Almost two years ago I started this blog with absolutely no expectation of where it would bring me.

I thought that it would be just another dusty corner of the internet where I could ramble about books and talk about words, my love for them, and their construction. Almost two years later I've met some of the most fabulous people who understand me in such an intrinsic way because at our cores we love the same thing.

Having this blog would not have been the same without you in it. Attending BEA with you made the experience worth it more than I could have ever dreamed. Attending ComicCon and being able to meet authors of all sorts and mediums and being surrounded by people who made my mouth hurt with smiling due to their enthusiasm and creativity.

Your love of reading and words and characters has inspired me to complete my own manuscript and, when done, edit it to the best of my perfection. You inspire me to never give up. Ten minutes here, a scribble of a character note there - they all add up to a story brimming with potential. And it doesn't matter when I finish, but the fact that I actually will. (And that you will, too.)

I can say for the first time that I know what I want to do; that perhaps I've always known somewhere but you all were the impetus for me bringing it to the light. I am forever grateful.

And so, a happy happy Thanksgiving to my fellow Americans, but also a heartfelt thank you to everyone reading this. You are why I do this.

Also, as an example of an author I adore for both her incredible talent with words and also because she's just a truly kind human being, please check out Victoria Schwab's post on giving back. (And if you haven't read THE NEAR WITCH or THE ARCHIVED, please do. The former is out, the latter is out in January and, trust me, you do not want to miss it.)

It's a scorchingly hot summer across the United States. I can't speak for anyone else but hot summer days make me slightly lackadaisical. The heat just seeps into your bones and slows your brain. Up until this past week I have been fervently reading and scheduling reviews for posts to come starting August up until October.

And then my brain kind of had enough. I burned myself out.

So currently I'm on a novel-reading hiatus. There are two great things about this, for me:

• When I next pick up a novel I will be excited again for the calming structure of literary fiction, for a story that I can more or less read from start to end, reading love for the writing or character or place between every line. It will be marvelous.
• I get to branch out into other things that I love but have been neglecting because sometimes I feel that I have to read only YA to keep up with everything, including my very large TBR pile. Currently I'm reading heaps of Marvel graphic novels and it's truly refreshing to read a different type of story, but a story nonetheless. I can get lost in the artwork of words and pictures. I used to read graphic novels quite a lot, but life interfered, and I'm honestly happy to be doing so again. (I'm just about finished with The Invincible Iron Man Omnibus, Vol. 1 and I'm falling in love with Tony Stark, my favorite Marvel character, all over again. What Matt Fraction does with this character [so far] is amazing, though my heart is shattering continuously.)

What do you guys do when you need a break? Blogging, reading - there's always a lot of pressure, even if most of it is self-imposed. I'd love to know what else you read when you take a bit of a hiatus from YA.

Never fear, friends, I haven't stopped completely. I had also found myself stuck in my WIP and I love to immerse myself in different story types to craft a personality, so that's part of what I'm doing. 

Keep cool, everyone. Ice cubes and tall glasses of water are your friend.

In My Mailbox, hosted by Kristi at The Story Siren, allows us to share our

current reads, and books we've received/checked out/purchased over the course of the week.

This post sort of encapsulates why I'm so behind on the blogging life. I'll be sharing three piles of books today: one is my leisure books that I desperately would love to start but haven't been able to; the second is a the books I have to read for my Heroines class; the third is for one of my political theory classes (though I haven't purchased all of the books yet).

Pandemonium, Lauren Oliver                                            The Portrait of a Lady, Henry James

Article 5, Kristen Simmons                                                Sister Carrie, Theodore Dreiser

Harbinger, Sara Wilson Étienne                                         The Bell Jar, Sylvia Plath

Fever, Lauren Oliver                                                          The Custom of the Country, Edith Warton

The Inheritance Trilogy, Christopher Paolini                     Recollections of My Life as a Woman, DiPrima

