Category: Weekly Memes

Random Bookish Thoughts: Book Ratings

Posted November 13, 2014 / Discussions, Other Memes, Weekly Memes / 29 Comments
Random Bookish Thoughts: Book Ratings

BOOK RATINGS. I saw a Twitter conversation a month or so ago about the ratings that bloggers and readers give to books. These ratings could be on Goodreads or on blogs. This person thought that if someone’s Goodreads ratings average was too high, they weren’t critical enough – and therefore their opinion was not valued in the community. They should not bother with book blogging or reviewing, because they were not actual critics of books. I didn’t even know how to formulate a logical tweet in response, so I let it be. And by let it be, I mean let it stew for months until I was able to come up with this post. But Taylor pretty much sums up my reaction: I think that’s bullshit. I should go without saying that all opinions can be valued as long as they are not particularly offensive, racist, sexist, etc. Who gets to determine if someone’s opinion is valuable or not?? Not some random guy on Twitter, that’s for sure. Let me back up a little bit and talk about ratings in general and my thoughts on them. How I rate books on my blog I use my little heart system here on the left to rate books. I DO use half-hearts (quite a bit, actually), as the bottom of the graphic shows. I don’t think it’s possible, for me at least, to give EVERY book I read a dead-set rating between 1 and 5 without any halves. The 5 heart rating is given to books that […]

WWW Wednesdays #17

Posted November 12, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 12 Comments
WWW Wednesdays #17

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading, where we answer three questions each week: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What are you planning to read next? I started One Past Midnight the day before the Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Readathon started, so I didn’t get much done before jumping into my holiday book. I was able to pick back up with it this morning. So far I’m really intrigued. This has been one of my highly anticipated reads this year because it involves some parallel life stuff in a unique way. I’m surprised at how quickly the plot is taking off; I expected there to me a lot more intro stuff. My current audiobook is The Scorch Trials, book two in The Maze Runner series. As usual, I’m constantly asking myself “what the fuck is going on?” about everything that happens. I have to suspend all of my beliefs when reading this book because it all just seems so crazy. Overall I’m really enjoying it though. I’m about a third of the way through and so far I like the first one better. Chris liked this one a lot, so I’m thinking it’s going to start getting wild again soon. Obviously I just finished The Maze Runner, considering I’m onto the second book now. I wasn’t sure what to expect with this one because it seemed like not the kind of book I would like. The only dystopia books I’ve read so far was the Hunger Games trilogy, so it’s […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #15: Spin-Off-Worthy Characters

Posted November 11, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #15: Spin-Off-Worthy Characters

Top Ten Characters You Wish Would Get Their Own Book This is happening very late in the day for me today! Work has gotten in the way of my blogging 😉 I’m not sorry for using Since You’ve Been Gone twice! It’s for two different reasons, I promise. Goodreads: Since You’ve Been Gone / Aspen / Shadowlands / Catching Jordan / Harry Potter / Gossip Girl / Private / Lola and the Boy Next Door / Scoring Wilder

Five on Fridays #7

Posted November 7, 2014 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 8 Comments
Five on Fridays #7

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. BrickFair 2014 Last weekend, we went to BrickFair 2014 in Somerset, NJ. I luckily have a friend who lives about 10 minutes away from there, so we were able to hang out with her and her boyfriend and go to BrickFair! I was in awe of all the cool stuff people can make. It really inspired Chris to build his own creations instead of buying the premade Lego sets. They had different categories and types of builds around the whole place. They also had vendors that sold custom Lego apparel, jewelry, and figures/accessories. Chris ended up with a few sets and accessories. It was a cool experience and we’re so glad we ended up going! Balancing Everything I feel like I sound like a broken record when I talk about this, but it’s really hard! As a new blogger, I’m still trying to find a way to balance everything in my life. I spend a lot of time blogging at work, which I shouldn’t do, but I find it hard to do otherwise. I used to be addicted to using my computer, browsing the internet, and watching Netflix during college, but now I never do. I don’t want to blog when I get home. I want to pry my eyes away from the computer since I stare at it […]

WWW Wednesdays #16

Posted November 5, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 7 Comments
WWW Wednesdays #16

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading, where we answer three questions each week: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What are you planning to read next? I took a break from the Gallagher Girls reread (since I messed up my requests at the library) and finally started The Maze Runner! I just hit the 50% mark this morning and am really enjoying it so far. I like it because I have no clue what’s going on – just like the main character. He’s finally starting to get going with the actual maze running, so I’m excited to see what happens in the second half of the book. Chris and I are trying to see it on Tuesday so I’m hoping to do a little more listening than usual to finish it up soon. I just finished my previous book last night and haven’t technically started my next read (One Past Midnight) yet. I have it with me at work so hopefully I can get some done before the Ho-Ho-Ho Holiday Readathon starts tomorrow! I totally didn’t realize it was coming up that quickly. I’ve been looking forward to One Past Midnight for months and can’t believe I put it off for so long. I’m hoping to make some decent progress before I pause my reading. I finished the second Gallagher Girls book, Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy. Yet again, totally didn’t remember anything that happened in it! I’m excited to keep going […]

Top Ten Tuesdays #14: Reread-Worthy

Posted November 4, 2014 / Top 10 Tuesdays, Weekly Memes / 14 Comments
Top Ten Tuesdays #14: Reread-Worthy

