Hello everyone! 안녕하세요 여러분! It's All About Korea part 1 is finally here. Sorry about the delay...but it's Christmas and I just get completely out of schedule during vacation. If you want to see how my love for anything Korean began check out Part 1 of this blog post series: PART 1
PART 2:
Today I will be introducing the various methods and ways I use to study Korean. First of all, let me begin by saying I am merely a beginner. I've only been studying for three months, and without an actual teacher. But if like me, your days are hectic and you cannot commit to actual classes and teachers, then studying by yourself with the help of online content, websites and books is your only(?) option. And, for me at least, it really works.
I study with the podcast lessons of talktomeinkorean.com (TTMIK). They have nine different levels, starting with level one. The two main teachers areHyunwoo Sun (선현우) and Kyeong-eun Choi (최경은). These guys are pretty hilarious. Their chemistry is really good and every lesson flows perfectly. Every lesson is accompanied by the recording of the lesson and a pdf with everything that was covered in it and all these are completely free. There are also quite a few books that TTMIK has released and they are all beautifully compiled. I use the workbooks with every lesson and I've also bought the Verbs Guide and The Weekly Korean Vocabulary and a few more ebooks and audiobooks. When I get back to London I plan on ordering the textbooks too. But the main ones I believe you need to have are the workbooks and they are pretty much enough if you use them along with the free online lessons. You can check all the TTMIK books HERE. Also, a big shout-out to their online store, because I can always find the books cheaper there even though they ship from Korea and they usually have great sales and bundles.
Also, just recently TTMIK has released an audiobook/ebook with Korean Folk Tales and Aesop's Fables that is just precious. And they are working on more audiobooks (which are great listening practice).
TTMIK also has ayoutube account that regularly releases videos with Korean stories, vocabulary, word comparison etc.
So, these are all the methods and ways I use to study Korean. I am just about to start Level 3 of TTMIK and even though my speaking skills are lacking, due to the fact that I have no one to practice with, my reading and listening skills have been constantly improving.
Here is a preview of what's to come this month and what has already been discussed.
Hello everyone! Or better yet: 안녕하세요 여러분! It's All About Korea is going to be a new segment in my blog (that has been slowly dying). The first month I will start with an introduction about how I got into Korean and Korea life in general and the different Korean resources I've been using and many more. So if you are a K-drama, K-pop fan, or a Korea fan in general stay tuned.
After the first introductory month I will be doing a monthly wrap-up post about anything Korean that has caught my attention.
So, let's begin with WHERE IT ALL BEGAN
PART 1:
First of all as some of you might know, because of the amount of manga I am reviewing in this blog I love Japan and anything Japanese, I've also tried learning Japanese a few years back but the writing system is a b*tch and I gave up after a few months. However I still listened to J-rock/pop (it's probably still my favorite music genre). Through J-rock/pop I came across a Korean group: Big Bang. That was probably 5-6 years ago, when Big Bang were not as huge as they are today. So I came across one of their Japanese pop songs, Gara Gara Go
You can tell it's a pretty old song, but it was so catchy that I loved it. And that was pretty much my only K-pop experience until a couple of months ago...
At the end of September Buzzfeed and The Try Guys who I adore, released a series of 5 videos about K-pop and Korea culture in general. You can watch the five hilarious videos HERE. On the very first video they listened to a few new K-pop songs and one of them was Bang Bang Bang by Big Bang, so for me that was the rabbit hole and just like Alice I down I went and lost my self in Korean Wonderland.
This was a brief explanation of how I got into K-pop and what drove me to start learning Korean (understanding lyrics). Here is a preview of what's to come this month.
PART 2: Studying Korean with TalktomeinKorean.com and bilingual books
PART 3: K-Pop and Korean shows
PART 4: YouTubing about the Korean Wave and Korean subscription boxes
Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.
Hey guys! I am back! Where have I been and what have I done for the whole of November? Mostly, I was just busy with Uni and my birthday and other people's birthdays (November is a very busy birthday month) and also, I live in London so there is always something new to see and do. And that's how a whole month went by and I didn't do much reading or blogging.
