Commissions!! I do graphic design! Hire me! (please dear god hire me)

Hey! You guys know me as the kick-ass book reviewer that I am, but have you noticed the awesome graphics in my videos? Yeah? I did those because I'm also a kick-ass graphic designer sometimes. Oh yeah I am just so multi-talented.

What I'm not particularly talented at is recovering. I'm at the point where I should in theory be able to go out into the world and get a job after a certain nervous breakdown. I'm not QUITE there yet, but I need to show my parents that I'm not going to be "mooching" off them forever.

SO! It's about time I open up design commissions (I've had writing commissions open for like a year, did you know I will write you both professional shit and fan fiction for a very low price? Same contact info as everything).

I've had a year of graphic design classes, but I've been designing and working with photoshop for around 11 years. You can view my portfolio here.

Prices:

$15 - YouTube Package - Banner, icon/logo, endslate and intro/title, anything else you might need. I work in music, too, so I might be able to whip up a intro/outro tune.
$10 - Social media package - Any 3ish pieces you'd need for social media branding such as banners, icons, logos, etc.
$5 - Banner or graphic of any size
$5 a piece for YouTube title or endslate cards
$4 - icons

Any illustrations you want done (like this piece seen on my endslate) is an extra $5. I'm always open to bartering.

Email me at kyrajwolff@gmail.com if you are interested!

Bout of Books Day 4 Update

Yesterday I planned on spending the day doing book related things; writing reviews, editing book review videos and of course reading. I should just stop planning my days, because they ultimately will never go as planned. Thankfully, the unplanned obstacle was my grandfather moving some new pieces of furniture into my room (I'm typing this on a DESK!) on very short notice, so I had to clean up the explosion of clothes and various things left over from packing and unpacking.

Despite this, I did end up reading a whole graphic novel (cue past me sarcastically quipping "a WHOLE graphic novel?? whoa slow down there you crazy book worm"). Oh yes, I got to the train-wreck that is Teen Titans vol. 2: The Culling.

It has a 2.98 rating on GoodReads why am I even surprised??

I'm far more upset with the packaging of this than the actual storytelling...if you can call it packaging. I'm not very versed in comic lingo. The decision to put these specific issues in one bind up was a really, really bad decision. I think. I guess I can't think of a better way to do cross-overs in volume form but like I said, I'm a comic newbie (i've only been reading comics for a year but i feel like i've been with these characters my whole life. i read a DC encyclopedia front to back when i was 11). This volume is called The Culling but we literally got 5 pages of the Culling story arc. For a real accurate title they should have gone with Three Incomplete Stories, Some Dinos, and Wonder Girl's Love Life. Yeah, they hung out with some dinosaurs and I still thought it was shitty. Cassie is great, but I would rather read a bind up of Kid Flash's adventure's with dinosaur-hybrid-teens than the story of her giving up her normal, safe life for a douchebag. And then the bloody love triangle. Give me a Hawkeye style comic of Kid Flash and Solstice's romance if you're gonna give me romance. Have Bunker go on a flipping date or something.

I should have named my brand Feminist Nerd Rage or something.

Day: 4
Books: 4
Pages: ~690

Bout of Books 11.0 Day 3 Update

This whole 'doing a read-a-thon in a reading slump and depression while sick' thing isn't really working out all that great. At least I'm still on track to read 7 graphic novels or novellas for this week. I finished up the rest of Batwoman vol. 3: World's Finest today and it was SO GOOD. Like, the best so far. It's finally picking up speed...except the myth story line kinda got wrapped up so I just hope the next arc is as good.

The only bad thing about reading a lot of graphic novels in a short span of time, is that most of the ones on my TBR pile are super gritty superhero comics. I can only take so much blood and guts and angst, ya know. Thankfully, Teen Titans vol. 2 is up for tomorrow I think, and I'm hoping it's early enough in the series that it's still light and fun.

Day: 3

Books: 3

Pages: ~500

Bout of Books 11.0 Day One and Two Update

I told you this was going to be laid back, don't be surprised by this combo post.

So on Monday, even though I wasn't sure I wasn't going to be doing this read-a-thon, I read quite a bit. In the afternoon I sped through the first volume of the New 52 run of Teen Titans by Scott Lobdell and surprisingly really, really enjoyed it. So much so that I regained my faith in DC comics.

Then before bed I started and finished a darling little Hope Larson graphic novel about magical girls meet technology called Who is AC? It was really fun and would be great for young girls, but it wasn't earth shattering for me.