Top Ten Books I Want to Reread I’ve mentioned this before a few times, like in last week’s Five On Friday, that I’ve been tempted to reread books lately. This generally goes against all previous preferences of mine. I started rereading (in audiobook form) the Gallagher Girls series by Ally Carter, because I realized I never read the final two books in the series. There are four series I’ve been thinking of rereading for different reasons, and six standalones. Series Reread Options: Harry Potter series: This is obvious, right? I haven’t read these books since they first came out (between the years of 1999 and 2007) so obviously I am DUE for a reread. I’ve always said this is the one series I could imagine reading again a few times over the course of my life. I’m thinking that I’ll embark on this one sometime in 2015, maybe as an audiobook. A Great and Terrible Beauty (Gemma Doyle series): I always look back on this series with positive memories but can’t remember as many details as I’d like. It would be awesome to revisit the world. I would probably do this one in audiobook form too, considering that the books are HUGE. Modern Faerie Tales series: I honestly don’t remember if I read past the second book in this series, but I remember really enjoying these. I love books about fairies. Secrets of my Hollywood Life: I loved this series back in the day! I read the first maybe three […]

Musing Mondays #13

Posted November 3, 2014 / Musing Mondays, Weekly Memes / 5 Comments
Musing Mondays #13

Naming Your Baby (I mean, Blog) When I started Bookmark Lit, I was looking for a place to discuss books and maybe some other lifestyle kinds of posts. I had no idea that there was a whole book blogging community that I could grow to be a part of. I was trying to think of clever names for my blog when I ended up on Bookmark Lit. I was looking up some puns or play-on-word kinds of names for book-related blogs. I thought Bookmark Lit would be cool, because it’s a play on “bookmark it” and lit = literature. Nothing too exciting or fun, but just enough of a clever name to satisfy me for the moment. The name Bookmark Lit was temporary. I liked it, but wasn’t overly excited by it.  I honestly figured the first few months of blogging include me beefing up the site with some posts and reviews. I didn’t want to go out of my way to meet other bloggers or get entrenched in the community until I felt that I had enough posts to show that I was a credible blog. I wanted to come up with my temporary name, add some content, and finalize my site’s identity before really gaining any followers. My blog ended up taking off much more quickly than I expected. It was too late to change the name. I see blogs everywhere with adorable names that suit the person behind them. My site’s name is so blah. It seems stupid to reference […]

November TBR List and Uppercase Box #2

November TBR List and Uppercase Box #2

Today I’m going to combine two of my monthly posts – my TBR list for the month and the Uppercase box I just received! Uppercase box is a subscription service with two levels of membership. For the first level, you get an Expert Pick – this is a hand-selected book that the YA experts love and recommend. The Personalized Recommendation box, which is what I have, comes with a book selected just for YOU based on your preference quiz. The boxes are filled with: A book, either chosen specifically for your preferences OR one that is generally recommended by an expert A gift, like bookmarks, jewelry, totes, etc. (that obviously relate to books!) A personal explanation of the book choice and other similar titles Some discount codes for popular book-buying websites Here are my goodies from the October box! I’ve heard great things about Rebel Belle and was always on the fence about whether or not I’d like it. The “southern” aspect didn’t appeal too much to me because I’m a northern girl, BUT I lately have fallen head over heels for the Hundred Oaks series by Miranda Kenneally – which is all about the south! Lisa writes, “Because you enjoy paranormal reads, I knew this on was for you. It’s got a high school contemporary feel with some southern sass.” Sounds perfect for me! I’m now VERY excited for this read. The accessory is a mockingjay bracelet in honor of the Hunger Games movie coming out this month! Such a cute little […]

Five on Fridays #6

Posted October 31, 2014 / Five on Fridays, Weekly Memes / 1 Comment
Five on Fridays #6

Five on Friday displays the the top five things that have been on my mind this week! It could be book-related, but it may be music, movies, TV, personal life, food, etc. Rereading Books Everyone knows that generally I don’t reread books. There are SO MANY other books out there I want to read for the first time; I just don’t have time or energy to read something I’ve already read. That being said, my thoughts have kind of changed lately. I started my Gallagher Girls reread (this time in audiobook form) and I’m realizing how fun it can be! I remembered loving the series and the general outline of what happens/what it’s about… but I’m finding that I remember almost nothing about the series plot-wise. If that’s the case with one of my so-called favorite series, maybe that would happen with other books I’ve read in the past. Now I’m having terrible urges to reread all of my favorite books and series! I know that a reread of Harry Potter will be coming soon, as well as Great and Terrible Beauty. Who am I??? Halloween Festivities We got off to a late start this year with our Halloween preparations and festivities. We carved our pumpkin finally last night and did all of the pumpkin picking the weekend before. Here you’ll see Chris using the pumpkin as a head! We also got a cinderella pumpkin and two little gourds to go on the other side of our front door. As I […]

WWW Wednesdays #15

Posted October 29, 2014 / Weekly Memes, WWW Wednesdays / 3 Comments
WWW Wednesdays #15

WWW Wednesdays are hosted by Should Be Reading, where we answer three questions: What are you currently reading? What did you recently finish reading? What are you planning to read next? I’m continuing my Gallagher Girls reread (in audiobook form) with Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy. I have only another half hour or so left and I’m so intrigued! I can’t believe I don’t remember anything about this series anymore! It’s a very good thing I decided to reread instead of just finishing the last books in the series. I first read the books when I was in middle school/high school, so it’s been quite a while! It’s kind of sparking an interest in me to reread books in general! I’ve been dying to possibly pick up A Great and Terrible Beauty series again. Anyways, the book I’m currently reading is White Hot Kiss – my first JLA book! I decided to pick it up on a whim. I went to B&N recently and read the first page of the book and was pretty intrigued. I’m halfway through and not sure how I feel so far. The story is VERY different, which is cool, but I’m a little confused. (Can anyone help me with this? The humans know that the wardens exist, but no one knows demons or other creatures exist? So, what do people think the wardens do? Seriously, if you know the answer, please tell me!) I finished the first Gallagher Girls book, I’d Tell You I […]