Thursday, March 17, 2016

Bookish Bucketlists from GReads


 This week I have Ginger from GReads joining us on Bookish Bucketlists. She is sharing a list of bookstores she wants to visit. Lets see where she takes us!

Hi there! I'm the creator of GReads! (www.greadsbooks.com), where I've been discussing books on my blog for over 5 years now.  My reading tastes have evolved over the years -- from paranormal to fantasy to historical to contemporary -- but the best stories for me have always been about romance.  I tend to gravitate toward the emotional novels, the ones that make me FEEL.  

When someone asks me, what do you like to do in your free time?  My first response is TO READ!  But not far behind that answer is also, TO TRAVEL.  I'm a girl who was lucky to spend her early summer vacations on the road with my family; whether it was traveling to Colorado to see the Rockies, or Florida to visit Mickey Mouse.  My love for seeing the world began at a young age, and it's never faded.  In my adult years, I've had the privilege of seeing sites in London, Venice, the Caribbean, and all across America.  

My love for travel begins with a city, usually, and then I'll build my itinerary around that city.  Lately what I've enjoyed when I visit a new place, is checking out their local bookstores.  For today's bucket list, I've compiled a list of bookstores from around the world that I would love to visit one day and check off my own travel bucket list.  Have you been to any of these?!

1. Books of Wonder in New York City
2. Powell's Books in Portland, Oregon
3. The Ripped Bodice in Los Angeles 
4. Strand Bookstore in New York City
6. Parnassus Books in Nashville
7. The Booksmith in San Francisco
8. Politics & Prose in Washington, D.C.
9. Barter Books in the UK
10. Atlantis Books in Santorini, Greece

Thank you so much, Sara, for having me on your blog.  Hopefully I've introduced a few readers to some new bookstores to check out -- or I've instilled the travel bug, hehe.  Regardless, I hope we all have the opportunity to see our beautiful world some day, one bookstore at a time.
 
 
 Thank you so much Ginger for sharing your bucketlist! Be sure to check out more from Ginger on her blog!

I'd love to have you for a future edition of Bookish Bucketlists! If you are interested check out this post and sign up!

Thursday, March 10, 2016

Bookish Bucketlist from Becky Albertalli




 This week I welcome my first author to Bookish Bucketlists!! The amazingly wonderful Becky Albertalli, author of Simon vs the Homo Sapiens Agenda!! So excited that Becky could find the time in her busy schedule to share her list of authors she wants to meet. Let's see who they are.


Something clicked for me while making this list: I am the luckiest fangirl in the world. There are so many authors who would have appeared on this list, except…I’ve already met them! Sometimes more than once! I can’t explain what that means to me. Sometimes I can’t believe this is my life.

That said, I’m greedy af, and there are so many others I’m dying to meet/hug/marry/grow old with. In no particular order:

  1. Jaclyn Moriarty – I have had the most embarrassingly huge author crush on Jaclyn Moriary for such a long time. I have multiple copies of her books. There might have been fan mail involved. I don’t think I’d be able to form words if I met her, but I am still desperate for it to happen one day.
  2. Heidi Schulz – I can’t explain how much I love this person and love her books. Heidi is one of my closest friends, but if you look at a U.S. map, our homes are a long, sad diagonal line away from each other. Therefore, I need apparition to exist, ASAP.
  3. J.K. Rowling – Speaking of apparition. Speaking of my heart. I don’t think I need to explain this one.
  4. Rainbow Rowell – I love everything Rainbow Rowell touches. I just do. I don’t usually see myself in the books I read, but Rainbow’s books are my mirror books. I love them, I ship them, and I’m completely in awe of her.
  5. Angela Thomas – True story: I should have already met Angela. We had a plan. There was much scheming. And then we both managed to get sick and goopy. I still intend to cross this one off my bucket list THIS VERY MONTH, but the anticipation is so huge it hurts. Angela is my agent sister and one of my closest friends – and her book is so unforgettably amazing that I can’t believe I actually know her.
  6. Lianne Oelke – Another agent sister and friend – but I actually fell in love with her book before I knew her! Lianne better be ready for some incoherent fangirl gushing when we finally meet in person, because that is freaking happening.   
  7. Roxane Gay- I dunno, guys. She’s kind of my hero in every way. This is definitely another person who may get nothing but awed, reverent silence from me.
  8. Ellen Oh – Ellen is both a favorite author and an utter world-changing badass. I will lose my shit when – not if – I finally meet her in person.
  9. Stephanie Perkins – I remember reading ANNA AND THE FRENCH KISS for the first time and thinking: this. This is what I want to do. If I could write something half this perfect, I’d be completely satisfied. Her books make me FEEL stuff. I’m meeting her in April, and my heart can’t take it.
  10. Stephen Chbosky – He’s the lone dude on this list, but he’s so important to me. Stephen Chbosky wrote the book that saved me as a teen. I’m dying to tell him so in person.


