Musings Mondays: Favorite book

Musings Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm. In your post you have to answer one of the following prompts as well as the random question of the week:

I am currently reading...

Up next I think I'll read…

I bought the following book(s) in the past week...

I'm super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

I'm really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

I can't wait to get a copy of…

I wish I could read ____, but…

I blogged about ____ this past week….

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: What is your favorite book? (or, one of your favorites!)

I am currently reading "Beastly" by Alex Flinn and up next I think I'll read "Middlemarch" by George Eliot (this book is huge).

As for the random question, I have a lot of favorite books, so it's really hard to choose only one of them...My latest favorites are all of the books I've read from "The Demon Cycle" series by Peter V. Brett. The books fall into the Epic Fantasy genre, so if you love those you should definitely give this series a try. The world-building is great, the characters are all very well developed - especially some of the main characters, because each book reveals the story of one of them. That's not the best overview of these books in the world, but believe me - they are awesome!!!

Leave me a comment with your Musing Mondays blog post and I'll be more than happy to read it :)

Book Review: "These Mean Streets, Darkly" by Austin Dragon

Disclaimer: This book was sent to me by the author in exchange for an honest review.

☆☆☆☆

Genre: Cyberpunk
Source: Author

"Metropolis wasn’t a bad place, but it wasn’t a good one either.

"These Mean Streets, Darkly" is the prequel to the cyberpunk, detective series, "Liquid Cool".

It’s a world of colossal skyscrapers. Hover-cars fly above in the dark, rainy skies and gray people walk below on the grimy, hard streets in the “Neon Jungle.” Uber-governments and mega-corporations fight for control of the super-city, but so does crime. 

An average woman, Carol—hardworking and decent in every way— loses her daughter to the psycho Red Rabbit. Can Police Central find the girl in time—alive? And is it really a random, senseless kidnapping in the fifty-million-plus city?

There are a million victims and perpetrators in this High-Tech, Low-Life World. This is one of those stories…before we meet our private eye (and unlikely hero), Cruz, in the soon-to-be-released, debut novel, Liquid Cool." - Goodreads

This book provides a brief glimpse of the world and the characters, which subsequently will be of great importance for the series.

Although not as well developed, the world-building is good enough to spark the reader's interest and nourish his need for more of this world.

Switching between POVs of majority of the characters in this case is quite appropriate since the book seeks to provide as much information about the characters as possible in such a small book. There are some filler characters, whose sole purpose is to reveal the essence of other characters - mainly of the villain in the book - The Red Rabbit. Frankly I liked this psycho-killer - he does everything with such composure and instills a sense of respect. I don't really care about the mother and the abducted child, I prefer to think of them as characters who serve as a springboard for the development of the others.

I really like detective stories with interesting characters and well-paced mystery - so this book is just right up my alley. I look forward to finding out how the story and characters will develop in the upcoming books.

August Wrap Up

This month I couldn't devour as many books as I would have wanted. I've read only 14 books - some of them great, some of them not...Let's say that I had a pretty average reading experience.

At the beginnig of the month was the BookTubeAThon and you can find my wrap up here. The books I've read during BookTubeAThon are:

Other books I've managed to finish throughout the month of August are:

"Hit Man" by Lawrence Block

☆☆☆

Genre: Mystery

Despite giving this book such a rating, I can say that I liked it. The protagonist of the story was a very sympathetic assassin, who has the strangest way of thinking and acting in the world.

I liked this read enough to read the next books in the series.

"Northanger Abbey" by Jane Austen

☆☆☆☆

Genre: Classics

I must say that I liked this book more than I thought I would. The characters were interesting and although the story was not something very original, I still loved it. There were some flaws here and there, but overall this was a really pleasant read.

"The Giver" by Lois Lowry

☆☆☆☆☆

Genre: Dystopia

I don't know why I haven't read this book earlier. It's awesome. The world the characters lived in was very depressing (at least for me it was) but so well presented that you can actually imagine yourself living in it. Jonas was a really well developed character and you have no problem putting yourself in his shoes.

After reading the book I ended up watching the movie...which was not so great so don't make the same mistake I did.

"Lincoln" by Gore Vidal

☆☆☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

I do have a review for this book, which you can find here. I will just say - don't be fooled by my rating, I did like the book...it was just soooo long...