But you are here to see what books I got for this last month, so let's get one with it.
As I mentioned above November is my birthday month so I got some gifts, like the Hogwarts Library Set and the Harry Potter stationary box and The Black Swan and A Christmas Cracker. I cannot begin to describe how beautiful the Harry Potter stationary box is. It even has a beautiful notebook to go along with it, Amazing! A lot of people will be getting Christmas Letters from me this year.
This month, I also bought The Rithmatist, Sea of Shadows and Shadowlands, all three are books I am quite excited about.
Finally I got some audiobooks. I got the whole set of the Dwellers Saga. I listened to the first book a few months ago and it was really good, now I am ready to listen to the rest of the series. Also, I got The Faerie Prince. I loved The Faerie Guardian (the first book of the series) and I am really looking forward to more of Violet's awesomeness.
Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.
Hello guys! It's been a month since my last SS post, so as expected a lot has happened since then. The most exciting being I got to visit the HarperCollinsUK HQ for an author event (thank you Vicky for inviting me). Their offices are amazing. They even have a whole made out of actual books!
See? I was joking. Those are actual books. I need this wall in my future home. Anyways,back to the books that I got this last month,
The rest of the books I bought out of a charity shop. They are all books I've been curious about for a while now.
Another, and maybe the most excited, thing I acquired this last month is the new Kindle Fire.
I only had the old Kindle 3 so far, with the keyboard and all, and I will probably use that for most of my ebook reading. But I really wanted a tablet like kindle and this was perfect. I love it.
That was it for me. Did you buy any new books this week/month/etc?
So after 24 hours the read-a-thon is over. I didn't do a huge amount of reading, especially since I slept for 9 hours. But also I was not in a very reading mood. Still I managed to get through some things I wanted to. Now it's time for the Closing Survey
Which hour was most daunting for you?
None, it was a very relaxed read-a-thon for me.
Could you list a few high-interest books that you think could keep a Reader engaged for next year?
Manga are usually the ones that keep me reading. Any kind of manga.
Do you have any suggestions for how to improve the Read-a-thon next year?
Nope.
What do you think worked really well in this year’s Read-a-thon?
I really enjoyed the challenges.
How many books did you read?
Two and a half.
What were the names of the books you read?
Which book did you enjoy most?
All of them are great.
Which did you enjoy least?
None
If you were a Cheerleader, do you have any advice for next year’s Cheerleaders?
-
How likely are you to participate in the Read-a-thon again? What role would you be likely to take next time?
I will surely participate again, Hopefully I would be in a better reading mood. And of course I will be a Reader.
Hello everyone. If like me you are participating in today's 24 hour read-a-thon, then congrats! You made it to hour ten (Hopefully). Truth be told I don't feel much like reading today, so I mainly watched tv series and just used the read-a-thon as an excuse to get snacks and devour them. But I did some reading! So here is what I've read so far.
So far I finished these two beauties. I know they don't seem like much (they are barely 25 pages each, and mostly illustrations). These are two bilingual books in English and Korean. I started learning Korean a couple of weeks ago, but I already felt the need to practise my reading skills more. So getting to these two was really exciting. I loved them both and I am looking forward to my next bilingual read.
I am currently reading Trapped. I started this one before the read-a-thon and so far I only read like 40 pages of it, but I am loving it. It is the perfect horror read. I don't see me finishing it by the end of the read-a-thon. Hopefully I can read 70 more pages until it is over.
Less than an hour before the Dewey's 24h read-a-thon begins. Even though I know I won't be able to participate all 24 hours I am going to do my best. But before I start reading here is the introductory meme.
1) What fine part of the world are you reading from today?
London
2) Which book in your stack are you most looking forward to?
Trapped by Jack Kilborn. It's the one I am currently reading and I can't wait to finish it.
3) Which snack are you most looking forward to?
All of them. Chocolates, Chinese appetizers, etc. I am fully prepared for this read-a-thon
4) Tell us a little something about yourself!
