Top 5 Wednesday #2

Top 5 Wednesday was created by gingerreadslainey and is a weekly prompt that showcases a different topic each Wednesday. You can join the Goodreads group here.

Today's topic is The Top 5 Books You Struggled To Finish. Now, I didn't actually finish 2 of these books, but there are VERY few books I've ever not been able to finish so I felt like they needed to be on this list because I do plan on pulling through and finishing them at some point. When that point will be, I do not know.

1. 

The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling

I didn't finish this book. It put me in such a reading slump. I really really really want to get through this because I love the writing. I just hated the characters and it was all so negative. I was also reading this on my e-reader and this was when I realized that I just don't enjoy reading books digitally. I've tried and tried and it's just not my cup of tea and part of the whole reading experience is just taken away for me. So I'm hoping that was a big part of the reason I couldn't finish, and physical form will help pull me through.

2.

Wicked by Gregory Maguire

This was so disappointing for me. I saw the broadway play twice, had the soundtrack on repeat, and devoured this story. Absolutely my type of book. It was just not at all what I expected. It was VERY different from the play and the feel of it was so much different. I finished this book but I was so bummed with how it was originally done. I hoped that maybe things got better over time, but for the second book, Son of a Witch, it wasn't even possible to get through the first chapter. Biggest disappointment from a book I've ever experienced.

3.

Breathing Lessons by Anne Tyler 

This book was my Grandma's and my aunt thought I would like it because my Grandma and I had very similar reading tastes. The idea of this book and parts of this book I really enjoyed. But the characters were unlikable, to me, and that made it very hard to get through. I ended up just pushing through it when I was on vacation and spent a whole pool day just reading this and I will say, not allowing myself to stop and analyze it seemed to help. This wasn't a bad book but it wasn't as good as I was hoping and was very difficult to get through.

4.
 
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

I'm going to finish this book and series at some point. I read The Maze Runner and liked it enough to continue with the series and find out what was going to happen. It's not my normal style of book so the main reason I wanted to finish it was solely to find out what it was all about. If I had read these books back to back I probably would have gotten through it, but my library had a long wait for this one so it was weeks before I got back into the series again. It totally bummed me out and I was just so over bad stuff constantly happening to these kids. I ended up looking up what the rest of the books held and although it's not great, I really would like to read through it because I did enjoy the first book. I just have to be in the right mindset for it.

5.

The Steady Running of the Hour by Justin Go

I recently read this and if you saw my May Wrap-Up, you'll have read my not so great review of it. This was another disappointment because it looked like just my kind of book. I read a lot of reviews that were similar to my feelings in that it seemed like I should have liked this and it makes me wonder if I missed something huge. This was long but not awful to get through because I wanted to find out what was going to happen with all of the characters. It was slow which was the main reason it took me like a month to read. My feelings of blah emerged once the book was over and the ending that I had been reading and reading to get to was so incredibly disappointing. This one I struggled to get through but things were worse once it was over. 

I'm happy to say there aren't many I've struggled with and these are probably most of them. I'm sure I will run into more, but in my reading mindset right now, I don't plan on not finishing a book unless there's a MAJOR reason I cannot do it. Big goals :)

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Top 5 Wednesday #1

Top 5 Wednesday was created by gingerreadslainey and is a weekly prompt that showcases a different topic each Wednesday. You can join the Goodreads group here.

This week's topic is the Top 5 Characters You Wish You Were More Like. Before even looking at my books for ideas, all I can think of are the characters who I love but are awkward and weird like me, and so maybe I should look for some confident, not-so-awkward characters? Do I even read books with people like that in it?!

Oh well.





1. Elizabeth Gilbert, herself, in Eat, Pray, Love by Elizabeth Gilbert. This woman is a beast. She's so unhappy with her life that instead of settling and ignoring her fears, she stands up and walks out of her old life into a completely new one. She's adventurous in her travels, her food, her spirituality, and she says "screw you" to what society says she should be.

2. Claire Waverley in Garden Spells by Sarah Addison Allen. She's a chef with a magical garden. She has her own business and is very independent. Her food is literally made with magic. I can't stress that enough. Food=Magic.

3. Katey Kontent in The Rules of Civility by Amor Towles. Personally, Katey was one of the best characters in any book to follow throughout the story. She has wit and "her own brand of cool nerve." She wasn't trying to be anything and just went with the flow. Even though she lived in a time when things were not simple, she made it seem simple. She was a solid narrator and if I can't be her then please can I be her bff? like for real. please?






4. Jacquetta in The Lady Of The Rivers by Philippa Gregory. The mother of Elizabeth, The White Queen, and the great-grandmother of Elizabeth I, Jacquetta chose her own life (for the most part) at a time when women had no say in their own lives whatsoever. She married the man she loved even though he was below her and was the most loyal friend. She also wasn't afraid to do what was best for her family and change sides which usually sounds sketchy, but for her, it made perfect sense. She had her own beliefs and thoughts and stuck to them as much as she could. I can barely do that now!





5. Marie-Laure LeBlanc in All The Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr. So, yes, she's blind and I don't necessarily want that, but her courageousness and bravery is inspiring. But don't call her brave, because, as she so plainly states: "But it is not bravery; I have no choice. I wake up and live my life."* It's hard to wake up and live life on some days for me and I'm not in the midst of World War II BLIND.  She's just fierce. And she doesn't even mean to be or want to be.
I talk a little bit more about her in my May Wrap-Up.




There you go! I do read about non-awkward characters! They are all weird in their own ways though, but that just makes them even cooler.

Who are the 5 characters you wish you were more like?

*This is a quote from an ARC copy of this book so it may be different in the published copy.