"The Detainee" by Peter Liney

☆☆☆☆☆

Genre: Dystopia

I have a review for this book too and you can find it here. It was really unique for the dystopian genre. The characters are not what you expect them to be. Overall I recommend it to everyone.

"The Ruined Map" by Kobo Abe

☆

Genre: Mystery

This book was so strange...like all Japanese works...but it was so poorly written. I was confused throughout the whole book. I love mysteries but this one was left unresolved...which is not cool by me. Do not recommend at all...

"Dracula The Un-Dead" by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

☆☆☆☆

Genre: Horror

I loved this continuation of Dracula's story. The book was not as scary as "Dracula", but it was still very, very enjoyable.I definitely recommend for all vampire fans.

"The Girl You Left Behind" by Jojo Moyes

☆☆☆☆☆

Genre: Contemporary

I love all of her books and this one is no exception. Heartbreaking as all of her other works, well developed and easy to love characters. The book had some flaws here and there, but I adored it.

"Pride and Prejudice and Zombies" by Seth Grahame-Smith and Jane Austen

☆

Genre: Horror

I won't even write much about this one. For me this book was a classic ruined. I'm sorry. It was not scary, it was not original, the characters were all twisted, as well as the beautiful original story...

"Girl in Hyacinth Blue" by Susan Vreeland

☆

Genre: Historical Fiction

This book was all over the place. The author tried to develop 8 different stories in just under 200 pages and in my opinion she failed miserably. I don't mind if these stories and the characters development are neglected in favor of the history of the painting...but that was not the case. Overall after reading this book, I still knew a little about the painting and almost nothing about its story throughout the ages.

Those were my reads this month. Have you read any of the books mentioned and if you did do you agree with my opinions. Any thoughts are appreciated :)

Book Review: “The Detainee” by Peter Liney

☆☆☆☆☆
Genre: Dystopia
Source: Library

"The Island is hopelessness. The Island is death. And it is to this place that all the elderly and infirm are shipped, the scapegoats for the collapse of society. There’s no escape, not from the punishment satellites that deliver instant judgement for any crime—including trying to get off the Island—and not from the demons that come on foggy nights, when the satellites are all but blind.

But when one of the Island’s inhabitants, aging "Big Guy" Clancy, finds a network of tunnels beneath the waste, there is suddenly hope, for love, for escape . . . and for the chance to fight back. " - Goodreads

I was wondering if I should do a review of this book since if I wanted it to be decent I had to give away most of the story. I finally decided to make one, but if you have not read the book and don’t want to be spoiled…please, don’t read further. Just know this book was amazing.

I must say that this book had a really interesting and original plot. The story was written so well that you can imagine yourself being at that stinking horrible place, where all the old and not wanted people live. And every foggy night, when the old people are scared to leave there house, while even staying inside is not very safe, you can feel the tension and the horror.

Another good thing about the book is the characters. I have never read a dystopian novel where the main character is an adult, but in this one our protagonist is a sixty-something years old man. All of the main characters are well introduced and really interesting and have a not very pleasant past to deal with. Not that the future is looking any good, either.

The villains of the story are some drugged kids that go around killing people with such a pleasure…it’s just awesome…I have never read a story where kids are represented in such a way…I just loved it…and the good thing is that you can’t even blame the kids for doing such things because they are in the zone…

There is some romance in the book…and that is the only thing that I’m not a fan of. It’s just wrong. If you’ve read the book I’m sure you know what I’m talking about. But except that minor flaw, the book is so good.

If you’ve read it, share your thoughts on it in the comments. I’ll be happy to see what other people think about this book :)

The Bedtime Book Tag

I decided to steal yet another tag from Little Dutch Bookshop blog! It looks like a lot of fun so let's get started.

1. A book that kept you up all night reading

The only book that comes to my mind right now is "The Warded Man" by Peter V. Brett. It was such a great read that I just wanted to finnish it before going to sleep...and I did!

If you haven't read this book, I recommend you to do so because it's fantastic.

2. A book that made you too scared to go to sleep

Any H.P. Lovecraft book! They are too scary to be read before bed...Especially "The Call of Cthulhu".

If you are a horror fan, give some of his books a try because his writing style is gripping.

3. A book that made you go to sleep

I have a few of those. Let's pick a little unexpected one - "Breakfast at Tiffany's" by Truman Capote - I did not like this book at all. It took me whole 4 days to finish it...and it's only a little above 100 pages long...

