John Green Week: My Favorite Videos

I've decided to make a whole new book blog soon (this one is too personal, I think).  It's in the works, but until then, I'm still participating in John Green Week, hosted by I Eat Words and a whole lot of other bloggers.

A little background for you about John Green:  he's an author, and has written several beautiful, heartwarming, and poignant YA contemporary novels.  His new novel, The Fault in Our Stars, is coming out on Tuesday (eeek!), thus the reason for John Green Week.  Also, he and his brother, Hank, make extremely awesome videos each week on their YouTube channel, Vlogbrothers.  The fans of these blogs are called Nerdfighters (and basically all that being a Nerdfighter means is that you're made of awesome).


Okay, so some background into how I was introduced to the awesomeness that is John Green and Vlogbrothers:  I'm in a book club, and a couple of the girls in the book club are huge YA readers.  I myself have now become a huge fan of YA (thanks Tracy and Mandy!).  Anyway, at one book club meeting, my friend Tracy, who had read all of John's books, got on a computer and told us that we MUST watch a couple videos.  A little background to the videos:  John and Hank set a schedule (it changes sometimes at the beginning of the year) as to when they will post videos.  If they fail to post a video at the scheduled time, the Nerdfighters can come up with punishments for them.  These two videos are punishments that Hank and John had to do for missing a post.  I'll show you those videos now (they also happen to be some of my favorites).


This one is of Hank trying to put on makeup like Katniss Everdeen from The Hunger Games:

And this one is of John doing some Nerd exercises:

If those videos aren't a great introduction to Vlogbrothers, I don't know what is!  

So this summer I set out to watch ALL the Vlogbrothers videos, from the beginning, in order. It took me a while, but I finished!  And I had a blast watching them!  Now I've read all of John's books (except for Let It Snow and Zombicorns.  And The Fault in Our Stars, of course!) and I really enjoyed them all!

Here are a couple of my other favorite videos from the Vlogbrothers:

This is the origin of Nerdfighters, where John misreads a video game called Aero Fighters:

And here's one from Hank that made me so happy - I correct people about some of these things all the time, especially the first one:

And one more funny one from Hank - I love when he says "Marchy times":

I hope you enjoyed my favorite videos.  What are some of your favorite Vlogbrothers videos?

(I just realized that in just over two weeks I will be seeing both John and Hank in the Tour de Nerdfighting in Austin, TX!  Woooohoooo!)

Questioning...

A couple of days ago, I decided that I wanted to make my blog more of a priority in my life this year.  I also decided that I wanted my blog to focus on book reviews, mostly YA.  And I wanted to make my blog grow.  So I set out to do that.  I signed up for a few reading challenges, along with my own goal of reading 80 books this year.  Then I started browsing other book blogs, and started following quite a few of them.  My Google Reader is extremely full right now, but I'm steadily pecking away at it, hence the new comments on many bloggers' older posts.  


I'm reading blogs, following, commenting, getting ideas for my blog and learning a few dos and don'ts along the way.  But I still feel like I'm doing all the newbie things that older bloggers roll their eyes at.  Yes, I know I'll make mistakes.  And yes, I know it's a learning process.  But I still feel way, way behind.  


Luckily I signed up for the event Busting the Newbie Blues, hosted by Small Review.  It's a way for us new YA book bloggers to meet others like us, and get advice from old and new bloggers as well.  And I guess that's exactly what I'm going through - the Newbie Blues.


So here are the things that I'm questioning with my blog, and I'd really like your opinions and advice.

• Do I really want to go full-throttle with this thing, and make a fancy Review Policy where I try to get publishers to send me their books, and list what I will and won't review, etc.?  This seems like the thing to do if you're serious about book blogging.  So far I've only been reviewing books that I've bought or borrowed (with the exception of the Glow ARC I received from a Goodreads giveaway).  I also haven't had very in-depth book reviews, which I definitely plan on rectifying in the future, no matter if I do the whole Review Policy thing or not.  I'm still going to stay away from anything that might be spoilerish, but my reviews will be much more than just saying if I liked the book or not.  But I'd also love to become more of a part of this community, and I'd love to be able to someday go to conferences and meet other bloggers (and authors!).  That would be awesome!
• Should I change my blog name?  I really think this should be done.  The Mantis Connection conveys nothing about books, and so I feel like the name should be changed. Of course, if I simply change the name of the blog the URL would stay the same.  Unless I made a completely new blog, in which case I feel like I would lose those old posts, which I wouldn't be happy about (unless my husband or others know how to fix this!).  Just the reviews, mind you.  I wouldn't take all my soap-box rants over there.  Nor would this post make its way to the new blog.  It would be all reviews, reader challenges, and book related memes.  Maybe a bit of writing.  Or maybe I could keep this blog as a personal blog/writing blog and then the new one could be book reviews.  That sounds like a pretty good idea.  Also, I have NO idea what to name the blog.  Something book related of course, but I don't know...  
• I think, even if I just change the name and the URL stays the same, I would need a new layout.  I can draw, but boy do I fail at art on the computer.  At one time I thought I would like to be a graphic designer, but once I took a class in high school I realized that it was not for me.  So I'd need someone to fancify the blog...

