Faouzia's Reading Challenge "List 2"

[Faouzia]

I love making book lists, i think i already said this once or twice before :D
Since it is the second list of the year, i am going to skip the Alternatives, just 12 books i really want to read.
As usual i am not following a specific concept for the choice, just whatever appealed to me. There are some on-going series, new series, standalone.
Let's see if i manage to finish it without getting sidetracked a lot :D

Here we go:

1. Dead Poets Society
2. Death on the Nile 3 Stars
3. Inkdeath 3,5 Stars
4. Huntress Moon 4 Stars
5. Waking Gods 4 Stars
6. Jade Dragon Mountain
7. The Purity of Vengeance
8. The Ocean at the End of the Lane 2 Stars
9. Upgrade
10. Odd Thomas 3,5 Stars
11. Fairy Tale
12. Nineteen Minutes 2,5 Stars

[Carolien]

Such an interesting selection of books! Enjoy your second list!

[Martha]

Great list! Congrats on getting to a 2nd list!!

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Great list, Faouzia!!

I cannot wait for Fairy Tale!!! This just speaks to my soul. I will probably pre-order! He is the only author I will do that for.

I loved Purity of Vengeance. I am a sucker for Department Q

[Lea]

What a great list, Faouzia! Congrats on making a second list! I have read and enjoyed Jade Dragon Mountain, Odd Thomas, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Nineteen Minutes. I'm interested in most of the other books on your list so it will be fun to see what you think.

[Bill, Moderator]

I love your selections, some I've enjoyed very much and others I'd like to try. Good luck.

[Faouzia]

Carolien wrote: "Such an interesting selection of books! Enjoy your second list!"

Thanks Carolien :)

[Faouzia]

Martha wrote: "Great list! Congrats on getting to a 2nd list!!"

Thank you Martha :)

[Faouzia]

Alondra wrote: "Great list, Faouzia!!

I cannot wait for Fairy Tale!!! This just speaks to my soul. I will probably pre-order! He is the only author I will do that for.

I loved Purity of Vengean..."

Thank you Alondra!
I am also looking forward to reading Fairy Tale

[Faouzia]

Lea wrote: "What a great list, Faouzia! Congrats on making a second list! I have read and enjoyed Jade Dragon Mountain, Odd Thomas, The Ocean at the End of the Lane, and Nineteen Minutes. I'm interested in mos..."

Thanks Lea.
i already ordered a couple of books, so i will be starting soon with the new list!

[Faouzia]

Bill wrote: "I love your selections, some I've enjoyed very much and others I'd like to try. Good luck."

Thanks Bill :)

[Desley (Cat fosterer)]

Glad I looked at your list, I wasn't aware of that Stephen King gook, will see what people think. I did enjoy the Odd Thomas series and like Blake Crouch, Agatha Christie and Jodi Picoult.

[Faouzia]

Desley (Cat fosterer) wrote: "Glad I looked at your list, I wasn't aware of that Stephen King gook, will see what people think. I did enjoy the Odd Thomas series and like Blake Crouch, Agatha Christie and Jodi Picoult."

The books of Stephen King and Blake Crouch are the most awaited books for me this year. Like Alondra, i am almost tempted to pre-order them :)

[Faouzia]

Starting the new challenge with (don't you just love that cover!)
It is the last book of the series, and i am really looking forward to it.
I remember first coming across the story through the movie Inkheart with Brendan Fraser as Mo. It was a beautiful movie.
The story in the books was even more interesting and got rather darker in the second part.
Well, we'll see how it all ends! At least a series with all its parts published and especially available :D

[Bill, Moderator]

Faouzia wrote: "Starting the new challenge with (don't you just love that cover!)
It is the last book of the series, and i am really looking forward to it.
I remember first coming acro..."

I look forward to your thoughts. If you want dark....

[Ioana]

Ohhh, nice list! A lot of these books are on my TBR, can't wait to hear your thoughts on them. Happy reading!

[Lillie]

Love your list! I've read some and really liked them (Death on the Nile, Waking Gods, Jade Dragon Mountain, The Purity of Vengeance and The Ocean at the End of the Lane). And I'm eagerly awaiting Crouch's Ugrade. Enjoy :)

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Faouzia wrote: "Starting the new challenge with (don't you just love that cover!)
It is the last book of the series, and i am really looking forward to it.
I remember first coming acro..."

I think I really need to give Inkheart another try. I attempted a read a few years ago and just getting get past page 50; but everyone here enjoyed it. Mmmm

[Bill, Moderator]

Alondra wrote: "Faouzia wrote: "Starting the new challenge with (don't you just love that cover!)
It is the last book of the series, and i am really looking forward to it.
I remember f..."

