Monday Meme: Seven Deadly Sins of Reading Tag

For my first Monday Meme I am going to borrow from a BookTuber. Malyza adapted a tag for reading called the Seven Deadly Sins of Reading. Check out her original video here:

1. Greed: What is the most expensive and the least expensive book that you own?
The most expensive one is probably... hmmm.... my copy of The Joy of Cooking is going for $35... I know, not very exciting, but really I try to buy books used or in paperback whenever possible because I'm poor.

The least expensive one is any of the $1.00 or under books that I have picked up over the years at some of my favorite used bookstores (Ed McKays, The Last Word)


2. Wrath: Which author do you have a love/hate relationship with?
For me this one is defintley Jodi Picoult. I have found that I either love or hate her books. For instance, I LOVED My Sister's Keeper which was the first book of hers that I read and I HATED Perfect Match which was about the fourth or fifth book of hers that I read.

3. Gluttony: What book have you deliciously devoured over and over again?
I have read Little Women by Louisa May Alcott and Practical Magic by Alice Hoffman more than once. It's difficult for me to read books more than once though I would love to do a Harry Potter re-read at some point. There are so many books in the world that I find that I feel guilty if I read a book more than once. I feel like by reading that particular book a second time then I have decided NOT to read another book for the first time. It's weird, I know, but it's a tough thing for me to get over so..

4. Sloth: What books have you neglected to read due to laziness?
Les Miserables. So. Huge.

5. Pride: Which books have you talked about the most to sound like an intellectual reader?
Anna Karenina. Yeah, I read it! And that shit was loooooooooooooong!

6. Lust: What attributes do you find the most attractive for male and female characters?
Males: The protective nature that some males have for their friends, family, and leading ladies.

Females: Bad-assery.

7. Envy. What books would you like to most receive as gifts?

These!!!!: 

Stay tuned tomorrow for the top ten books I've read so far in 2013!

Top Ten Tuesday: Frustrating Characters

hosted by The Broke And The Bookish

Today's List: Top Ten Most Frustrating Characters in Literature

God from The Bible
Is it just me, or is he constantly playing the hypocrite? Plus, I'm not 100% sure that he likes women...

Scarlet O'Hara from Gone With the Wind
Vain, selfish, self-centered, basically your average sixteen year old. However, I am always so frustrated by how hung up on Ashley Wilkes she is and doesn't realize that she has Rhett Butler right in front of her for like, the whole book, well at least until the VERY END and then she says she's going to go after him NOW that SHE'S ready. Typical girl. However, she is so intelligent I have to love her for being able to survive in the time that she did. Scarlet is such a complicated heroine. She's so easy to hate yet you also have to love her.

image from enjoytherandom.com

The Mother from Perfect Match
Really, all the characters in this Jodi Picoult novel, but especially the mother. So basically what happens is that the mother thinks that this priest has molested her child and so instead of allowing the court to decide his fate she takes it into her own hands and kills an innocent man and then doesn't feel any remorse for him. The only remorse that I felt in this book was that she wasn't given to the chair.

The Parents from Matilda
What sucky parents these two were. They didn't encourage her to read. They didn't appreciate her intellect. They were just awful. However, our precocious heroine did get her revenge on them through some very sneaky and clever trickery!

Dolores Umbridge from The Harry Potter Series
You would think that I love this character since she also loves kittens, chocolate, biscuits, tea and cute things. However, this bitch was condescending and totally treated our delightful Harry unfairly. Plus she purposefully did things that she knew were wrong and I just can't stand people like that.

Elna Baker from The New York Regional Mormon Singles Halloween Dance
Read the original review of the book here in which I relate why I do not trust her as a narrator and how I am constantly aggrieved about how she sabotages herself then plays the victim.

August from Water for Elephants
He's mean to animals. Enough said.

Lucy Hull from The Borrower
As a young persons librarian myself, I have felt that feeling of wanting to remove a child from a home environment that does not quite nurture the love of reading that a child has. However, I have never and will never act on it and the fact that this narrator did, and in such a sloppy manner, really pissed me off.

Rosemary from Rosemary's Baby
I hate stupid women characters. They make the rest of us look bad. However in the film version, Mia Farrow plays Rosemary which gives her a few more points in my book.

Each and every single character in Maine by Courtney J. Sullivan
Wealthy white people with problems. Ugh.

image from rich-people-problems.tumblr

Top Ten Tuesday: Books I Resolve To Read in 2013

Hosted by The Broke and The Bookish

Happy 2013! Well, I just had a great low-key NYE. Geoff and I spent the majority of the evening playing a board game and listening to New Years Rockin' Eve on TV. We took a break at Midnight to watch the countdown and ball drop and see some neighbors put off fireworks from our balcony. In honor of the holiday I made Firecracker Chilli and we had some non-alcoholic "champagne" and spent the night in our jammies! It is a far cry from the New Years Eves of a few years ago when I was in full irresponsibility and party mode, but I wouldn't trade it for the world.
For the first TTT of 2013 I now present to you the books that I resolve to read in 2013!

10. Life After Death- Damien Echols
Though this one has been out for a few months, I haven't purchased it yet because I like to buy my books from local stores and I haven't been to Park Road Books since it's been released. However, I do hope to get down there soon and snag me a copy to read in 2013.

9. Any of the books on my 2013 TBR list. I'm counting these as one since there are twelve (fourteen if you count the alternates) and that would take up my entire list (plus two (or four, if you count the alternates)).

8. Lolita -Vladimir Nabikov
Nope. Never read it. Always wanted to. 2013 might be my year for it.

7. Gone With The Wind -Margaret Mitchell
Read MOST of it in graduate school, never finished it, hope to do so in 2013!

6. Lone Wolf -Jodi Picoult
I love Picoult's work and I haven't gotten to this one yet. I need to get it read soon since she has a new one coming out next this year (how many times in the next few weeks will I do that?!) that I want to read.

5. The Ocean at the End of the Line -Neil Gaiman
Looks great! Plus, this is supposedly the last book tour that Neil is going to do, so if you want to see him on tour or get your books signed, this is the year to do it.

4. The Night Circus -Erin Morgenstern
Why have I not read this one yet?!

3. The Shinning -Stephen King
I need to read this one so that...

2. Doctor Sleep -Stephen King
...I can read this one which is the sequal to The Shinning. Danny is middle aged and still shinning like a crazy diamond.

1. Let's Explore Diabetes With Owls -David Sedaris
Damn, I love David Sedaris. Plus he's touring again and coming to Charlotte. This will be my third time seeing him! Is it April 26 yet?!

Happy 2013, Reader! I hope that this is an amazing year for everyone!