1. The Ghost and the Goth by Stacey Kade. Originally Published 2010. LT.
2. Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher. Originally Published 2007. LT.
3. A Madness of Angels: Or, the Resurrection of Matthew Swift by Kate Griffin. Originally Published 2009. LT.
4. The Shape of Mercy by Susan Meissner. Originally Published 2008. LT.
5. Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier. Originally Published 1938. LT.
6. Serenity: Float Out by Patton Oswalt. Originally Published 2010. LT.
7. The Lovely Bones by Alice Sebold. Originally Published 2002. LT.
8. Being Dead by Jim Crace. Originally Published 1999. LT.
9. Murther and Walking Spirits by Robertson Davies. Originally Published 1991. LT.
10. Elsewhere by Gabrielle Zevin. Originally Published 2005. LT.

What books have you enjoyed where the main character (or one of the main characters) is already dead for the majority of the book?

1. Two Rings: A Story of Love and War by Millie Werber and Eve Keller. Originally Published 2012. LT.
2. The Diary of a Young Girl by Anne Frank. Originally Published 1947. LT.
3. Night by Elie Wiesel. Originally Published 1955. LT.
4. We are Witnesses: Five Diaries Of Teenagers Who Died In The Holocaust by Jacob Boas. Originally Published 1995. LT.
5. The Diary of Peter Ginz by Peter Ginz. Originally Published 2007. LT.
6. An Interrupted Life by Etty Hillesum. Originally Published 1981. LT.
7. All But My Life by Gerda Weissmann Klein. Originally Published 1957. LT.
8. A Lucky Child: A Memoir of Surviving Auschwitz as a Young Boy by Thomas Buergenthal. Originally Published 2007. LT.
9. I Have Lived A Thousand Years: Growing Up In The Holocaust by Livia Bitton-Jackson. Originally Published 1997. LT.
10. Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi. Originally Published 1958. LT.

Have you read any books on this topic? What were they and would you recommend them?

I started my book blog about six years ago, so I am only looking at books that I haven’t read in the past six years. Otherwise, this list would get out of control very quickly. As it is, I’ve already had a very hard time picking only ten that I want to throw on this list – there are just so many that I want to reread!

1. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman. Originally Published 1995. LT
2. Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery. Originally Published 1923. LT
3. I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith. Originally Published 1948. LT
4. The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien. Originally Published 1937. LT
5. Little Women by Louisa May Alcott. Originally Published 1868. LT
6. Persuasion by Jane Austen. Originally Published 1818. LT
7. Gone with the Wind by Margaret Mitchell. Originally Published 1936. LT
8. Green Rider by Kristen Britain. Originally Published 1998. LT
9. Beyond the Hanging Wall by Sara Douglass. Originally Published 1996. LT
10. Frankenstein by Mary Shelley. Originally Published 1818. LT

Do you reread books? What are some of the ones that you want to reread the most?

Once again this year, I haven’t read nearly as much as I would have liked to, but at this point I’m just 2-3 books shy of my goal, which I can hopefully reach… though, with the holidays, I’m not sure how much time I’ll actually have. Eep.

I did a pretty good job at reading books that had been on the TBR pile for a long time this year, and with a lot of those I ended up cursing the fact that I hadn’t read them previously. I also read a lot of previously undiscovered authors that I hadn’t known anything about before. And then there was a lot of Georgette Heyer, which is pretty damn awesome in my opinion… While there was a whole lot that I thoroughly enjoyed, today I wanted to share, in no particular order, what my ten favourite reads of the year were.

1. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. Originally Published 2005. LT. My review
2. The Dream Thief by Catherine Webb. Originally Published 2010. LT. My review
3. Looking for Alaska by John Green. Originally Published 2005. LT. My review
4. Wither by Lauren DeStefano. Originally Published 2011. LT. My review
5. The Hunchback Assignments: Empire of Ruins by Arthur Slade. Originally Published 2011. LT. My review
6. Darkfever by Karen Marie Moning. Originally Published 2006. LT. My review
7. Venetia by Georgette Heyer. Originally Published 1958. LT. My review
8. Cotillion by Georgette Heyer. Originally Published 1953. LT. My review
9. Shattered by Eric Walters. Originally Published 2009. LT. My review
10. Tinker, Tailor, Soldier, Spy by John Le Carre. Originally Published 1974. LT. (No review posted yet, as I just finished this yesterday!)

What were your favourite books from this year?

So, this week, I started investigating different books based on the Robin Hood legend.