                                                                                           Praisesong of the Widow, Paule Marshall

                                                                                           The House of Mirth, Edith Warton

The Politics of the Veil, Joan Wallach Scott

The Law of Peoples, John Rawls

Selected International Human Rights Instruments

and Bibliography for Research, David Weissbrodt et. all

Selected topics on human rights theory course packet

This doesn't include the packets upon packets I'm reading for my other theory class. Warning: if you're ever thinking about majoring in the social sciences, particularly political science and/or human rights be ready to readreadread. It's a good thing I kind of like that reading thing. ;)

You may kind of see why I'm slightly behind. In fact while I'm drafting this post I should be finishing up Sister Carrie, an accompanying journal article discussing the book, and preparing for a presentation on it and another presentation for another class tomorrow. It's also a good thing I like school! So, I have all of these great non-school leisure books and I'm going to start picking at them one by one, slowly, until I finish the pile I have before requesting any others (unless something on my I've-been-waiting-for-this-forever pile comes up).

What's in your mailboxes this week, friends? I reckon I'm probably a bit behind on le(s) new books so I'm super excited to check all of your posts out later. :)

With the release of film version of The Hunger Games next month I've been rather excited anytime I see a mention of it anywhere. (For instance, I would have shared a picture on Twitter today of two adverts for it that I saw at 51st while riding the 6. If my car stops in the right place tomorrow I definitely will!) The content of these books are important to me and it's also difficult not to feel something for the characters and their circumstance.

My parents recently took a trip somewhere and I thought it would be the perfect time to offer up my copy of THG for her to read on the plane. A few days later I get a call saying that she's already finished it and is miffed she didn't take my suggestion to bring Catching Fire along as well. (Though she did say she was looking forward to reading it, and the wait just meant she could enjoy them longer. I was so proud.) Since she's gotten back she's finished the entire trilogy and has been discussing Finn and Peeta and Seneca Crane - among others - as if this is a mere re-read. My mom usually doesn't have a lot of time to read, so the fact that she's not only taken the time to read them but that she has read them all is somewhat of a testament to the fact that there is something between the pages of a book for everyone.

We all take something out of it whether it's fascination, seeing something of ourselves, to revulsion or confusion. Even dislike of a book means there's something in it that a person is reacting to. I decided to take advantage of her reading wave and gave to her Neal Shusterman's Unwind to have a go at. If you've been a reader here then you might know that I love this book, though it's a book that's difficult to love. Unwind is not an easy book, but, I think, it's a necessary one. The caveat I gave her before reading it was the same way I think everyone should: do not read the synopsis first; just dive right into it.

She figured it out for herself (though she hasn't read that part yet) and told me that she was absolutely shocked that the book is classified as YA. I disagreed and still do. Unfortunately, I don't see the things described in Unwind as being beyond the capacity of people nor beyond legislation were it scientifically possible. Perhaps I should disclose that I study human rights and sometimes feel like the majority of history that I read with regard to people is horrific enough to be beyond people's imaginations. But it isn't - it's happened. So, though perhaps the scientific ideas in the story are not 100% relatable in the present, is the idea behind it really so futuristic?

Have there been books you've suggested to people that they've either taken to unexpectedly or that they were entirely shocked by and not a fan of? Are there YA books that you love yet still wouldn't give a teenage audience to read? I don't support banning books, but perhaps there's a line here that you would draw that I might not, and so I'm curious.

Hi, folks! Just writing to say that I'm definitely still here, but that school has been intense and I've had very little time in between school and work to be as participatory as I would have liked. I do have some reviews scheduled - one for Beth Revis' A Million Suns will be coming up later this week, and one for Truth by Julia Karr will be posted later this month.

My finals end on Monday, so after that I will be a reading maniac and I am so thrilled about it. (I've been seriously eyeing Marie Lu's Legend at Posman's as I promised myself it will be my after-finals read; it's been soooo hard to not start it early! Dystopian? Yes, please!) There are a ton of review books that I have for this month and January, another giveaway will be coming sometime soon, and return of all the fun memes I participate in.

I've missed you guys and blogging something fierce. It's a lot of work - hard work - but I love it and you.

Thanks for being amazing and for helping me make this a place I can't wait to get back to. For all of my fellow students - good luck on your exams. To everyone else, keep being awesome! :)

I'm typing this on an iMac, I check my blog and Twitter from my iPhone. You could say I'm an Apple person in more ways than one. Steve, you crazy round peg, you're going to be missed something fierce.

