TBR Takedown 5.0

#TBRTakedown is a Twitter-based read-a-thon taking place from February 6-12th 2017. The goal is to read a few of the books on our ever-expanding TBR piles. Want to keep track of what's going on? Follow @TBRTakedown .

The thing that grabbed my attention about this read-a-thon is that there are themed challenges to help participants select their TBRs. Here are my picks for each category:

1. On Your TBR Shelf For Ovr A Year

Redeemed
by P.C. and Kirtsten Cast

In the final electrifying novel in the HoN series, Neferet has finally made herself known to mortals. A Dark Goddess is loose on Tulsa and the world. No single vampyre is strong enough to vanquish her - unless that creature has the power to summon the elements as well as the ability to wield Old Magick. Only Zoey Redbird is heir to such power…but because of the consequences of using Old Magick, she is unable to help. Find out who will win and who will lose in this epic battle of Light versus Darkness.

The House of Night has been one of my favorite series since the beginning. I got into this before I started my blog. And yet, I haven't read the final book yet. It's time to fix that. I want to know what happens to these characters.

2. Most Recent Book Haul

The Underground Railroad
by Colson Whitehead

Cora is a slave on a cotton plantation in Georgia. Life is hellish for all the slaves but especially bad for Cora; an outcast even among her fellow Africans, she is coming into womanhood - where even greater pain awaits. When Caesar, a recent arrival from Virginia, tells her about the Underground Railroad, they decide to take a terrifying risk and escape. Matters do not go as planned and, though they manage to find a station and head north, they are being hunted.

In Whitehead's ingenious conception, the Underground Railroad is no mere metaphor - engineers and conductors operate a secret network of tracks and tunnels beneath the Southern soil. Cora and Caesar's first stop is South Carolina, in a city that initially seems like a haven - but the city's placid surface masks an insidious scheme designed for its black denizens. Even worse: Ridgeway, the relentless slave catcher, is close on their heels. Forced to flee again, Cora embarks on a harrowing flight, state by state, seeking true freedom.

As Whitehead brilliantly re-creates the unique terrors for black people in the pre-Civil War era, his narrative seamlessly weaves the saga of America from the brutal importation of Africans to the unfulfilled promises of the present day. The Underground Railroad is at once a kinetic adventure tale of one woman's ferocious will to escape the horrors of bondage and a shattering, powerful meditation on the history we all share.

This was suppose to be read during DiverseAThon, but I joined that late and read  a 450 page book for oe of my picks, so the fact that I didn't get this done doesn't surprise me. However, I do feel that this book is important and really want to read it, so here it is. This could have easily been the 'out of my comfort zone' pick, but since it is the most recent thing I've purchaed, I'll put it here.

3. First Book In A Series

Catching Jordan

by Miranda Kenneally

ONE OF THE BOYS

What girl doesn't want to be surrounded by gorgeous jocks day in and day out? Jordan Woods isn't just surrounded by hot guys, though-she leads them as the captain and quarterback of her high school football team. They all see her as one of the guys and that's just fine. As long as she gets her athletic scholarship to a powerhouse university.

But everything she's ever worked for is threatened when Ty Green moves to her school. Not only is he an amazing QB, but he's also amazingly hot. And for the first time, Jordan's feeling vulnerable. Can she keep her head in the game while her heart's on the line?

I started this years ago and ended up having an arthritis flare that prevented me from finishing it. However, I enjoyed the part I did read so I think it will be fun to sit down and finish this fully.

4. Catch Up On A Series

Romancing The Nerd
by Leah Rae Miller

Cool guy. Geeky girl. Let the games begin.

Dan Garrett has become exactly what he hates—popular. Until recently, he was just another live-action role-playing nerd on the lowest rung of the social ladder. Cue a massive growth spurt and an uncanny skill at taking three-point shots in basketball and voila…Mr. Popular. It’s definitely weird.

And the biggest drawback? Going from high school zero to basketball hero cost Dan the secret girl of his dorky dreams.

A tuba-playing nerd with an eclectic fashion sense, Zelda Potts’s “coolness” stat is about minus forty-two. Dan turning his back on her and the rest of nerd-dom was brutal enough, but when he humiliates her at school, Zelda decides it’s time for a little revenge—dork style. Nevermind that she used to have a crush on him. Nevermind that her plan could backfire big time.

It’s time to roll the dice…and hope like freakin’ hell she doesn’t lose her heart in the process.

After reading and enjoying The Summer I Became A Nerd, reading this seems like a natural next step for this category. I'm looking forward to seeing what crazy, nerdy antics will happen in order for these two to get together.

5. Out Of Your Comfort Zone

The Fire This Time
by Jesmyn Ward

National Book Award winner Jesmyn Ward takes James Baldwin’s 1963 examination of race in America, The Fire Next Time, as a jumping off point for this groundbreaking collection of essays and poems about race from the most important voices of her generation and our time.