So day 1 finished off with 344 pages.

Then on day 2 I finished half of Batwoman vol.3: World's Finest. That's it.

So uh, maybe 100 pages for day 2? Eh, whatever, we're relaxing this time around so it's all good. And I mean I did A LOT of random wikipedia research, mostly figuring out which comics I should jump on next. So that was book related time wasting.

Day: 2
Books: 2.5
Pages: ~444

Bout of Books 11.0 Goals

So remember when I said I was going to do a laid back version of Bout of Books? This is what I meant: I want to read 7 books this week. Doesn't sound too relaxed to you? Keep in mind that last Bout of Books I read 10 books. But here's the catch, I'm totally counting graphic novels and novellas as books. I went to the library yesterday and stocked up on graphic novels, I'm ready to go.

Also, I totally don't care which 7 books I read. No official TBR this round! Yeah I rocked my TBR last time, but we're all about trying new things over here at FangirlFlails. Seriously, have you checked out my channel recently? New things! I mean I have a pile of books that I want to get to this month, but I'm not gonna like punish myself if I don't get through them. I have a phone full of novellas I want to read, and like 6 graphic novels checked out from the library. I'll read whatever I feel like reading that day.

I do want to do daily update posts, as well as doing the rest of the challenges. Updates posts will go up the next day this time around, seeing as my sleep schedule is back on a less nocturnal track.

So, that's happening.

Bout of Books 11.0 is Happening! Kind of!

Oh hey. So obviously I love Bout of Books. It's all I use this blog for, basically. And Bout of Books 11.0 started yesterday and I still hadn't decided if I was going to do it, even though I love it. I've been in a bit of a life slump. Waking up every morning is harder than usual, so reading has been nearly impossible. But I need something to kick me out of this slump, so I'm going to do a laid back version of Bout of Books. You'll see what I'm talking about in my goal post. For now, just know that yes I AM doing Bout of Books 11.0. In fact, here's the official spiel.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 18th and runs through Sunday, August 24th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 11 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

Bout of Books Day 7 Update

We did it guys, we climbed the whole mountain.

Bout of Books 10.0 was more than a success. It was awesome and far better than the other three times I've tried to do this damn readathon. Honestly, I crushed it. But there's a whoooole video coming up about how spectacular I was during this readathon. My ego can only take so much before it threatens to inflate my entire body Aunt Marge style.

I didn't think I was going to finish Ella Enchanted but I ended up finishing it before 10 pm! I enjoyed it a lot, especially the rather in your face lesson at the end (it's been inside of you the whole time! you can do it! you are powerful!), but I felt like it lacked the magic of my memory of the movie. People did break out into song in this book but the entire half of the book was different from the movie so it makes sense that it felt different to me. I did feel like the Cinderella plot points were just thrown in just for the hell of it. I didn't think the glass slipper part was necessary. Overall I liked it.

I had an hour and a half until midnight so it was pretty obvious, out of my pile of BB10 TBR books, what I was going to pick up. I was saving it. Oh man. It was worth it. What a great prize for doing super well at the readathon. I think this is the first time I've read a graphic novel where I enjoyed every single aspect of it. The art is what got me to bring it home from the store, so I knew I was already sold on that. But it's just so damn pretty. The colors!! But then!! The characters!! Clint got me from the first page. The dog. The banter. The nicknames. The running gags. I can't. Just perfect.

Number of books I've finished today: 2
Total number of books I've finished: 12
Books left on my goal TBR: ZERO!!!
Pages I've read today: 346
Total pages I've read: 1817

Now that Bout of Books is over, this blog will go back to being pretty boring. It's mostly where I post any secondary material to my videos, which basically means things I write that are better staying in written form than spoken in video form. To stay update on what I'm reading, friend me on Goodreads, watch my videos, and follow me on twitter!

Bout of Books Update Day 6

What did I even do today? I don't even know. I feel like I didn't do anything. But I'm sure I did things. I'm sure I didn't just sit at the kitchen table on my laptop...right?

"You're...half correct I guess. I mean you mostly sat at the kitchen table doing nothing, but sometimes you sat at the kitchen table reading very short books. One can't even be considered a "book." Then you got up, put away dishes and sat on the couch for several hours watching movies."

Shit.

At least I put away dishes.