1. The Merry Adventures of Robin Hood by Howard Pyle. Originally Published 1883. LT
2. The Adventures of Robin Hood by Roger Lancelyn Green. Originally Published 1956. LT
3. The Youngest Templar trilogy by Michael P. Spradlin. LT
4. The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley. Originally Published 1988. LT
5. King Raven Triloy by Stephen R. Lawhead. LT
6. Maid Marian by Elsa Watson. Originally Published 2001. LT
7. The Forestwife trilogy by Theresa Tomlinson. LT
8. Rowan Hood series by Nancy Springer. LT
9. Locksley by Nicholas Chase. LT
10. Robin the Hoodie by Hans Christian Asbosen. Originally Published 2011. LT

What books should I be reading that have Robin Hood in them?

1. The Dark is Rising Sequence by Susan Cooper. First book, Over Sea, Under Stone, published 1965. LT
2. The Merlin Codex by Robert Holdstock. First book, Celtika, published 2001. LT
3. That Hideous Strength by C.S. Lewis. Originally Published 1945. LT
4. Merlin Dreams by Peter Dickinson. Originally Published 1988. LT
5. The Once and Future King by T.H. White. Originally Published 1958. LT
6. The Mists of Avalon by Marion Zimmer Bradley. Originally Published 1982. LT
7. The Merlin Trilogy by Mary Stewart. First book, The Crystal Cave, published 1970. LT
8. Kingdom of the Grail by Judith Tarr. Originally Published 2000. LT
9. A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain. Originally Published 1889. LT
10. The Pendragon Cycle by Stephen R. Lawhead. First book, Taliesin, published 1987. LT

Do you like the character Merlin? What books have you read about him?

To anyone who knows me IRL, it is no secret that I love Christmas. It is my most favourite time of the year. Last week, I went out and bought a few new decorations for around the apartment, and I even started my Christmas shopping over the weekend! (One trip to Chapters down, books bought all around, huzzah huzzah!)

One of my favourite things to do at Christmas every year is to send out Christmas cards. I’m going to be picking up my cards from the printer today (super excited!) and will be posting about that later this week – a sign-up form for a card exchange. Writing out cards while drinking tea and watching a Christmas movie – could there be anything more wonderful? I think not.

There’s a lot of Christmasy stuff going on in the blogosphere already. And if you haven’t signed up for at least one thing, then you really should! This year, I’m going to only be participating in two things – the Virtual Advent Tour and the Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange.

My personal favourite is the Virtual Advent Tour. This is going to be my third year participating in it, and it’s always such fun seeing how other participants celebrate the holiday.

For the second year in a row, Anastasia is hosting the Book Bloggers Holiday Card Exchange. This was a lot of fun last year – I got a lot of recs for books I had never read and was introduced to a number of new-to-me blogs. Signups for this are only open until November 30, so if you want in on the fun, don’t wait too long to get signed up!

Yay, fun community-ish holiday-related stuff! Perfect way to start off the season.

* Disclaimer: Yes, I’m sure other blogs have something of this title. I’m sorry if they decide that I am copying them, because I’m not, I just wanted a title for a biweekly rambling post and “musings” sounds so good when combined with the day “Monday.”

This week I thought it would be fun to take a look at books with characters that are rock stars. Because rock stars can sometimes be a lot of fun to read about – especially when they have all kinds of drama involved. So, here we have a bunch of books with rock stars!

1. Audrey Wait! by Robin Benway. Originally Published 2008. LT.
2. Rock Bottom by Michael Shilling. Originally Published 2009. LT.
3. Fitzwilliam Darcy, Rock Star by Heather Rigaud. Originally Published 2011. LT.
4. The Wishbones by Tom Perrotta. Originally Published 1997. LT.
5. Rock Star by Jackie Collins. Originally Published 1988. LT.
6. Drums, Girls, And Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. Originally Published 2004. LT.
7. How Evan Broke His Head and Other Secrets by Garth Stein. Originally Published 2005. LT.
8. Heart-Shaped Box by Joe Hill. Originally Published 2007. LT.
9. Espedair Street by Iain M. Banks. Originally Published 1987. LT.
10. Gary Benchley, Rock Star by Paul Ford. Originally Published 2005. LT.

What books do you like about rock stars?

• 2005
• 2006
• 2007
• 2008
• 2009
• 2010
• 2011

1. I’m Not Her by Janet Gurtler. Originally Published 2011. LT.
2. A Walk to Remember by Nicholas Sparks. Originally Published 1999. LT.
3. My Sister’s Keeper by Jodi Picoult. Originally Published 2004. LT.
4. A Summer to Die by Lois Lowry. Originally Published 1977. LT.
5. Suite Scarlett by Maureen Johnson. Originally Published 2008. LT.
6. Before I Die by Jenny Downham. Originally Published 2007. LT.
7. Deadline by Chris Crutcher. Originally Published 2007. LT.
8. Drums, Girls, And Dangerous Pie by Jordan Sonnenblick. Originally Published 2004. LT.
9. East of the Mountains by David Guterson. Originally Published 1999. LT.
10. Good Harbor by Anita Diamant. Originally Published 2001. LT.