reading

The Entertainer Blogger Award

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 11 Comments
Thank you to Metal Phantasm Reads for tagging me in this. I always find these things fun and it is so nice to know you were thought of. 

Rules

  1. Thank the person who nominated you and post a link to their blog
  2. Nominate at least 12 people who you find fun, inspiring and entertaining!
  3. Include the graphic in your post
  4. Answer all the provided questions

 

Why did you start your blog in the first place?

I started Literary Weaponry for a few reasons. The first being that I have definite opinions about books and I wanted to share them outside of Goodreads and Amazon reviews. Secondly, I wanted a website for my resume as I have been applying for newspaper, library, and transcription work. I can’t deny that I hope to make money from this at some point, however, it is also just fun and fulfilling to be a part of this diverse reading community.

What is your favorite book?

How does anyone answer that question? It’s like asking which kid is your favorite. I’ll give you a couple:

 

What do you dislike the most?

In books or in the world? In books I hate weak characters most. You know, that character that always needs saved and has no thoughts in their head and ignores the fact that free will is a thing? I hate that. I hate it more than love triangles and anything else. In the world, if I had to put a pin on it, I hate prejudices. It frustrates me to no end that I go out with my family and we get funny looks. I am Caucasian, my husband is Puerto Rican, and obviously our daughter is an adorable mix of the two. The looks we get sometimes just make my blood boil.

What is your favorite food at the mall?

Salted pretzels with cheese dip. Holy moly, it is so hard to resist those. I need the warm, salty pretzels and the sticky artificially colored and flavored orange cheese dip. It is amazing.

What is your favorite past time?

Uuuuhhhhh. I’m not one for hobbies so that is a bit difficult. I love watching old MASH reruns. You can never have too much Alan Alda. I feel like I’m writing an ad for a dating website or something, “I love old TV shows, listening to the rain on the roof, and catching fireflies.”

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I hereby tag:

All ya’ll. I mean really, if you want to do this, please do it! If you do pop your link in the comments so I can take a look. Have a beautiful day, everyone.

Throwback Thursday – August 3

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 3 Comments

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Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you! Continue reading →

What Makes a Book Special to you?

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 10 Comments

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Just like every person is different, every reader will have a different idea of what exactly makes a good book. Maybe you are the kind of person that really enjoys curling up with a glass of chardonnay and a good old Nora Roberts romance. Maybe you like to turn off all of the lights, set flame to a few candles, and read Dean Koontz’s latest thriller on your e-reader while soaking in the tub. Then again, perhaps you are a busy mom whose only time to read is between sessions of chasing your child at the park and you grab whatever book is handy to escape for a few minutes.

Continue reading →

July Wrap Up

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 4 Comments

Here we are at the end of July. Summer is winding down and all things “pumpkin” are starting to show up in stores and I’m sure the infamous pumpkin spice latte is not far behind. I don’t mind fall, but the last bit of summer is always bittersweet.

July wasn’t the most fantastic month of reading for me. Let’s face it, the bright sunshine had me outside with the dog more often than I sat inside curled up with a good book.

Continue reading →

Throwback Thursday – July 27

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 5 Comments

throwbackthursday

Renee began Throwback Thursday at Its Book Talk as a way to share some of her old favorites as well as sharing books that she wants to read that were published over a year ago. Books that were published over a year ago are almost always easier to find at libraries or at a discounted sale price. As I have been sifting through my TBR list and purging those books that no longer hold my interest, I came across several from years past that I’d love to share with you!

Continue reading →

Rainbow Book Tag

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 9 Comments

I ran across this tag over at Reading Every Night and thought it looked like fun. There are so many beautiful book covers in such varied colors. I’ve been guilty of buying a book by the strength of it’s cover alone and, admittedly, eye catching color combinations certainly play a roll in that. Here are some covers of books I have read that make up the rainbow!

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Rules:

  • It must be the dominant colour of the cover not the spine!
  • If you do not own a book of a certain colour, just choose one that has the colour on it somewhere.
  • It has to be a book you own and/or has to be the exact edition you read (e.g. there are two different covers for Me Before You, you would choose the one you read).
  • Tag some people to do it! Whether they be Bloggers, Bookstagrammers or BookTubers.

 

Red

Victoria by Daisy Goodwin

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Orange

Bryant & May and the Bleeding Heart (Bryant and May #11) by Christopher Fowler
It was pretty hard to find an orange book that I had read!

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Yellow

Confessions of an Ugly Stepsister by Gregory Maguire

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Green

Freedom’s Ransom (Catteni #4) by Anne McCaffrey

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Blue

Silent in the Sanctuary by Deanna Raybourn

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Indigo/Turquoise

The Witch of Painted Sorrows by M.J. Rose

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Purple

The Song Rising by Samantha Shannon

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Pink

The Tale of Castle Cottage (The Cottage Tales of Beatrix Potter #8) by Susan Wittig Albert

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Brown

Nefertiti by Michelle Moran

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White

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

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Black

Heartless by Marissa Meyer

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That is it for the Rainbow Book Tag! It was actually pretty difficult to find the orange and pink covers. Red, black, and white gave me plenty of options! If you want to do this tag, please do, just toss your link to it in the comments here so I can check it out. Have a beautiful day, everyone!

Also, toss me a follow over on Goodreads. I’d love to see what everyone is reading!

