From the first time I logged into a computer, I have been lectured about online safety. Parents, teachers, neighbors, signs in hallways, and TV commercials have all warned me about the dangers of the Internet, especially meeting strangers and giving them my information. I am not saying that online friends are sketchy or not trustworthy, but the Internet has a lot of types of people and not all of them have your best interests at heart. For the most part, the book community has each other's backs and I have felt safe sharing about my personal life. That being said, Tessa is not my real name. It's a pen name that my 8th grade self created in order to protect myself on the Internet (and so that I didn't get lectured again from my mom). I have always blogged under a pen name and I don't plan on changing that in the near future. I have always been very open about my use of a pen name, but recently, a certain author has questioned the trustworthiness of bloggers who use a pseudonym. This event in the book blogging world, involving a case of stalking and invasion of privacy, is the reason that I chose to use a pen name so long ago. Instead of getting into a debate about the specifics of the event, I would like to give a list of reasons why it is perfectly acceptable for bloggers to use a pen name.
I know that I say this every year, but 2018 was a difficult year. I only had four five-star books. In fact, a majority of the books I read were three stars or below. I am not sure if I was just heard to impress this year or if I was just extremely unlucky with my choice of TBR. Even though there is nothing wrong with three star books (for me the rating means that I liked the book without loving it), not many stories managed to WOW me this year. In the end of the year, when I finally had time to read, I hit a streak of three-star reads that wasn't necessarily a slump, but did disappoint me. The stats are not on my side, but that is where the complaining ends. My reading journey this year taught me that not every book will earn five stars, but that doesn't mean that it wasn't worth reading. Regardless of the ratings, I still managed to find books that I love and will scream about for the next year(s) to come. Out of the 50 books I read this year (which accomplished my Goodreads Challenge!) I still managed to have some favorites. Since I loved all of these books so much, I have already written posts about most of them. Instead of trying to rearticulate my ramblings, I have included the links to my original posts if you want to learn more about them. Here are my top 10 books of 2018!
I am the first to admit that I am a coward. I don't do horror movies, haunted houses, scary costumes, or anything that will involve a jump scare. When it comes to horror, I am screaming mess who reacts to every little scare (sometimes things that aren't even meant to be scary). Due to my sensitivity to spookiness, I always feel left out during the Halloween season. After the age of 12, it is so longer acceptable to wear cute costumes and content yourself with candy. Instead, you are meant to dive headfirst into a world of horror, blood, and guts-- a world I was not meant for. For the past couple of years, I have been searching for the common ground between scaring myself senseless and just sitting on my couch alone, eating candy while watching rom-coms. So, in the spirit of being a scaredy-cat who still wants to enjoy Halloween, I am going to list some of my favorite Halloween inspired books to help you enjoy the season even if it scares the dickens out of you.
My favorite villains are the ones who may not be evil. I love a good villain who can convince me that they are the hero of their own story. I love conflict between right and wrong that doesn't have a clear answer, as the line between good and bad is rarely clear in the real world either. In short, I like it when villains make me think. They need to have a good backstory. They might even be masquerading as heroes. Sometimes a main character is neither unequivocally good or bad, and I think that the gray area in between is the most interesting. I am interested in where the lines meet, when a character is not necessarily a hero but doesn't exactly fit the bill of a villain either. Authors who can make me love a villain or root for an unlikeable anti-hero have clearly mastered the art of the character. Here's a list of my current favorite complicated villains and morally ambiguous heroes (and heroines!).
Hello, my name is Tessa and I am really bad at keeping up with series. I have talked about this before in a discussion post, but the time has come again to shame myself into actually finishing some series. Unfortunately, this problem even affects my favorite authors. Even though I have loved their past writing, I cannot bring myself to read their other books. Sometimes it is due to the fear of being disappointed (a girl has to have high standards) or sometimes I just get distracted by shiny new books. Regardless, I still love each and every one of these authors, even if I haven't gotten to one (or maybe three) of their books yet. Fun fact: Most of these books can be found in my TTT from 2016. Yes, my procrastination problems span years, not mere weeks.