Here's to the crazy ones. The misfits, the rebels, the troublemakers. The round pegs in the square holes. The ones who see things differently.

Since school started at the end of August I've been struggling to find time to properly catch up with my writing of reviews as on an average day I have to read anywhere from 20-80 pages a day, sometimes per class. I've toyed with the idea of writing shorter reviews for some (non-review) books but am slightly hesitant as I'm afraid that I'll be tinkering with the quality of the review.

When I'm not blowing through highlighters on the train with last-minute studying, I'm always reading, and so my reading to writing ratio is nowhere near even. However, there have been some books that I've read lately (Anna Dressed in Blood, A Need So Beautiful, Shade, and White Cat for starters) and have had some thoughts that I'd like to muse about.

I'm not sure how to insert a poll, and am not quite sure that'd be entirely accurate regardless. Feel free to leave a comment and share your thoughts. It'd be most appreciated. Thanks again, everyone!

Hi, folks! Due to the impending arrival of Hurricane Irene, and my living in New York,  this blog may be offline for a few days until everything calms down again. As of tomorrow the MTA is shutting down all public transit so it's going to be a mess, and we may or may not lose power, depending on how things go.

The start of the semester for uni has also been delayed due to the weather (and due to no one being able to get there without the subways/trains!) and so I'll be dealing with that into next week, as well.

I'm going to try to record another IMM vlog tonight as I don't anticipate receiving any more books for the week, and I broke my book buying ban again as Borders raised their sale to 50% off. If I don't, I'll post it sometime early in the week.

To everyone on the East Coast: Be safe. Be prepared. And check in when you can. Otherwise, have a good weekend!

My mind, as it is wont to do, meanders tangentially off every now and again. As I was writing something down to empty my brain earlier I once again came to conclusion that for me, characters are what make or break a story. If I can't love a character, then getting into the book is approximately 100x harder. (Note: I've been meaning to have a weekly post on characters that I've loved and why I've loved them. Stay tuned for that!)

This got me thinking: what is it for you guys? What is that certain element about a book that just clicks everything together for you? Setting, words, description - you name it.

Fill in the blank.

This is a huge hyperbole, but, I'm sure I'm the last person in the world to have seen this. Although that may be the case I wanted to share it anyone, regardless, as I find it it to be startlingly beautiful. Stop-motion is one of my favorite types of animation because ultimately it takes a labor of love to create all of the individual pieces and shots and frames to sew it all together to create the picture in your mind. Paired with hauntingly lovely music (self-composed and performed), well, I have to say that I am stunned.

stop-motion trailer for shiver by maggie stiefvater

I spent a little bit debating this, but I thought the fun possibilities of it would outweigh the oddness of the question and so here we are. 

I've found how fun Twitter can be for a book blogger (you guys are hilarious) and I'm pretty sure that there are lots of you that I'm not following either because I didn't have an account or you didn't or maybe we flew past each other (Firebolt or Nimbus?) on our rush to purchase our tickets for the midnight showing of HP7. Technicalities. 

So, friends! Are you on Twitter? Are we tweeting buddies? If not, can we remedy that? If you are a twitterer (is that a word?) what's your name? I'm the oh so original @papereader. 

Okay, the book I abandoned a half-hour ago is calling my name again I'm pretty sure. Good night, everyone! I look forward to tweet tweeting with you!

Hi, everyone! Just a quick note: I'll be away for the weekend and so any replies to comments, e-mail or Twitter will be on hiatus for the next dew days. Today is my birthday and for once I have a normal weekend off (I usually work on Saturdays!) and so I'm rather looking forward to it. :)

I solemnly swear that I am up to no good will
eat lots of cupcakes today!

Have a great weekend everyone - hopefully with some amazing reads! 

I started this blog in February because I love books. I love books so much that I want to share that feeling with everyone - and every single one of you has made my time here so far so very much worth it. I consider myself blessed, enriched, and so very grateful. Jessica of Jessica's Bookshelf became the newest of my 100 (now 101!) fabulous and thoughtful followers.