These are all things that can be done, of course.  This is just a problem of mine - I jump into things before I think them out sometimes and then I get overwhelmed with everything.  And I go over everything in my head, but writing/blogging about it helps to figure it out.  Plus, I'd appreciate the advice from my friends and followers.

Some people might wonder if I have the time to commit to something like this, and believe me, this has crossed my mind.  I am a stay-at-home mom of a 2-year-old, so I don't have a typical 9-5 job, but that doesn't mean I have tons of time to sit in front of a computer.  Basically I have a few hours during the day to read, blog, shower, whatever, while he's taking a nap.  And then I have my evenings when my husband comes home (and weekends, of course).  But we love to watch TV and I enjoy spending time with my husband.  Then I also have Reviews in 5 (a movie blog), which is also time-consuming.  I also write fiction, and while I'm not writing so much right now, I'd like to write more this year.  And then there's my social life. 

But I think, because I read so much, that I have time to take a few hours after finishing a book to write a thoughtful review post, and also to occasionally participate in a few memes.  And I feel like this year can be a sort of trial period, and if it's beginning to seem like too much, I can take a step back.

Anyway, what do you guys think?  Should I go all out for this?  Or just continue to do what I've been doing, but focus more on book reviews?  Any ideas for new blog names (I'm looking at you, Kate.  You came up with that awesome name for Courtney's blog - Abducted by Books - and yours is great, too - Midnight Book Girl.)?  Any other advice or sage wisdom you'd like to dispense?  Thanks in advance!

"Waiting On" Wednesday: The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

(Whoa, Andrea, more than one post in a day?  What's happening here? - I told you I'm going to take my blog more seriously this year!  Let's get to it!)


So this post kills two birds with one stone (or kills two memes with one blog post) - I'm participating in the "Waiting On" Wednesday meme hosted by Breaking the Spine and I'm also participating in John Green Week, hosted by I Eat Words and several other blogs!

Photo copyright Penguin Group

The Fault in Our Stars
By John Green
Publication Date:  January 10, 2012

From Goodreads:  Diagnosed with Stage IV thyroid cancer at 12, Hazel was prepared to die until, at 14, a medical miracle shrunk the tumours in her lungs... for now.

Two years post-miracle, sixteen-year-old Hazel is post-everything else, too post-high school, post-friends and post-normalcy. And even though she could live for a long time (whatever that means), Hazel lives tethered to an oxygen tank, the tumours tenuously kept at bay with a constant chemical assault.

Enter Augustus Waters. A match made at cancer kid support group, Augustus is gorgeous, in remission, and shockingly to her, interested in Hazel. Being with Augustus is both an unexpected destination and a long-needed journey, pushing Hazel to re-examine how sickness and health, life and death, will define her and the legacy that everyone leaves behind.

Now some might say this is the easy way to start John Green Week, but let me just tell you, I CANNOT WAIT for this book to come out!  I've only been a Nerdfighter now for a little while, but I've watched all the videos, and I've read all of John's books except for Let it Snow and Zombicorns.  I am a huge fan of his writing, and I really respect him as well as his brother, Hank.


Luckily The Fault in Our Stars is coming out in just 6 short days - the wait is almost over!  I pre-ordered my copy from Amazon months ago, and I hope it gets here at least by Wednesday, if not on Tuesday.  My friends Courtney, from Abducted by Books, and Tracy, from All About the Three R's, and I, along with my husband and son, are going out of state for one of the book signings!  We're all super excited and are even making our own DFTBA t-shirts.  (Laugh all you want, but we're Nerdfighters and it's cool to be nerdy!)


