Victober 2017 TBR

Hello, beautiful people!

This year, I've decided to join #Victober, a read-a-thon focused on reading Victorian literature during the month of October and hosted by Katie (Books and Things), Ange (Beyond the Pages), Kate (Kate Howe) and Lucy (Lucythereader). While you don't have to read a certain number of books for this readathon (read one book? You did it!), there are challenges for those interested and that's what I based my TBR off (I'm very competitive with myself when it comes to readathons). Oh, and as October means Halloween, my TBR also is inspired by that because I want to get in the mood.

The challenges are:

• Read a Victorian book by a Scottish, Irish or Welsh author
• Read a lesser-known Victorian book (less than 12.000 ratings on Goodreads)
• Read a supernatural Victorian book
• Read a Victorian book that someone recommended to you
• Read a Victorian book by a female author

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray by Oscar Wilde // Read a Victorian book by a Scottish, Irish or Welsh author

If you didn't know, Oscar Wilde is an Irish writer and while I have yet to read what he wrote, I've been admiring him for such a long time and went to an exhibition about him in Paris last year. October is the month I will finally read The Picture of Dorian Gray, and I couldn't be more excited, because I know I'm going to love it and it's a short read, which is perfect for a readathon!

2. Gothic Tales by Elizabeth Gaskell // Read a lesser-known Victorian book

Elizabeth Gaskell's Gothic Tales is, without a doubt, the book I'm most excited to read for Victober. I discovered Elizabeth Gaskell last year with North and South, which I absolutely loved, and read Wives and Daughters this September. When I discovered she had written gothic short stories (and that they aren't that known), I was over the moon. When I read the description of the contents of this edition, it made me so curious, take for example: The Poor Clare, which is about "an evil doppelganger is formed by a woman's bitter curse", or Lois the Witch is "a novella based on an account of the Salem witch hunts, shows how sexual desire and jealousy lead to hysteria". It seems like a perfect read for Halloween time and I can read one of the novella whenever I want, which is also perfect for readathons.

3. Dracula by Bram Stoker // Read a supernatural Victorian book

I've been saving up Dracula for October, because I think it'll be the best month to finally read it. I've been meaning to get to it for such a long time and I hope I won't be too terrified (we never know with me). I'm very curious to finally read it, as I've only read about vampires in young adult novels (*cough* Twilight *cough*), but I want to know the real deal with vampires. My friend Clara loves this book and said it changed her opinions on vampires, so I trust her.

4. The Woman in White by Wilkie Collins// Read a book that someone recommended to you

I first heard about The Woman in White on my favourite blog (which is in French, sorry), and it intrigued me so much. Victoria (mangoandsalt) absolutely loved it and I've wanted to read it ever since. Andreea (Infinite Text) also said we could count this one as her recommendation, so it definitely fits in this category. Anyhow, once again, I thought it was a perfect read for October, as it's a mystery novel and it is said to be "the first and most influential of the Victorian genre that combined Gothic horror with psychological realism". Moreover, if you want to read The Woman in White for Victober, there is a Goodreads group, because it's a popular choice for this year's Victober and it's way less intimidating to read a big book (around 700 pages) with other people.

5. Lady Audley's Secret by Mary Elizabeth Braddon // Read a book by a female author

Lady Audley's Secret is a very famous Scandal novel and I have to say that the title intrigues me. From what I gathered, it's about an anti-heroine, morality and madness in the Victorian age. Besides, this novel apparently established Mary Elizabeth Braddon established her as the main rival of the master of the sensational novel, Wilkie Collins. I'll be reading Wilkie Collins for the first time in October, so I thought it would be interesting to be able to compare the two.

Are you taking part in Victober? What are your favourite Victorian novels?

Lots of love,

Lucie

#ReadThemAllThon TBR

I don't play Pokemon Go yet (I know, I know) because life is crazy right now and I'm already struggling to read and blog, I can't add something else in the mix, sadly. Nevertheless, I'm a fan of Pokemon, especially the first generations, I was part of those kids who were collecting the cards without knowing how to play but still played the video games. 

The #ReadThemAllThon, as well as the graphics in this post (except the trainer card), were created by Aentee @ Read At Midnight and will run from August 14th to September 4th. You can click here for all the explanation and the sign-ups (#lazy). This read-a-thon seems like so much fun and I can't wait for it to begin.

CHOSEN POKEMON

1. Read the first book in a series

The Crown's Game by Evelyn Skye. This book is one of my most anticipated reads of 2016 but I have yet to read it. I also should hurry up, because there is a lot of hype around it already and the title for the second book has already been announced. I'm so fascinated by Russia, I'm so pumped to get to this one.

2. A book that might make you cry

The Serpent King by Jeff Zentner. I barely know anything about this book, except that it's a contemporary and not a fantasy book with snakes, hahaha. I didn't want to read it because I was assuming the wrong things at first. But anyway, I've seen a lot of people reading this (especially on Twitter) and saying it crushed them. I'm scared.

3. Read a book with thunderous hype

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling. I think we can't actually do better than this one, right? I'm planning on getting an ebook version, read it, and then buy a physical copy if I love it, because I'm scared. I want to know what will happen because let's face it, I will be spoiled if I don't read it, but I'm not a fan of all these additions to canon (except the Fantastical Beasts movies <3).