WWW Wednesday – July 26

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 6 Comments

WWWWednesday

WWW Wednesday is a meme hosted by Sam at Taking on a World of Words and was formerly hosted by A Daily Rhythm. It is open for anyone to participate, even without a blog you can comment on Sam’s post with your own answers. It is a great way to share what you’ve been reading! All you have to do is answer three questions and share a link to your blog in the comments section of Sam’s blog.

The three Ws are:

What are you currently reading?

What did you recently finish reading?

What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

 

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I have not opened a book since last week as I am on a self imposed hiatus. I was getting burnt out and reading was just making me annoyed. Instead, I am working on finishing the outline for my own book. Many readers have dreams of becoming a writer, it is time to make those dreams come true.

 

What did you recently finish reading?

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Constable & Toop by Gareth P. Jones

This book was a bit of a let down. The premise was interesting…

Something mysterious and terrible is happening throughout Victorian London: Ghosts are disap­pearing. When this reaches the attention of the Ghost Bureau, the diligent but clueless Mr. Lapsewood, a paranormal paper-pusher, is sent to investigate, and what he discovers is grave. The Black Rot has arrived—a voracious spiritual infestation whereby empty haunted houses suck in unsuspecting ghosts and imprison them. Lapsewood’s investigation weaves through the plotlines of several other memorable characters—both living and dead—including an undertaker’s son who can see ghosts, a serial throat-slasher reminiscent of Jack the Ripper, an evangelical exorcist, and many more. The living and dead must work together if they hope to destroy the Black Rot—before it destroys both the ghost and human worlds. – from Goodreads

…but it ended up not following through entirely. The story jumped around between different POVS and it was hard to follow what characters you were supposed to be with. You’d get a chapter with who you thought was the main character and then not see them again for another three or four chapters. Good book, but not great. Full review coming on July 28th.

 

What do you think you’ll read next?

As I said, self imposed reading hiatus, but I have a few books to choose from when I decide to pick one up again. Could grab any of them depending on my mood at the time, although, I have to admit, A God in the Shed is pulling at me.

 

Please leave your own WWW Wednesday links in the comments, I’d love to check out your posts! Happy Wednesday and happy reading.

Top Ten Tuesday – Books I Liked/Didn’t Like More Than Expected

~ Amanda @ Literary Weaponry ~ 5 Comments

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It is Tuesday once again and the wonderful ladies over at The Broke and the Bookish are still on their hiatus. That’s alright, gives me a reason to make my own stuff up! Not that I ever entirely follow their themes anyway. It is so easy to get derailed.

This week I stumbled across a post over on Thrice Read about books they liked/didn’t like as much as they expected. I thought, hey! What a great Top Ten Tuesday theme! So, here it is. Top Ten Tuesday- Books I liked/didn’t like more than I expected.

 

Books I didn’t like that I had expected to enjoy

Daughter of Smoke & Bone (Daughter of Smoke & Bone #1) by Laini Taylor – So, yeah, I finished this one up about two weeks ago now and didn’t even bother to write a review on it. Everyone seems to love this book. The amount of lovey gush is astronomical. You know what? It bored me. Bored bored bored.

Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare –  Never ending dialogue and half witted, selfish, single minded characters. I went into this read completely excited and ready to love it. I have never been more let down by a book in my life and that is saying something.

A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J Maas – After the masterpiece that was A Court of Mist and Fury I have to admit that I was expecting a lot from this book. It did not deliver on ANY level. I gave it a 2/5 on Goodreads I was so agitated with it.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer – This book was just dull. I picked this book up after I had read Meyer’s Heartless which I adored. Cinder, however, was a let down. I may continue the series at some point but the longer I wait, the more I doubt it. Simple characters, simple story, did not give me any feels, and some really awkward dialogue? No thanks.

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo – Hello to another book that completely bored me. The characters were dull, the story was long with very little of consequence happening, and I was just damn bored! This one was a struggle to get through. It has such a huge following I was expecting much more out of it.

Books I loved with no prior expectations

The Case of the Green-Dressed Ghost by Lucy Banks – I got this book as an ARC a few months back and didn’t really know what to expect from it. Happy to say that I loved it. Light read, entertaining without being overkill. Just a good book.

Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn – I mentioned in my review previously that I picked this book up pretty much at random. Sometimes I take my daughter to the library to play when the weather is bad and I grabbed this off the shelf to entertain myself while she did her puzzles and what not. Could not put it down once I had it. Excellent book.

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab – When I started blogging at the beginning of this year I noticed a few people mentioning this book. I didn’t really read much about it, mostly skimmed a few blog posts on it and picked it up on a whim at Barnes and Noble. Schwab quickly became one of my top five favorite authors. So glad I grabbed it that snowy day.

The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern –  It feels like it has been a lifetime since I read this book but I can still remember it clearly. This one was picked up on the strength of it’s cover alone and I just fell in love with the story. Many people say that the descriptions in this book are over the top but I love them. Lyrical without being tacky. Just a good, well written story.

The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon – Have I brought this book up enough on my blog? Probably but I will continue to do so. This is another one that I purchased on the strength of it’s cover alone. I was on lunch break from work one day and there was a Barnes and Noble just up the street so I went in to browse the shelves. I purchased this book without knowing ANYTHING about it other than, “Man, what an eye catching cover!” Since then I have re-read it a half dozen times, purchased the next two in the series which have also been re-read, and ended up completely adoring the author.

 

That is it for this Top Ten Tuesday. What books have you read with high expectations that just crashed and burned for you? What books were pleasant surprises? Let me know in the comments and, of course, feel free to leave your own TTT link!