (all from the Lux series)

10. Suzanne Collins = 3 books

All of The Hunger Games books

Top Ten Tuesday: Topics that make me not pick up a book

This week's Top Ten Tuesday theme is words or topics that make you not want to pick up a book. The topics that I avoid the most are ones that make me sad or upset. When I read a book I like to be entertained or happy, not crying my eyes out!

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme by The Broke and the Bookish which each week features a differently-themed list related to reading or books. To learn more about this meme click here and you can view their original post on this week's theme here.

Words/topics that I avoid in books:

1. Vampires

I tend to be quite prejudice towards any book that is about vampires. However I've heard lots of good things about some vampire series like Vampire Academy and The Morganville Vampires so maybe I need to be a bit more open minded.

2. Werewolves

I've never been keen on werewolves and I often find myself getting annoyed at werewolf characters in stories.

3. Cancer

Hence why I've been avoiding the very popular The Fault in Our Stars like the plague.

4. Depression/other mental illnesses

I don't like reading books that make me feel sad or unhappy and I find mental disorders particularly painful to read about in fiction.

5. Death

I'm fine to read books where one or two of the characters die over the course of the story but I can't deal with books that centre around death or dying.

6. Poetry

I want to like it but for some reason I just can't!

7. Anything 50 Shades Of Grey-esque

I couldn't get even half-way through the first 50 Shades book so I have no interest in trying to read a similar novel.

8. Gore

I'm not really a fan of thriller or horror books anyway but anything overly-gory just makes me feel sick!

9. Books without love

Yes, okay, I am a big soppy girl but I need some romance!

10. Being preached to

I like to think that I'm a pretty open-minded person but I am not a fan of being preached to, whether its about religion, animal rights or anything else.

As other bloggers have mentioned there are exceptions to every rule but for the most part these are the things I try to avoid when choosing a book. 

What things put you off picking up a book?

Top Ten Tuesday: Best and Worst Movie Adaptations

I've only just discovered The Broke and the Bookish and their weekly 'Top Ten Tuesday' feature so forgive me for being late! Each week they post a top ten list on a book/reading-related theme and this week is the top ten best and worst movie adaptations. To see their original post on this week's theme, click here.

While I've seen a lot of films that were adapted from books, I unfortunately haven't read many of the corresponding books yet, so for my top ten list I've decided to do four of my favorite adaptations, three of the worst and three future adaptations that I am looking forward to.

Best:

1. Harry Potter

Although the films weren't perfect in certain areas, I believe they did a really good job of bringing the magic from the books to the screen. Along with the books, these films will always have a special place in my heart.

2. The Hobbit

I really enjoyed watching the first film (hello Richard Armitage and Aidan Turner *wink*) and I am very excited to see the second which is due out in December. The filmmakers have admittedly made a lot of changes from the book but if you're going to make three action movies out of a children's book, this is quite understandable!

3. Girl With A Pearl Earring

While I still prefer the book to the film I believe the film was a good and faithful adaptation of the book and it featured two of my favourite actors; Colin Firth and Scarlett Johansson.

4. The Last Song
The film isn't perfect and doesn't have nearly half the emotion of the book but I still think it is a great coming-of-age film. It also featured Liam Hemsworth topless so I'm not going to complain!

Worst:

1. Eragon

There are no words to describe my upset with this adaptation! They made lots of changes which I can usually forgive if they help to translate the story better onto the screen but this was just a bad, bad, bad film. I was so disappointed because it has probably put a lot of people off reading what is actually a very good book!

2. The Voyage of the Dawn Treader
I love all of the Narnia books and enjoyed the first two films but my sister and I ended up walking out of the screening of this which is something I hardly ever do.

3. Twilight
I may be a bit biased as I no longer like the books but...

Future adaptations:

1. The Mortal Instruments: City of Bones
I've been obsessing over this series ever since I read it and I am so excited about the film coming out next month! The filmmakers have released a lot of previews and trailers and I've loved everything I've seen so far so hopefully I will enjoy the film!

2. Divergent
This is easily one of my favourite book series so I am very much looking forward to the film adaptation which is due out next year.

3. The Infernal Devices: Clockwork Angel

Although the film is still in the very early stages with only a screenwriter attached to it, I am so eager to see this story on the big screen. This series was written by the same author as The Mortal Instruments so I'm hoping if TMI films are a success, it will push this one further into production.

What are your best and worst movie adaptations?

Book cover images from goodreads.com