Top Ten Tuesday: My Auto-Buy Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten of Your Auto-buy Authors

Books

1. Ian Rankin – Who’s surprised?
2. Matt Haig – I know you are all shocked.
3. Maggie Stiefvater – Oh, man. I’m just a bag full of surprises today.
4. Stephanie Perkins – Wuuuuut?
5. Jennifer E. Smith – No way!

Comics

1. Robert Kirkman (The Walking Dead) – aka 1 of the 2 authors who got me into comics.
2. Brian K. Vaughan (Saga) – aka the other author who got me into comic.
3. Peter J. Tomasi (Batman and Robin, Robin: Son of Batman) – aka the author who writes my favorite comic book character.

Authors who have only written one book but will be auto-buy in the future

1. Becky Albertalli
2. David Arnold
3. Jasmine Warga
4. Nicola Yoon
5. Adam Silvera
6. Renee Ahdieh

Authors who are automatic reads but not necessarily auto-buy

1. Sarah Dessen
2. J.K. Rowling (though I haven’t read her Robert Galbraith stuff yet)
3. Oliver Jeffers
4. John Green

Okay, this list is super long, but whatever. Who are your auto-buy/auto-read/auto-grabby-hands authors?

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I’ve Read the Most Books From

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten Authors I’ve Read The Most Books From

I made it to 9 authors. Most of the authors I’ve read several books from are in the 4-5 book range, and there’s several of them, so I just kept it at 6 and up. I’m counting comics are separate books, so I have two authors that have A LOT of books.

                    

Ian Rankin – I’ve lost count, but it’s somewhere in the 30s. I’ve read all of his books except the one out later this year and the short story collection, The Beat Goes On, which I NEED. My favorite: The Falls

Robert Kirkman – I’m counting each comic as a separate book, so I’ve read 143 issues of The Walking Dead, and I haven’t read it but own the first volume of Outcast, which is the first six issues. My favorite: I’m going to go with volume 1 – that’s the one that hooked me

Brian K. Vaughan – 39: 29 issues of Saga, 10 issues of Y: The Last Man. My favorite: Ditto above, volume 1 – the first comic I read

Sarah Dessen – 12 books? My favorite: The Truth about Forever

Oliver Jeffers – I think it’s 11 books? My favorite: Once Upon an Alphabet (favorite book he illustrated is hands down The Day the Crayons Quit)

               

Matt Haig – 8 books and I own two others, which I can’t believe I haven’t read. My favorite: The Humans

J.K. Rowling – 7.5 books (I didn’t finish The Casual Vacancy yet). My favorite: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince

Scott Westerfeld – 7 books. My favorite: Uglies

Maggie Stiefvater – 6 books. My favorite: The Dream Thieves

Top Ten Tuesday: Authors I Really Want to Meet

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Ten Authors I REALLY Want To Meet

I admit that I’ve been lucky enough to meet several of my favorite authors (including Ian Rankin, Matt Haig, Maggie Stiefvater, Stephanie Perkins, Jennifer E. Smith, Neil Gaiman, Sarah J. Maas, and SO many more), but there are still so many authors out there that I’ve read and loved and would love to meet. Ten of them are (all pictures from Goodreads and all author names linked to GR page):

J.K. Rowling / Stephen Chbosky / Sarah Dessen / Robert Kirkman / John Green

Stephen King / Jasmine Warga / Jandy Nelson / Brian K. Vaughan (only if I could meet Fiona Staples too!) / Oliver Jeffers

Which authors do YOU really want to meet?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top Seven Favorite Authors

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten ALL TIME Favorite Authors

I think a lot of people are going to find this one hard, but this was actually quite easy for me. I’ve got to like most, if not all, of your books for you to be a favorite of mine. I also don’t tend to choose someone as a favorite author unless I’ve read more than three books by them. I feel like you can tell whether you like someone’s writing from that, but not if they’ll be a favorite. At least for me.

Ian Rankin – Scottish crime fiction author. I’ve read every single one of his 33 or something books, including the non-fiction one. The only ones I don’t have are his short story collection and the book that comes out at the end of the year. I even wrote my undergraduate honors thesis on his books. I’ve interviewed him, chatted with him, gone to see his play, and hugged him. I still can’t really believe he remembers my name.

Favorite book: The Falls.

Matt Haig – English novelist. I’ve read eight out of eleven of his books. I own two others but haven’t read them yet. SOON. If you’ve been on my blog, like, EVER, you know how much I love his book The Humans, and you might’ve read my review of Reasons to Stay Alive. Pretty sure I’ll love everything he’s written and will write.