4. A book series that has you tossing and turning in anticipation for its next release

Definitely "Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling. After struggling to wait for every other book in this series, I've decided to never start a series if all of the books have not come out yet...I'm failing...

5. A book that has your dream boyfriend

Well, I have a lot of dream boyfriends...
Decisions, decisions...
I would love it if Sebastian Michaelis could be my boyfriend...he is awesome and hot! He is from "Black Butler" manga series by Yana Toboso and Tomo Kimura.

6. A book that would be your worst nightmare to live in

Definitely "The Giver" by Lois Lowry. A world with no love and no real joy is no world for me...

7. A book that reminds you of nighttime

This is going to be "The Detainee" by Peter Liney because a lot of the most important events happen during nighttime. The book is really great and the main characters are not very typical for the dystopian genre...If you want something unique, definitely give it a try.

8. A book that had a nightmarish cliffhanger

I won't say what the cliffhanger was, but the ending of "The Knife of Never Letting Go" by Patrick Ness left me hungry for the second book.

9. A book that you actually dreamed about

I did have some dreams about "A Game of Thrones" by George R.R. Martin, especially after watching the TV series...There might have been really hot dreams about certain characters in the book...just saying...

10. A book monster that you would not want to find under your bed

Definitely Elizabeth Báthory from "Dracula the Un-Dead" by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt. I don't want this crazy woman nowhere near me. She is scary...

If you like this tag, please do it and leave a link to your blog post in the comments :) 

Book Traveling Thursdays: Book That Occurs in High School

The Book Traveling Thursdays meme is created by Danielle at Danielle’s Book Blog and Catia at TheGirlWhoReadTooMuch. Every week you choose a book for your blog post that fits the weekly theme (which you can find in the Goodreads group), you share why you chose that book and finally post picture of the original cover, the covers from your country, your favorite cover, and your least favorite cover.

This week’s topic is “It is almost time to go back to school” and for this one you have to choose a book that mostly occurs in a high school. Damn…I don’t have a lot of those…the problem is that most of the books I’ve read with high school set-up I did not like…The one that I really, really loved is “The Fault in Our Stars” by John Green.

Original Cover:

I really like the original cover. It's simple and blue, what's not to like :)

Bulgarian Cover:

It's absolutely the same as the original cover, except that everything is written in Bulgarian and the quotes are different.

Favorite Covers:

                      1) Finnish                                    2) Hebrew                                    3) Portuguese

The Finnish edition is so gorgeous. I adore it. The cover for the Hebrew edition is reallt interesting. For some reason it reminds me of Van Gogh's "The Starry Night" which I love. And finally the cover of the Portuguese edition which for some reason reminds me of Christmas...

Least Favorite Covers:

            1) Lithuanian                       2) Serbian                    3) Spanish                              4) Thai

The cover of the Lithuanian edition has nothing to do with the book...The cover of the Serbian edition - I just don't like how it looks...The cover of the Spanish editionhas nothing to do with the book, either...Finally, the cover of the Thai edition - usually I like simple covers, but this one is not pretty at all...

What do you think about my picks? If you have a Book Traveling Thursdays blog post, share it in the comments. I would love to check it out :)

Top 5 Wednesday: Book Series You Wish Had More Books

Top 5 Wednesdays was created by gingerreadsLainey and there is a Goodreads group where you can find a list of participants as well as Top 5 Wednesday topics.

This week's topic is "Book Series You Wish Had More Books" and I'm going to cheat a little bit for this one!

"Harry Potter" series by J.K. Rowling

For obvious reasons. I know that this is going to be in everybody's lists,but it's true - we all need a little bit more magic in our world.

"Daughter of Smoke & Bone" series by Laini Taylor

I was not satisfied with the ending at all...so I need another book or two.

And now, a little bit of cheating :)

"Me Before You" by Jojo Moyes

I know that the second book is coming out soon and I'm very happy about that because this book left me heartbroken...

"Wonder" by P. J. Palacio
I need more books about Auggie. He is a wonderful person.

"Warm Bodies" by Isaac Marion

I adored the first book, I'm sure I'll love the second one and I will definitely need a third one.

Those were my top 5 book series that I wish had more books. Do you agree with me on any of my picks? Leave a comment if you do and also, if you have Top 5 Wednesday blog post I would love to check it out :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Diverse Reading 101

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.

