Books, Blogging and Everything Else: Love in YA, Blog posts, and Ideal Vacations

Books, Blogging and Everything Else is a discussion meme that I created. For each of the three topics (Books, Blogging and Everything Else...duh!) I'll pick a question for each and please feel free to discuss and post.

Books...

Hello my lovelies :) Hopefully your summer so far has been great and book-filled. Today's question has been seen across the blogosphere, in several different memes, and I wanted to add my take on it, as well as hear yours:

In YA books, do you prefer love-triangles or insta-love?

Ah, yes. The ongoing question as to which is better. Welllll... this is a difficult one because both have their ups and downs.

Love Triangles. Some of these have been FABULOUS, for example, Julie Kagawa's The Iron Fey series. WOW. Okay, I've not been so confused as to who to pick. One minute I was Team Ash, another Team Puck. But then eventually, here's the thing about love triangles: they'll always end. The girl can't end up with two guys, and two guys can't have the same girl. Love triangles are short-lived, and sometimes, can end in disappointment, depending on which team you're in. BUT BUT BUT. In a lot of books, I'm noticing that it's often very clear which team you're supposed to be on. Like, the author's clearly pushing you towards that guy. Anyway. It can be confusing. 
And here's another thought: have you ever seen a love triangle in YA lit where the guy has to pick between two girls? I was just thinking about it when I was typing this paragraph up, and I've NEVER seen it (so far). If you have, PLEASE let me know whether or not, because it's something original for me!

Insta-love. Okay, I'm not gonna lie: I'm not too big a fan of this. It's kind of weird... a guy and a girl (or guy and a guy, or girl and a girl) see each other and BAM! they both fall in love with each other. *shakes head*. NOOO. Love totally needs to blossom, that's my view! Otherwise, it's just infatuation and short-lived. Yeah, sure love-triangles end fast too, but on the weird journey where they decide which person to fall for, they consider their options and actually get to know the person. With insta-love, well, it's instant. That's what I hate.

There seems to be a clear winner of what I'd pick here. Love triangles over insta-love any day for this gal.

Blogging...

I was reading a post by the lovely Mimi @ Mimi Valentine, her question was: Do you plan your posts ahead of time?. I think this is an excellent question which she chose to discuss on, so here's a variation of the question:

How do you go about posting blog posts? Is it immediate publication or scheduled ahead of time?

This question fits perfectly because I'm on vacation in India where I thought there would be no internet at my summer house. I was scared of that possibility, so before I left home I planned WAY ahead of time. I scheduled tons of reviews, meme posts and such so that you all could be entertained when I was away. Turns out I didn't have to worry too much because our house had internet. BUT THEN... we decided to go to Ladakh (this place in Northern India) for sightseeing for two weeks and then came panic mode. I quickly made posts and scheduled them. And now, I'm kind of stuck on them. I don't have to wake up and worry that I'll have to post something with a deadline of today. I always manage to keep two scheduled posts ahead of the latest published one, and this system is totally working for me.

and Everything Else...

Well, nothing too big is going on with me, because I'm stuck here for another week, doing nothing but blogging and reading (I know, sounds like heaven when I put it like that, but trust me, I haven't really set foot out of this apartment very much). SO... here's the last question of the day:

If you had the chance to go on your ideal vacation, what would you do? Where would you go?

WELLL... I've travelled a lot, I must say, because of moving countries every 2 to 4 years, and I really prefer to relax during the vacation, because my family and I end up going somewhere ALL the time, for almost EVERY vacation that I have (and the school that I go to gives quite a bit). I could say a million places I'd want to visit, like Italy, Peru, New Zealand, Hawaii (been there...but I was like, 2?? GAH parents are so unfair)– but honestly, right now I can say, home would be good, because I've done too much at the start of the holiday, such as climbing like a bajillion stairs of millions of monasteries to eating Momo's, and so I need to REALLY relax.

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That's it for todays BBandEE, so please feel free to answer in the comments, make your own post and leave a link etc. because it's already half-way through summer and school is coming closer by every second (dan-dan-DAAAANNN). Not to be a downer!!! Sorry. But anyway, hope you're having a fab vacay :)

Books, Blogging and Everything Else: Summer, Memes, and more Summer!

I've tried out "Rants" before as a meme, but I found one problem: despite many problems that can occur in one day, I never felt it necessary to rant about it! So I'm giving this a try, more of a discussion meme rather than me blabbing out my feelings. Well, there's that, but you guys should most definitely join in.
HENCE, I've created Books, Blogging and Everything Else: A meme where I pick a random discussion question for the three topics listed above– Books, Blogging, and Everything Else! See, it's quite fun :)


Books...