-

Last night I tried to read a bit of The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland blah blah long title but it was...not good. Everything that I know about this books points at me loving it but the writing style is not for me. If it was toned down a bit I would be all over it. I know I use this phrase a lot but the only way I can describe it is that it's trying way way way way too hard. It's working too hard to be quirky, to imitate other people's writing style (Lewis Carroll? Neil Gaiman and Douglas Addams love child? I don't know). I'll get to it when I have a longer time to read it, when I can put it down often and roll my eyes but also when I have opened my mind to this particular writing style.

So this morning I knew I was going to fall into a reading slump if I didn't get something good in me fast. Cue Marissa Meyer! It is no secret that I love the Lunar Chronicles. Like, a lot. It shouldn't be surprising, I devour fairy tale retellings and science fiction is my favorite genre. Unfortunately there's a huge wait for the fourth book, but thankfully she has several novellas out! This one is based on the original (well, the non-disney) Little Mermaid story and it was pretty damn good. I think the original The Little Mermaid fairy tale is my favorite out of the slightly more adult fairy tale pot that Disney has dipped into (it should be known that Beauty & the Beast is my favorite watered down Disney tale) so I was practically giddy at all the nods to the original tale in this novella. I had no idea if she was going to end it as tragically as the fairy tale does so there was some major suspense, which I normally don't get with novellas. 

One thing I just noticed about the world Meyer has created in this novella is the comparison between mental illness and android glitches. I never had that thought with Iko in the main novels, but in this novella they kept talking about how Stars was dangerous and unpredictable and how scary that possibility was to Stars. I'm not entirely sure I liked the ending when you're reading it through that lens. I might  talk about that later but I don't want to spoil anyone in this update post that shouldn't even have in depth reviews in it!

I was still feeling a little slumpy so I gave in to the 3rd volume of Scott Pilgrim that I just got in the mail, like 4 days ago. I never buy graphic novels myself at full price so it's always huge gaps of time between volumes for me which is why I like to save them. Nope, it was in the house for 4 days before I read it in one sitting. I love the humor in these books (obviously. Scott Pilgrim vs. the World is my favorite movie) and how & where the flashbacks are placed. It did take me until this volume to realize that the pages with the black background are the flashbacks. Duh. It feels like a movie (which makes sense since Edgar Wright really captured the feel of the books), with the cuts perfectly placed. My only complaint is the casual racism. Although it doesn't forgive it, Bryan has said that if he could re-do it that would be the thing he would change.

So I have no idea if I read this book back in the day but I can tell you this: the movie is a fucking masterpiece and should be required watching for all film students. Maybe I just think this because it introduced me to Hugh Dancy, but I remember POC rep, singing and talking snakes so I think I'm correct in my assumption that it is a piece of art.  So it's time to either do a reread of the source material or read it for the first time because I know it's 100% magical and amazing and I WILL get this done by tomorrow night I swear. I'm going to make it happen. I only read like 3 chapters today but I'm gonna do it. Let's not talk about responsibilities like house work or friends or youtube let's just talk about Ella Enchanted.  

Number of books I've finished today: 2
Total number of books I've finished: 10
Books left on my goal TBR: ZERO!!!
Pages I've read today: 241
Total pages I've read: 1471

Follow my twitter for in depth analysis of Marvel characters in 140 word snippets. Subscribe to my youtube channel for more feminist reviews of books where you can see my face in all it's "wait, winged liner? that's a thing I can do?" glory.

Bout of Books day 5 Update (FIVE?!! ALREADY?!)

I can't believe that as I type it's already day 6! This readathon has flown by. I'm pretty sure there's a 48 hour readathon in June so no need to be too sad.

I obviously finished the last 74 pages of Persepolis today (I read it all in one sitting but midnight hit in the middle of that sitting) and I really enjoyed reading it. It had the format of a graphic novel,  the personal charm of a memoir about childhood and the smarts of a history lesson. This was vastly different from anything I've ever read.

Then I did a lot of video related stuff, like filming a haul and uploading my review of Far From You.

I planned on reading The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland but I had to take some books back to the library so I exchanged Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood for the second bind up, The Story of a Return.

This one was just as endearing, if not more. For most of the book Marjane is around my age, so I could relate to her a bit more. She went off to school far from her family and ended up having to come back to live home before she was done, so I mean relating to her definitely wasn't an issue in this one. I also was spurred on by wanting to know what, ya know, actually happened in Iran during this time because I honestly had no idea. Even if history was my subject, we were never taught about Iran or any middle-eastern countries. I loved that she kept coming back to self education, that reading is the key to happiness and understanding. I think I have to take a page out of her book and start reading more books about things that my education neglected. 