I couldn't do this without you guys. Reading is fun, but wanting it to share it with you all and having such fantastic interactions and conversations makes it all worth it.


Yes, I've been a little behind lately due to being rather busy with work and getting all my ducklings in a row for school, but I am here and I am usually not found without a book. Hopefully I will post a couple more reviews over the next few days and there's something else I'd like to start up so we'll see how that goes.


In any case, and most importantly: thank you. I look forward to seeing where this goes, but I'm humbled you're all here along for the ride.

For some reason I'm having an incredibly difficult time writing this one review - for a book I enjoyed quite a bit - and so I apologise for not being all caught up on them. I might have to set it aside for now and go to the next one. What do you guys do when you're stuck on a review? I reckon I write these posts.

The other day I posted about how you would feel if you could read cut scenes from a book. While watching the Dark Days of Supernatural tour another thing also came to me, also from something Veronica Roth said. (I think I would love to sit in a coffee shop and have a chat with her.) I'm not sure of the question that prompted the answer, but I believe they were asked if there was anything that they had changed about the book during editing, although it could have been about their favorite character. Either way the one big thing about Divergent is that the first 30 pages of the book were originally written from Four's perspective which made him easier to flesh out later as Veronica always knew what he was doing relative to Tris.

My favorite series that does this is the one from my last post, A Song of Ice and Fire, but you may also be familiar with it from Julie Kagawa's Iron Fey series. Although most of the series is seen from Meghan's POV, Summer's Crossing is told from Puck's perspective and The Iron Knight will be from Ash's. If you could see a book from a different character's perspective, either as a companion piece or short novella, which character would you choose? And from which book?

I'm not sure that I mentioned this here, but one of my favorite characters is Severus Snape for various reasons. Although this would probably be difficult, I would like to know Snape's take on the latter half of Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince. And if you haven't seen this deleted scene from the film version, if you're a Snape fan I think you'd enjoy it. It breaks my heart.

I'm currently watching the Dark Days of Supernatural livestream and as I've been listening I thought, hmm, these comments would make an interesting post. The question was about the writing process, and Veronica Roth was commenting about something a professor had told her about cutting extraneous content from a story such as what characters were wearing or what they were eating. Of course cut scenes also can be dialogue or action scenes.

If you had the option to read a fully unedited version of a book would you choose to read it, or might you choose not to out of the chance that it might interfere with how much you enjoy the finished product?

Personally I'm not sure what I would do, although my answer might vary depending on the book that I were deciding about. Would I want to read an uneditedcut version of A Dance with Dragons? Probably, but it would most likely be thousands of pages long. An uneditedcut Harry Potter? No, I don't think so, because I love the way everything flows as is thanks to the goddess JKR.

The first words I remember reading were the names of the states on a puzzle map of the United States I had when I was a baby. Even before I could make out the letters, I would study the shapes and memorise the edges and their location to other funnily shaped pieces. As I got older I began to attempt to pronounce the names and their capitals and once I was old enough to read I would ask that other family members time me on how fast I could complete the puzzle and my knowledge of states and their capitals.

This knowledge served me well in 5th grade when weekly we had a state quiz. We were given a piece of paper with enough blank lines for all of the states with just the initial letter to help us out. From the very first test to the last I could remember and spell correctly all of the states and did so in a short manner of time.

So, from the very beginning, I loved words and their shapes and potential. I loved learning more about them and what I could do with them. And it stuck with me. 

But not every child is like that. For some letters, words, and their placement is a battle. For some they aren't magical but a chore and no matter how deftly crafted the story the interest isn't there. I understand this as that's why people are individuals. However, when Harry Potter was released, and then, later, Twilight, it was almost as if an entirely new door was opened for so many kids. It didn't matter what they were reading, just that they were. Without those doorways and then the genre that opened up after some of those kids many not have had the interest to continue.