Every book isn't for everybody. They have to strike a chord.

[Faouzia]

Ioana wrote: "Ohhh, nice list! A lot of these books are on my TBR, can't wait to hear your thoughts on them. Happy reading!"

Thanks Ioana :D

[Faouzia]

Lillie wrote: "Love your list! I've read some and really liked them (Death on the Nile, Waking Gods, Jade Dragon Mountain, The Purity of Vengeance and The Ocean at the End of the Lane). And I'm eagerly awaiting C..."

Thanks Lillie.
I discovered Blake Crouch rather late, but i'm loving his style and his stories

[Faouzia]

Alondra wrote: "Faouzia wrote: "Starting the new challenge with (don't you just love that cover!)
It is the last book of the series, and i am really looking forward to it.
I remember f..."

I remember that the beginning wasn't very compelling maybe that's why. But i think you should give it another chance, maybe you'll like it this time.
Otherwise, like Bill said "Every book isn't for everybody" , There are way many others books waiting for you Alondra :D

[Alissa]

Awesome list!!! I will say Nineteen Minutes is a HEAVY read but its one of my favorites of hers, and I loved the ending/

[〰️Beth〰️]

Faouzia wrote: "Starting the new challenge with (don't you just love that cover!)
It is the last book of the series, and i am really looking forward to it.
I remember first coming acro..."

I admit I would definitely consider buying it for the cover art! I have to start the series, it was buried in my TBR.

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Bill wrote: "Every book isn't for everybody. They have to strike a chord. ..."

So true, Bill.!!

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Faouzia wrote: "I remember that the beginning wasn't very compelling maybe that's why. But i think you should give it another chance, maybe you'll like it this time...."

Thanks Faouzia. Someone has said that before; so I will try again. I do love many middle-grade and younger YA books. I think I was reading Percy Jackson and Artemis Fowl and had high expectations of greatness. I love both of those series and really miss them.

[Faouzia]

Thanks Alissa. I am reading Nineteen Minutes right now and it is not an easy story to read. I am liking it so far though

[Faouzia]

Thanks Beth. the cover does look nice and the story is very interesting as well. I hope you enjoy it when you read it.

[Faouzia]

I finished Inkdeath last week. what a journey this series had been.

My review:

3,5 stars

This was a beautiful ending to the story that began with Mo opening Inkheart, reading out Dustfinger and Capricorn out of its pages and losing his wife within the pages of the book.
I think that Cornelia Funke wrote beautifully one answer to the question that bother some readers (including myself): what happens to the story when you close the book after the last page.
Well the answer is quite simple: the story goes on of course!

The Inkheart trilogy started in our world and then continued in the Inkworld, taking many beloved characters to that fictional world.
I loved reading it, and somehow in my review I can't separate the 3 books.
You would ask then why it isn't a 5 or even 4 stars rating. Well, I hesitate a lot but in the end settled on 3,5. I had some reservations about certain aspects of the story in this last book. This didn't change the fact that I loved it, couldn't put it out of hands and was glad that I finally got to read it.

At the beginning of the review, I said it was a beautiful ending. I think it was more like a beautiful closure for the chapter but the story will continue. There are many questions left to be answered, many aspects of the Inkworld I would like to know. It's not a cliffhanger though, which makes it even better. Many books are forgotten almost the moment you close the book. This one won't.

[Bill, Moderator]

Faouzia wrote: "I finished Inkdeath last week. what a journey this series had been.

My review:

3,5 stars

This was a beautiful ending to the story that began with Mo opening Inkheart, reading out Dustfinger and ..."

Excellent review and I agree about this series. Rich, textured and fascinating.

[Faouzia]

Finished .
It was a difficult book to rate an review as well. It was more 2,75 stars rounded to 3 Stars.

Well i like the story but i didn't enjoy reading it. I'm not sure this makes a lot of sense. It was not because of story (although it was a difficult theme to tackle), nor the characters (they were a colourful and interesting set of characters). But there was something off for me, i couldn't quite put my finger on it.
Anyway, the ending was rather a surprise for me.
The only advice i can give regarding this book is: don't read it if you are needing a book to cheer you out. This one definitely won't.

[Faouzia]

Another book finished over the weekend . 4 Stars.

Well for this one i had no mixed feelings. I loved it and i'm glad to see that the story is getting better.
It seems that the more we learn about what's going on, the more complicated it gets . Right now, i don't see how it would all end. That's why i am moving up on my TBR. I need to know what happens, before i start forgetting details about the story.