Favorite book: The Humans.

J.K. Rowling – Does this really even need an explanation?

Favorite book: Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince.

Maggie Stiefvater – American, fantasy novelist. I’ve read six of her novels and I’m completely in love with her writing. She’s also one of the coolest authors I’ve ever met (I interviewed her for WatchPlayRead last year).

Favorite Book: The Dream Thieves.

Robert Kirkman – Comic author aka author of The Walking Dead. I’ve read every single issue of TWD to date (except some of those specials) and I credit TWD as getting me into comics last year (Yes, Saga is what pulled me in, but TWD is what kept me under). They could keep this series going forever and I’d probably still have it on my pull.

Favorite book: All of the Walking Dead books.

Oliver Jeffers – Children’s book author. I’ve read so many of his books, I’m not sure what the count is, but I LOVE his books. They never fail to put a smile on my face. Every time I read another, I tend to snap a picture on my phone and set it as my new background. I love his stories and his illustrations, and I can’t wait to read them to my future kids.

Favorite book: The Incredible Book Eating Boy.

Stephanie Perkins – Contemporary YA author. Stephanie’s books got me back into reading contemporary last year. I devoured the first two and bought the third one day of release with my friend Annette. I loved her story in My True Love Gave to Me, and I can’t wait to read what’s next from her. Shout out to my friend Georgie for practically forcing Anna and the French Kiss on me. I really didn’t think I was going to like it, and I ended up loving it.

Favorite book: Lola and the Boy Next Door.

I think that’s it. I could list favorite books for days, but authors? Seven is all I’ve got. Who are your favorite authors?

Top Ten Tuesday: Top new-to-me authors I read in 2014

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Top Ten New-To-Me Authors I Read In 2014

I read so many amazing authors in 2014! I had a fun time compiling this list. I can’t believe I just came across these authors this year. It feels like I’ve always loved them. 🙂 All book titles are linked to my reviews.

Stephanie Perkins – Anna and the French Kiss

Morgan Matson – Since You’ve Been Gone

Oliver Jeffers – The Incredible Book-Eating Boy

Robert Kirkman – The Walking Dead [volume 1]

Marie Lu – The Young Elites

Adi Alsaid – Let’s Get Lost

Jennifer E. Smith – This Is What Happy Looks Like

Stacey O’Neale – Mortal Enchantment

Rainbow Rowell – Attachments

Lori Rader-Day – The Black Hour

What new-to-you authors did you read in 2014?

Top Ten Tuesday: Character Driven Books and Comic Books

Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by the Broke and the Bookish. Today’s theme was:

Ten Books For Readers Who Like Character Driven Novels

Novels:

The Help by Kathryn Stockett

The Fault in Our Stars by John Green

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Life of Pi by Yann Martel

A Tale for the Time Being by Ruth Ozeki

Rain Reign by Ann M. Martin

Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid

Wonder by R.J. Palacio

Comics: (Comics are driven by a lot of things, but these three have such great characters that I had to mention them)

The Walking Dead by Robert Kirkman and illustrated by various artists (this is everything driven, but the characters are awesome and you really get attached to them. I want everyone to read these, so I’m including them even though they aren’t ONLY character driven)

Saga by Brian K. Vaughan and illustrated by Fiona Staples

Batman and Robin created by Grant Morrison – Damien, ftw. Also, 😦

What books or comics would you put in this category? If you participated, link me up to your TTT!

Comic Book Review: The Walking Dead, Volume 2 “Miles Behind Us”

Volume 2: Miles Behind Us

On Tuesday, I reviewed The Walking Dead, Volume 1: Days Gone Bye, which I definitely enjoyed! Today, I’m reviewing Volume 2 “Miles Behind Us”, which is when I became truly and completely hooked on The Walking Dead comics. I’m kind of obsessed.

There may be spoilers if you’ve never watched the show, because I don’t know when what happens in the books happens in the show so I can’t warn you. I’ll just say: there are potential spoilers in this review.

Goodreads Summary:

This volume follows our band of survivors on their tragic journey in search of shelter. Characters live and die as they brave a treacherous landscape littered with packs of the walking dead.

What I thought:

OH MY GOODNESS. This is when I realized I was obsessed with this series. I love that it’s technically a zombie story, but that’s not really the focus in these comics. It’s on the humans and their lives and struggles: their search for food and shelter and a way to start a life for themselves again.

[spoilers] In this volume, Lori figures out that she’s pregnant, and she struggles to come to terms with this and decide whether or not to keep it in the face of their search for food and shelter. How can she bring someone into their world when they already don’t have enough food for themselves?