Today the topic is "Top Ten Books That Would Be On Your Syllabus If You Taught X 101". I strongly believe that people should give a chance to every possible genre. You may not like some of them, but you'll never know utill you try. So, I choose my theme to be Diverse Reading 101 and I will include here 2 books of 5 different genres.

My first genre is HORROR:

"Dracula" by Bram Stoker and "Dracula the Un-Dead" by Dacre Stoker and Ian Holt

I love both of this books. They are not as scary as I thought they would be, but they are both well written and very captivating. I need more books about Dracula in my life so if you have any suggestions, leave them in the comments!

"Necronomicon: The Best Weird Tales" by H.P. Lovecraft

I love Lovecraft's wrtiting. His books are one of the few that can scare me...I mean really scare me. Everything he writes is so vivid, it's like playing the game "Call of Cthulhu" again. Pure horror. Give it a try if you haven't.

My second genre is HISTORICAL FICTION:

"The Cousins' War" series by Philippa Gregory

I love learning about the history of the different countries and nations but I don't like reading history books, so historical fiction novels are really good for me. And this series is the one I like the most so far. I love Philippa Gregory's writing and I like that her books are really easy to read and I actually learn a lot by reading them. Of course, I don't know how historically accurate are they, but I still love them.

"Sarah's Key" by Tatiana de Rosnay

This is one of my favorite books about the Holocaust. It was so heartbreaking that I sobbed like a little kid throughout the whole book.

My third genre is MYSTERY/THRILLER:

"24/7" by Jim Brown

This is a really cool book in which the characters are part of a TV show like "Surviver", but the diference is that in this book during the "game" people actually die...and their deaths are really horrible...and not very pretty...

"Shibumi" by Trevanian and "Satori" by Don Winslow

I have actually read only the first one but I expect the second one to be amazing as well...so don't fail me "Satori". The books are about this awesome assassin, called Nicholai Hel. He is a genius and his way of killing people has no match.

My fourth genre is CONTEMPORARY:

"Please, Look After Mother" by Kyung-Sook Shin

This is another heartbreaking read and just thinking about it brings tears to my eyes. If you haven't read it, fix this now because I feel that this book should be read by everyone and more importantly will be liked by everyone.

"Norwegian Wood" by Haruki Murakami

I wish I could recommend this book to everyone...but I can't. Whoever has read Murakami's works knows that his writing style is really weird and it's just not for everyone. Some people love it, others hate it. There are some of his books that are not even for me like "Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World". But "Norwegian Wood" is one of my favorites and I actually think it's one of the perfect works to begin with if you've never read Murakami before.

My fifth and final genre is NON-FICTION:

"Desert Flower" by Waris Dirie

You can see that I love tear-jerkers and this is an autobiography which makes it even more difficult to read. But people should read more books like this one because it opens your eyes for the sufferings which a lot of people have to deal with.

"The Glass Castle" by Jeannette Walls

This is a memoir and again, not a very happy one. The book deals with poverty and one very dysfunctional family with a father, who likes his alcohol, and a mother, who is not very responsible. Honestly, I don't know how the children managed to survive...I know I wouldn't be able to...

These were my top ten diverse reading books. Tell me what you think about my picks in the comments - have you read them? Are they new for you? - and if you have a blog post about this topic share a link and I'll be happy to read it :)

Musing Mondays: Library book sales

Musings Mondays is a weekly meme hosted by Jenn at A Daily Rhythm. In your post you have to answer one of the following prompts as well as the random question of the week:

I am currently reading...

Up next I think I'll read…

I bought the following book(s) in the past week...

I'm super excited to tell you about (book/author/bookish-news)…

I'm really upset by (book/author/bookish-news)…

I can't wait to get a copy of…

I wish I could read ____, but…

I blogged about ____ this past week….

THIS WEEK’S RANDOM QUESTION: Does your local library ever have book sales? What are the prices like? Tell us about any great finds you have found there!

I am currently reading "The Girl You Left Behind" by Jojo Moyes and up next I think I'll read "In the Dark of the Night" by John Saul and both of this books are from my TBR jar challenge for this month.

