November Literary Junkies

It's time for the monthly link up I participate in for book lovers like me. I really like this month's questions. If you're a fellow book lover, you should definitely join in!

1) What are you currently reading? Tell us about it!

I'm currently reading The Promise of Stardust by Priscilla Sibley which is a very interesting book about a man whose wife has an accident and is brain dead. He is going to "pull the plug" because she made it very clear she did not want to ever be kept alive on life support when he discovers she's pregnant. A legal battle ensues. This book is a book club type of book as I can see it bringing up a lot of great discussion.

I'm also reading Mara by Veronica Bane which is a novella that I'm reading because I'm participating in a Mara Blog Tour so look for a review on this book on Sunday. I haven't gotten too far into it yet. All I know so far is it's about a girl named Mara who has the ability to manipulate fire and she lives with her uncle and is a moody teenager.

2) How many books have you read this year? Do you set reading goals for yourself?
So far this year, I've read 69 books (It'll be 71 when I finish the 2 I'm currently reading!) I do set reading goals for myself. I started a few years ago when I decided I needed to read more nonfiction. This year, I set out originally to read 40 books. I quickly saw that I was going to surpass that and I changed the goal to 50. Then, I changed it to 75 which is what it currently is although I'm sure I'm going to read more than that. I added to my goal this year by deciding to participate in some book challenges.
 
3) What do you think are the best and worst book-to-movie/TV show adaptations?
I actually wrote a series about this topic including why I think books are better than movies, my favorite book to movie adaptations, my least favorite book to movie adaptations, and books I think should be made into movies. You can read my answers there. :)

4) What is the first line of your favorite book?
I hate having to pick a "favorite book." I have a lot of books that I love. I'm not going to use Harry Potter because I mention that book all the time (as you will see in #5). So, I'll go with my favorite fiction book I've read this year: Wonder by R.J. Palacio. I'll quote the first paragraph. "I know I'm not an ordinary ten-year-old. I mean, sure I do ordinary things. I eat ice cream. I ride my bike. I play ball. I have an XBox. Stuff like that makes me ordinary. I guess. And I feel ordinary. Inside. But I know ordinary kids don't make other ordinary kids run away screaming in playgrounds. I know ordinary kids don't get stared at wherever they go."

5) What's your favorite quote from a book?
I have actually started keeping a list of quotes I love from books. There are so many great ones. I plan on writing a series starting next year where I really dive into some of my favorite book quotes and why I love them. Probably my all time favorite is from Harry Potter where Dumbledore tells Harry, "It does not do to dwell on dreams and forget to live." To me, this goes right along with my favorite quote from Titanic, which inspired my blog name. You have to live life-whatever your circumstances.  A recent favorite that has really resonated with me is from The Perks of Being a Wallflower where at the end Charlie says "And even if somebody else has it much worse, that doesn't really change the fact that you have what you have. Good and bad." I liked this because so often when something bad happens to you, people want to say well at least you're not like so and so who had such and such happen to them. I know I've even said this to myself and to others. I know it's just meant to try and put things in perspective and make you feel better. In the end, though, it doesn't change the fact that something bad happened to you and it affected you even if it's not as bad as what happened to someone else.

How would you answer these questions? If you wrote your own Literary Junkies post, let me know so I can read it.