Since summer is coming up, here's one question that I'm sure everyone's thinking about:

What books are you planning to read on vacation?

Some of you may be quite familiar with my ranting, but let me state the obvious: I have a huge TBR pile. And I'm sure that almost all of you do. For those of you who don't, please let me know your secret!

I've got quite a large chunk of my pile that I want to chomp down on this summer! Mostly it's "fun reads" which I've never gotten the time to read, but also includes some eGalleys for review. Grade 11 is coming up, and because I'm taking Higher English Literature as part of the IB system, I also have to read three "Wider Reading novels" these include several books from all over the globe, including some which I have read (ie. The Lovely Bones, To Kill a Mockingbird). I might have to stop at a bookstore to see what else on the huge list they've provided quirks my interest. I've yet to actually go through the entire list, and I should be doing so very, very soon.

I can only really fit so much in my suitcase, so I'm flipping through pages like mad, trying to cut down the pile as much as I can before I leave this saturday. I've successfully gone through a couple books, so it looks promising!

Blogging...

Well, since I've just "created" (or rather adapted) a meme, let's focus the question of the very same topic, shall we?

Do you take part in memes? If so, how many/which do you participate in?

I'm a sucker for memes. But that's the terrible part: somewhere along the way, I end up stopping the meme and completely let it go! I've done this to several (Teaser Tuesday and my very own meme Rants, for example) and I'm quite horrified at the rate I'm doing so. I currently do partake very regularly in Waiting on Wednesday, and sometimes in Top Ten Tuesday and In My Mailbox. Even rarer is Books to Pine For, Dust Collectors and Fairest of  Them All. Listing these actually makes my heart pang for them, so hopefully you might see some posts of these coming up!

I honestly find that the harder and the more effort that the meme takes, my interest and regularity for posting goes downhill. Which I really hate. I'm terrible at motivating and sticking to something (it's a miracle how I'm still blogging) and need to plan WAY ahead of time before posting. I guess this is the problem. The only reason why Waiting on Wednesday occurs frequently is because it's quite easy to post. I'm really trying hard to increase the amount of reviews, as well as interact with you all by taking part in memes, and there's only so many days in a week. I'm still trying to work around it, so sorry for the confusion, if there was any: I'll definitely sort this out in the end, I promise you.


and Everything Else...

NOW, onto something completely non-book-or-blog related! It's again to do with summer:

What TV shows are you planning on watching during the summer? Are there any good TV shows which you're addicted to?

I will admit this: I'm a TV newbie. I only really started watching TV shows in Grade 10 (this year...isn't that sad?!) and it's been a great new interest for me. Before I used to watch whatever was coming on TV when my sister and brother were watching it (which usually included Spongebob Squarepants) but now, I'm like ADDICTED.

I've gone through many shows this past year: How I Met Your Mother, New Girl, Suburgatory, Modern Family, Glee, State of Georgia, I Hate My Teenage Daughter. Even recapped on some old ones: 10 Things I Hate About You (WHY DID THEY CANCEL?!?) and a little bit of Friends. I'm also trying to catch up on some now: Gossip Girl (Season 5, nearly finished... but so far, probably my least favorite season) and Pretty Little Liars (I have yet to reach the season 2 finale. It's killing me!). So as you can see, I am a TV virgin no more.

Yet, I have so many more shows I want to give a chance. I've watched the pilot episode for Are You There, Chelsea? and even though I know it's cancelled, I'm loving it, and probably will finish the 12 episodes. Other shows that I mean to watch include: Once Upon a Time, Revenge, Last Man Standing, Up All Night, Don't Trust the B**** in Apartment 29, The Secret Circle, The Big Bang Theory, and so much more. Gah, this is probably gonna kill me.

And then there's two TV shows which I totally need your opinion on. 1) Game of Thrones. I've heard amazing things about it from so many people, and it really sounds good. Then my friend, who watched it, tells me what happens (not in so much detail) but from what she says there's a ton of profanity. So my question is: is it really worth watching? Like, will I go WOW just from watching a couple of episodes?
And 2) The Vampire Diaries. Everyone's been either YES or NO for this one, and I need some good opinions. I watched the first couple of episodes, but it's been so slow, and I've not found it really interesting. But people keep telling me that it gets better, but trust me, I don't want to keep watching just to see WHEN it gets better. So another question for you is: Is it worth continuing this series?

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Some questions to totally think about (and totally answer in the comments!) and I guess this is one of the last posts before it goes all scheduled on you. More on that later. Hope you're all having a fab summer full of books, blogging, and (well) everything else!