Number of books I've finished today: 2
Total number of books I've finished: 8
Books left on my goal TBR: ZERO!!!
Pages I've read today: 261
Total pages I've read: 1230 (finally broke 1K booyah!)

As always, out my twitter for pictures of books I shouldn't be buying, television recs and me being mad about something irrelevant in the media.

Bout of Books Day 4 Update

Despite not getting up until around 2 pm, I still managed to complete my entire goal TBR today!! On day 4! I'm amazed at myself, too.

So I started Chopsticks a tiny bit after midnight, because my evenings are booked with television. In my timezone @midnight is on at 11, and then I got to catch The Soup so I mean you see why I didn't get this done on day 3. It only took 30 minutes for my first read through with me googling the playlists to listen to, but I had to go back and do a reread immediately because it was that good.

Chopsticks is a book told entirely in pictures (there's text but it's like letters, notes, and IMs) and lemme tell you THIS BOOK FUCKED ME UP. I'm not even going to say what is about other than the main character is a piano prodigy. I think I may film a video tomorrow,  starting out with how gorgeous and genius this book is and then tell everyone who hasn't read the book to click away and then discuss my many,  many,  many thoughts. This is a book to go into completely blind for MULTIPLE reasons. I just...wow.

I READ A DC COMIC THAT I ACTUALLY REALLY LIKED. SOMEONE ALERT THE PRESSES. I read the first volume in J.H. Willam's new 52 Batwoman this evening, around 9 to 10 pm. This tells the tale of Kate Kane, our ghostly white punk rocker red headed lesbian main character who of course has some family deaths to avenge (cue Bruce angsting in the background). In her crime fighting antics she encounters (are you ready for it) A GHOST BASED ON AN URBAN LEGEND ABOUT A CRYING SEA DWELLING WOMAN THAT STEALS CHILDREN THAT SEEMINGLY INTERTWINES WITH KATE'S PAST. That's right. She fights a ghost AND her own mental battle. She has daddy issues and a fiery sidekick who seems to be friends with Dick. So let's be honest, if I was gonna fall for a DC comic it was gonna be this one. I'm definitely going to get around to buying the second volume, hoping this one breaks the curse I seem to have with second volumes of the new 52.

And I read some of Persepolis before midnight! More on that tomorrow <3

Number of books I've finished today: 2
Total number of books I've finished: 6
Books left on my goal TBR: ZERO!!!
Pages I've read today: 230
Total pages I've read: 969

Remember to check out my twitter for various pics of what I'm reading next to mugs of coffee. Oh and make sure to check my booktube channel because a review video I'm hella excited for is going up tomorrow morning!!

Bout of Books Day 3 Update

Today sucked, emotion wise. Like, okay, you need to realize that I hate roller coasters with a fiery passion. The only thing I hate more than roller coasters is driving, vague instructions and hard core conservative children. Today was like a roller coaster but worse. 

What I'm getting at here is that I didn't feel like reading most of the day. I felt like sitting in front of the TV and moaning. So that's what I did until I realized that reading would, you know, get my mind off my own anxieties. So I read about someone else's!

I finished the last ~45% of The Key to the Golden Firebird and man oh man I was pleasantly surprised! I think I already used that phrase with this book but it was GOOD. I mean, I had low standards for it since Maureen's contemporary gets 3 stars from me on average, but this was like a solid-ish 4 star book (although I totally gave it 3 stars but then changed it like 5 minutes after putting the book down). It's about sisterhood and driving and grief. It's probably my second favorite of her books after Name of the Star. There wasn't anything AMAZING that I will remember FOREVER because WOW and some of the language used (multiple slurs, even some used by the main characters) made me uncomfortable. But overall a really solid book.

And technically that's it. I finished Chopsticks but that was after midnight so you'll get all of my thoughts (AND HOLY HELL I HAVE SO MANY HOLY FUCK, THAT BOOK WAS A RIDE) and pages for that in tomorrows update. I'm trying to be organized this time around.

Saying that, I totally forgot to do any challenges today. There was emotional drama, y'all understand.

Number of books I've finished today: 1
Total number of books I've finished: 4Books left on my goal TBR: 2Pages I've read today: 108 Total pages I've read: 739

(stats as of 11:59 pm)

Make sure to follow my twitter for vague emotional live tweets during my reading.