The group runs into Tyreese, his daughter, Julie, and her boyfriend, Chris. I liked Tyreese right away. He’s a total badass. They begin to travel together, and they come across Wiltshire Estates (I think this is another one of those differences between the show and the books; I was told that Wiltshire happens at the same time as an event that happens later in the books. I’ll find out when I watch). They think they are safe, but are soon overcome by zombies. Donna is killed (YES! I know that’s horrible, but I did not like her AT ALL).

When they go hunting, Carl is accidentally shot by Otis, a farmhand for Hershel, who allows them to stay at the farm while Carl heals. I was so happy when Glenn found love with Maggie at Hershel’s place. I like Glenn. There’s a crazy scene in which a BUNCH of zombies are let out of the barn where Hershel’s been locking them up instead of killing them. Again, amazing artwork. Hershel was a complete idiot for keeping all those zombies locked up though. I know he did it because [spoiler] his son was one of the zombies, but seriously? Stupid move.

Unfortunately, the group is forced to leave Hershel’s farm and at the end of the volume, they stumble across the prison which they hope will become their home.

So much craziness and so much awesomeness in this volume. I was definitely hooked by this volume. HIGHLY recommended.

Written by Robert Kirkman; illustrated by Charlie Adlard

Make sure you check out my review of Volume 3: Safety Behind Bars on Saturday!

Have you read The Walking Dead comics? What did you think? Also, can you tell me (spoiler-free if possible), what the differences are between what happened in this volume and the show? 🙂

Comic Book Review: The Walking Dead, Volume 1 “Days Gone Bye”

It would be pretty difficult to be alive and be someone who is online a lot and NOT know about The Walking Dead. I’ve heard A LOT about it, but I have yet to watch the TV show (I know, I know. But I lived in another country for a while and just didn’t have time). However, I’ve definitely been intrigued by it, so it was high on my list of comics to check out when I started reading them. So far I’ve read the first three volumes and I bought the fourth volume yesterday. I’m kind of obsessed. I want to read a decent amount of the volumes before I start watching the shows so I can compare and not having anything spoiled. I thought I’d review the first three volumes for you this week!

There may be spoilers if you’ve never watched the show, because I don’t know when what happens in the books happens in the show so I can’t warn you. I’ll just say: there are potential spoilers in this review.

Volume 1: Days Gone Bye – Goodreads Summary:

The world we knew is gone. The world of commerce and frivolous necessity has been replaced by a world of survival and responsibility. An epidemic of apocalyptic proportions has swept the globe, causing the dead to rise and feed on the living. In a matter of months society has crumbled: no government, no grocery stores, no mail delivery, no cable TV. In a world ruled by the dead, the survivors are forced to finally start living.

What I thought:

I thought Volume 1 did a fantastic job at introducing the series. We get a really good idea for what is happening and I kind of fell in love with the series right away. I think it makes you feel the fear and anxiety that these characters, particularly Rick, feels throughout this whole first volume. I definitely felt for the characters and I wanted each one of them to survive. The human factor in The Walking Dead was wonderful and it made you connect with these characters from the beginning. There’s a focus on how humanity would adjust to life in a post-apocalyptic world after being so used to living comfortably in our current society, which I really enjoyed. The dystopian/post-apocalyptic genre is my favorite, so this fit in quite well with what I like.

I also really love the artwork. I think the black and white illustrations worked really well, and boy, were those zombies GROSS.

[Potential spoiler alert] At the end of volume 1, Shane goes absolutely crazy and is about to shoot Rick when Carl shoots him. I was discussing this with a friend who watches the show and was told that this didn’t actually happen in the show until the end of like season 3 or something. I was also told that the relationship between Shane and Lori was a lot more intense in the show than in the comics. In the comics, they’ve slept together only once but when Rick shows up at their camp, Lori goes right back to Rick. I thought this was an interesting change, but I can understand wanting to elaborate on their relationship as it probably added a lot of drama to the show.

I really enjoyed this first volume and I was glad that I already had the second volume checked out from the library and waiting to be read. If you like the show or just love a good zombie story/human story, you should check out these books! Especially if you’re a fan of seriously awesome zombie art. Definitely recommended.

Written by Robert Kirkman; illustrated by Tony Moore

Make sure you check out my review for Volume 2: Miles Behind Us on Thursday!

Have you read The Walking Dead comics? What did you think? Also, can you tell me (spoiler-free if possible), what the differences are between what happened in this volume and the show? 🙂