So, for anyone who doesn't know, John Green is an author and has published several YA Contemporary novels (Looking for Alaska; An Abundance of Katherines; Paper Towns; and Will Grayson, Will Grayson with David Levithan are the others that I didn't mention above).  The Fault in Our Stars is his widely anticipated new novel, and with that plot plus John's beautiful writing, it's sure to be a wonderful book!


John and his brother, Hank, also make hilariously funny, heartwarming, and awesome vlogs every week.  You can see their videos on their YouTube page, Vlogbrothers.  I plan on posting later this week with a few of my favorites of their videos.  (Also FYI, fans of these vlogs are called Nerdfighers, in case you were wondering what the heck I was talking about above.)


So, let me know, what book are you waiting on right now?

Busting the Newbie Blues

This year, I've decided to make my blog more of a priority.  I've had this blog since December of 2009 (Yikes!  Two whole years!) and it started out without any kind of direction.  I posted about random things in my life, got up on my soap box for a few things, etc.  Then last year I started reading a lot more and most of my posts were book reviews.  However, I didn't post on any type of schedule, and I only had about 30 posts last year.  


So this year, I've decided to make this blog more about book reviews, mainly YA books, since that's a lot of what I read.  I'll still probably have posts about writing here and there as I try to figure out what I'm going to do with my current story, and I may also have a few off-topic posts.  But mostly I'm going to shoot for book reviews.  I also would like my blog to grow - to find some followers that I don't know in real life (although I still love the fact that my friends follow my blog).  


The first thing I did to start this new phase of my blog was to sign up for some reading challenges (you can see my post on this here).  Then I realized that I myself only followed the blogs of my friends and a few other big-time blogs.  So I set out to find other book bloggers and I started following some cool sites.  I'm going to try to commit to commenting on several posts a week as well - I've been lagging in this department, too.  :(  


Then I came across Small Review, who is hosting a great event throughout January, just for book bloggers, called Busting the Newbie Blues.  New and Old YA book bloggers can sign up, meet other bloggers, and get advice and tips on blogging.  This is perfect for me!  I've been blogging for a while, but still have only a small amount of followers, and I'm pumped to actually become a part of the book blogging community!


So here are my answers to the questionnaire for this event - I have chosen the one for new bloggers since my blog is still so small.

1.  When did you start your blog?

      December, 2009.

2.  Why did you start your blog?

      I just wanted to have a blog.  I didn't know what I would blog about or anything, but I've always been a writer, so I thought blogging would at least be a good kind of writing exercise.  But now I'd like my blog to have more direction, and to focus on book reviews, mostly YA books.

3.  What has been the biggest challenge you’ve faced so far?

      When I first started out, I had no theme for my blog, so it was hard to come up with topics to write about.  Once I started reading a lot more, book reviews became an obvious topic.  Now I'd say the hardest thing is making sure that I post regularly, and also to find more followers.

4.  What do you find most discouraging about being a new blogger?

      No followers!  :(  I love my friends and I'm so glad that they follow my blog - without them I probably would have quit a long time ago.  But I'd like to see my blog grow even more.

5.  What do you find most encouraging?

      On my blog - comments.  It lets me know that at least someone is reading what I've written!  (Note to self - comments go both ways!)  In the blogging community - other book bloggers are really encouraging.  I see all these great sites with wonderful reviews and great humor and it makes me feel like one of these days my blog could grow.

6.  What do you like best about the blogs you read? Have you tried to replicate this in your blog?

      Well, I just started following more than a couple book blogs, but as far as my friends' blogs that I've been reading for a while, I just love their humor and their honest reviews.  I always try to put humor into my posts (and in my life), but sometimes that might not always come across.  And I always give honest reviews, and I try to make them positive even if I didn't like the book.  I am a writer myself and someday when I have a book published, I'd like to read kind reviews, even if the reviewer really didn't like my book.

7.  What do you dislike about blogs you’ve read? Do you try to avoid this?
      Spoilers!  And yes, I really try to avoid this.  I'm crazy about spoilers - I only read the description of a book once, then put it on my to-read list if I want to read it, and then once I have the book I don't read the back or the blurbs again.  I know with reading others' reviews sometimes I'm going to find out more than I wished to know before reading the book, but I'm okay with it as long as it's not a major spoiler.