As for the random question, I'm sad to say that there are no sales in my local library. I wish there were, cause they have some really good books there and some of them are not even read very often, which means they can get rid off them...They were actually having a free books' stand the other they but there was nothing interesting, at least for me. Nevertheless, this is a really good initiative :)

Leave me a comment with your Musing Mondays blog post and I'll be more than happy to read it :)

Book Review: “Lincoln” by Gore Vidal

☆☆☆☆☆
Genre: Historical Fiction
Source: Library

"Gore Vidal's Narratives of Empire series spans the history of the United States from the Revolution to the post-World War II years. With their broad canvas and large cast of fictional and historical characters, the novels in this series present a panorama of the American political and imperial experience as interpreted by one of its most worldly, knowing, and ironic observers.

To most Americans, Abraham Lincoln is a monolithic figure, the Great Emancipator and Savior of the Union, beloved by all. In Gore Vidal's Lincoln we meet Lincoln the man and Lincoln the political animal, the president who entered a besieged capital where most of the population supported the South and where even those favoring the Union had serious doubts that the man from Illinois could save it. Far from steadfast in his abhorrence of slavery, Lincoln agonizes over the best course of action and comes to his great decision only when all else seems to fail. As the Civil War ravages his nation, Lincoln must face deep personal turmoil, the loss of his dearest son, and the harangues of a wife seen as a traitor for her Southern connections. Brilliantly conceived, masterfully executed, Gore Vidal's Lincoln allows the man to breathe again." - Goodreads

After reading “Abraham Lincoln: Vampire Hunter” by Seth Grahame-Smith, which I really loved, I was interested in learning more about the person, who inspired the book so to speak. So, that’s the reason I picked up “Lincoln” by Gore Vidal from the library. It is a really, really massive historical fiction book and it took me a whole week to finish it.

Yes, a whole week. But I really liked the book. I don’t know if it’s historically accurate but I learned a lot about Lincoln and his entourage and about the Civil War.

Although Lincoln was not my favorite person in the book I think his character was very deep. Some of the times I was not sure what was he thinking or what his actions are going to be and the reasons for them...Nevertheless, I really liked his character, but my favorite one was John Hay - the private secretary and assistant to Lincoln. I don’t even have any reasons for liking him, I just did. I found his character to be very sympathetic and easy to fall in love with. The character that I just couldn’t click with was Mary Todd Lincoln – aka Lincoln’s wife. I just hated that woman. She did so much bad things, because she just couldn’t contain herself while spending money. I mean $ 10,000 for a carpet…really…

Contain yourself, woman…$ 30,000 in debt is way too much…

There is not much I can say about the story, because I focused mainly on the characters while reading. Still, I found the book to be full with intrigues and conspiracies and drama (yes, I’m talking about Mary again). The Civil War was not very heavily expressed in the book although there were some very vivid scenes. The book was more focused on the Politics and how the government works and how decisions were made.

I’m actually not really interested in Politics, but I liked this book and that side of it didn’t bother me that much. That may be the reason I finished the book so slowly although I think it’s because the book was huge and with tiny font. So, despite of the fact that I gave this book a 3-star rating on Goodreads, I recommend it to people who want to know more about Lincoln.

If you've read this book, leave me a comment with your thoughts on it. I'll be happy to see some other opinions :)

The Disney Villains Tag

I saw this tag on Little Dutch Bookshop blog and I really liked the questions so I decided to do it.

I have done everything in my power not to include spoilers…so, enjoy!

Maleficent: A book or book series in which there is an overwhelming sense of evil/doom
For this one I just have to choose “A Series of Unfortunate Events” by Lemony Snicket because Count Olaf represents the nightmare for every kid. He is the Devil in disguise.

The Evil Queen: A book or book series in which the villain tricks the hero

I’m choosing “The Daylight War” by Peter V. Brett where the characters of the book have to deal with some really nasty demons which can transform into humans. If you have not read “The Demon Cycle” series, you should because it’s brilliant.

Cruella de Vil: A book or book series in which the villain brings about their own demise

As strange as this may be, I choose “Maleficent” by Elizabeth Rudnick. Stefan – aka Aurora’s dad, was neither the smartest, nor the best character in the world and his cowardice leads him to not a very happy ending.

Ursula: A book or book series that left you speechless

That will be “The Giver” by Lois Lowry. I just can’t even imagine living in that messed up world where there is no love, no colors, no sexual desire, no real pleasure…there is just no real joy in life.

