Lists – Page 2 – wings and fables

Top 5 Tuesday: Graphic Novels

April 27, 2021April 24, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables10 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly meme created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Graphic Novels.

Admittedly if we’d been limited to only graphic novels for this week, I wouldn’t have been able to participate. BUT since we’re able to also include comics and webtoons, I definitely have a few to share!

1. The Umbrella Academy by Gerard Way; Art by Gabriel Bá; Color by Dave Stewart

I’ve read both the first and second volumes of The Umbrella Academy but have yet to read the third. I also haven’t watched the Netflix show yet which is probably a cardinal sin since even people who haven’t read the comics enjoyed the show. Regardless, it’s such an interesting series filled with complex characters born with unique abilities who work as superheroes and who have a supremely dysfunctional family relationship with each other. The first volume has such a twist with who the villain turns out to be and so far the second volume has been my favorite which focuses on the Kennedy assassination as a backdrop for the story.

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Debut Novels

April 20, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables6 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Debut Novels.

This topic has really blown my mind in a few ways as there are so many books I thought I could include on my list and it turned out that the author’s debut novel was not the one I thought it was! Google really saved me this week.

1. Cinder by Marissa Meyer

Cinder was the first book that popped into my head when reading this week’s topic. I think it’s so cool that it started out as a Nanowrimo project—talk about a success! This book absolutely captured my heart and it’s still one of my favorite series to date. I haven’t had a chance to read Meyer’s other novels yet apart from this series, but I have purchased them and will eventually get to them on my lengthy to-read list.

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books You Would Re-Rate

April 13, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables5 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic is Top 5 Books You Would Re-Rate.

I am a chronic re-rater. If you follow me on Goodreads, you might have seen me rate a book upon finishing it only to change the rating when I post my actual review. The more time I’m able to really think about a book and my feelings about it before diving into the next one, the more likely I am to change the rating by a star, either positively or negatively. Here’s my top 5 books that I would rate differently now if I were to re-read them:

1. A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas

I make it no secret that ACOTAR is one of my favorite series so it might be surprising that this book is on my list. However, the first time I read it, I truly didn’t get the hype. I was new to the fantasy genre (I favored dystopian at the time) so I was left with a lot of questions about things that didn’t make sense to me. Now that I’ve expanded my fantasy reads, I understand that logic is one of the worst things to use when reading them. Fantasy is meant to be enjoyed with the way the writer chose to create the world. It’s not meant to be compared to what makes sense in ours. If I read this book again, I’m sure my 3 star rating which felt generous at the time would be higher by at least a star.

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Middle Grade Books

March 23, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables7 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Middle Grade Books.

One of my favorite things about middle grade books is that they often hit relatable issues in a simple, accessible way, especially in the case of contemporary books. I’m usually floored by the amount of development within the plot and the characters in such a short amount of time due to their typical shorter page length. I definitely sit in the camp that middle grade can be enjoyed by all ages and have reread some of my favorites as an adult. Without further ado, let’s jump in to my top 5 middle grade recommendations.

1. Crash by Jerry Spinelli

Crash is a favorite from my childhood and has remained a favorite into my adult life–I even reread it a couple of years ago and possibly enjoyed it even more as an adult than as a child. It hits so many important issues in its pages from peer expectations to bullying to the effects of watching people you love grow old and feeble. The main character goes through so much character development as he moves from popular jock preoccupied by what others think of him to learning what’s actually important in life and making new decisions as he matures. Spinelli’s books often have some major life lessons hidden beneath their various façades which is one of my favorite things about his books.

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books That Got Me Into Reading

March 16, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables7 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Books That Got You Into Reading.

Since I fell in love with reading as soon as I learned how to read, I’m afraid my list would just be filled with children’s books such as Madeleine, Chicka Chicka Boom Boom, etc.–probably not very exciting or engaging to read in my case. So instead I’m going to put a little bit of a spin on this week’s topic and choose the top 5 books that helped get me out of a reading slump at different times in my life.

1. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

I went through several reading slumps as a teen, mostly because of time constraints due to harsh coursework in school. I’ve always been the type to fall into routine pretty easily (probably thanks to my Virgo moon) so once I’d subconsciously decided I wasn’t allowed to read for pleasure and instead should only read my coursework, it was difficult for me to let go a little. Discovering this series filled with Greek mythology and demigods through my sibling helped revive my love for reading circa 2008.

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books I Wish I Had Read When I Was Younger

March 9, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables1 Comment

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Books You Wish You Had Read When You Were Younger.

All of my books are ones I read a few years after their release (a few decades in the case of another) and are ones I wished I’d pushed myself to read earlier so I could’ve enjoyed them at the height of their fame. It’s still fun to read books that were once popular but have since fallen, but nothing compares to being able to read a book that everyone is talking about and loving it too. Here are a few of mine:

1. The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

I didn’t read this book until 3 years after its release. Scarlet, its sequel, had already been published in fact. At the time, I had recently gotten my first e-reader ever and the publisher had released the first five chapters of this book for free to entice readers to purchase the full book. Well, it definitely worked on me and I flew through its pages. I was fascinated by its blend of dystopian and sci-fi. I was shocked that retellings could actually do the original story justice and make me love them too. I’m glad I was able to be there for the hype of Cress‘s release but I still wish I’d picked this book up sooner.

Continue reading →

Top 5 Tuesday

Top 5 Tuesday: Books from Childhood

March 2, 2021April 21, 2021by wren @ wingsandfables6 Comments

Top 5 Tuesday is a weekly series created by Bionic Book Worm and is now hosted by Meeghan Reads. This week’s topic: Top 5 Books from Your Childhood.

I am fortunate in that I found my love for books very early in life. In fact, I fell in love with them as soon as I learned how to read. I’ve also always been the type to reread favorites over and over again, never getting bored or falling out of love. There are SO MANY books I could list on here but I picked the following because they are the ones I reread the most as a child which means they wormed their way solidly into a special place in my heart. This was such a fun topic to write about and I have fallen into full nostalgia on a Monday morning as I’m writing this. Let’s jump in.

1. Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

I’ve always loved animals. So much so that I wanted to be a veterinarian when I was growing up. However, after a summer job at an animal hospital when I turned 16, I found out that it was not the career path for me. But my love for animals still remains. Any book that had an animal as a focus was a book I was sure to read. (Does anyone remember the Animal Ark series? They were my life for a while!) My grade school teacher had suggested this book for me and I instantly fell in love. Going on Opal’s and Winn-Dixie’s adventures together was so much fun for me and I loved getting to know all of her new neighbors in her new town. I remember being fascinated about the story she was told regarding the candy that had the taste of sadness and how badly I wished I could taste some too. I’ve never seen the film–I was afraid it would ruin my love for the book–but maybe one day soon I’ll pull my worn copy of this book down from my shelves and read it again with fresh eyes as an adult.

Continue reading →