Even though I find myself a pretty agreeable person, I do have a nemesis that I hate more than anything else in the world--book slumps. For those of you who are lucky enough to never have suffered through one (please tell me your secrets), book slumps are extended periods of time when reading just isn't fun anymore. There are many causes, such as lack of time or the after-effects of a five star book, but no concrete cure. When I am in a slump, all the books I try to read end up disappointing me. And then, if the case is severe enough, I stop reading altogether. However, in the spirit of mercy for my mortal enemy, the book slump, I forgive its wrongdoings. Grudges apparently aren't good to hold on to, so here are some benefits to being in a book slump.
Even though it comes the same time every year and I am fully aware of its impending doom, the start of the school year always surprises me. When I am in summer mood, it feels like nothing will ever harm me again (or at least make me do homework again). Alas, every summer comes to an end at the same time in August and I have to grieve my last of free time and freedom. However, the great thing about college is the opportunity to pick your own classes, and being an English major, my classes mostly revolve around my passion, literature. So, in an attempt to look on the bright side, I am going to share the required texts that I am actually excited (or at least not dread) to read.
Even though we try to ignore it, gossip is a part of a reader's life. We are enthusiastic creatures by nature, and the only way to get us talking is to mention books. Then all of the dirt comes out.We love hearing the dark secrets of characters, relishing in their tragic backstories and all the details of their relationships. When it comes to books, gossip does not always have a negative connotation. In fact, hyping up books, the main practice of book lovers and bloggers alike, is just spreading enthusiastic word-of-mouth about books. Instead of using gossip to break down the community, we tend to use it to proclaim the praises of stories we love. Whether it is through reviews, discussions, enthusiastic Twitter threads, gorgeous bookstagram pictures, or even in real-life conversations, book lovers live to scream about their new favorite books, authors, and characters. I will never shame book-lovers for their intense passion to spread the joy of books, but all of the hype can be overwhelming. Hype isn't necessarily a lie, but it is more subjective than we really want people to believe. However, there are some cases when books lived up to, and even surpassed, the amount of hype they received. Every mention of these books was justified. I will spend the rest of my life screaming from the rooftops about these books, constantly contributing to the hype that I was unnecessarily afraid of in the first place. Without a doubt, these books earned their stars.
Twitter is scary. Twitter is overwhelming. Twitter is relentless. Twitter is also the reason I am so involved in the book blogging community. Twitter is my lifeline to the bookish community outside of my blog. Twitter is a source of humor, insight, creativity and amazing people. (There is also quite the opposite lurking in the depths of Twitter, but for the sake of sanity and optimism, I am focusing on the bright side). For me, scrolling through Twitter doesn't feel like a waste of time (unlike Pinterest, Facebook, and sometimes Instagram) because I am always inspired by all of the amazing people on my feed. It is also really easy to find ways to interact with other book lovers and forge relationships. Over the past five years, I feel as if I have been becoming more and more involved in the community. Since it is definitely not because of an increase in skill, I am going to attribute it to the rise of social media, especially Twitter. While those 240 characters can be used to anger, ridicule, and dramatize, you can also put a lot of love, friendship, and support in so few words. However, there is a steep learning curve that I am still trying to climb. A fair amount of my social media skills were learned through experimentation and trial and error, but most of what I know is from the other amazing people on Twitter. So, I am breaking down why I follow the people I do and impart some knowledge with my impeccable taste.
Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based meme hosted by the amazing Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. If the meme sounds familiar, it was formerly hosted by The Broke and Bookish. Apparently, 2018 is halfway over. On the plus side, this means summer and more books. On the minus side, I have all of the crushing anxiety of the unfinished goals that I need to complete by the end of the year. Anyway, I am staying on the plus side today by looking forward to some of the amazing books that I am (probably) going to read this summer. This is by no means an exhaustive list. My TBR is a monster that I can hardly maintain, let alone limit to only 10 books. In an attempt to regain control (or at least the facade of it), I am limiting my goal to these ten books that I am determined to read before the end of summer. Basically, if I could only read ten books this summer, these would be it. Hopefully, that will not end up being the case, but I would still be happy if I only got to these stories.