Jafar: A book or book series in which the villain almost wins

For this one I’m choosing the “Shadowdance” series by David Dalglish because my favorite characters were almost killed at least a dozen of times…by the villains, cause he's not just one.

Hades: A book or book series you can’t help but love the villain

Again, this might be a really strange choice, but I choose “07-Ghost” by Yuki Amemiya and Yukino Ichihara. I just love Ayanami’s character – he is pure evil.

Scar: A book or book series with familial betrayal

This spot is saved for “The 10th Kingdom” by Kathryn Wesley and I can’t say while because I will spoil the whole book. But it’s like the betrayal of betrayals, believe me.

Hans: A book or book series with a villain you didn’t see coming

I just couldn’t think of anyone that fits into this category more perfectly then Sebastian Morgenstern from “The Mortal Instruments” series by Cassandra Clare. I know he is probably everyone’s choice but…oh, well…

This tag was actually really fun so if anyone wants to do it or have already done it, please share a link in the comments cause I’m curious to check out your picks!

Top 5 Wednesday: Tropes You Hate

Top 5 Wednesdays was created by gingerreadsLainey and there is a Goodreads group where you can find a list of participants as well as Top 5 Wednesday topics.

This week's topic is "Tropes You Hate" and I'm sure we all have at least one or two of those. It was not hard for me to come up with five things I hate in books. There are other tropes I hate of course, but I can't list them all here.

Instant love

There is no such thing. It’s called sexual attraction, people. You can’t love a person before getting to know this person. I'm sorry, that's the way it is.

Love triangles

There are a few love triangles that are well written…actually I can’t think of one at this exact moment…but I’m sure there are some…

Books with angels

I don’t hate angels but I’ve read only one series with angels that I’ve liked and that’s “Daughter of Smoke & Bone” by Laini Taylor. All of the other ones that I’ve read are complete rubbish. Of course, you can change my opinion about this one if you share with me your favorite books with angels in the comments.

The Chosen One

This one doesn’t bother me as much as the other ones, but only if the book is well written (like “Harry Potter”) or the person is someone that I like (unlike Clary or Jace from “Mortal Instruments”). And one other thing, the so called "Chosen One", who have the power to save the world, will not succeed in doing so without the help of his FRIENDS.

Miscommunication or lying

For this one I mean the fact that so many people lie because if the person they’re lying to knows the truth he/she might get hurt or hate them or get into trouble and blah, blah, blah…

Those were my top 5 annoying tropes. Do you agree with me on any of my picks? Leave a comment if you do and also, if you have Top 5 Wednesday blog post I would love to check it out :)

Top Ten Tuesday: Auto-buy Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a feature hosted by the Broke and the Bookish.

Today the topic is "Top Ten Auto-buy Authors". This week's topic is a little bit difficult for me just because I tend to get a lot of books from the library and I don't own any books written by some of my favorite authors...yet. So this list is going to include auto-read authors and authors that I really want to read more books of.

J.K. Rowling/Robert Galbraith 

I love this woman. My sister had to convince me to read the first “Harry Potter” book…I am so grateful to her. I’ve also read “The Casual Vacancy” and really liked it. I have yet to read “Cormoran Strike” series but I’m sure I’ll love them, too.

Patrick Ness

I bought “The Knife of Never Letting Go” because the first sentence of the book was brilliant. It was the strangest one to start a book with…so I was intrigued. After reading the book I was so hooked. Since then I’m buying every book that comes out.

George R.R. Martin 

I love “A Song of Ice and Fire” series. All of the books are really well written with a lot of deaths and unexpected twists in them. I’m really interested in reading some of his other works.

Peter V. Brett

His “Demon Cycle” series - brilliant. I’m really looking forward to finishing them. I actually took the first book in the series from the library and before finishing it I went to buy all of them…that's how much I loved it...

David Dalglish

I’ve recently read the first three books in “Shadowdance” series and I really like his writing style. I will definitely read some more of his books.

Jojo Moyes

I love all of her books that I’ve read. They are all kind of sad, but I love heartbreaking books. I haven’t read all of her books yet but I really want to.

Philippa Gregory 

I have yet to read the last book in “The Cousins' War” series but I love her writing style so much. I’m looking forward to reading some more of her books.

Jodi Picoult

Again, I haven’t read all of her books, but I really want to because all of the books I’ve read so far made me cry…which I like.

Miroslav Penkov

This is a Bulgarian author. I’ve read one of his books with short stories and I loved it. I really want to read some more of his works.

