TOP FIVE FRIDAY #24

TFF is based on TOP TEN TUESDAY by The Broke and the Bookish. I always frown in a defeated manner when trying to come up with ten answers for TTT, so...

CHANGING MY MIND

1.

GOODREADS

I started reading YA Paranormal Romance when my son was seriously ill and we spent a lot of time in doctors' waiting rooms, labs, and infusion suites. I liked them because when I had to stop reading, or there were a lot of interruptions, the story was easy to pick back up on. My brain was also tired and foggy much of that time and the first ones I read, like the titles pictured above, were mindless reads. I rated these two books three stars on Goodreads, but after reading the first two MARA DYER books (five star), I dropped them to two stars in comparison. Other YA Paranormal series I had rated four stars, like The PARANORMALCY trilogy, I dropped to three stars. Paranormal series like MARA DYER and THE RAVEN CYCLE are much better written.

2.

GOODREADS

It isn't so much that my opinion has changed about this book, but when I re-read it in my 30's I was really impressed that I read this 352 page book at eight years old, twice! I still adore this story. I have been listening to it here and there as an audiobook.

3.

GOODREADS

Again, it isn't that I have changed my opinion of this book because I love it, but after listening to the audiobook last year I could not figure out how this book enthralled me to the point where I read it three times at thirteen! Ha ha.

4.

GOODREADS

I originally read the first five or six books in this series when I was about nine. The Wizard of Oz was my favorite movie (it still is), so when I saw that my aunt had bought a beautiful complete leather bound set for her daughters, I had to start reading them while I was staying there during summer break. When my son was six I borrowed the first three from the library to have as chapter a night read aloud books. He didn't want me to read the first one because he had seen the movie so many times, so we skipped to the second title, and yikes, the story was really violent. I did not remember this from when I read it in my chidhood. I had to read ahead while he was at school and edit out the brutal parts by putting Post-it notes by them. I was relieved when he wasn't interested in continuing with the rest. A couple of years ago I used one of my 99 cent special credits on Audible to buy the entire collection because I wanted to listen to them and do a blog post on my Children's book blog. I listened to all of them (17+) and the books were not only violent, they were sickeningly racist; which is too bad because the stories are pro-feminism with strong, smart, and capable female characters. I recommend these books for adults as a spotlight on not only how violent some Children's literature used to be, but how racism was spoon fed to youngsters. These are definitely not child friendly anymore.

5.

GOODREADS

A friend of mine gave me the first three Dune books in a paperback boxed set as a gift. I devoured them and had no clue others were written later until I joined a SciFi/Fantasy book-of-the-month club, and I saw there were three more. I bought them in hardcover with my club credits. I re-read the first three and then started on the next three, but when I attempted to read the last one, CHAPTERHOUSE, it was like ignorant befuddlement mixed with cold medicine took over my brain! I was thinking what the bejezus is this word chaos?! Every square inch of this story was complicated plans, secrets, schemes, politics, and history. I never finished it. To me it seemed a jumbled disconnected mess. When we moved to this apartment, and I was unpacking books, I decided to re-read the series. When I got to CHAPTERHOUSE, I thought, okay, I am going to finish the story this time around if it kills me, but it was a breeze. I had absolutely no problem understanding what was going on, nor following the history timeline. I was almost 29 when I attempted it the first time, and age 47 when I easily finished the book. This proves that our minds keep evolving to be more sophisticated in thought after we pass middle age! Yay!

What are some reasons you have changed your opinion on a book?