8.  Any advice for other new bloggers?

     I'm not sure I have any advice, because even though I've had this blog for a while, I still don't know what I'm doing and feel like I might be doing it wrong.  But I guess I can say that if others feel this way, just know that you're not alone!  And we'll get the hang of it eventually!

9.  Any questions you'd like to ask newbie or established bloggers?
     Of course I'd like to know how to get ARCs (I've gotten one through Goodreads before, and I know of some of the ARC tour websites, but I'm curious if there are other ways to get them).  And also I'd just like to know how they keep themselves posting on a regular basis, and just any other tips and tricks of the trade that they can pass along.  And also a good way to find more followers.  I'm starting to sound like I'm desperate here - I don't expect to have a hugely popular blog or anything, but I would like my readership to grow.

10.  Is there anything you’d like to tell us about your blog? Feel free to link a few of your favorite posts or posts you wish had more comments.

     I am a huge Harry Potter nerd, so Harry Potter comes up a lot in my posts.  I also love The Hunger Games, and one of my favorite posts that I've done was where I picked my dream cast for the movie.  Of course, the movie is already in production but if you're a fan of the books and would like to see my picks, you can check out that post here.  I also write fiction, and participate in NaNoWriMo each year, so I talk about that sometimes in my posts.  NaNoWriMo is awesome and if you don't know about it and you write fiction, go check out their website!

So there you have it.  I'm excited to read some new book blogs and to become a part of this awesome community!  Please let me know if you are participating in this event and I'll check out your blog, too!

2012 Reading Challenges

Last year I participated in one reading challenge:  Bookish Ardour's Off the Shelf Challenge.  She's hosting this challenge again this year, and I'm not participating again, but if you'd like to, you can go here and sign up!


This year, I've decided to participate in a few reading challenges, so this post is all about which ones I'm going to attempt for 2012.  Here they are...

15,000 Page Challenge  

This one is being hosted by my friend, Courtney, over at Abducted By Books. The rules are simple:  read 15,000 pages in 2012.  The cool thing is, any book you read in 2012 counts, unless it's a graphic novel.  And she's giving away prizes!  

2012 Read Me Baby, One More Time Challenge

This is hosted by my friend Kate, a.k.a. Midnight Book Girl.  I'm officially going to go for the "Reliving the Past" level, which is re-reading 4-8 books. I'm already planning on re-reading at least 3 books, so I thought I'd try for 4-8.  

Stephanie Plum Reading Challenge

I just happened to stumble across this one while I was looking at challenges on A Novel Challenge, and it works perfectly for me!  My friend Holly over at Traveling Due West was getting rid of some of her books a few months ago, and I took home three bags full, including several of the Stephanie Plum books.  I knew that I would want to re-read One for the Money before the movie came out (which works for Kate's challenge above), and reading the rest of the series would help out with Courtney's 15,000 page challenge.  And the nice thing about this challenge is that it's a perpetual challenge, meaning there is no end date!  So I won't feel too bad if I don't get through every single one of those Plum books by the end of 2012.  This one is hosted by Darlene at Darlene's Book Nook.

I have also challenged myself on Goodreads to read 80 books this year.  In 2010, I read 30 books, so last year I challenged myself on Goodreads to read 35 books.  I flew by that number in the middle of the year and ended up reading 76 books!  So this year, I'm just going to set a goal of 80 books, and hopefully I'll reach that goal.  

So there are my reading challenges for 2012.  I'm hoping to reach each one of those goals this year, and I also plan on writing more blog posts.  I kind of have to, to keep up with those challenges!  

ALSO - I may be having a giveaway sometime this year, so be on the lookout for that, and be sure to share my blog with your friends!  I need more followers!  

2011 End of Year Book Survey

Last year, I participated in The Perpetual Page-Turner's End of 2010 Survey (you can see my post here), and this year, she has updated and expanded this survey, and I'm excited to participate again!

So here they are, my answers to the 2011 End of Year Book Survey:


1. Best Book You Read In 2011?
I read quite a few books that I LOVED this year, and I can't really narrow it down to just one, so I'll narrow it down to five:  Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan, The Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld, The Maze Runner series by James Dashner, Hourglass by Myra McEntire, and Divergent by Veronica Roth.  All YA SF.  (And yes, I realize this is actually 10 books, since the Uglies series has four books and The Maze Runner series has 3 books, but I can't whittle it down any more than this.)