Bout of Books Day 2 Update

I know that today I've technically read more pages than I did yesterday, but I only finished one book (a graphic novel, at that!) today which makes me feel like I wasn't as productive. But I mean, it was the Agents of SHIELD finale today so I should be glad I got anything done.

I started this graphic novel (if you can even call it that) at like 11:55 pm on Monday and finished it around 12:30 am on Tuesday. Overall it was entertaining and enjoyable. I obviously love Harley and Ivy together and there was even a one-sided crush mention which made me ecstatic. The art was good, especially the middle bonus comic done in a painted style. However as I have come to just accept when it comes to comics about ladies written about men (especially Harley), it was a touch sexist and gross. I don't need to see Ivy being beaten up, her legs spread wide, while her bra falls off.

I started this when I got up this morning (around noon. yeah). This is widely accepted as Maureen's worst novel but I have to say I'm surprisingly delighted by it! I think it's because I relate to it so much, what with the main character having to learn how to drive by hating it and being terrified of it. It's also about sisters more than it is about romantic love, which is awesome. AND they talk about SEX. YEAH. SEX. No sex scenes but the side characters talk about it casually (even though, yeah, the main girls find it scary and gross and awkward). I didn't end up finishing this today (got about 65% of the way through), but will definitely finish it up tomorrow. 

Number of books I've finished today: 1
Total number of books I've finished: 3
Books left on my goal TBR: 3
Pages I've read today: 325
Total pages I've read: 631

I forgot to do a challenge...oops.

Remember to follow my tweets for micro updates and live tweeting of my reading.

Bout of Books Day 1 Update

Hello friends! I should definitely be sleeping right now but instead we're gonna wrap up day one of the readathon! 

I started Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? at ~12:30 am and finished it around ~ 6 pm. It was certainly no Let's Pretend This Never Happened by Jenny Lewis by it's probably my second favorite "memoir" type book I've ever read. I loved The Office, especially the scripts, and I love Mindy in general so of course I was going to love this book. I liked finally hearing about show biz (especially the writing aspect) from someone who didn't already have family in the business and isn't tiny and blonde. However I did think that her comedy was a bit more raunchy than I would have liked. I let the fat jokes slide since she has also a problem with her weight, but I wasn't sure why there was unnecessary midget jokes. At least she learned something from the rape joke chapter.

I've been trying to get through this short story collection by a Geek & Sundry vlogger for months and finally finished it this evening around 8 pm. I have so many things to say about this collection and a lot of them are bad, which makes me so sad. I have enough thoughts to warrant a whole review video but I would feel really bad since I believe this is self-published and only has 36 ratings and like 6 reviews on Goodreads. Let's just say, it seemed like she was trying so hard. Way too hard for it to be comfortable for the reader. However, she obviously has a lot of potential. The stories were really good, some real Ray Bradbury level plots. It was the prose that made me roll my eyes.

Number of books I've read today: 2
Total number of books I've read: 2
Books left on my goal TBR: 4 (technically as I write this it's 3, but I read it past midnight)
Pages I've read today: 306
Total pages I've read: 306

I felt that I could have read more today, I took quite a bit of breaks because while I didn't have any work to do, I still felt weird just reading all day. I don't know why I thought watching movies was more constructive than reading.

I also totally did the 'If You Like X, The Try Y' challenge! I get super proud of myself when I do something semi-social during these.

Remember to follow my twitter for my HILARIOUS live tweets that only make sense to myself.

If You Like X, Try Y

I've already been planning a video series recommending books based on your favorite television shows and vis versa, so today's challenge comes as a piece of cake! This challenge is hosted over at The Book Barbies. It's a fairly simple concept, but you can go there to check out the rules!


If you like Disney or Once Upon a Time, try The Land of Stories series by Chris Colfer

If you like super heroes like Young Justice, try Hero by Perry Moore

If you like Buffy but prefer aliens to vampires, try The Lunar Chronicles by Marissa Meyer

If you like Tim Burton's Alice in Wonderland, try The Looking Glass Wars by Frank Beddor

If you like middle grade with ghosts and making fun of the American education system try Story Time by Edward Bloor (also a good one for Coraline fans)

If you like super indie underground music or  Will Grayson, Will Grayson, try Nick and Nora's Infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohen (and David Levithan duh I wonder why they're so similar)

If you like your classics to have zero plot but an abundance of hilarious British humor try Three Men in a Boat by Jerome K. Jerome

If you like YA scifi with some major diversity thrown in try Adaptation by Malinda Lo

