Category: Let’s Talk Books!

Bonus Content, Let's Talk Books!

Let’s Talk Books: My Reading Comfort Zone

bookspirationbysarah

Hello, bookish friends! I hope you have all had a wonderful week thus far and have a restful weekend ahead of you. I always love to read posts by other bloggers that ramble about their favorite genres and the kinds of books they are most content with reading, so I thought I would share some of the same little tidbits with you all in a low-key, discussion-type post. Let’s get to it, shall we?

When I first started reading for fun back in 8th or 9th grade, I found that I would only read books that were ridiculously hyped up. Back then, this mostly consisted of (somewhat) cookie-cutter dystopian novels and a few fantasy series. However, I quickly learned that there were so many other great genres of fiction that I hadn’t yet discovered, and when I did, there was no turning back to my Hunger Games/Divergent days.

One genre of writing that I’ve been reading for years and don’t think I will ever tire of are young adult contemporary romance novels. There’s just something so calming about picking up one of these lighthearted, fluffy beauties that fills my heart with so much joy. When I was later into my high school years, I also started reading contemporaries that were a little bit darker and more mature. I quickly grew out of the “tough stuff” contemporaries that were uber dark, but have continued to read those that cover very current and complex topics.

Since starting college, I’ve realized that my reading comfort zone has certainly become much more vast than it once was. In addition to my love of contemporary romances, my go-to genres are fantasy (young adult, new adult, and adult), historical fiction, and even a few true new adult romances thrown in there. I’ve also found that I enjoy reading memoirs, occasionally. I have yet to branch out into the sci-fi and thriller/horror/suspense genres yet (and likely won’t just because I have never been a fan!), but almost anything else is fair game. I also think I’m starting to become a reader that is more inclined to branch out from my reading comfort zone these days, which is so exciting because you never know what hidden gems you may find by taking a chance on something out of your standard box!

If you’ve been following the blog for awhile now, you know that my love of young adult and new adult novels knows no bounds, and it is extremely unlikely this is going to change too drastically for a good long while. I hope you enjoyed learning a little bit more about how my reading tastes have changed (and all that have remained the same!).

What genre(s) of books fall within your reading comfort zone?

Until next week, bookish loves! May your weekend be filled with all the reading your hearts desire 😊

Bonus Content, Let's Talk Books!

Let’s Talk Books: OTPs – Can You Have More Than One???

bookspirationbysarah

Hello, bookish friends, and welcome back to the blog! I’ve been reading so many books lately that have some of the most shippable characters I have ever seen, and it got me thinking: Is it permissible for us readers to have more than one OTP? After doing a quick Dictionary.com search to define the parameters of an OTP, I was left feeling a little dead inside. One True Pairing (OTP), according to their definition is “a term that signifies a person’s favorite fictional romantic relationship.” Yes, you read that correctly – SINGULAR, both in definition and the meaning of the acronym itself. As in you can only have ONE.

I got a little amped up after pondering this for a lot longer than I probably should have, so I’ve decided to write an entire post explaining exactly why I completely DISAGREE with the singular OTP thought process. This post could get a little controversial (but in a respectful/kind way!), so feel free to hit me up in the comments with your thoughts on whether or not One True Pairing should only be limited to one per reader or naw. Cool? Dope! Let’s get it, let’s go!

OTPs kind of remind me of when you ask someone what their favorite color is – some people have more than one and therefore, have a tough time only answering this question with the name of a single color. Similarly, if someone were to ask me what my favorite couple from the young adult fantasy genre would be, I’d probably list out at least five couples from five different book series. I mean, HELLO! Virtually an impossible decision to make when there are so many fabulous pairings to choose from.

Speaking of genres: I find that because there are so many books out there in all kinds of genres, it would be super hard to limit OTP to just one couple out of all the books in the world. This is because the fictional romances you see popping up in different genres can be very different from one another. For example, a romantic connection may blossom between old friends in a contemporary novel, but in a fantasy novel, there may be some enemies-to-lovers action going on. If a reader were to love both equally as much, then it is absolutely preposterous to ask them to choose only one oh-so-deserving couple as their OTP.  

As you can clearly see from this very ramble-y yet therapeutic post, I am all for us readers being able to have an unlimited number of OTPs stashed away in our brains to enjoy for all of eternity. Writers want us to fall for their fictional romantic pairings (even when some make us hate them at first!), and therefore, asking us to only choose one out of a sea of irresistible choices would just be cruel!

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Enough about my thoughts on OTPs – what do you guys think? Do you have one couple that you believe will remain your only ultimate ship, or are you like me and have LOTS of fictional couples that you couldn’t possibly choose between? Let’s chat about it in the comments!

Until next week, bookish peeps! I hope the rest of your week is filled with beautiful visions of all your favorite fictional couples 😊   

Bonus Content, Let's Talk Books!

Let’s Talk Books: Book-to-Film (and TV!) Adaptations

bookspirationbysarah

Hello, bookish friends, and welcome back to the blog! As you can tell from the title of this post, I am going to be sharing my thoughts on books that are turned into movies and/or TV shows. I have found that many readers have very strong feelings about these, and while I’d like to say I’m not one of those people, I do have some pretty fierce opinions myself. Let’s jump right into those, shall we?

First and foremost, I am definitely that person who has to read the book before seeing the adaptation, not the other way around. While this does make me more biased when watching the film (especially if I fell in love with the book first), I’m a firm believer in appreciating the original work at its source before exploring the various branch-offs of said work. I have plenty of friends who prefer to read the book only after they’ve seen the adaptation, and that’s cool, too, but since I HATE spoilers, this approach has just never worked for me!

