It’s Monday! What are you reading?

I discovered It’s Monday! What are you reading?, a wonderful weekly event hosted by J. Kaye through Twitter. Basically, you list the books you’ve read in the past week, what you are currently reading and what you hope to finish this week.

I was pretty sick this past week, so I actually managed to get some reading done! Here’s the breakdown:

Books completed last week:
The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson – Finally, I finished this book! And, yeah,  I didn’t care much for it.

Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick –  What a  wonderful, gorgeous book!

Secret Society by Tom Dolby – An okay read, but not a fave by any means.

Currently reading:
Fade Out by Rachel Caine – The latest in Cain’e Morganville Vampires series

Books to complete this week:

Fragile Things by Neil Gaiman

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

This is a great weekly book meme hosted by J. Kaye. All you have to do is list what you read last week, what you are currently reading and what you plan on reading this upcoming week.

Okay, so I didn’t finish one freaking book last week. Nada. I am still plugging through The Gargoyle, but at this point it’s out of spite. And stubborness. I can’t let the book win. I must finish it. I’ve put way too much time into this book to only put it away and not finish it.

As for what I would like to read this week? Anything, anything at all as long as it isn’t as tedious and long-winded as The Gargoyle. Which I will finish this week. I swear. Even if it kills me.

Teaser Tuesdays: The Gargoyle

Teaser Tuesdays is a weekly bookish meme, hosted by MizB of Should Be Reading. Anyone can play along! Just do the following:

• Grab your current read
• Open to a random page
• Share two (2) “teaser” sentences from somewhere on that page
• BE CAREFUL NOT TO INCLUDE SPOILERS! (make sure that what you share doesn’t give too much away! You don’t want to ruin the book for others!)
• Share the title & author, too, so that other TT participants can add the book to their TBR Lists if they like your teasers!

This week’s book: The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson

It did not matter, the fact that you coughed fitfully in the middle of your singing. Simply because it came from the throat of a recovering man, it was more beautiful that any song that I had heard ever lifted on the nuns’ voices in salute to the glory of the Lord.

Page 184

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

So,  last week was my first time taking part in this great little meme, hosted by J. Kaye. I found that it helped me to stay a bit more focused in my weekly reading, although I did wander a bit, as you’ll see. Still working on the house, so my reading is not what it normally is. But I finished two books and made a dent in a third, which isn’t too shabby for someone who spends all their current time renovating.

Books completed last week:

Bad Apple by Laura Ruby – I just loved this book. I read most of it in one day, since it was the type of book you can’t put down once you are into it. The story was unique, the characters quirky and the writing fantastic.

A Touch of Dead by Charlaine Harris – While this wasn’t on my to read list, it arrived just in time for Halloween. Four short stories about Sookie Stackhouse, this was also a quick read and was read in a night. Light and fluffy, it was the perfect relaxation read.

Currently reading:

The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson- Yes, I am still reading this. I’m about 200 pages in and while I am enjoying it more, I’m finding it a “thick” read. I think this one will take me a while to finish.

Books to complete this week:

I’d love to finish The Gargoyle, but I’ll have to see. I also want to read Hush, Hush by Becca Fitzpatrick and Neil Gaiman’s Fragile Things this week, plus Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden.

A tall order, I know, especially when you take into consideration that I’m doing NaNoWriMo this month.  We’ll see.

100 pages in, and…….

I have to say that I am actually starting to enjoy The Gargoyle by Andrew Davidson. Now, mind you, I haven’t fallen in love with it or anything, but when I look at the book sitting on my desk, my face no longer scrunches up.

I was told by some trusty book peeps that they, too, had a hard time getting into The Gargoyle, but eventually the book grew on them.

I think part of my problem is that if I don’t instantly fall into a book, I find myself looking over at my TBR pile and wondering if I wouldn’t just be better off chucking my current read and heading on to the next one. And that’s why The Gargoyle sat at the bottom of the pile for a few months.

Has anyone else ever been slow to get into a book at the beginning, only to plod on and end up enjoying it?

Living up to the hype

Some books just seem to get a lot of hype. Everywhere you go, everything you read seems to be telling you that it’s a “must read”. As a book addict, I will quite often get caught up in the hype and pick up a book because it’s all anyone cal talk about. And because of this, I’ve been burned a few times.

The first book I’ve ever bought because of all the hype surrounding it was Twilight and (go ahead Twilight fans, crack your knuckles) I hated it. The story was kind of okay, but there was way too much romance for my taste, and unrealistic romance at that. Yes, I know, vampires aren’t very realistic, either, but I’m a firm believer that you can do the unreal in a realistic way. And for me, Twilight completely missed the mark. In the end, I have just read much better YA urban fantasy books (like Rachel Caine, P.C. Cast, Kelley Armstrong, Cassandra Clare, Melissa Marr, to name my faves).

Another book that I wanted to read because of all the hype is Andrew Davidson’s The Gargoyle. I’m 75 pages in, and have been there for about three months. I’ve now heard from several different book bloggers that it gets good after 100 pages, so I’m going to give it a try again this week. But I doubt that I’ll end up loving it.

Two YA books that have been getting all kinds of publicity, hype and general good feelings sent their way are Becca Fitzpatrick’s Hush, Hush and Scott Westerfield’s Leviathan. Becca is a new author, but some of you may be familiar with Scott’s Uglies series (amazing books).

So I went ahead and bought both books and now they are sitting on my desk, having arrived yesterday. I want to read both, but am a bit leery: what if they don’t live up to the hype? What if I hate them? Or worse, what if they DO live up to the hype and then I end up on a book shopping spree of EVERY book I hear about (don’t laugh: it is a possibility with me!)?

Have you gotten caught up in the hype of a book? What super popular books have you read and now don’t understand what the hype is all about?