If you like Hark! a Vagrant, Oliver Twist, history or any episode of Doctor Who when they met historical figures only to find out they were a bit camp try, Dodger by Terry Pratchett

If you like John Green but sometimes wished he was a less problematic lady, try The Beginning of Everything by Robin Scheinder or The Sea of Tranquility by Katja Millay
(although if you like The Sea of Tranquility why not try out Far From You by Tess Sharpe)

If you like awesome female historical figures, magical realism, and books try The House at the End of Hope Street by Menna von Pregg

If you ever wished Shel Silverstein or Dr. Suess wrote things for adults (or very dirtied minded young adults) try Egghead by Bo Burnham

and one more for hilarity:
If you like olive garden, sad bathes and Tina Fey or Mindy Kaling but hate yourself and don't want to be faced with decent literature and read their books try My Boyfriend Wrote a Book About Me by Hilary Winston and then try not to burn it (or 'If you like Lena Dunham try Hilary Winston or maybe get a better taste in female role models')

Bout of Books 10.0 TBR + Goals

Goal Books (aka books I'm definitely going to read! It'll be a success if I read all of these!):

• 40% of Cat's Cradle unless I get it done before midnight!
• 35% of Echoes of Old Souls by Nika Harper
• Chopsticks by Jessica Anthony 
• Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? by Mindy Kaling
• The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
• Harley and Ivy by Paul Dini
• Batwaman vol 1, Hydrology by J.H. Williams

Books I Plan to Read After my Goal Books:

• Ella Enchanted by Gail Carson Levine
• Hawkeye vol. 1, My Life as a Weapon by Matt Fraction
• The Girl Who Circumnavigated Fairyland in a Ship of Her Own Making  by Catherynne M. Valente
• Howl, Kaddish, and Other Poems by Allen Ginsberg
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi
• Empress of the World by Sara Ryan (not pcitured)
• Timebound by Rysa Walker (not pictured)
• The Little Android by Marissa Meyer

With all of them written out like that, it looks like A LOT. Like, I won't get through those in three months let alone a week. However, I need to keep in mind that only 2 of my goal books are actual novels, with 6 actual novels in total with 2 of THOSE being middle grade. There isn't any dense fiction here unless you count what I have left to read of Cat's Cradle tonight. I just want to get all of these little books outta my TBR list on Goodreads so this summer can be The Summer of the Scary, Big books.

Make sure to follow me on Twitter for my micro updates!

I'M DOING BOUT OF BOOKS 10.0. FOR REAL.

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, May 12th and runs through Sunday, May 18th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure, and the only reading competition is between you and your usual number of books read in a week. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 10 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. - From the Bout of Books team

I swear to Merlin, I'm going to do this correctly this time. I've done the Bout of Books read-a-thon THREE TIMES and I've never followed all the rules because I always, always forget. But this time I'm going to be on top of it. In fact, check back in a few days for my read-a-thon TBR.

Series I'm Reading

As always, this is more for myself than you.

Series with books out that I haven't read:

Adaption series by Malinda Lo (Inheritance and Natural Selection)
Time Quartet by Madeline L'Engle (half of Swiftly Tilting Planet, Many Waters,An Acceptable Time)
Scott Pilgrim by Bryan Lee O'Malley (3-6)
Miss Peregrine's Home by Ransom Riggs (Hollow City)
Shades of London by Maureen Johnson (The Madness Underneath, but waiting until the 3rd is closer)


Series that I'm waiting on the next book:

The Land of Stories by Chris Colfer (3rd is out July 8)
Lunar Chronicles (4th book out Feb 3, 2015)
Stephanie Perkin's tie-in series (Isla out August 14)
THE MOTHERFUCKING HOST SERIES BY STEPHANIE MEYER???

Dropped series:

Scarlet series by AC Gaughen
Cormoran Strike series by JK Rowling
The Mortal Instruments by Cassandra Clare (possibly)
The Apprenticeship of Victor Frankenstein series by Kenneth Oppel 

Female Friendly Book Recommendations

Today I uploaded a video about female friendly television shows. This basically means shows that have female characters and actually utilize them. If you take away the woman from the show, the story would change quite a bit. The women in these shows are treated with respect and as equals to the men. Most of these shows I recommend have female main characters or have more women in its cast as most of the other shows airing right now. Not only that, but I tried to include shows with a high level of diversity, meaning shows that have more diversity than just including some white cishet women in their cast of white cishet dudes.