Hmmm... I am a PhD student at Queen Mary university, here in London. But I've only moved in the UK last August. I am originally from Greece. Also, I have no idea what I want to do with my life, or late me rephrase that, I have too many ideas about what I want to do so it's hard to focus on one. Finally, another random fact, I recently started Korean, because I fell in love with K-pop.
5) If you participated in the last read-a-thon, what’s one thing you’ll do different today? If this is your first read-a-thon, what are you most looking forward to?
I would probably not stress it that much. Any time spent reading is time spent well but I don't want to force myself to read. I will probably watch TV series and do some Korean homework during these 24hours.
The Moon Dwellers is the explosive start to the Dwellers Series. This story takes place in a world where everyone lives underground. The closer you are to the surface the better your life. So we have the Sun Dwellers, the Moon Dwellers and the Star Dwellers. The Sun Dwellers are the rulers while everyone else is pretty much their slaves.
In this book we follow Adele, a Moon Dwellers that has been sentenced to life in prison for the crime of her parents' treason. While in jail she meets a couple of people and together they will try to escape and get her little sister back.
In the mean time this book also has the PoV of Tristan, the son of the President and obviously a Sun Dweller. In one of his trips in the Moon realm he sees a girl prisoner (Adele) and feels a mysterious, agonizing pain (did I forget to mention she does too? well she does). After that he will do anything to find her again, but with Adele's escape and everyone on the realms being after her it would become harder and harder to meet his mysterious girl once more and get some answers.
What I mainly loved about this book is the world building, Estes did an amazing job working out all the little details for the three realms and their residents. I also fell in love with Tristan, he is amazing, especially for being the President's son. Finally the action and mystery. This book is filled with fight scenes, running for your life moments and a lot more. There is also the great mystery behind Tristan's and Adele's connection. All in all a good old WTF is going on.
My only issue was the insta-love, or better yet insta-obsession. Because of the mysterious pain they felt when they first locked eyes both MCs became obsessed with each other (maybe I would too), but when they do finally meet they are suddenly suppose to have this insta-connection that I didn't really feel, it was mostly forced on us. But other than that this book, and hopefully the rest of the series, is kick-ass. If you are into Dystopian this is the book for you.
P.S. I listened to this one in audiobook and it was amazing. Both narrators were awesome. Definitely worth it.
This is the first book in the Creepy Hollow series. It is also the introduction of the main character, Violet, of the first trilogy. Violet is a Fae guardian in training and in her last mission she finds a human boy,Nate, that can actually see her and to top that he somehow manages to come with her to the Fae world where no humans are allowed. After that a crazy adventure begins, saving kids, discovering Nate's past and Violets own history in the Fae world are only part of it.
When I think of this book one thing comes to mind: non-stop action. Vi gets into so many adventures/troubles and has to fight her way through them. She is so kick-ass, I truly found her the perfect MC. Also, I fell in love with Ryn, her nemesis, he started out as a simple-minded jackass but ended up being my favourite character of the book.
My only issue was with Nate, Vi's love interest. I found his character a bit simple. I could not, for the life of me, figure out what Vi saw in him, especially since she was pretty awesome herself. I hope we get to see more of him in the future and maybe see another side to his character because so far he's been a bit one dimensional.
So, if you are up for a wild Fae ride, with a lot of magic and crazy situations, like a labyrinth and a Masquerade ball you are in for a treat. Also, I listened to the audiobook for this one and it was great, the narrator did an amazing job.
Say Her Name is the story of Bloody Mary, or better yet what happens when you call her. In the boarding school were Bobbie and Naya go to, the legend of Bloody Mary comes to life when, in a Halloween dare, they decide to say her name, along with a local boy. What follows is pure mayhem as they realize that Bloody Mary is actually a real ghost that will come for their lives after five days. In the mean time they all experience parts of Mary's lives. Seeing glimpses of her life, Bobbie decides that Mary is a ghost that wants her side of the story heard and probably her very own killer punished. So Bobbie and the other two embark on a mystery solving journey to figure out what happened to Mary and who killed her. All the while trying to avoid the ghost that wants to claim their lives.
