Faves of TwentyEleven: The Random

Is it Thursday already?! I can’t believe we already got to the 4th post of Nomes’ fabulos Faves of TwentyEleven meme. I think Maja and I will definitely miss our daily banter - ok, ok, not that we don’t banter anyway...
Today, the topic was The Randoms and it was so much fun. Can you tell us what was the most embarrassing cover of a book you’ve read this year? Or which one had the cliffhanger that made you want to tear your hair out the most?
Here are ours!


1. fave first sentence
Maja: “I was born during the second holocaust.” (Enclave by Ann Aguirre)
Lisa: “There’s nothing quite as good as folding up into a book and shutting the world outside. If I pick the right one I can be beautiful, or fall in love, or live happily ever after. Maybe even all three. If you can’t get a boy, get a book, that’s my motto.” (A Straight Line to my Heart by Bill Condon).
Ohh, so pretty! I can’t wait for the American edition. I just checked: 132 days to go.
I know this is more than one sentence but I thought it was worth sharing :D

2. fave book title
Maja: Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake
My Love Lies Bleeding by Alyxandra Harvey
Lisa: The Reapers are the Angels by Alden Bell
Blood Red Road by Moira Young
Funny how almost our favorite title have to do with BLOOD :D
Blood or Bible. :D
“The harvest is the end of this world
and the reapers are the angels.”
I think about that a lot. It’s very beautiful. Here’s another info about this book: the author chose his last name (obviously it’s a pseudonym) because he and his wife are huge fans of The Wire, and his wife likes Stringer Bell from that show. (Idris Elba, who doesn’t?)
Me, who’s never watched The Wire :P

3. fave reading experience (ie: created a great reading memory)
Maja: It would have to be one of my many readalongs. Probably The Glass Lake readalong with Lisa because the book was pure torture, but somehow it got us talking and we haven’t stopped since. So I’d say it was a good deal. One crappy book for my friend.
Lisa: I agree with Maja on this one. The Glass Lake was quite unforgettable. It was a frustrating book.

4. book with the best food in it (made you so crazy-envious-hungry)
Maja: Oh, that’s super easy. Hold me Closer, Necromancer by Lish McBride. Waffles, I want waffles!!! Apparently, I need to make some my own self.
Lisa: Ok, I’m going to start with the worst food. Drink Deep by Chloe Neill and her chocolate coated strips of bacon.
The best was probably in the Elemental Assassin #1, Spider’s Bite by Jennifer Estep. Her sandwiches and those... what were they? Help me Maja, you made them right?
Nooo, I made her apricot bars with vanilla ice cream. *faints*
Yup, I meant those. The sandwich had some banana involved I think.

5. book with the most sensual weather (made you shiver/sweat)
Maja: Shiver made me shiver! Duh! Seriously, Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. Everything is about the weather in that book and when Sam is cold, you’re cold too. Also, The Scorpio Races again by Maggie Stiefvater. The huge storm on a small island was described exceptionally well. But that’s what Maggie does best. :)
Lisa: The Reapers are the Angels. AGAIN. It felt really hot, in that land.

6. most embarrassing book cover (feeling sheepish in public or just plain ugly)
Maja: Slave to Sensation by Nalini Singh. The cover and the title made it seem like I was reading soft porn. Which I was, but that’s beside the point.
Lisa: Nine Rules to Break when Romancing a Rake by Sarah McLean
Well the title pretty much sucks too so... the book wasn’t bad though, but I did not read it in public.
Haha, I was sure you’d go with The Harlot. :D
In the Harlot, the title is embarrassing. The cover is actually pretty nice.

7. can’t believe you waited this long to read the book (!)
Maja: A Little Wanting Song by Cath Crowley (Thanks, Lisa, for finally making me read it.)
Lament by Maggie Stiefvater
Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta
Lisa: Why, Grimspace by Ann Aguirre!! Maja was going on and on and on about it and it took me forever to pick it up. That series is great!

8. book you'd give your mum/sister to read
Lisa: Unfortunately, no mum or sis to recommend books too but if I could it would be Raw Blue by Kirsty Eagar, for sure. Even The Handmaid’s Tale... that’s another book I think everybody should read. Dystopia at its best.
Maja: I have to agree with Lisa, Raw Blue would be my choice. Other than that, Looking for Alibrandi by Melina Marchetta. I’m pretty sure my sister would love it.

9. book you'd give your dad/brother to read
Lisa: Knowing my dad, who is also a big fan of fantasy, although he leans more to the sci-fi faction, I’d like him to try Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews.
Maja: Genesis by Bernard Beckett for my brother. He adores that kind of thing.

10. book you'd like to give your past-self to read (ie, me, when I was 15)
Lisa: Suicide Notes by Michael Thomas Ford.
I’ve said this repeatedly, but this is a book all teens should read. I wish I’d read it in my teens and I hope to give it to my kids in a few years.
Maja: Yup, I have to agree with Lisa on this one. Definitely Suicide Notes and Brooklyn, Burning by Steve Brezenoff.
You know, I’ve read somewhere that Brooklyn, Burning is the book to watch for Printz honor this year. That would make me very happy.

11. book that lived up to (or superseded the hype)
Maja: Legend by Marie Lu
Lisa: Daughter of Smoke and Bone by Laini Taylor.
I’ll start by saying that Lips Touch: Three Times was rather mediocre for me. I never got taken away by the stories and even though the writing is fabulous, it left me quite indifferent. Daughter of Smoke and Bone changed my mind. Many people liked the first part better but for me it was right the contrary. The second part rocked. Sorry, Maja haven’t read yours but will soon.

12. book you stayed the latest to finish (confess!!!)
Lisa: I’m not sure but it might have been Saving June by Hannah Harrington
Maja: I always stay up late to read, so that’s really nothing out of the ordinary, but I seem to remember staying up to read Deadline much longer than I usually do.

13. book you were *dying* to get your hands on the most
Maja: Deadline by Mira Grant
Magic Slays by Ilona Andrews
Lisa: Easy one. Shadowfever by Karen Marie Moning. I almost had an apoplexy at the end of Dreamfever and I ordered it with shaking hands... it took a whole week to get to my house. The longest week of my life, I tell ya.

14. fattest brick of a book you read (by page count)
Maja: I think the answer is the same for both of us here. GoodReads was kind enough to inform me that it’s The Glass Lake by Maeve Binchy. That was a very long readalong, haha, but I think it was our first! It was unforgettable, that’s for sure.
Lisa: Maja is certainly right. It was my first Binchy and it was quite an experience. The other brick, also quite an experience, though a more positive for me, was Froi of the Exiles.

15. killer cliffhanger award
Maja: Deadline by Mira Grant (Really, Seanan? What did we ever do to you?!)
Froi of the Exiles by Melina Marchetta
Lisa: Dreamfever by Karen Marie Moning - seriously, I wanted to crawl up the walls and tear all of my hair off. Second place goes to Deadline though, it was quite a cliffhanger... I am waiting for Blackout with my foot tapping though.

Ok girls, tomorrow will be - sadly - our last post for this event. It will be a most exciting one though, as each of us will choose her 10 favorite covers for this year. We hope you’ll join us and tell us which were yours!
Lisa and Maja