Thank you so much Becky for taking the time from your busy schedule to share your bucketlist! You can find out more about Becky and her books here and believe me you want to know this wonderful person!


I'd love to have you for a future edition of Bookish Bucketlists! If you are interested check out this post and sign up!

Thursday, March 3, 2016

Bookish Bucketlists from Growing Up Booknerd


Today I have the fun quirky Marissa from Growing Up Booknerd joining us for Bookish Bucketlists! She is sharing a great list of characters she would love to have brunch with, how fun is that?!? Lets see who she wants to enjoy a meal with:



One thing I always ask in my Hump-day Highlight feature over at Growing-up Booknerd is, “What author would you choose to go to lunch (spend the day) with; what would you talk about?” If there’s anything I love more than lunch, it’s breakfast, and if there’s anything I love more than breakfast, it’s… well… nothing, but brunch is a really close second! So for Sara’s feature Bookish Bucketlists, I’m going to do a modified version of my above stated question, and ask myself, “What characters would you go to brunch with; what would you talk about?” I’ll be picking my top five characters, describing what we would get for brunch, and what else would go on (in ascending order, of course). This is my ultimate bucketlist because I need to be BFFs with these people plus we would bond over food so magical book gods pleas make this bucketlist come true!
Let’s get started because talking about food is going to make me hungry and homegirl is gonna go get a snack!

5) Sydney Sage
            Sydney is from the Bloodlines series by Richelle Mead (she made her first appearance in Mead’s Vampire Academy series). We would definitely go to one of those vintage themed places that has old antique sofas and real china and all that jazz. I feel like that’s right up Sydney’s personality and I’d be lying if I said it wasn’t mine too. As a super intellectual person, Sydney would probably turn all of our conversation towards world news and events and I wouldn’t care at all because I am totally on the same page as her. We would talk about our favorite literature, global warming, and how Adrian and Hopper are doing. She would most definitely go straight for something off the Lite menu because even though she’s gotten mostly over her body image issues, she still has those instincts. I, of course, would suggest with both get pancakes with loads of syrup flavors and I think she would cave because WHO DOESN’T LOVE PANCAKES?! Afterwards she would totes thank me for the pancake suggestion because who needs a thigh gap when you have Adrian Ivashkov? I couldn’t let the day pass without heading to a museum with her though because the insight that lady has is eye opening letmetellyah. Overall you get the picture: Me + Sydeney Sage = Nerdy BFFs4lyfe 

4) Thorne and Cress
            They’re a package deal in my book. Get over it. Ultimate OTP for ever and ever and always and ever. Having brunch with Thorne and Cress needs to happen somewhere fun. Maybe a boardwalk cafĂ©? Yeah, I’m definitely feeling a boardwalk/pier situation for sure. I don’t mind third wheeling this duo at all because I feel like Thorne is so charismatic he would make sure there were no awkward moments and Cress is so kind she would happily share her morning and super duper sexy spaceship captain boyfriend with me for a few hours. Thorne would order one of those sampler platters where you get some of everything because if that doesn’t suit his personality I don’t know what does. Cress would get chocolate milk and a cheeseburger because it is brunch after all and nothing puts the unch in brunch like lunch (that’s such a Cress thing to say, I feel like). I would end up getting bacon and toast because unlike Cress, breakfast is my favorite part of brunch. Of course, we would spend the rest of the day killing it at those awesome boardwalk games and little kids would look at us weird like, “Who are those grown-ups and why are they having so much fun???”

