How is it November already?! We’re gonna blink and it’ll be December. Like, oh my goodness. Where did 2017 go? We’re so happy to so many of you have stuck with us for so long, and how many awesome participants we’ve picked up along the way! There are so many books that we would not have heard of if you guys had not shared them with us. So thank you for sticking with us, thank you for sharing your faves, and thank you for discussing something we all love…books! Also, this month’s readalong is not based on the monthly theme, because it would have been impossible to read the last book in a series that every one just happens to be reading. So, I hosted a poll and listed all of the books that I’d be reading this month anyway, and let you guys pick from the list. I’m very happy to announce that the majority of you voted for Renegades by Marissa Meyer, and that you can rad more info, and sign up here if you haven’t already! (P.s. the readalong is open to Calendar Girls participants, and non-participants as well!)
For those of you new to Calendar Girls, it’s a blog event which I am co-hosting with my friend Melanie, and is inspired by Neil Sedaka’s 1961 song Calendar Girl. Just like in the song, we decided to use a specific theme for each month and choose a book based on these themes! The event is meant to incite discussions with other bloggers about books we’ve read and loved, is meant to help bloggers meet other bloggers, and also for bloggers and readers to find out about blogs and books which they normally may not have come across!
If this sounds like your cup of tea, please check out my info page for more details, and sign up for the newsletter, and/or let us know that you will be participating if you are still interested after reading everything. You can also find examples of what my posts looked like from January to August! We’d love to have you join in the fun!
And now…without further ado, here is my choice for November’s theme…
– Best End of a Series –
The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkien
Synopsis: As the Shadow of Mordor grows across the land, the Companions of the Ring have become involved in separate adventures. Aragorn, revealed as the hidden heir of the ancient Kings of the West, has joined with the Riders of Rohan against the forces of Isengard, and takes part in the desperate victory of the Hornburg. Merry and Pippin, captured by Orcs, escape into Fangorn Forest and there encounter the Ents. Gandalf has miraculously returned and defeated the evil wizard, Saruman. Sam has left his master for dead after a battle with the giant spider, Shelob; but Frodo is still alive—now in the foul hands of the Orcs. And all the while the armies of the Dark Lord are massing as the One Ring draws ever nearer to the Cracks of Doom.
I’m not sure what to say about my choice really haha, except that some of you will already know that I absolutely love everything Tolkien. Also, There were only 3 book series endings that I could find on my Goodreads that I’ve actually read. Apparently I’ve only finished 3 books series? And I can’t say that I loved the other 2 endings, so it was a very easy choice for me!
– Posts by Participants –
| Melanie – Extras by Scott Westerfeld | |
| Alex – Our Dark Duet by V. E. Schwab | Sophie – Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare |
| Adrienne – Starlight by Adrienne Woods | Deanna – Perfect Fifths by Megan McCafferty |
| Samantha – Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J.K. Rowling | Lauren – Goliath by Scott Westerfeld |
| Dawlyn & Krista – Mockingjay by Suzanne Collins | Milana – Bite Me: A Love Story by Christopher Moore |
And now for the December theme which
you picked through the use of the poll!
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Your Favourite Book of 2017!
THANK YOU FOR READING MY CALENDAR GIRLS POST! HAVE YOU EVER READ ANY OF THE BOOKS OTHER PARTICIPANTS AND MYSELF HAVE MENTIONED? IF SO, WHAT DID YOU THINK? AND IF YOU HAVEN’T READ THEM YET, DO YOU WANT TO, OR NOT? HOWCOME? FEEL FREE TO COMMENT, WHETHER YOU’RE A CALENDAR GIRL OR NOT! ALSO, WE WOULD LIKE TO SAY THAT ALTHOUGH THE EVENT HAS THE WORD “GIRLS” IN THE TITLE, THIS DOES NOT MEAN THAT ALL GENDERS, SEXUALITIES, ETC. ARE NOT WELCOME! ALL ARE WELCOME! I LOOK FORWARD TO READING ALL OF YOUR COMMENTS!
This is such a cool! Concept i think i shall try participating next month lol! I haven’t read Tolkien but my sister loves him and is teaching the Simirellion (idk if that’s spelled right) to her students lol!
Ahh thank you! And we hope that you do join us next month! ❤
Also that’s so cool! That book would NOT be easy to teach haha. I read part of it while I was in university.
[…] Calendar Girls Books is a monthly discussion hosted by Flavia at Flavia the Bibliophile and Melanie at MNBernard Books. To find out more about the Calendar Girls, visit either of their November picks. Here’s Flavia’s and Melanie’s. […]
I ALMOST picked Return of the King! It was between that and Harry Potter, because series endings are always crap. Haha
Hahaha we would have been twinzies! And honestly I would have probably been stuck between Return of the King and Harry Potter 7 too … except…
Confession time: I have never fully read Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows…………..