I loved this book. It had pretty much everything I love in good horror stories. A terrifying ghost, with a mysterious past, funny moments, and a lot of running around to save your life, and a dash of romance in the mix. I really enjoyed putting all the pieces of Mary's past together.
As I've said before for me horror books don't need to have great characters or character development, if the horror part itself is good. So don't expect any memorable characters in this one, but do expect a fear of mirrors and any reflective surface.
Sherry and her family are in the middle of an apocalypse. For the past 3 years they've been living looked inside their bunker. But food has finally ran out and they have they have to come face to face with the new world, a world were a rabies virus has turned people to beasts (close to zombies). Sherry and her father decide to go out for a food run and they end up been attack by a bunch of Weepers, the infected humans. Sherry's father gets abducted and Sherry is saved by a mysterious guy with a gun a Lincoln, Joshua.
Almost ever since the rabies, Joshua has been living with a group of other survivors in a house called Safe-haven, where they have animals and a vegetable garden. To Sherry is seems like paradise but she still can't get the thoughts of her father out of her mind. So, Joshua and her leave Safe-haven on a crazy hunt for her father.
I really enjoyed this story. It was filled with action, as a good apocalypse story should be, also there were some cute moments between Joshua and Sherry that were adorable and didn't really draw my attention from the main story. The Weepers were very creepy at times and kept my heart racing. I think I wouldn't have made it a day in that world. Also the ending was great. I am so curious to see what will follow.
My only issue was that since being a fan of Winnacker's other series, Variants, I expected more of the characters. Because let me tell you Tessa from Variants is one of my favourite female characters ever. Otherwise this is a great thriller, post apocalyptic book.
The first three or so volumes were a bit slower from what I am used to with Tonogai's stories but once the revelations started there was no stopping.
Judge is a game of judgement (dah!). For Judge 9 players are abducted, each one has one of the 7 deadly sins to be judged for. Every 12 hours they have to vote for the one of them that will be killed. Simple, right? NO!
When 9 strangers are put together in an abandoned house (or whatever that thing was) and the rules of the game are laid in front of them everyone will do pretty much anything to survive. From fights to plotting devious plans and alliances, only four can make it out alive.
Judge was a very sick and twisted game, so of course I loved it. The beginning was a bit slower. There were a lot of arguments about how they should vote. They players never really did what the game master was asking them, which was to judge the sins of the other players. They never really talked about what each ones sin was and we only got see a few of their stories as flashbacks.
And as the story progressed and people started dropping dead it seemed like they might get what was promised to them but then there were like million twists and things went downhill pretty fast for our remaining players. I loved how things progressed, it only made sense that I couldn't tell who was the bad guy in this one. But I am proud of my mystery solving skills that I had the right suspect (almost) by volume 3.
If you are into manga and fast paced thrillers, sick stories and horror this is definitely one you should read.
Maybe it was a bad idea to read this right before going to bed. Firstly, because I started thinking I will only read volumes 1 and 2 but then ended up reading the whole thing, and picking up the creators next series. Once you start this make sure you have all the volumes because you will need to know who the wolf is.
Okay, let me explain the game that this series is about, Doubt Rabbit. There is a group of people (the rabbits) but amongst them there is a hidden killer (the wolf). Every night the wolf will kill one of the other rabbits. Every day the rabbits will decide to kill one of their group, the one they believe is the wolf. The wolf will try to manipulate them into killing each other until he is the only left. And that's Doubt Rabbit. Kind of reminds me of Palermo, if you know the game.
Anyways, in Doubt a group of people that actually play the game online get trapped and are forced to play the game in real life. With a real killer and real victims.
I had one suspect from the very first chapter and even though I was right, this book had so many more surprises I didn't see coming. Really creepy, gave me a lot of chills and made me look under my bed. So, if you pick this one up, be prepared for a wild ride.
Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.
Hello guys! It's been a while since I posted a book haul and as you will soon find out it was not for lack of books but mainly due to lack of time. Still I managed to get quite a few new books these past few weeks, mainly manga, since I was in a huge manga mood. So here are all my new loves.