I split the list between already published books that I have waited extremely too long to read (yes, I know that it is ridiculous that I have not read them but please forgive me) and soon-to-be published books that dominated my radar.
Update: I now realize that I have done the TTT for 6/19. I apologize sincerely but I hope you still enjoy my recommendations!
Top Ten Tuesday is a list-based meme hosted by the amazing Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl. If the meme sounds familiar, it was formerly hosted by The Broke and Bookish.
My "to-re-read" shelf on Goodreads is pretty much bare with a mere 12 books. Personally, I am not a huge fan of re-reading. In the end, the act of reading a story for a second or third time mostly seems like a waste of time to me when there are plenty of other books I need to read. If I had all of the time in the world, then I would gladly re-read to my heart's desire. Unfortunately, my reading time is limited and I like to dedicate that time to exploring new worlds. Despite my stance against re-reading, there are only a handful of books that I would never consider re-reading.
Love, Simon is a movie about choices. It's about choosing to be yourself over the image of yourself that society want you to be. Choosing to make mistakes, but also choosing to fix them. Choosing to come out into a hostile world but also choosing to be optimistic. Love, Simon gives the power of choice in a world that wants to shove everyone in the same societal norms. Love, Simon also gives the audience the choice to see a movie that will change their lives. There are a ton of movies with straight main characters. We don't need another one, but Hollywood has kept that standard in place because it believes that is what the audience wants. The cycle is perpetuated since Hollywood only gives us the same white-washed hetero films, tricking itself into thinking that is what the audience wants. However, the audience does not really choose unless there are other options. Picking between an apple and another apple is not a choice because you still end up with an apple regardless of your "choice". So, picking between one straight male-dominated movie and another straight male-dominated movie is not a choice for us either, just another resigned conclusion to see the same actors and storyline over and over again. Love, Simon breaks this cycle by offering a fresh, diverse, and normal look into life as a gay teenager. While the necessity of this movie has been argued (mostly by those living under a rock without actual knowledge of the real world), Love, Simon is, more importantly, the movie that our generation WANTS.
At the beginning of the year, I had a few reading goals. This year, I did not just want to read more, but also broaden my bookshelf. Most importantly, I wanted to read more diverse books, especially debuts. Unfortunately, my reading life was derailed due to the difficulty of the last few months (you can read all of the juicy details here). I fell behind on a lot of things during the time I was away from blogging, but my Goodreads challenge has taken the most notable bit. Out of my goal of 80 books this year, I have only read 13. Thanks to the friendly reminder on Goodreads homepage, I know that I am about 28 books behind schedule. While I may not be a math person, I know that those numbers aren't what I was hoping for. Fortunately, of the 13 books I have read this year, most have been out of the realm of what I normally read. I have delved into adult science fiction, classics that I have always wanted to read but never mustered the motivation, and quite a few amazingly diverse reads. Even though I may not reach my numerical goal of 80 books, I have been pretty well on my diversifying. But, I still have some work to do. 2017 is a big year for releases, and I want to try to get ahead before falling even more behind. (What is the literary equivalent of a marathon? I need to know so I can start training.) So, I compiled a list of ten of the books that I REALLY need to catch up on.
The Hate U Give By Angie Thomas Diverse, A Court of Wings and Ruin By Sarah J. Maas When Dimple Met Rishi By Sandhya Menon Once and For All By Sarah Dessen Saints and Misfits By S. K. Ali
Strange the Dreamer By Laini Taylor The Names They Gave Us By Emery Lord Bad Romance By Heather Demetrios
The Crown's Fate By Evelyn Skye Flame in the Mist By Renee Ahdieh
Have you ever fallen behind on your reading goals? Are there any books that you need to catch up on this summer? What other books do you think I need to read soon?