In light of recent tragedies and widespread protests across the nation, The Progressive magazine republished one of its most famous pieces: James Baldwin’s 1962 “Letter to My Nephew,” which was later published in his landmark book, The Fire Next Time. Addressing his fifteen-year-old namesake on the one hundredth anniversary of the Emancipation Proclamation, Baldwin wrote: “You know and I know, that the country is celebrating one hundred years of freedom one hundred years too soon.”

Award-winning author Jesmyn Ward knows that Baldwin’s words ring as true as ever today. In response, she has gathered short essays, memoir, and a few essential poems to engage the question of race in the United States. And she has turned to some of her generation’s most original thinkers and writers to give voice to their concerns.

The Fire This Time is divided into three parts that shine a light on the darkest corners of our history, wrestle with our current predicament, and envision a better future. Of the eighteen pieces, ten were written specifically for this volume.

In the fifty-odd years since Baldwin’s essay was published, entire generations have dared everything and made significant progress. But the idea that we are living in the post-Civil Rights era, that we are a “postracial” society, is an inaccurate and harmful reflection of a truth the country must confront. Baldwin’s “fire next time” is now upon us, and it needs to be talked about.

I saw this book on many must-read non-fiction of 2016 lists, and it immediately piqued my curiosity. That said, a book like this should never feel easy or 'comfortable' to me. In a perfect world, a book like this would not be needed. However, two of my goals for 2017 are to read at least one non-fiction book a month and to read more diversely, so here we go.

Are you taking part in TBR Takedown? Leave a link to your post and I'll take a look at what you're reading, too. 

Discussion: When Real Life Effects Your Reading

Tell me if something like this has ever happened to you:

I've wanted to read The Wrath & The Dawn for over two years. I decided that I would read it for one of my categories in the Diverse Reads Book Challenge. I downloaded the book from Audible. I've got my headphones on. The narrator seems to be doing a solid job.

...And yet I'm not past Shazi and Khalid meeting alone for the first time. He hasn't even entered the room yet. Why?

Well, lets just say I'm freaking out the way someone should when reading Stephen King. Not this. *siiiigh*

My heart is pounding, my stomach is in knots and I keep pausing the book every few paragraphs to try and alleviate the tension. I've read way darker and scarier things both on and off of this blog. Yet this book is stressing me out to the point where I'm not reading / listening to it (or anything, since I tend to focus on one book at a time.) and I am beyond frustrated.

But I think I've figured out why. My Dad had a stroke during surgery last October and was in a coma for 28 hours. I switched from writing my Sealer Saga to working on my Tales of Ellithica series because the characters in Sealer Saga (Lords of Death, Famine, Plague, etc.) felt too raw. Y'know that part from Aladdin where the camera zooms in on the vendor and he goes "Too close. A little too close." That's what I'm talking about.

All of the pausing is also leaving room for a lot of critical questions:

• Why did we not see any of Shazi and Shiva's friendship before Shiva was murdered?
• Why did we not get some time to care about Shazi before she was thrust into this disaster?
• Why am I suppose to care about Tariq? I have no history for him and Shazi.
• Where in the curse does it tell us that Khalid needs to murder wives? Why not find people suffering of uncurable illness, prisoners who need to be executed anyway, host a death lottery, etc.? 
• What is Khalid's full reason / motive? In 1001 Nights we know the king's last wife betrayed him and that he started killing young brides to ensure that this would never happen to him again.
• Shazi, what exactly is your plan? I'm sure we're going to get storytelling to keep her alive past dawn, but how exactly is a noblewoman going to kill a man we've been told has been trained as--and is skilled as--a warrior. 

I think I may be too focused on seeing fault here; like my mind is in beta or editing mode rather than purely in reader mode since stress is keeping me from getting lost in the story the way that I would want to in order to listen and gave an honest review. 

Do you think I should put this one on hold and come back later? Have you ever had real life effect your enjoyment of a book? I'd love to know. 

2017 Diverse Reads Book Challenge

I love a good book challenge, and the Diverse Reads Book Challenge may be one of the most interesting and well constructed challenges I've ever seen Designed to encourage readers to read more diverse books and discover points of view different from their own, I feel this is a challenge that is needed with everything going on in the world today.. Click here for full details, or here to get to their excellent reading list that presents tons of books for each month's theme.

January

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Are you taking part in this challenge? Have you read any of the books I've chosen? Are you looking forward to any of them that are new releases? 

2017 Reading Assignment Challenge

The 2017 reading assignment challenge is hosted by Berls @ Fantasy is More Fun and Michelle @ Because Reading. The Twitter hashtag for this challenge is #2017HW.

The goal of the 2017 Reading Assignment Challenge is to hold yourself accountable for the books that you want to read this year. I've decided that I will do two books a month since the challenge focuses on clearing out the TBR pile and I do have new releases I want to read as well. Here are my picks for each month. Enjoy!

January

Read My Review!