Where to begin? See? I got so many books. Well, I've already read all the manga and loved them all. Doubt and Judge are complete series from a new (for me) artist so I was extra excited to read them. They are horror and really amazing, sick stuff. Other horror reads in this haul are Trapped and Endurance, I loved Kilborn's other book, Afraid, so I am looking forward to more scares.
I finally got a copy of Good Omens, and a beautiful one at that, I've heard some amazing things about this book and I read a few pages in the Underground and all I can say so far is that the hype is real. Also read The Other Life, really good post apocalyptic book and I am currently buddy reading A Question of Proof with Vicky from Books Biscuits and Tea. I also bought another book By James Dawson, Under My Skin, I love his books so far.
And finally, the one book that I am most excited to finally own is Midkemia: The Chronicles of Pug by Raymond E. Feist. Feist's Riftwar Cycle (30+ books) was the first Epic Fantasy series I've read so I am emotionally attached to it and this is a beautiful book for all fans of Midkemia.
Meda is a bad-ass girl that eats people's souls to survive, but having a guilt conscience she only targets bad people. All her life she grew up thinking she was the only one who could do something like that but one night, when she is at an asylum in order to get her next meal, she comes across others like her, people who eat souls. But unfortunately they don't seem very friendly, on the contrary they are trying to kill her. Meda is saved by Crusaders, people that are hunting down things like Meda. The lucky part is that they thing that Meda is the good guy, a beacon that those demons were after and she gets to come along with the Crusaders in order to be protected. Meda sees that as an opportunity to finally learn what she is but she is about to find out more than she bargained for.
This book was brilliant. It had an amazing cast of characters. Chi, Jo and Meda are pretty much the perfect trio. I especially enjoyed Chi's and Jo's interaction, because they are fighting all the time but you can pretty much tell they are perfect for each other. And for once, the MC didn't really have a love interest, this book centered around the friendship she had to develop with everyone, finally letting her guard down.
This book gave me all the feels. It reminded me of great the mangas I read. It was hilarious yet profoundly deep. It made me laugh out loud and crying my eyes out. It was full of action and mystery. I don't think I could have asked for anything more, besides the second book.
A mortal who believes in a different god. A spy who once betrayed an entire tribe. Who are their allies and who are their enemies?
Ivo, Jaeger, Jadeth, and Emaranthe are tasked with locating a lost city and to find it they need a map long held by their enemies. Traitors and rebels have flocked to join the Dro-Aconi, taking sides in a war meant to end all wars. When our heroes are joined by a spy seeking redemption, and a mortal seeking his destiny, the quest becomes one of life and death, love and loss, deceit and hope. Will they find the map in time? Or will they discover enemies among allies?
A thousand years ago the gods known as The Four created the Immortals to protect and defend their world against an invader known as the Dro-Aconi—and then vanished. Left to fend for themselves, the three races of Ein-Aral and the Immortals banded together to save the world. Part One: Shadows and Starstone Ivo, Jaeger, Jadeth, and Emaranthe must protect a desert village and its hoard of Starstone, a power source that can aid the Dro-Aconi’s plans for the dominion over Ein-Aral. Can the companions battle inner demons long enough to defeat legions of enemies and keep the enemy from seizing the Starstone?
Biography: Cheryl lives in Southern California with her husband and 2 sons. Her books The Unknown Sun and The Immortals Part One: Shadows & Starstone are both young adult fantasy and available at Amazon. Part Two: Allies & Enemies will be available soon!
She has a MFA in Creative Writing and enjoys games, reading and, of course, writing. She currently has a flash fiction story published online at The Prompt Magazine.
Her favorite genres to write and read are fantasy, paranormal, science fiction, space opera, and steam punk.
Hello everyone. I am once again taking part to a read-a-thon. This one is very different than the others, since it's a buddy read-a-thon. So all you have to do is get a book buddy and then complete the challenges of this read-a-thon.
My book buddy is Vicky from Books Biscuits and Tea. And, since she will at vacation for half of the read-a-thon and neither of us reads very fast, we decided to spread out the duration of the read-a-thon to 3 weeks.
