Top Ten Tuesday #15: Top Ten Books I Want My Future Children to Read

Top Ten Tuesday is weekly meme created at The Broke and the Bookish.

Oooh, this is a good topic, guys! There are a ton of books I'd like my kids to read. Because, and I think this is the dream of any bookworm, that their kids will love reading just as much as they do.

1. Harry Potter - This is an obvious one, really. I grew up with Harry Potter, with the anticipation of waiting for that next book and for that next adventure, and I'd love my kids to experience the wonder of Harry Potter
2. Invitation To Waltz - This is one of the most important books in my life as a reader, because not only was it a recommendation from my dad, but also because it was the first "modern" romance book I ever read. It's also a sad book, but kind of innocent at the same time. 
3. Mara - One of the few mandatory readings I finished and liked in school, this was a pretty awesome book, and a fast read.
4. The Hobbit - This is a book about breaking out of the life pattern imposed by society, and finding adventure and finding oneself in that adventure. When I look back at it, it feels like more than just a simple story about a guy trying to find a dragon, it feels like a journey of self-discovery, and for me that's what life is all about. You just have to have the guts to step out of your hobbit hole.
5. Chronicles Of Nick - This is a story, essentially, about not accepting the fact that there's a predetermined path you have to take and there's no way to fight it. It's about choices and how those choices influence the entire future of your life. There's a pretty awesome metaphor that Kenyon uses in her Dark Hunter series about a rock thrown into a lake and how after the rippling of the water stops, the water will still never be the same, because that rock never belonged at the bottom of the lake, which is one of the best metaphor about life in general that I've encountered, and I'd like my kids to fully grasp that. Also I'd start with CoN because it's more age-appropriate.
6. The Five People You Meet In Heaven - Going in the same direction as the previous book, Albom's novel is basically about how your actions influence not just your life, but other people's as well, and that no matter how small or big, each of us has an impact on others. 
7. Girl Against The Universe - This is one of the books that accurately shows what a therapist does and doesn't, and it's also one of those books that deals with mental health without attaching the cure of it to finding one's "twue wuv", which is important to me.
8. Vampire Academy / Bloodlines - No matter the gender of these future kids of mine, I want them to read a book where girls and boys are both just as strong, just as capable of kicking ass, and that being feminine doesn't mean a woman can't be a warrior.
9. Pride And Prejudice - There's no way my kids can miss reading this book. This is the actual first romance book that I read, but it's a classical one, a more stylish romance. It's still an important book to read.
10. The Hunchback - This was my first book crush. It is a fantastic adventure book that I remember fondly of and it's a story of redemption in a way.

I would have loved to include more diverse books here, but to my shame I haven't read that many. Which I'm working on changing, because I do want my kids to be able to read them and learn from them.

What about you? Which books would you introduce your kids to?

Obsessed With Covers #43: The Unbinding of Mary Reade, Ash Princess, Sky In The Deep

Y'all know how much I love a pretty cover. I think about...40% of the books that end up on my shelves (be they physical or digital) do so because of the covers. Call me shallow but you have to admit that a pretty, shiny cover will catch your eye faster than a dull, boring one. Two, simple rules that I'll follow:

• 1, 2 or 3 (no more than 3, though) covers per week;
• books should be new-ish; no more than 2 years old.

Oh, before I share the covers that made me drool or want to stare at them for hours and hours, I have to say something. This is a semi-original idea. Why semi? Because almost every book blogger has something similar. The only thing I came up with was the title. If by any chance there's another blogger with a similar feature with the same title, I assure you I'm not stealing your idea. I'm just THAT bad with titles. Believe me, I'd love to be smarter and have a witty name for this feature, but I don't. So, no copyright infringement/theft/steal or anything of the sort was desired. All I can say is sorry :P

So, here are the prettiest covers I've seen this week.

I saw this cover last week and I fell in love. I love sailing ships. I have a thing for them. And any drawing/painting/photograph with a ship in it will catch my eye. What I love most about this cover is that it seems as if the ship is caught in the middle of a storm. Which is kind of fitting for the story itself, at least based on the blurb. I like the colors used for the background, and the fog around the ship. It kind of makes me think that the fate of that ship is hanging on by a thread, that the fog is threatening the ship somewhat more than the storm. There's also a kind of shadow underneath the ship, a weird shape, and I want to know what that is about.

I also like the font used for the title. It kind of looks like it's coming out of the sails, and I love that. I love the cover and I'd love to see it in hardback version.