One of my biggest issues with books in general is that sometimes an author - or maybe even a parent- assumes that big words or realistic overtones will scare a kid off or implant bad ideas into their heads. Is that possible? Yes, of course. Statistically, no. Give children credit. They are smarter than people give them credit for and when you give them room for their imaginations to create and explore than you've given them a gift beyond measure. People need to know about Deb Caletti's Stay and that it's okay to say 'no' to an abusive relationship. They need to know they aren't alone and that there is help out there for them. Or they could read David Ward's Between Two Ends and get lost in a sea of words but learn about the deeper relationships between people. 

Judy Blume. Roald Dahl. Dr. Seuss. J.D. Salinger. Lois Lowry. C.S. Lewis. Stephanie Meyer - you know, it doesn't really matter. There are a lot of decisions parents should be making for their kids, but I don't think acting as a shelter from YA really should be near the top of any list.

Thanks, Mom, for letting me read as much as I wanted needed to and the only fine we had to pay was to the library.

Hi, everyone! It's been a bit of a rough week for me, so I do apologise for the fewer reviews and posts. I'm going away for the weekend and promise to post reviews of Spellbound and Dreams of Significant Girls not long after I come back.

No Follow Friday or hop for me, but I hope you all have a wonderful weekend.

Time to decompress with some books, a hammock and a lake. (And I'm bringing the Kindle in case I finish the two books I'm bringing with me!)

Arrivederci!

I blog because I love books and I want to share my love of them with others.

For me it's as simple as that. When someone comments on one of my posts it really makes me ridiculously happy because I'm meeting other people who also love to read and talk about books. To be able to read their words and nod enthusiastically in agreement or 'hmmm' aloud in reply because they have pointed out a way to look at a book or character that I hadn't thought of before is such an amazing part of the Internet. That exchange of ideas is such a huge way to grow that I can honestly tell you that I've added so many books to my TBR list that I might never have heard of otherwise. So, honestly: thank you.

I will admit that I do not actively network mainly because I don't want to think of this blog in those terms. If a blog that I follow links to another site that has something I find interesting on it the chances are I will comment on the post, browse other posts and then follow the new site. I follow because your thoughts and ideas are written in a manner that just speaks volumes and because book bloggers tend to be a varied group of incredibly smart and interesting folks.

Before I even go to update my site I tend to go over the list of blogs that I follow and read and comment; I don't want to be someone who just follows and doesn't interact. I really enjoy reading your posts and, yes, I will read over old posts and comment on them, too, so don't be surprised if that pops up! I blog because I enjoy it and I follow you because I enjoy it and meeting new people.

I spent probably about two and a half hours writing my first review because I was nervous stiff. I wrote, edited, reworded, reformatted, spellchecked more times than I can count - I was so nervous because there are so many what ifs: what if it's too short, what if it doesn't contain enough information, what if it's just not good? But then as I wrote them more and more it became more like a stream of consciousness. I'm still nervous, but I write what I feel. My reviews, my blog, my design is pretty indicative of me. I like blue and more and more I like bright colors. I like simplicity and a sparse design without too many images. And I like creating things myself. My blog represents me just as much as my words.

After finding that lots of authors and book bloggers have Twitter accounts I created one to follow everyone. Twitter is interesting because it takes the context of your blog and reformats it into 140 characters and almost feels freeing, like blogging is using your indoor voice where on Twitter you can squee and yell all you like. (I'm @papereader there, too!)

I'm not particularly sure I answered the question but I hope I made it at least halfway there.

Have a good night, guys! It's ice cream time.

Good morning, everyone! It's that sort of sunny day outside that makes you believe you can get anything done. My big projects for today and the next week or so is to sort of give my room an overhaul so that I have a better place to study with the added benefit of having a better workspace to blog in!

At the present everything is a bit of a mess, but it's always that way before it gets better. Cleaning out my closet I found boxes and boxes of books.  Once everything is straightened I'm going to make a bookshelf. I'm toying with the idea of having everything lined up chromatically, but...that might be a bit difficult to find something. The idea of a bookshelf makes me all sorts of giddy.

And what do you guys think about reading in this?

fishbol bookbench - with a pillow and a throw blanket... y/n?

I'll show you guys when I'm done! And to come later - a review of Uglies & Pretties!