Sunday Book Soundtrack #20: Firstlife by Gena Showalter

Sunday Book Soundtrack is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books, where I share some of my bookish soundtracks. Since I discovered my passion for reading years ago, I've discovered that more and more of the songs I loved remind me of certain books. So I thought I'd share my playlists with you. If you want to listen to the songs, I'll post a link to a Youtube videos for each and every title. No copyright infringement intended! I'll try to find the official videos for each song. There's no set number for each playlist, sometimes I might have 10, sometimes 5, sometimes if I'm one of my moods I'll have 15. If you want to read more about this feature, click the "show more" button below. 

I read with music. If there's no music, I can't read. And not just read, but almost anything, like studying of cooking or doing chores around the house. The only time I don't have music is when I sleep. And during exams, but that's a different story.

Sometimes it happens that a certain song and a book or a scene from the book I'm reading sort of... click. It's like they were made for each other. At least for me. And so I will almost always think of that particular book when hearing that song. I thought I'd share my book soundtracks with you.

Keep in mind that I have a very... weird taste in music. You'll find mostly rock music, country or the 80s-early 90s music in these lists. I might use some "contemporary" songs from now and then, but don't bet on it being something other than those particular genres. Also, not always the songs will be in English. If I have a link to a translation for the lyrics, I'll post it. If you like a song I'm using, that's fine. If not, that's fine too, just don't say I didn't warn you.

The songs aren't always on a book's playlist for their lyrics. Sometimes they're there for an instrument or for a feeling I get when hearing them. Also, I won't always mention what scene I used them for. If it's not a spoiler, I'll share the scene, if it is a spoiler, I'll let you guess.

Anyway, I hope you like my playlists :)

Hey guys! I've discovered the magical place called Spotify, which means I get to make bookish playlists so much easier. I'm also thinking about uploading my old Sunday Book Soundtrack playlists there soom. Thank you Kara @ Great Imaginations to recommend it to me *sends hugs and kisses*

This week's playlist is inspired by Firstlife by Gena Showalter. I loved this book so much and I had fun creating this playlist. I hope you enjoy it. Also, if you want to check out my review, click here.

Obsessed With Covers #33: 5 to 1, Rebel of the Sands, Mind Games

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

This week's edition of Obsessed With Covers is inspired by Zentangle. I recently discovered the pleasures of Zentangle and of making something out of my random doodles and these covers are way too pretty not to resemble some of the best doodle art I've seen so far.

I've always been fascinated by the art of henna tattoos. They look absolutely gorgeous and I always get curious to know if the designs mean anything, either spiritually or just if they have a hidden meaning for each person that wears them. It's no wonder that the cover of 5 to 1 caught my eye. Just looking at the cover, however, I don't really get a sense of what the connection between the cover art and the title is. I did read the blurb, so that helped me understand that connection a bit more. I also love the different colors used to make the drawings pop.






5 to 1 - Holly Bodger

That's a lion, right? I'm not the only one who sees it, right? Having recently watched Aladdin, it is very easy for me to make the connection between the cover art and the entrance to the Cave of Wonders from the movie. And that is such a cool thing, because it makes me instantly interested in reading the story. I love how the mane was drawn. I love how the rider is so small, making it seem like the viewer shouldn't see him, like he (or is it she?) should've managed to get out of the frame unseen, undetected. I also love the sand dune and the sand lines overlapping most of the photo, almost as much as I love the silhouette of the palace.

Rebel of the Sands - Alwyn Hamilton

I love how simple this cover is, and yet it really makes the title make sense. I really like the placement of the words. It's almost as if the mind games refer to what you see, not what you think. Does that make sense? That's the idea that I get from the cover. I am very curious about this book, based only on the cover. I wish the paperback version were embossed, though. I feel like that would be such a cool thing, for the cover to be embossed. Or maybe the background is matte? All I know is that I can't wait to get out of my book buying ban to get my hands on this pretty :D







Mind Games - Teri Terry

Wednesday Chatter #13: Does it matter if you don't connect with characters?

Wednesday Chatter is a weekly feature at Ruby's Books where we'll be talking about anything and everything related to books and reading. Click here if you want to see what we talked about in the previous weeks


WARNING: Some bad words might be used in the following post. Don't say I didn't warn you!

Hey guys! Happy Wednesday! Today I want to talk to you about characters. I said this in a comment for a blog post a few weeks ago (if I find the post, I'll share!), but for me a lot of times the characters are more important than the plot itself. It's good to read about a good story, but most of the time how I relate to characters, how I feel about them, influence my reading experience.

When I was in school, I used to not enjoy most of the books that we had to read for Literature class. And that's due in part to the fact that they were classic novels, which bore me, but also to the fact that I really didn't care about the characters. The books that I did enjoy were the books that made me give a damn if a character lives or dies.

So this got me thinking. Of all the books I end up DNFing, how many of those are influenced by my lack of connection with the characters? The answer is about 70%, which is a lot. But seriously, most of the books I love are books that made me feel something for those characters.

I usually struggle the most with books written from one character's POV. If I hate that character, or if I don't understand their reasoning, chances are I won't like the book. My problem however doesn't stem from not relating to the character. This probably is due to either my brain being wired differently, or to the fact that my day-to-day job is as a psychologist, but I don't believe I need to relate to a character or to know what they're going through in order to understand their story or to like it. My problem usually involves those characters that I can't stand. Or those characters I can't understand, the ones that make me roll my eyes so hard, I get dizzy and get a headache over they're actions.

What about you? Do you care if you don't have any feelings, positive or negative, towards a character? Is it a deal breaker for you and does it make you DNF a book faster than a book with a not-so-good plot?