I’m so ashamed. But I have a reason, I promise. Hahaha. And I feel bad leaving you in suspense, so I’ll just tell you here. On the day that the 7th book was to be published, I was the first person in line at my book store, before they opened for the day. I bought the book, and then had to work all day, so I didn’t get to read it until I got home in the evening. Anyway, I log onto MSN (because it was cool to use that back in the day lol), and it turns out that a “good” friend of mine had read the book that day in one sitting…and had gone and written “R.I.P.” and then listed EVERYONE who died in the book, in her MSN name. And this is why I hate spoilers so much. I was so upset that I still haven’t read the 7th book to this day. I tried to read it sometime last year…but didn’t even make it 15% in before I had to stop. The End.
THAT IS THE WORST THING I HAVE EVER HEARD!!!! Why are people so rude about spoilers??? Ugh, that makes me mad and it didn’t even happen to me!
Right? I still get upset now….however many years later haha. I did get the audiobook for the 7th book recently though…so I might just try that. It feels like cheating…but it’s better than not reading the book at all, right?
I think it’s definitely better than nothing at all! I hope you do. It’s so heartbreaking and heartwarming all at the same time.
Yeahhhh the heartbreaking part is the one I’m worried about hahaha. But I’m looking forward to it more now that you mentioned that ti’s heartwarming too 🙂 thank you.
[…] – The Return of the King by J.R.R. Tolkein Alex – Our Dark Duet by V.E. […]
You would pick Tolkein. Hahahaha! I feel like you’ve picked Tolkein three times or so, but I can’t really blame you. It is a classic (not that I’ve read anything by him yet. >.>) Man, I wish I had a summer vacation where I could just sit around and read all these super long books. There’s no way I’d ever finish them right now. I barely finish a book a week. *sigh*
But classic choice! 🙂 Way to represent fantasy!
Nooooo…. I didn’t pick Tolkien THREE times….did I? No I checked lmao cause you had me worried. I picked it twice now. But now I’m mad cause I thought I’d picked Two Towers for the Active War theme….but that was Return of the King too. I really didn’t want to pick the same book twice SIGH. Oh well.
Awe I wish that you can read the Tolkien books soon! To be honest though, the first time I read The Hobbit was in grade 7, and I picked it for my book report, so that I HAD to read it. And LOTR…well, I took a course on Tolkien in university, because I kept wanting to read the books, but just never had the motivation to sit down and do it on my own because I’d already seen the movies a million times.
And I hear ya about not finishing a book a week! I think I devoured like 3 books really fast the week before last….but haven’t even gotten 25% into the book I’m currently reading now, because I worked a LOT last week.
Same. School is kicking my butt. Taking up all my time and I end up spending all day on Saturdays just to finish a book in time to review it for Sunday. *sigh* But at least it keeps me reading. Without my schedule I’d probably never read a book in school (just like I did in undergrad.)
Gahhhhh 🙁 sounds like you might need a blogging break. And yeah I didn’t read for fun at all during undergrad haha
yay to “return of the king”. i have read it years ago, that’s why i do not remember if it was my favorite, so i didn’t pick it. but i am glad, that it’s on the list!! 🙂
Yay I’m glad that you’ve read it too! I remember that the book wasn’t aaaaas satisfying of an ending as the movies, but it still made me happy, whereas the other series endings did not. So that’s why I picked it lol
hahaha, perfectly fine reason! 😀
I loved this book but had to try three times before finishing the first one! it’s so slow in the beginning 😉
Yay! And awe I get you! This book series was one where I enjoyed the slow parts as much as the fast paced ones though because I was just LOVE Tokien’s use of language. <3
Nice choice. I have never read that series and I never really had any desire to but now that I have more free time I may consider it again..
For my pick this month, please see the following link:
https://modernwitchsbookshelf.wordpress.com/2017/11/06/calendar-girls-11-november-2017-best-end-to-a-series/
Thanks so much! And welcome to Calendar Girls 😀 Also I hope that you will have the opportunity to read The Lord of the Rings…and that you ENJOY it when you do 🙂
It is so hard to think of/pick a good book for series end. Obviously picks like Return of the King and Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows make sense. I just don’t know what I would choose.
Yeahhh. Like I devoured the end of the Hunger Games series, but it didn’t really leave me feeling super happy. Same with the Sword of Truth Series, and the Grisha trilogy. I can’t think of any other series that I’ve complete yet…
Well, when I get attached to characters and such, I hate saying goodbye to them, so I stall on finishing the series, because if I don’t read the end of it then in my mind it hasn’t ended yet.
Exactly! I feel the same. Plus I’ve started a lot of series that just aren’t over yet.
Also true.
Oh man I never did make it to this book. I couldn’t get through LoTR. I love the concept of Lord of the Rings, and I LOVE How minute Tolkien goes with his details, but I just couldn’t get through it. I keep saying I’m going to try. Maybe these are ones I will have to try as audiobooks.
I know I just commented on the Wrap-up but I knew I wrote down the “theme” a little differently. In the announcement for December’s theme you originally said it was your favorite book of 2017, not necessarily your favorite book published in 2017. I just want a clarification before I publish mine on Monday 😀
Hey sorry that’s my bad! Someone had asked for clarification in the Twitter chat and we decided to go with favourite book read that was published in 2017! But you can still keep your honourable mentions even if they’re not 2017
Okey dokey! Thanks :]