The Unbinding of Mary Reade by Miriam McNamara

 Aside from ships, I have a thing for fiery designs. This cover is simple and yet it holds a world of tiny details in it. The crown looks like a metal/iron crown that was burned down, and I can see some random designs in the smoke/embers around the bottom part of the crown. I see what looks like wings in the middle, some flowers, maybe some feathers... There's a lot happening with that crown. I also like how the crown seems to be crumbling, the ash slowly falling off and disintegrating on the title. Another really cool thing is that the background is really simple.

I want to know what those designs in the crown mean, and if in any way, shape or form they appear in the story itself.

Ash Princess by Laura Sebastian

This might be my favorite cover that I've seen lately that has a cover model. The model reminds me of Lagertha. I love that we can't really see her, it makes her more dangerous and more badass, which I love! But at the same time I wonder why exactly half of her face is hidden. What is she hiding? I also love the design on the blade of the axe. I love the feel of the entire cover, and I really, really want to see it in real life. I wonder what designs would there be under the dust jacket of a HB version of the book.







Sky In The Deep by Adrienne Young


What about you? What are some of the more recent covers you've fell in love with?

Book Review: Caraval by Stephanie Garber

Author: Stephanie Garber
Series: Caraval #1
Audience: +16
Genre: Ya, Fantasy
Publisher: Hodder & Stoughton
Release Date: January 31st 2017
My Rating: 5 cups
Source: Own Copy
Blurb (from Goodreads):

Welcome to Caraval, where nothing is quite what it seems.

Scarlett and Tella have never left the tiny isle of Trisda, pining from afar for the wonder of Caraval, a once-a-year week-long performance where the audience participates in the show.

Caraval is Magic. Mystery. Adventure.

When the sisters' long-awaited invitations finally arrive, it seems their dreams have come true. But no sooner have they arrived than Tella vanishes, kidnapped by the show's mastermind organiser, Legend.

Scarlett has been told that everything that happens during Caraval is an elaborate performance. But she quickly becomes entangled in a dangerous game of love, magic and heartbreak.

And real or not, she must find Tella before the game is over, and her sister disappears forever.

I picked this book when I was on a trip to Prague, because there's no better thing to do when you're a bookworm on a trip than buy more books. I tried resisting, but in the end I couldn't do it and I can't possibly tell you how happy I am that I gave in in the end.

Holy crap you guys!

Books that are similar on carnivals, hidden objects/escape-adventure games have been hit-and-miss for me so far, but Caraval really had me hooked from the beginning to the end. I enjoyed reading it and I especially liked how the book was structured. Garber was a genius in my opinion to structure the chapters into days and nights spent during, before and after Caraval. That, for me, increased the sense of urgency the entire book had. Whenever that "Day/Night..." page came, my excitement grew because I could tell that there was real danger in Caraval. And that's the thing I loved most about the book, the danger, the unknown of it all. I feel like the entire book is based on mind-games. And that more than the actual action is even better to me. It's been a while since I read a book that mentally challenging, to be honest. It wasn't just the game itself, but actually trying to figure out what was real and what wasn't, who was lying and who was telling the truth.

Scarlett is a strong character, that is also quite surprising. She's really reserved and cautious, but at the same time she's naive and reckless. She tends to put her trust in the oddest of places, but then the game doesn't just help uncover the darker side people keep locked away, but also their pasts. In a way, that's what happens with Scarlett, and while the scene with her father before them going to Caraval gives you a hint towards what that man is capable of, this game really made me understand Scarlett more. I also liked that she discovered her inner strength through this game.

Tella, although not that present, is also a really important character. In a way, she's exactly what Scarlett discovers in herself, if it makes sense. Tella has the courage and the recklessness to do what needs to be done in order to save herself and her big sister. She just has a lot more darkness in her that she accepts, and I wonder how that will work for her in the next book.

Throughout the game there are several really important characters that Scarlett encounters and I really hope that they are involved in the sequel. They were surprising and not what I fully expected, to be honest.

As I said, this story was a huge mind-game, and a fast-paced game at that. I enjoyed the twists and turns the story took, and the constant not knowing what was happening made me feel like I was an active part of the game. I also wonder how this story would have looked like had it been told from a viewer's POV.

Oh! I almost forgot to add this. Another cool stuff about the book is that we get to see small parts of Scarlett and Tella's childhood through Scarlett's memories, but this is done in a way to kind of explain her actions within the game, which was also a cool thing.

All in all, this was a really good book, one of the best I've read this year and I am desperately waiting for Legendary, book 2, to come out.