Now, I'm a booktuber at heart. Yes, I've been branching out into discussing other types of media with a feminist focus. However, my youtube channel is still where my adventure into literature is taking place. I say 'adventure' because I have so much more to explore. With television and movies I feel like I am versed in the canon and the current industry. There are far less accessible TV shows than books (for years after they are published books are semi-easy to get ahold of, where as there are still episodes of classic Doctor Who missing and I still can't find a way to legally watch Birds of Prey). It also takes less time to watch a movie or a few episodes of a TV show than to read a 400 page book (at least for me).

This is a long winded way to say that I would have liked to shoot a video about female friendly book recommendations, but I really don't even know where to start! There are so many books. There are so many books in the feminist canon alone. I feel like I haven't even brushed the surface. I feel like I can't recommend female friendly books when there are SO MANY out there. I also feel like I can't recommend female friendly books when I feel like I haven't read the best ones. I feel like I've only read about 150 books in my lifetime not counting children books under 100 pages.

However, I do feel like I can give you my "rule" when I'm picking out a book when I want something pro-women. You know, when you are sick of reading about dudes and their dude problems or sick of abusive-like relationships. This is just my personal opinion and method. I tend to try any books written by women (women of color is always a plus) not written by Stephenie Meyer or anyone inspired by Stephenie Meyer. If you're REALLY not feeling the possibility of really shitty relationships, you could stray away from the romance genre (if you're a YA fan, I would suggest at least staying away from supernatural romance. If you're not a strict YA person, I would avoid it in it's entirely, just in case). So basically, my female friendly book suggestions are literary fiction or classics written by a woman of color or a woman already lauded as being a feminist. Just stay away from Stephenie Meyer and books written by white cishet dudes if you're looking for something that won't make you as a woman slightly cringe.

You now understand that I am not nearly educated enough to give female friendly book recommendations. Please give me your recommendations!!

Resources for Understanding Feminist, LGBTQIA and Racial Issues

This list is CONSTANTLY being updated and will probably never be finished because there are so many wonderful resources and commentary on the internet. I am just one girl trudging through Internetland.

Feminist Links
Feminist Ally Masterlist @ GeekFeminism
FandomAndFeminism: a GREAT blog
Feminist Frequency: a great youtuber who is basically everything I ever hope to be
Who Needs Feminism? (spoiler: the answer is everyone)
Finally, a Feminist 101 Blog
Your Fav is Problematic: a whole blog to help you recognize that your hero isn't perfect and why you shouldn't blindly defend them
Feminist Disney: it's just so cute and informational
This is Rape Culture tumblr
Feministing
New Wave Feminism: intersectional feminism yay
Course Guide for Sociology of Gender
Feminist Texts by WOC

Privilege Links
Why Does Tumblr Hate Straight/Cis/White People: a great photoset about privilege 
White Privilege photoset with additional resources
Explaing Privilege to Straight White Dudes Without Using the Word Privilege (in a way they'll understand)
This Is White Privilege 

Racism Links
US History Minus White Guys
My Culture is Not A Trend: tumblr about Cultural Appropriation 
Racism School
This Shit is All Racist
Get the Fuck Out of My Culture
Why Reverse Racism Doesn't Exist
One Comedian’s Amazing Response To The People Who Complain About “Reverse Racism”

A Few LGBTQIA Links
What's the Difference Between Bisexuality and Pansexuality?
A HUGE list of LGBTQIA terms @ UCSan Diego
Why FCKH8 Needs to Stop: a whole blog explain why the FCKH8 campaign is problematic 
Are You a Good Straight Ally?
The Entire 'Educate' Tag @ Shut The Fuck Up Straight People
Heterophobia  Is Not Real
AutoStraddle, My Favorite Queer Girl Community

Asexual & Aromantic Links
How to be a Better Ally to Aromantic People 
A Great Blog by a Asexual, aromantic, non-binary trans person who knows their stuff
Asexual Youtubers
Asexual Resources Tumblr

How to be a Trans Ally
A guide for the clueless @ TransWhat (a great website by a trans teenager)
Tips for Allies @ GLAAD
Trans Ally Tips @ UCDavis

Trans Links
A Surprisingly In-depth Masterlist to Transgender Resources by a Homestuck roleplayer (it's a really good blog, guys, wow)
Resource Masterlist FOR Trans People
I Am: Trans People Speak
A News Story about my Favorite Adorable Trans Couple
A Comic By and About a Transman
Another (finished) Comic by a Transman (I haven't read it but look at that art it's so pretty)

How Fandom Saved my Life

(Trigger warning for allusions to suicide, depression)

I get excited about things like book releases, movie premieres, and new television seasons because in the past it was the only thing to keep me going. Harry Potter saved my life more times than I can count. “You would miss out on Deathly Hallows, you need to find out what happens,” I would tell myself. “You need to see the final movie before doing anything drastic,” I would tell myself. There was a bit of time after everything was done where I felt numb. Yes, it was my childhood and those Hogwarts students were my friends who I would never see again. Mostly, however, it was that I didn’t have anything to look forward to.

