[Review] Mirror in the Sky by Aditi Khorana

15:00 Cilla 2 Comments


I came into Mirror in the Sky imagining it to be a sci-fi novel about an alternate universe where the lives of Earth's teenagers and their Sliding Doors, alien doppelganger somehow intersect. That's not what happened. This is more of a contemporary novel about the power of 'what if's rather than a sci-fi, and I wish I'd known that before I started. While the premise is intriguing and I enjoyed the depiction of high-school friendships, I kept waiting for something else to happen.


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Is Peeking at the Ending a Bad Reading Habit?

15:00 Cilla 23 Comments



There was a time when reading ahead, let alone peeking at the end of a book, was an absolute no-no for me. When Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows came out, my friend told me that she'd picked up a copy at the bookshop and flipped right to the last page then and there. I was aghast. Aside from immediately forbidding her from telling me about it, I thought reading ending first would completely ruin the reading experience.

And yet, recently I've found myself flipping ahead, or even glancing at the last page. I'm not sure why! It's happened both with books that I like and books that don't hold my attention, so it's not necessarily me looking for a reason to keep reading (though it is possible in some occasions). There's a lot of discussion about how smartphones and multi-tasking is rewiring our brains and making us less patient, which is something I've noticed with myself when I'm studying. I find it more difficult to focus on one task for an extended period of time, something I used to be quite good at. It's possible that this is affecting my reading too.

The journey is supposed to be the exciting part of reading, right? If you already know how the story ends, then there's no mystery, anticipation, or surprises. Or is there?

In many ways, we know how most stories will end. The couple will get their happy ending. There's a 95% chance the revolution will succeed, or the orphan is going to save the world. Knowing this doesn't put me off reading romance or fantasy, because I don't know what will happen in the middle. I'd be more annoyed if someone told me of a major plot twist that happens in the middle of a book. Of course, there will be books where knowing the ending would completely and utterly ruin the fun (like if someone had told me who had died at the end of the fifth and sixth Harry Potter). On the whole though, is it really bad to peek at the ending before you finish reading?


What do you think?
Have you ever read the ending of a book first?
How do you feel about spoilers? 

23 comments:

Thanks for reading! It makes my day to hear your thoughts and I will respond asap. :)

#TheReadingQuest Readathon Sign-Up

15:00 Cilla 2 Comments



I usually avoid readathons because I'm not very good at them, but this one looks so fun, I couldn't resist. Plus, I'm going to have two weeks of holiday in the middle of August, so that might help! Anyway, here is my sign-up!

If you haven't heard about this readathon, Aentee at ReadAtMidnight made #TheReadingQuest based on a video-game quest. In this challenge, you’ll be embarking on a journey to conquer your TBR pile through a series of stages. You’ll read new stories, gain experience, and level up a character of your choosing! The quest will take place between Sunday 13th August to Sunday 10th September, 2017.

For more information, read the master post here on Aentee's blog. A big shout-out to CW at Read, Think, and Ponder for creating the gorgeous arts for this readathon!

You can choose one out of four characters, each with their own quests, and I picked to be a Knight! Knights fight their way through the First Across path, with stages inspired by action and weaponry.


#TheReadingQuest TBR

↠ The First Book of a Series: The Diviners
This book has been on my shelf for ages, and it's time to tackle it. I quite enjoy Libba Bray's other works, so I'm looking forward to reading this. (If only it wasn't so big!)

↠ A Book with a Verb in the Title: Carry On 
I really enjoyed Rainbow Rowell's talk at last year's Melbourne Writers Festival about the magic system in this book, but I'm not sure how I feel about it being basically a.. parody? play? ... of Harry Potter. Anyway, I'm intrigued.

↠ A Book with a Weapon on the Cover: Girl Waits with Gun
I actually will need to borrow this one from the library, but this is one of those books whose covers make me want to read it. Plus, how great is that title?

↠ A Book with a Red Cover: An Abundance of Katherine
I actually have never loved John Green's writing. I never even bothered to watch The Fault in Our Stars. I like his books well enough, but they're just alright for me. My sister, on the other hand, had a phase where she practically devoured all of his books. This one fits the box for this readathon, so I'm going to give it a shot!

↠ A Book that Has a TV/Movie Adaptation: The Magicians
Yet another book that I bought because I enjoyed the author's appearance at MWF last year. I loaned it to a friend and her review of it isn't too favourable, sooo I guess we'll see?


I've managed to pick four out of the above books from my shelf, so if this goes well, I'll be really crossing them off a really long-standing TBR. Wish me luck!

Are you going to do the readathon too? What's on your TBR?

2 comments:

Thanks for reading! It makes my day to hear your thoughts and I will respond asap. :)

[Rewind] July 2017

15:00 Cilla 3 Comments



There's really not much to rewind this time! July has been a rather dismal month in terms of blogging. I fell into a reading slump too, though funnily enough finished two 5-stars books immediately after. I do have some things to talk about though, so I hope you'll read on!

New to My Shelves

I went to Oz Comic-Con last month and spotted Wires and Nerve while walking around the artists market. As it turned out, it was Douglas Holgate's (the illustrator) stall! My friend and I had a nice chat with him about how Wires and Nerve came to be, and he signed our copies for us. I adored Iko, so I'm really looking forward to reading this!

I've also been approved for Starswept by Mary Fan on NetGalley. The synopsis caught my eye, and I'm totally here for a diverse sci-fi story!






Reviews

↠ Laurinda by Alice Pung / ★★★★★ (I posted this one in June, but I never did a June rewind post, so I'm sneaking it in here!)

Other Things on the Blog

I only did one other post this month, and that was this list of the books on my current TBR. I've already finished three out of the four books on the list, so I'm going to have to line up new ones soon!

Challenges Progress

↠ Goodreads challenge: 23/30 books
↠ Discussion challenge: 5/24 discussion posts
↠ ReadDiverse2017 challenge: 8 books
↠ #RockMyTBR challenge:  1 book
↠ Backlist Books challenge: 7 books

Around the Blogosphere

↠ Clara discusses ways to pick your next read.
↠ Laura talks about how to know your idea is a keeper.
↠ Shannon discusses things she likes about your blog.

In Life

↠ I started my next (and hopefully last) placement for my course! It has me working with older adults, and I'm absolutely amazed by how much they have seen and done in their lives. It hasn't all been sweet and easy though. I'm not always sure how to communicate with them, particularly with those who have dementia. Sometimes it's sad, because ageing isn't easy, and the current generation of older adults have lived through at least one war. My other placements have had me working with children and teenagers, so there's a lot of things I don't know yet. I'm absolutely fascinated though.
↠ I went to Oz Comic-Con! I wanted to go see Alyson Hannigan, and I'm so glad I did. She came across as sincere and lovely, and she was really funny in person too! Though now that I've seen both her and David Boreanaz live, I probably should watch Buffy...
↠ For the first time since 2015, I'll be going home to Indonesia! It's only a short trip, and a part of me is stressing about leaving in the middle of semester, but I'm going for a wedding so the timing can't be helped. I'm looking forward to the trip and seeing my friends and family, though not so much to the international flights!

In Store for Next Month

Those 5-stars books I mentioned earlier? There shall be reviews coming up for them! I also have two discussion posts in mind. Fingers crossed I get to them all! 

How was your July?
Did you read any good books? Link me to your latest/favourite post of the month!
Do you have any plans for August?

3 comments:

Thanks for reading! It makes my day to hear your thoughts and I will respond asap. :)

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