3) Fred Weasley
            Aka my boyfriend. We’re pretending like the events in Deathly Hallows never happened and he fell in love with a super nerdy Ravenclaw *cough* me *cough* and now we’re just a Hogwarts alumni couple, chillin’ with the Wealsey crew for holidays (literally my ultimate goal). Anyways, for brunch, we would be THAT couple and go someplace where we’re regulars that get the same thing but in a cute way not a repetitive way… IDK OK?? I JUST SHIP US SO HARD. He’ll make me laugh, I’ll tell him about all the books I’ve been reading, we’ll spend the rest of the day having broomstick flying lessons and maybe have brunch again for dinner because it’s literally my favorite meal of all time. Look, I’m just rambling on this one because the second I typed Fred Weasley I got all googly eyed and slack jawed.

2) Annabeth Chase
            As a fellow daughter of Athena, I have always felt pretty connected to Annabeth. We both have that drive, the need for perfection, the, “I’m always right” complex, yadda yadda. I feel like brunch would get so sidetracked with the two of us because the second one shut up the other would jump on with another idea or thought. Other than her love for architecture and the fact that she’s a hot blonde, we’re basically the same person. Our brunch would probably just be coffee and a donut while we watch the training field shenanigans. That’s a-ok with me because A) I love coffee and B) I love donuts. Something tells me Annabeth does too.

1) Rose Hathaway
            This woman is the hero of my life. She will forever and always be the first heroine I ever looked up to. WWRHD? (What would Rose Hathaway do?) is my motto because she’s the most unperfect perfect character ever. When it comes to meeting up for brunch, Rose would probably be reluctant because she’s busy protecting the queen aka her best friend and all but if she could make time for me, we would pig out to the extreme. Part of the reason why I love Rose is due to our identical eating habits. We would go to someplace that served some of everything and eat some of everything with no regrets. I repeat, no regrets. I would have to try really hard not to fangirl because I’ve looked up to this lady for years but I think we’d get along just fine because even though we both have that stubborn attitude, we think alike so there wouldn’t be much butting of the heads. Hopefully after we ate and it settled she’d show me some awesome dhampir guardian moves because two words: BAD ASS!

Thanks for joining us Marissa! This is such a fun list I love it.
Be sure to go check out her blog: Growing Up Booknerd and her feature Hump-Day Highlights where she interviews other bloggers!

I'd love to have you for a future edition of Bookish Bucketlists! If you are interested check out this post and sign up!  

Tuesday, March 1, 2016

TTT: Ten books if you are in the mood for Real Teens

This week's Top Ten Tuesday is a list of books you should read if you are in the mood to read some real life teen portrayals. I love books that really show how teens minds work, and how they act. You can definitely tell when an author has done her research on teenagers and when they are just going off what they think teens are like. All of these books really show what teenage friendships, enemies, mental states, and family relationships are and I love them. Hopefully you will to so check them out.


The Mental Status:


  • The Truth About Alice: Jennifer Mathieu
  • None of the Above: I.W. Gregorio
  • The F-It List: Julie Halpern
  • Faking Normal: Courtney C. Stevens

The Growing/Learning:
  • Dumplin: Julie Murphy
  • Simon vs The Homo Sapiens Agenda: Becky Albertalli
  • Fangirl: Rainbow Rowell
  • Someone Like You: Sarah Dessen

The Girl You Can Grow Up With:
  •  The Jessica Darling series: Megan McCafferty
  • The Jessica Darling's It List: Megan McCafferty (Middle grade)


What do you think of these books? What would you add to me list? I'm always looking for new books so share your recommendations.

*Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by The Broke and the Bookish.