Month: June 2018

Spam?

Hey, everyone!

We’ve been commenting on people’s posts, but we’re not seeing it show up! Such as Brittany’s lovely post about how problematic JKR is, Justine’s amazing rendition of our BW Mid Year Tag (!!!!), and our nomination for The Sunshine Blogger by Catherine. (These are the three we could think of off the top of our head, but yeah!)

We want to make sure that everyone sees our comments since we try to comment on posts every day.

We’ve seen posts from people saying that they’ve had the same issue, so we’ve been double checking our spam box for stray comments that have gone there.

Can everyone check their spam box to make sure they haven’t been sent there?

by Categories: jointTags: , , , 19 Comments

Down the TBR Hole

Down the TBR Hole

Down the TBR Hole is a meme created by Lia @ Lost in a Story.

Most of you probably know this feeling, your Goodreads TBR pile keeps growing and growing and it seems like there is no light at the end of the tunnel. You keep adding, but you add more than you actually read. And then when you’re scrolling through your list, you realize that you have no idea what half the books are about and why you added them. Well that’s going to change!

IT WORKS LIKE THIS:

  • Go to your Goodreads to-read shelf.
  • Order on ascending date added.
  • Take the first 5 (or 10 if you’re feeling adventurous) books. Of course if you do this weekly, you start where you left off the last time.
  • Read the synopses of the books
  • Decide: keep it or should it go?

Exposed

Poetry? Contemporary fiction? For fans of Ellen Hopkins? Yeah, we’re back in angsty teen years with this!

Verdict: GO!

The Memoirs of Cleopatra

I actually own this book and love Cleopatra, so the child in me who was obsessed with Egypt is giving me my answer with this book.

Verdict: Keep

A Study In Lavender: Queering Sherlock Holmes

Once upon a time, I would have loved to read this. Now? Eh. It sounds fine, but I think that I’ve grown out of the stage where I would actively search for this book.

Verdict: GO!

The Night Stalker: The Life and Crimes of Richard Ramirez

Oh, hello creepy serial killer. Just some fun stuff right here, right? But, I don’t think I’ll go for this one anymore.

Verdict: GO!

The Shining Girls

I’ve had this book on my TBR for years but never gotten around to it. In the past, when I’ve tried to purge my TBR of books, I kept this one because the premise sounds super cool.

Verdict: Keep

Burial Rites

You know? This book still sounds good. It still sounds really interesting and people I’m friends with and follow on Goodreads gave it a pretty high rating. Therefore…

Verdict: Keep

The Awakening

This is another classic that has been on my radar for ages, but I haven’t gotten to. And it still sounds good to me!

Verdict: Keep

The Republic

I read more than enough Plato in my philosophy courses.

Verdict: GO!

The Fountainhead

I read one Ayn Rand book and really liked it, so it looks like I added more of hers to my TBR at one point. But. Eh.

Verdict: GO!

Great Expectations

I like Dickens. And I do want to read this. It sounds good to me.

Verdict: Keep

Last TBR: 2085

Books kept: 5

Books removed: 5

Current TBR: 2082 (I added a couple over the two weeks)

But look!!! It kept going down!! I’m proud of myself with this. Hopefully I can get it down to 2000 eventually.

Talk to me!
Have you read any of these books?
Did I make the right choice on keeping or letting them go?

by Categories: caidyn 4 Comments

First Lines Friday

First Lines Friday

First Lines Fridays is a weekly feature for book lovers hosted by Wandering Words. What if instead of judging a book by its cover, its author or its prestige, we judged it by its opening lines?

  • Pick a book off your shelf (it could be your current read or on your TBR) and open to the first page
  • Copy the first few lines, but don’t give anything else about the book away just yet – you need to hook the reader first
  • Finally… reveal the book!

Caidyn will be in blue.
Chantel will be in purple.

Continue reading →

by Categories: jointTags: , , , , , , 2 Comments

The Soundtrack of My Life – Track 5

← Previous Track

Caidyn's review (3)

This week I’m adding one of my all time favorite songs to The Soundtrack of My Life. The song has almost no context for my life except that it’s a love song. If you haven’t guessed, this will come up often. Like every week. I’m a romantic at heart.

Whenever I hear this song I can’t help but close my eyes and get into the music and lyrics. This is just one of the best songs of all time. Yes, this is my opinion but I think there are plenty of people who would agree with me.

Track 5: Tiny Dancer by Elton John

Lyrics

Written by Elton John & Bernie Taupin

The most bizarre thing about this song is that Elton John, a queer icon, is singing about a woman. While I don’t think he was publically out when this song is released, it’s important to recognize that he was not writing these songs alone. The duo of Elton John and Bernie Taupin is legendary in music and listening to this song it’s clear why.

The song has an epic feel to it and it builds from Elton John just singing while playing the piano to a song that’s hard not to sing along to once the chorus hits. It’s a wonderfully crafted song with an amazing chorus that’s easy to remember and hard to imitate. In my opinion, that’s what makes a great pop song. It’s easy to sing the lyrics and hard to sing on key.

However, it’s not just the lyrics and John’s singing that gives the song the epic feel. The music feels epic as well. The way John plays the piano is likely why he is so revered as an artist and I only wish I had that much talent. In a way, his piano playing is an extension of his voice. In my experience with songs, instruments often fade into the background and the voice is on full display. However, there are exceptions. Tiny Dancer is one of those exceptions for me. You can tell Elton John is not only singing his heart out, but he is playing the piano with just as much passion. The combination of his voice and the piano is magical in my opinion. This song is only one example of what music is capable of and how much it means to me personally.

I would like to talk about the most recent Tiny Dancer cover by Florence + the Machine. I suspect I will end up talking more about her later on because she is incredible, but I digress.

There are a lot of things I love about the original composition of Tiny Dancer. I’m someone who loves covers and I love them when they are done well.

I feel very confident in saying that Florence + the Machine’s cover of Tiny Dancer is one of the best covers I’ve heard. This is because her voice is perfectly suited to the song and the epic feel that comes with the chorus. She does not change the pronouns in the song (the lyrics are talking about a woman) which makes this song incredibly queer and therefore I love it. By the way, this is just my interpretation and how I feel about the song. Some artists don’t change pronouns in songs they cover out of respect for the artist and that’s okay. I don’t know Florence’s reasoning but there aren’t that many songs out there about ladies singing love songs about other ladies. Let me enjoy this.

So, if like Caidyn you have terrible taste in music and aren’t a huge fan of the original Elton John version, then I highly recommend the Florence + the Machine cover and I will be putting it down below so treat yo earholes!

Next Track →

 

by Categories: chantel 7 Comments