So the challenges for #BookBuddyAThon we have to:
1. Pick 3 books and let our Buddy decide which one we will read.
2. Buddy read a book
3. Read a book with your buddy's favorite color
4. Read a book your buddy gave 5 stars
5. Read a book you want to
And here is my TBR for the first 4 challenges
1. We Were Liars
2. A Question of Proof
3. Give a Boy a Gun
4. The Other Life
5. I still haven't picked a book but I am sure I will read one more in the next 3 weeks
I am looking forward to read all of them. Some of them are very different from what I usually read but that doesn't mean I can't love them. :)
Junior year at Bard Academy is not going to be everything Miranda hoped for. This time around her little sister Lindsay is coming to Bard too. And Miranda is not so happy about that. Lindsay always tries to follow the in crowd which leads her to befriend Miranda's nemesis Parker. Also, Heathcliff is back but she is forbidden from being involved with him which seems almost impossible. Moreover, Ryan, her ex, seems to be taking an interest in her little sister which brings confusing feelings to Miranda. Before she even has time to decide what she is feeling for either boy, Bard students are starting to disappear and Miranda's sister is one of them. On a desperate attempt to save her Miranda and her friends, along with Heaftcliff, Ryan and Parker will go a trip through the forest searching for Lindsay which will lead to them uncovering yet another plot of a ghost to leave Bard.
The thing that frustrated me most about this book was that Miranda couldn't make up her mind about Ryan and Hearhcliff. I hate it when there is so much boy drama and especially when the main character can't just say 'To hell with both of them, I have a sister to save'. It made Miranda act a bit out of character from the previous books. But thankfully all that was resolved by the end and we got to experience quite a lot of pirate action.
Inspired by Pop Culture Junkie and the Story Siren, the aim of Showcase Sunday is to highlight our newest books or book related swag and to see what everyone else received for review, borrowed from libraries, bought in bookshops and downloaded onto eReaders each week. For more information about how this feature works and how to join in, click here.
Hello guys! Welcome back to this week's book haul. I didn't expect to get so many books this week. But, as it turned out, me going to Coventry for a workshop only brought me more shopping. If you didn't know, Coventry is the home of Lady Godiva. You know, the lady that rode naked through the streets to oppose her husband (there was a Charmed episode about it, that's mainly how I know about who she was).
Anyway, back to the new books. A trip to charity shops in my old neighborhood, another one to the charity shops of Coventry and finally going to watch a movie close to a shopping center helped me obtain all the following books.
I am oh, so excited about every single one of them. I've already read The Bunker Diary and it was pretty intense. It really messed me up. If only there was some more at the ending it would be a 5 star read.
After 3 years had gone by I finally decided to pick up book 2 in the Bard Academy series. Sometimes when it has been such a long time I would either lose interest in the series or won't be able to easily go through the next book, because I would have forgotten a lot of details. But after reading the first few pages everything that happened in book one came back to me (with a little help from the author) and once again I found myself wondering the halls of Bard Academy.
It's the second semester that Miranda has to spend at Bard Academy but this time around she knows a lot more than she used to. For one thing, her teachers are the ghosts of classic writers that had gone to an early grave and the island where Bard is located is their purgatory. Also, characters can come out of books, like Heathcliff, who is after Miranda's heart. But not all of them are good, like Dracula who Miranda and her friends had to face on her first semester or the mysterious monster that attacks students at night.
This time around Miranda's life is very different she has a cute boyfriend, Ryan Kent, and luck seems to be looking up. Until the rumors about her and the reason she wears Ryan's letterman jacket start to spread. Having to go through that all the while trying to also find out what is attacking students and wondering if Heathcliff is ever coming back to Bard is going to keep Miranda and her friends very busy.
This was such a great read. It had everything I loved in the first book, a lot of action, some hilarious moments (Miranda and her friends are hilarious) and some literary adventures. Once again one of the ghosts has a plot to get out of purgatory and destroy the world at the same time and Miranda and the gang have to stop them. I love how since I haven't read the classics I get to learn a lot about them through this series. Also I loved how this book ended.