Rosamund Lupton

I’ve read two out of her three books and I really loved them. She writes mystery novels and I love mysteries. The last book she wrote came out last month and I’m looking forward to reading it.

So, those were my top ten auto-read authors. Tell me what you think about my picks in the comments and if you have a blog post about this topic share a link and I'll be happy to read it :)

The Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

As a follow up to my Book Traveling Thursdays yesterday I decided that today will be the perfect day for doing The Ultimate Harry Potter Tag. This tag was created by Isi from Just Keep Reading YouTube channel. I was not tagged, but I really wanted to do this tag for such a long time, so now I’m finally doing it. I have also never seen bloggers do this tag, but I think it will still be a lot of fun.

So, without any further ado, the questions are:

1. Favorite book?

Of course I love all of them but if I have to choose a favorite it’s going to be:

2. Least favorite book?

I don’t have one for this. Sorry. I refuse to answer this question. I really can’t choose a book that falls into this category.

3. Favorite movie?

Well, my all-time favorite movie is “Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets” because of Ron. Rupert Grint did an amazing job in this movie. He was just so hilarious.

4. Least favorite movie?

My least favorite movie is “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire”.

5. Favorite quote?

I suck at remembering quotes but here are some that I really like:

6. Favorite Weasley?

7. Favorite female character?

8. Favorite villain?

How I love to hate her…

9. Favorite male character?

He is such a complexed character and he deserves to be loved. And Alan Rickman rocks!!!

10. Favorite professor?

I love Professor McGonagall. She is a tough character, but she is also kind and really cool and sarcastic.

11. Would you rather wash Snape's hair or spend a day listening to Lockhart rant about himself?

Well, Snape is one of my favorite characters so I’ll wash his hair…is there a spell for that???

12. Would you rather duel an elated Bellatrix or an angry Molly?

Bellatrix is crazy but Molly kills her…but before that Bellatrix kills a bunch of other people…and I'm pretty sure that Molly will like me cause I'm a good girl so she will never kill me...so I choose her…

13. Would you rather travel to Hogwarts via Hogwarts Express or flying car?

Is there a person who even thought about choosing the flying car?! I honestly doubt that and I make no exception – I will choose the Hogwarts Express and fly with the car some other time.

14. Would you rather kiss Voldemort or give Umbridge a bubble bath?

I would rather kiss him:

15. Would you rather ride a hippogriff or ride a Firebolt?

I will fall off both of them, but I prefer to ride a hippogriff.

16. Is there a character which you felt differently about in the movies vs books?

I don’t think so…

17. Is there a movie you preferred instead of the book?

No. The books are way better.

18. Richard Harris or Michael Gambon as Dumbledore?

I think both of them are great, but I liked Richard Harris more.

19. Your top thing (person or event) which wasn't included in the movie that annoyed you most?

I don’t remember seeing Peeves in the movies, so I’ll go with him.

20. If you could remake any of the Potter movies, which would it be?

I was not very happy with “Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire” movie so I wish it could be remade by someone…

21. Which house was your first gut feeling you'd be a part of?

Well, I would like to be part of Slytherin, because their common room is in the dungeons and Snape is head of the house, not because I’m a bad person or anything like that.

22. Which house were you actually sorted into on Pottermore (or another online sorting quiz)?

I am a Hufflepuff.

23. Which class would be your favorite?

I have two favorites - Potions and Transfiguration.

24. Which spell do you think would be most useful to learn?

Reparo because I’m such a klutz.

25. Which character do you think at Hogwarts you'd instantly become best friends with?

I want to be friends with Fred and George, but I have the feeling that I'll become an instant friend with Luna.

26. If you could own one of the three Hallows, which would it be?

Well, the cloak of invisibility is the most useful one.

27. Is there any aspect of the books you'd want to change? This can be a character, and event, anything?

I don’t want Fred to be dead, so I will change this aspect of the last book.

28. Favorite marauder?

I love Lupin and he seems to be the smartest and the most responsible and reasonable one in the group.

29. If you could bring one character back to life, which would it be?

I’m really repeating myself here, but I will bring Fred back to life.

30. Hallows or horcruxes?

Is this a rhetorical question?!

This was a really long tag. I hope you enjoyed it because I did. If you’ve done this tag please leave a link in the comments. I would love to check it out :)