Retrospect #73-75 (Triple Edition): June 7

In My Life

Venturing Into New Music

As I’m writing up this Retrospect post, I am listening to EDM/House music. I can’t believe it myself but Joey put together a list of recs, so here I am. Usually I listen to acoustic-driven music, such as from singer-songwriters, folk and a dash of indie. Deviating from that is a huge step into the unknown for me. So far I’m pleasantly surprised. I don’t think I could listen to his kind of music the whole day long but once in a while, why not?

Travel: Philippines

Last month I spent a week in the Philippines on vacation to visit my relatives. The last time I was there was years ago, so this year my mum decided to take me along. I’m very glad I had the privilege of spending time there because firstly, family! and secondly, it is a beautiful country. I spent most of the time in the province, which meant immersing myself into farm life and a day in Baguio where the weather is much more temperate and the mountains are amazing to behold.

Book Haul

My preferred book format is paperback. I am not a fan of hardcovers. In fact, I have a shelf on Goodreads, wait for paperback because I’d rather own and read the paperbacks. Yes, I’m waiting a year or more after the original publication dates for those books. This is why it’s very uncharacteristic of me to have hauled a bunch of hardcovers (as pictured above this post).

The reason I hauled these hardcovers is that I’m most excited about these, and am not prepared to wait for the paperbacks. I could’ve bought the ebooks but somehow I expect to enjoy these books a lot and I like owning printed copies of such books. The exception is The Raven Boys, of course, since it’s long been available in every format. Plus, I’ve read it. Even though I own the audiobook and ebook versions of The Raven Boys, I decided to get a printed copy that I can re-read and annotate.

Belows is the list of books I’ve hauled the past couple of weeks. Like I said, unusual is the collection of hardcovers. Also unusual is that I bought books to re-read (I hardly ever re-read) and I bought three books at local bookstores instead of online, like I usually do.

1. Immaculate by Katelyn Detweiler
2. 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
3. Made You Up by Francesca Zappia
4. The Raven Boys by Maggie Stiefvater (to re-read)
5. The Lucy Variations by Sara Zarr (to re-read)
6. Virtuosity by Jessica Martinez (to re-read)
7. The Vow by Jessica Martinez (to re-read)
8. The Convent by Maureen McCarthy (at a local bookstore)
9. After Summer by Nick Earls (at a local bookstore)
10. Objects of Affection by Krishna Udayasankar (at a local bookstore)
11. Nantucket Sisters by Nancy Thayer
12. Tempo Change by Barbara Hall
13. The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
14. Terms of Service: Social Media and the Price of Constant Connection by Jacob Silverman
15. Making Artisan Gelato by Torrance Kopfer

On the Blog

Blog Posts

This week I posted my most important blog post yet: Thanks for Stealing Photos. I shed light on how feature accounts expect gratefulness in the bookstagram community and why this isn’t right. I also explained copyright of photos in general, noting that reposting photos on Instagram without permission is stealing, even if there’s credit given in the caption.

As usual, I participated in Mise-en-scène where the theme over the past few weeks were Eyes, Music and Field. Reading-wise, I introduced the books Hazel and I picked for our May 2015 Epic Recs and finally delved into Daughter of Smoke and Bone.

In my absence, I hosted #RavenBoysWeek here on Word Revel. Some of my favourite bloggers came together to contribute posts that celebrate The Raven Cycle, and encourage everyone to read the series:

1. Crini: Ten Reasons to read the Raven Cycle
2. Asti: The Raven Boys Meets Boy Band
3. Sana: The Raven Boys Playlist: Unreleased Tracks
4. Lillian: Books for Ley Line Explorers
5. Chiara: Ronan Lynch: Hella Gay & Why it’s a Good Thing
6. Georgie: The Raven Cycle in More Than Words
7. Jess: A Crack In Gansey’s Purity

Book Reviews

I read and reviewed Graffiti Moon by Cath Crowley upon Hazel’s recommendation. What I enjoyed most about it was how Crowley beautifully intertwined her story revolving around graffiti with lyrical prose — grit and aesthetics well-combined.

For the very first time I reviewed a work of classic. Instead of my usual reviews, I spent more time discussing Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury. I compared my expectations with what I really got out of the book though sadly, I didn’t find it as great as I had believed it would be.

Most disappointing was the series finale End of Days by Susan Ee. My recommendation is, read Angelfall, pretend it’s a standalone and ignore the remaining two books in the trilogy.

Around the Blogosphere

• Sandra @ Tea Between Books wonders if favourite books equal favourite authors. Her idea of a favourite author is probably very different from most because she considers an author a favourite if she likes them as a person. To me, a favourite author is one whose books I’ve consistently enjoyed.
• Hazel @ Stay Bookish is toying with the idea of a bimonthly E-magazine for YA book lovers. I think it’s a splendid idea and if you think so too, go show your support in the comments section!
• Shannelle @ The Art of Escapism shared some poignant thoughts on being better at blogging. These thoughts aren’t only applicable to blogging but also to other goals we might have in life. It’s definitely a worthy read to get you thinking of what you want to achieve.
• Kayla @ The Thousand Lives considered why purging shelves was so hard in the past. Her reason resonated with me so much: “I think part of it was me holding on to that person I used to be.” Recently she discovered that it’s easier when you consider if you’ll ever read a particular book and if not, then it should go. Useful book purging tip right there.
• Amy @ Tenpenny Dreams listed 10 problems with reading the book first. Thinking her list over, I’ve come to the conclusion that it’s okay to pick one version and go with it. After all, comparing the book and TV/movie adaptation can be such a pain. So, I’m ready to admit that I’ll likely never watch The Fault in our Stars and conversely, I’ll probably never read The 100.

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Have you travelled recently? Where to?