2. Most Disappointing Book/Book You Wish You Loved More Than You Did?

Probably Never Let Me Go by Kazuo Ishiguro.  It was one of my picks for book club, and I was expecting it to be a lot more than it was.  I still enjoyed it, just not as much as I had hoped I would.  

3. Most surprising (in a good way!) book of 2011?

I guess that would have to be Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins.  Several of my friends had read it and loved it, and one friend basically made me borrow it.  ;)  I'm not normally someone who loves Chick Lit, and this is YA Chick Lit, so I thought I would be groaning and rolling my eyes the whole time, but I ended up loving it!  I also really loved the companion novel, Lola and the Boy Next Door, and I look forward to reading the third companion, Isla and the Happily Ever After.

4. Book you recommended to people most in 2011?

I definitely think that would be Glow, by Amy Kathleen Ryan.  I received an ARC from the Goodreads First Reads giveaway, and not only was I ecstatic to have won an ARC, but I really, really LOVED that book!  I can't wait for the sequel!

5. Best series you discovered in 2011?
Well, the three series that I read in their entirety this year were The Hitchhiker's Guide series by Douglas Adams, the Uglies series by Scott Westerfeld and The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner (although he's releasing a prequel to this series next year, so I guess I didn't read the ENTIRE series).  I really enjoyed The Hitchhiker's guide series, although I didn't enjoy the last few books as much as the first couple.  But I LOVED the Uglies series and The Maze Runner trilogy!  I highly recommend both!  I also read most of The Iron Fey series by Julie Kagawa (I read the first book, The Iron King, in 2010 but re-read it and then read all the other books this year, and I'm currently reading the 4th book, The Iron Knight) and I really enjoyed those as well.  But I've also read quite a few books this year that are the first books of series, and the other books have yet to come out, like Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, Divergent by Veronica Roth, and Hourglass by Myra McEntire.  Then I also read the first books of a few series that have sequels that have been published, like The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan, The Line by Teri Hall, Alanna by Tamora Pierce, Boneshaker by Cherie Priest, Storm Front by Jim Butcher, and Inside Out by Maria V. Snyder.  I enjoyed all these books and hope to read some of the rest of each of these series next year.

6. Favorite new authors you discovered in 2011?

Scott Westerfeld, James Dashner, and John Green.  I'd add Amy Kathleen Ryan, Beth Revis, Myra McEntire and Veronica Roth to that list, but I've only read one of their books each, so I'll save their names until after I've read more of their books next year.

7. Best book that was out of your comfort zone or was a new genre for you?
I had never read any Steam Punk, so Boneshaker by Cherie Priest would be a good answer for this question.  Also, I hadn't read a lot of YA Contemporary before, and I enjoyed all of John Green's books (Looking for Alaska, An Abundance of Katherines, Paper Towns, and Will Grayson, Will Grayson).  And I also hadn't read much Adult Chick Lit/Romance before, and I thoroughly enjoyed One Day by David Nicholls.

8. Most thrilling, unputdownable book in 2011?
Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan and all of the books in The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner.

9. Book you most anticipated in 2011?

Well, I don't really know the answer to this one.  I mean, I was looking forward to The Iron Knight by Julie Kagawa and Lola and the Boy Next Door by Stephanie Perkins, but it wasn't like I couldn't wait for them to come out.  I think the books that I most wanted to get my hands on this year were The Scorch Trials and The Death Cure, books 2 and 3 respectively in The Maze Runner trilogy by James Dashner.  Once I read The Maze Runner, I had to have those other books ASAP!

10. Favorite cover of a book you read in 2011?
That would have to be Hourglass by Myra McEntire.  The next book in the series, Timepiece, has a great cover too!  I'm excited to read that one next year!

Photo courtesy of yareads.com

Photo courtesy of hypable.com

11. Most memorable character in 2011? 

Hmm, I can't really think of any one character that stood out.  I enjoyed most of the protagonists, but I always find myself really loving side characters.  Like Bob the Skull in Storm Front by Jim Butcher.

12. Most beautifully written book read in 2011?
All of John Green's books.  He is such a beautiful writer, and he knows how to craft a sentence in a way that I can only dream of.  Plus, he's better at grammar than I will ever be, and I'm okay with that.

13. Book that had the greatest impact on you in 2011?
I would say Night by Elie Wiesel, but I had to basically trick myself into believing that it was fiction so that I could get through it, so it didn't hit me as hard as it might have.  But it still was an amazing story, and one that everyone should read.