I had things to stick around for, yes. Things like my family and my friends, but when you’re at those low points of which I was often, you start to think it would be in their favor to rid them of you. When I was stuck lower than I had ever been before, my love for my family wasn’t going to save me. Self-hatred prompted me to think that everyone would be better off without me, so if I loved my family...you get the picture.

Knowing in my heart that I didn’t want to die, I looked for other things to look forward to. I tend to sign in to my old Neopets account whenever I’m feeling depressed, because I know from the Post-Potter Depression that doing those daily things like collecting the daily freebies, feeding my pets and playing my favorite games three times a day gave me something that I had to get up for. I’ve had my same Neo account for 10 years and I’ve been active for at least two months every year, because it’s a coping mechanism that I know how to use. However, it wasn’t community based enough for me. I never was quite accepted into a peer group on the message boards (although I did manage to make a few friends who I’m still in contact with today). No one was all excited for one thing at one time, the closest thing only ever being the Altador Cup and that was only once a year. It wasn’t enough.

So then comes Nerdfighteria and looking forward to their videos and P4A. Then comes Starkid and waiting for their new musicals to go up on YouTube. And then Glee. And then Doctor Who and a variety of other shows (and the Marvel movies and THG books/movies) I could distract myself with while I was busy trying to stay alive to watch the next season of Glee. I actually kept a calendar of fandom type things that were happening throughout the year to keep myself calm and grounded. It sounds silly, but it worked. It got me through. Just, wow. What a great thing. I am here to see another year. I am still here. It doesn’t matter how it happened, as long as it happened.

I’m currently on great meds, going to counseling weekly and feeling really good, mentally. I still happen to know that there are 85 days until Orphan Black season 2 and only 31 days until the new season of Glee. It’s now just a habit, but I also keep up with it as a fallback, a just in case. If 2014 isn’t as great as I’m predicting and if everything goes to shit, I have my fandoms to fall back on. It makes me feel safe. Safe enough to maybe start tippy-toeing out into the world and taking a few risks. We’ll see.

Bout of Books 9.0 Day 1 Summary

Day: 1 

Books Started: "A Wind in the Door" by Madeleine L'Engle

Books Finished: N/A 

Pages Read: 160 

Total Number of Books Read: 0 

Total Number of Pages Read: 160 

Average Number of Pages per Day: 160

   

Today was a weird "well I completed my goals but not really" day. I did not finish the book I intended to finish today by midnight. By the time I go to bed tonight I will have finished it, however. I do most of my reading after midnight, so I probably should have factored that in. I have less than 50 pages left to read tonight, and then I'll be starting another books, so I feel really good despite my stats not looking so hot right now.

I'm really loving getting back into the Time world and revisiting Meg and her friends. I'm probably not going to wait very long to pick up the 3rd in the series, because seriously I'm loving the hardcore science part of this science fiction series. After that it gets tricky with the overlapping series and number order and my brain is just not cut out for that.

I also managed to quickly throw together an entry in todays giveaway which was an adrenaline rush seeing as I had less than 10 minutes to pick out $100 worth of books. It's a bit strange though, commenting on blog posts as if I'm apart of the community and not some Booktube interloper. 

Now if you excuse me I gotta go finish this book and try not to immediately pick up the 3rd one. I have way too many library books to get through this month to be picking up ANOTHER book. 

Bout of Books 9.0 Goals

So I may have forgotten to do a goals post (as apparently I have forgotten both the two times I have participated) so very quickly before I post a summary of day one, here are my goals for the week:

1. Finish three books, even though the 3rd TMI book (which is a goal in itself) is HUGE, I still gotta keep up with the last two times I participated.
2. Participate in one challenge a day. 
3. Get through the 3rd TMI book without harming myself or others.

My TBR list is here if you wish to see which 3 books I really, really want to get through.