On to the question you’re probably all thinking: What, in my opinion, constitutes a good book-to-film/TV adaptation? The avid reader in me says that the film should stay completely true to the book, and while I totally wish this were possible, it’s extremely difficult to include all 400+ pages of a book into a 2 hour movie or even a season or two of a TV show. Because of this, I would say that a solid adaptation should include some of the most important lines and plot points of a novel, and that the acting of the cast stay true to the personalities, attitudes, behaviors, etc. of the characters as written in the book to the best of their ability. Part of me doesn’t necessarily even care (well… okay. Sometimes I do in very limited cases!) if the characters look the way I pictured them in my mind while reading, as long as the way the characters are represented in the book are very similar to the way the actor portrays them on-screen.

There are very few things that I can think of that make me just straight-up not like an adaptation. The first is that the plot of the movie is changed drastically and is essentially completely different from the book. In my brain, I can’t even consider that kind of film an adaptation because the movie turns into a completely separate entity without much overlap with the book. While sometimes I can overlook this, I also don’t love it when there are characters in a book that never show up in a movie. Like with the plot, this is just a big inconsistency that makes the movie feel completely separate from the book itself.

Overall, I think my expectations for film/TV adaptations of novels are relatively reasonable, as many of those I have seen, I’ve really liked! Speaking of those I’ve seen… let’s end this thing with just a few of my own favorites and not-so-favorites!

My Favorites

My Not-So-Favorites

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Well, folks, I think that’s a wrap on my ramblings about book-to-film/TV adaptations! I know it can be hard to think objectively about these, especially when it’s one of your favorite books. However, I do think it’s pretty awesome that so many producers are willing to take on such a daunting task these days, so mega props to them for all their efforts!

May the rest of your week be filled with lots of fabulous reads, and thanks for tuning into this week’s bonus content post! 😊

Bonus Content, Let's Talk Books!

Let’s Talk Books: Hardcovers vs. Paperbacks

bookspirationbysarah

Hello, bookish friends! Welcome back to the blog. This week, I thought I’d throw another discussion post your way. As avid readers, you’ve probably had the “hardcover vs. paperback” battle in your mind (and maybe in person!) a time or two in your life. Someone earlier this week asked me my thoughts on the topic, and since it got me pondering my own opinions, I thought “Why not share this on the blog since it is the ultimate question posed to bookish people?” So alas, here I am, bringing you this very topic in pro/con list format! Ready to dive in? Leggo:

Hardcovers

The Pros:

  • Hardcovers don’t get nearly as beat-up as paperbacks do when you put them in a bag and take them on the go. As someone who is all about having pristine copies of the books I own, this is a huge plus for me!
  • If it’s a book that has a whole lotta pages, you don’t have to worry about cracking the spine.
  • Hardcovers have a better chance at surviving if you get caught in the rain, splashed at the pool, or accidentally getting dropped in the bathtub.
  • The covers of hardback books are STUNNING and make beautiful statement pieces on your bookshelves!

The Cons:

  • Not that you need me to tell you this, fellow readers, but hardcover books are often times much more expensive than paperbacks.
  • The dust jackets on the outside of most hardcovers drive me a little crazy sometimes. For example, when I’m reading outside and the dust jacket AND pages start blowing around , I start flailing to get things back in order and it’s just a hot mess.
  • Hardcovers often take up a lot more space on my shelves than paperbacks. As someone who has a lot of books and little space to store them (because my shelves are now officially filled to the brim), this is definitely a drawback for me.
  • Most of these suckers are HEAVY.

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Paperbacks

The Pros:

  • Paperback books are much more affordable. There are times in my life where I’ve been able to buy two paperbacks for the price of one hardcover!
  • There are so many different “feels” of paperbacks. There are some that are soft/smooth and others that have sort of a grainy feel, and for some strange reason, these different textures make the reading experience that much more pleasurable!
  • You can pack a crap ton more paperbacks onto your bookshelves since they are much more compact than hardcovers. I have a few paperbacks that are over 600 pages long, and they take up much less space than a hardcover with the same page count would.
  • Overall, I find that paperbacks are more comfortable to read. Paperbacks just tend to naturally fit in my hand better and don’t leave me with pesky hand cramps like hardcovers do.

The Cons:

  • It’s super easy to damage a paperback. I can’t tell you how many books I’ve thrown in my bookbag to read during class…. err… I mean, after class, and when I pulled them out, the covers were bent. Le sigh.
  • I have found it harder to keep the pages open when reading paperbacks since the spines are bound very tightly.
  • You typically have to wait longer to get a paperback copy of a book since most are released in hardcover format first.
  • The bane of my existence: Accidentally cracking the spine of a paperback. My heart breaks a little more every time I do this because then the title is left with a bunch of permanent wrinkles in it, starting back at me on my shelf for the rest of its bookish life.

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My Personal Preference

Okay… the moment you have all been waiting for: my personal preference! It honestly depends on what I’m wanting to use the book for (i,e, reading, decoration, travel, etc.), but since the overall reason for having books is to read them, then I have to admit that I prefer paperbacks over hardcovers. Haters gonna hate, but I chose this format because paperbacks are just so much easier to handle and are way more comfortable for me to hold onto while reading. If we were talking decoration, though, hardcovers would 100% take the cake!

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Now you all know my personal thoughts on this uber controversial bookish topic! Hopefully my paperback preference didn’t disappoint any of you too much! What are your thoughts on these two formats? Let me know below and any reasons ‘why’ that didn’t make my list!

Happy Weekend, lovelies, and I’ll see you next week for some more bookish fun! 🙂