14. Book you can't believe you waited UNTIL 2011 to finally read?
All the Hitchhiker's Guide books, To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee, The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald, The Time Machine by H.G. Wells, 1984 by George Orwell, Night by Elie Wiesel, and The Giver by Lois Lowry.  Most of those qualified for my Off the Shelf challenge, though, and I'm glad I finally got around to reading them.

15. Favorite Passage/Quote From A Book You Read In 2011?
Hmm, I hardly write down specific quotes except for the books that I read for book club, and I couldn't find any great quotes in my notes from this year.  But I did star one part from John Green's Paper Towns that I really loved because it remind me of my time in high school:

"I spent the next three hours in classrooms, trying not to look at the clocks above various blackboards, and then looking at the clocks, and then being amazed that only a few minutes had passed since I last looked at the clock.  I'd had nearly four years of experience looking at these clocks, but their sluggishness never ceased to surprise.  If I am ever told that I have one day to live, I will head straight for the hallowed halls of Winter Park High School, where a day has been known to last a thousand years."

16. Book That You Read In 2011 That Would Be Most Likely To Reread In 2012?
Probably Glow by Amy Kathleen Ryan.  Or Divergent by Veronica Roth, Across the Universe by Beth Revis, or Hourglass by Myra McEntire, all because the second books in these series come out next year, and I'll probably want to reread the first books before reading the next ones.  Also I can see myself rereading The Maze Runner trilogy before the prequel, The Kill Order, comes out.

17. Book That Had A Scene In It That Had You Reeling And Dying To Talk To Somebody About It? (a WTF moment, an epic revelation, a steamy kiss, etc. etc.) Be careful of spoilers!
Um, The Maze Runner series.  I really want one of my friends to read this series so we can go to lunch or dinner or something and talk all about it.

Book Blogging/Reading Life in 2011 (optional)

I'm not going to answer the questions in this part because, even though I have a blog where I review books sometimes, it isn't very consistent and reviewing books isn't the only thing I do on the blog.  Next year, however, I plan on writing a lot more reviews.

But I do want to answer one question from this section:

10. Did you complete any reading challenges or goals that you had set for yourself at the beginning of this year?

Yes!  I set one goal of reading 35 books this year (I read 30 books last year - it was the first year I really started reading A LOT, so I wanted to at least surpass that number) and, as I'm writing this, I've read 76 books so far this year, and I'll probably finish one more before the year ends.  So I read more than twice my goal!  

I also participated in the 2011 Off the Shelf Challenge by Bookish Ardour, where I challenged myself to read 15 books that were sitting on my shelf prior to the beginning of this year that I had yet to read.  And I completed that challenge as well!  I think that's pretty good for my first challenge, and my first year of setting any kind of reading goal!


Looking Ahead...

1. One Book You Didn't Get To In 2011 But Will Be Your Number 1 Priority in 2012?

Well, I have lots of books to read next year, and several of them are kind of prioritized as to when I will read them, so the books that I answer for this question might not be the first books I read in 2012, but I will definitely get to them.  That said, the books I didn't read this year but will read next year are Out of Oz by Gregory Maguire, The Last Survivors series by Susan Beth Pfeffer, and A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle.

2. Book You Are Most Anticipating For 2012?

I'm definitely looking forward to The Fault in Our Stars by John Green.  My friends and I are even traveling out of state to go to his book tour!  It should be a lot of fun and I can't wait!  I'm also really psyched for A Million Suns by Beth Revis, Insurgent by Veronica Roth, Timepiece by Myra McEntire, and Spark by Amy Kathleen Ryan.  Oh, and The Kill Order by James Dashner.

3. One Thing You Hope To Accomplish Or Do In Your Reading/Blogging In 2012?
My friend Courtney at Abducted by Books is hosting a reading challenge next year, called the 15,000 Page Challenge.  The goal is in the title - read15,000 pages in 2012.  And she's going to give away a couple of prizes!  Since I'll be participating in this challenge, I'll need to blog a lot more to show my updated page counts.  So I plan on trying to review many more books next year, which is also a nice challenge for myself.  My blog will hopefully grow because of it!

So there they are, my answers to the 2011 End of Year Book Survey.  I apologize for the extremely long post.  It's so hard to have just one answer for most of the questions!  Let me know in the comments if you completed the survey as well, and I'll hop on over to your blog and take a look!  Happy reading in 2012!