4. Read a book featuring diversity

Everything Leads to You by Nina LaCour. I read You Know Me Well this month, which Nina LaCour co-authored, and I loved it so much! Because of that, I want to pick up more of her works and I've heard AMAZING things about this one. Except You Know Me Well, I think I've never read a book with a F/F romance, I need to remedy that.

5. Read a book with an epic romance

PS I like you by Kasie West. Kasie West is one of my favourite contemporary authors, she writes cute and fluffy romance novels that I fly through and gives me feels (which isn't that easy, as I'm not exactly a romantic). PS I Like You just came out on July 26th and it's summer, it'll be perfect.

6. Read a book with fantasy or supernatural elements

The Magician by Michael Scott. After years of putting it off, I read the first book in the Secrets of the Immortal Nicholas Flamel series last month and while I wasn't impressed, I feel like this series has a lot of potential. I don't want to forget all about The Alchemyst by the time I'm reading the second book, so it'll definitely be happening in August!

7. Read a book with a red cover

Heartless by Marissa Meyer. Well, it doesn't have an actual red cover, but it's the best I can do, so we'll make it work, right? I won this ARC in a giveaway last month (I still can't believe it!!!!) and I'm so excited to finally be reading it. I'm a huge fan of Alice in Wonderland and Marissa Meyer is great at fairy tales retellings, so this book is bound to be amazing. ;)

8. Read a book with post-apocalyptic settings.

The Flame Never Dies by Rachel Vincent. I have literally no post-apocalyptic book on my TBR at the moment, because The Flame Never Dies will only be released on August 16th, during the readathon. That was close, or I wouldn't have been able to choose a book for that challenge. Anyway, I cannot wait to get my hands on this one, because while it was a dystopia, the society was quite unique (it involves religion and demons and burning people and I'm dying here don't you see????).

Are you planning on participating to this read-a-thon? Have you read any of the books I'm planning on reading? Do you play Pokemon Go? 

Dewey's 24 Hours Read-a-thon TBR

Hi guys!

April 23rd, meaning this Saturday, Dewey’s 24 hours read-a-thon is happening and I decided to participate this time around. It wasn’t on my monthly TBR because I decided to join on a whim, after seeing a tweet. It's time to do something about the TBR pile!

Obviously, the goal is to read as much as you can in one day and to share the experience with everyone else. During the day, there will be giveaways, mini-challenges, reading sprints; I’m sure it will be a lot of fun.

It’s only the second read-a-thon I’m participating to -I participated in Bout of Books in 2014, but that’s it- and I’m really excited, because we only have a day!

Since the read-a-thon is only 24 hours long, everyone in the world is starting at the same time, in France it makes me start at 2 p.m.

“Part of me knows one more day won't do anything except postpone the heartbreak. But another part of me believes differently. We are born in one day. We die in one day. We can change in one day. And we can fall in love in one day. Anything can happen in just one day.” (Just One Day, Gayle Forman)

Because it’s a 24 hours read-a-thon, I’m choosing shorter books to be able to finish my TBR. Maybe I will even try to start one of the books before the beginning of the read-a-thon, since it only begins in the afternoon for me. It also means I’ll finally get to some of the novellas that I have on my e-reader. Now, let's take a look on my TBR, shall we?

 Hello, Goodbye and Everything in Between by Jennifer E. Smith

Lady Renegades by Rachel Hawkins

Morrhigan by Mary E. Pearson

The Moth and the Flame by Renee Ahdieh

Do you love read-a-thons? Do you plan on participating to this read-a-thon? Have you read any of the books I mentioned? How do you choose the books on your TBR?

This is Halloween, Halloween, Halloween, Halloween | October TBR

♫ For the first time in forever, Lucie will do a TBR

For the first time in forever, she might even stick to it! ♪

Well, it's not really winter time, so I should avoid to start talking about Frozen already (well, I'm ahead again, brilliant!). I wanted to do a TBR for this month, because my favourite French booktuber, FairyNeverland (a little patriotism here, it doesn't hurt), organizes for the third time a read-a-thon for October:

#HALLOWCTOBER 

You can find her video (I'm sorry, it's in Freeeench). The point is to read Halloween-like books during the month, anything with vampires, witches, Frankenstein, or whatever you want. Personally, I hope I'll get to:

1. A Curious Tale of the in-between by Lauren DeStefano

2. This Monstruous Thing by Mackenzi Lee

3. Slasher Girls and Monster boys by April Genevieve Tucholke

4. Lair of Dreams by Libba Bray

5. Beastly Bones by William Ritter

6. Firewalker by Josephine Angelini

(Creepy covers for creepy reads)

I would also like to read some new releases I'm dying to get my hands on The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan (out on the 6th) and Ice like Fire by Sara Raasch (out on the 13th).

The Goodreads Group #ReadwithRebels will read The Accident Season this month, I will join because it's about a family who is apparently cursed to have accident during October, so yeah, it's the perfect month for that and it might be okay for #Hallowctober? We'll see. 

What are you hoping to read this month?

Leave your list in the comments ;)