DNF'd @ 20%

February

March

April

May

June

July

August

September

October

November

December

Have you read any of the books on my list? Are you taking part in this challenge? What books are on your TBR that you'd like to get read in 2017?

Review: Life In A Fishbowl by Len Vlahos

My father had to be operated on last October to remove a tumor from his pituitary gland. During that operation, he had a deep brain stroke and over three months later he has a long road toward recovery ahead of him. With that in mind, I think it's safe to say that books about fathers, daughters and medical trauma are on my mind right now. Life In A Fishbowl further grabbed me with the idea of combining this with reality tv. I hate reality tv with a burning, fiery passion, so I figured no good could come of this.

But do you want to know what sold me on reading this book hook, line, and sinker? Glio. That's what--or who?--made this have to be the first book I read in 2017. The idea of a brain tumor actually getting its own POV was such a crazy concept that I simply couldn't resist?

Was Life In A Fishbowl as good as the sum of its parts? Read on and find out!

(Summary From Goodreads)

Fifteen-year-old Jackie Stone is a prisoner in her own house. Everything she says and does 24/7 is being taped and broadcast to every television in America. Why? Because her dad is dying of a brain tumor and he has auctioned his life on eBay to the highest bidder: a ruthless TV reality show executive at ATN.

Gone is her mom's attention and cooking and parent-teacher conferences. Gone is her sister's trust ever since she's been dazzled by the cameras and new-found infamy. Gone is her privacy. Gone is the whole family's dignity as ATN twists their words and makes a public mockery of their lives on Life and Death. But most of all, Jackie fears that one day very soon her father will just be . . . gone. Armed only with her ingenuity and the power of the internet, Jackie is determined to end the show and reclaim all of their lives, even in death.

This book was every bit as unique as I thought it would be. Unfortunately, I mean that in both the best and worst ways possible. Let's start with what I liked:

Glio -- The extremely weird, why-the-heck-is-this-a-thing POV 100% did not disappoint. Despite any flaws this book has, it's not one that I'm going to forget thanks to this 'guy'. Why did he work? Well, the connection between his POV and Jared's allowed the author to continue to express Jared's emotion even as his disease consumed him and essentially stripped away who he was. I don't think this 'character' will be for everyone and it might even set some people off, but I feel his inclusion was for far more than mere shock value.

The way characters were introduced. This book had a ton of narrators and one of the things the author did to help the reader know we were getting another brand new one was to theme the first two lines of each new POV's opening. For example:

The high-grade glioblastoma multiforme tumor liked Jared Stone's brain. It liked it a lot. In fact, it found it delicious.

An intro like this happens for every major and minor character POV throughout the novel, tailored to what is important to that individual. I feel that this helped to solidify a massive cast of POV that could have gotten really confusing or fallen apart otherwise.

The overall flow of the plot kept things moving and was written interestingly enough that I was never bored with the story. The style had a breezy feel to it that kept me tapping to turn the page of my Kindle with no hesitation at all.

Okay, then. What went wrong?

First and foremost, I don't feel that this book is really YA. I think that it features a few teen characters and that they do get to do some important things in the narrative, but this is the most adult-focused YA novel that I have ever reviewed on this blog. The villain is a TV producer that our heroine has little hope of really taking down. And far more disturbingly, when we get glimpses into his POV some of the things we find out are that he likes to use his secretary as a prostitute and that secret cameras were installed in the Stone family's bathrooms and that the TV crew liked watching the mother and her 13 and 15 year old daughters shower.

If either of the two examples I just gave had actually really factored into the story in any direct and tangible way, we wouldn't be having this conversation. But no. They are here for shock value, and unlike Glio they do not work.

Another thing that drove me crazy was that this book, which initially felt like it was written in third person past tense, would occasionally decide that it wanted to switch to omniscient POV without warning. I found this very jarring and it was generally to tell the reader things they would probably have been better off not knowing, like the part about the villain's secretary that I listed above.

My next issue comes with the fact that at about half way the book gets a split narrative between the teenaged heroine finding a way to stop the TV people filming her family, and her mother finding a way to perform euthenasia on her husband. We end up seeing the final results of both of these situations in full detail. To be clear: my issue has nothing to do with being for or against assisted suicide. My issue is that such a core part of the book, which will undoubtedly make a lot of readers uncomfortable--should have been addressed somewhere in its marketing. That it was not is irresponsible of both the author and the publisher.

Lastly, there was a violent and unnecessary dog death about half way through the book. Unlike my other complaints, this is a personal pet peeve. If I felt it had served an actual purpose I wouldn't be as annoyed, but as it stands I'll stick to my reaction when I read it: "Really? You're gonna kill the dog?". *eyeroll*

So, should you buy Life In A Fishbowl? My feelings on this are very mixed. There is a good book among all of the flaws that I have listed, but this is definitely not a read to go into blindly. If books were roads, this one would be full of pot holes. Watch your step.