Book Review: The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner

Oh, man, this is when I wish I had come up with a more clever name for my blog, like my friend Courtney's, Abducted by Books (isn't that a great blog name?), because I really felt like I was abducted by The Maze Runner Trilogy by James Dashner.

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

The first book in the series, The Maze Runner, had been on my to-read list for quite some time, and then at some point I bought the book (I can't remember if I bought it this year or last year, but either way, it's been sitting on my shelf for some time, waiting to be read).  This year, I've read 76 books so far (more than twice my goal of 35 books!), and I've ended up loving quite a few of them.  I realized that many of these books that I've loved this year, that I've given 5 star ratings to on Goodreads and have added to my favorites list, have been Young Adult Science Fiction stories.  And The Maze Runner trilogy is no exception.


The Maze Runner starts off with the protagonist, Thomas, waking up in complete darkness, with most of his memories erased.  He knows his name, can remember things, but can't remember people or specific events.  Then the small square room he is in starts to move upward, revealing itself to be an elevator in an extremely tall shaft.  Once it stops, doors open at the top of the shaft and Thomas finds himself in the middle of a huge maze with other teenage boys who have each had their memories erased, as well.  Their mission - to find a way out of the maze.  Only there are a few problems.  There are openings on each side of the middle of the maze (or The Glade, as they call it), but these openings are actually doors, which close each night.  And you don't want to get caught outside the doors at night, or you'll be killed by these grotesque creatures called Grievers.  And then, in the morning, once the doors have opened again, all the walls in the outer parts of the maze have changed, making you start all over again.  


And I won't say any more than that, because I hate spoilers - so much so that I read the descriptions of the books once, put them on my to-read list if I'm interested, and then once I get the book I don't read those descriptions again, nor do I read any of the blurbs on the book, because I've been spoiled by those before, too.  Anyway, I digress.

Photo courtesy of en.wikipedia.org

I LOVED The Maze Runner.  It is so my kind of book that I just want to read it over and over again.  I finished it on the 13th of December, but I knew before I finished it that I wanted to read the other two books in the series, so I put them on my Christmas list.  And I got them!  I was in the middle of reading another book, but I couldn't wait!  So on December 23rd (the day my family had our Christmas) I started reading The Scorch Trials.  I finished it on Christmas Day and started The Death Cure right after.  I finished The Death Cure last night, on the 26th.  I've only been able to read a few books in a day in my life, so that was quite an accomplishment.  And it also speaks volumes about the books themselves.

Photo courtesy of barnesandnoble.com

The Maze Runner is probably always going to be my favorite out of the three.  I really loved The Scorch Trials, too, and although I also loved The Death Cure, I had a few problems with it.  The Scorch Trials kind of revealed a different twist to this story (it was hinted at in The Maze Runner, but I didn't really get it until The Scorch Trials).  No, I'm not going to tell you what it was.  But I'll say that it didn't seem out of place in this world to me, but it kind of made me stop short for a second when I realized what was going on, and made me say, "Hey...."  But then The Death Cure happened, and I kind of felt similar to how I felt with Mockingjay, the final book in The Hunger Games series.  With that series, I loved each of the books, too, and gave each of them 5 stars, but I was a bit disappointed with the ending of Mockingjay.  I didn't hate it like some readers, but it wasn't what I had expected or wanted.  And I felt the same with The Death Cure.  The Death Cure was a really fast-paced read with a lot of action, but I was kind of pissed at Thomas for this one thing (if you've read it you probably know what I'm talking about - the big thing HE DIDN'T DO!), and the ending left me kind of disappointed.  I kept waiting for something else to happen, and when it didn't, I was upset. I know this is all so vague and I'm sorry - you'll all just have to read the series and we can talk about it in detail, because I really don't want to spoil anyone.


But regardless, I still loved this series and it has moved up to my #3 favorite series of all time.  Right under The Hunger Games (which is right under the Holy Grail of series, Harry Potter).  I'm so glad I read these books, and I'll definitely read Dashner's prequel to the series, The Kill Order, when it comes out in August.  I'm also excited about the movie adaptation of The Maze Runner that is set to be released in 2013, although it is being directed by Catherine Hardwicke, and I'm not a huge fan of her films.  Hopefully the fact that James Dashner is co-writing the screenplay will keep the film very true to the book.  


I highly recommend these books to anyone who enjoys Young Adult Science Fiction, especially if you enjoy books like The Hunger Games series, Divergent, and the Uglies series.