[Ioana]

I felt the same about Nineteen Minutes. I know she wrote more books recently, but I haven't read one in a very long time. I'm not sure if I want to...and I used to love her books.

Yes! read Only Human soon, great series!

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Faouzia wrote: "Another book finished over the weekend . 4 Stars.

Well for this one i had no mixed feelings. I loved it and i'm glad to see that the story is getting better.
It see..."

Woot! Glad you enjoyed it. The first book was definitely my favorite.

[Alissa]

Faouzia wrote: "Another book finished over the weekend . 4 Stars.

Well for this one i had no mixed feelings. I loved it and i'm glad to see that the story is getting better.
It see..."

I love this series!

[Lillie]

Faouzia wrote: "Another book finished over the weekend . 4 Stars.

Well for this one i had no mixed feelings. I loved it and i'm glad to see that the story is getting better.
It see..."

Ok, I’m going to admit it, when I read the print book, I absolutely loathed the book. But then I went back and listened to the audiobook and what a difference! It was so good that I raced to download the next two as soon as I finished the first. Great series.

It took a couple of books in the same style for me to realize that reading an interview style book does not work for me. Now when I see something written that way, I run to see if it’s in audiobook format.

[Faouzia]

Ioana wrote: "I felt the same about Nineteen Minutes. I know she wrote more books recently, but I haven't read one in a very long time. I'm not sure if I want to...and I used to love her books.

Yes..."

I actually lowered my rating by 1/2 a star. I rarely do it, but the book kept bothering me. I don't even know why.

[Faouzia]

Alondra wrote: "Faouzia wrote: "Another book finished over the weekend . 4 Stars.

Well for this one i had no mixed feelings. I loved it and i'm glad to see that the story is gettin..."

The two books are great for me. It is a fascinating series and honestly i wouldn't have thought of reading it if it weren't for you Alondra! So a big Thank you :D
And i can't wait to read the last book.

[Faouzia]

Alissa wrote: "I love this series!"

Me too Alissa! :)

[Faouzia]

Lillie wrote: "Ok, I’m going to admit it, when I read the print book, I absolutely loathed the book. But then I went back and listened to the audiobook and what a difference! It was so good that I raced to download the next two as soon as I finished the first. Great series.."

This is really interesting Lillie. I couldn't get used to Audiobooks at all, i tried a couple a different genre but it never worked for me.
Glad you enjoyed the series anyway :)

[Faouzia]

Finished another on Death on the Nile

I do enjoy reading Agatha Christie, it has been a while since i read anything by her, and Death on The Nile was a good comeback :)
It is what i expect when i pick anything by her.
I enjoyed it, it was a good choice to read during an otherwise boring weekend :)

[Faouzia]

Next would be but first i might be doing a small break and reading (more like re-reading it for the umpteenth time)
Aaah, it always feels good to get back to Hogwarts!

[Lillie]

Faouzia wrote: "Lillie wrote: "This is really interesting Lillie. I couldn't get used to Audiobooks at all, i tried a couple a different genre but it never worked for me."

I used to feel the exact same way about audiobooks but it clicked for me one day. It might be because I was experiencing eye strain and wasn’t able to read print anymore. Or quarantining made me want to experience things differently. I’m not sure. But that’s what I love about books, there are different ways to consume stories. Actually, I’ve caught myself saying “I’m listening to my stories please don’t talk to me” to my family. I wasn’t even alive when stories on radio was a thing 😂😜

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Faouzia wrote: "The two books are great for me. It is a fascinating series and honestly i wouldn't have thought of reading it if it weren't for you Alondra! So a big Thank you :D
And i can't wait to read the last book...."

Woot-woot!! Glad I could be of service!! 😁

[Alondra, Moderator Schmoderator]

Faouzia wrote: "Next would be but first i might be doing a small break and reading (more like re-reading it f..."

I miss Harry Potter. I miss Lord of the Rings. What a time to be reading.

[Faouzia]

You're right about that Lillie, and that's also what I like about books and stories. everyone can find something perfect to suit him/her!

[Faouzia]

I miss Lord of the Rings too Alondra (I actually thought of rereading immediately after Harry Potter but I convinced myself I should wait a bit).
I read the 3 last Harry Potter books within a couple of weeks and when I finished I felt lost and kept thinking "what am gonna do now".
I have the feeling they don't make stories like those anymore.

[Faouzia]

And now back to my list. I started reading "The Ocean at the end of the lane". so far not bad, although I'm struggling a bit to concentrate on the story.
we'll see how it goes.

[Alissa]

You are KILLING List 2 already!

[Faouzia]

Thanks Alissa :D it does seem a good year for reading!
I saw you're doing well with your list too : D