FYI (For Your Information Ishness), here are some Reading Randomosities of a couple of random things that don’t make posts on their own but I wanted to say, so I’m tossing them together! 🙂
#1 — Awesome Giveaway from Jenelle Schmidt!
Look at that! Jenelle is giving away a Christmas Givaway Ultimate Prize Bundle from Stormcave, including her three books (King’s Warrior, Second Son, and Yorien’s Hand) and other good stuff (CDs and another book), and it’s open for most of the rest of December, so go enter!! ^_^
#2 — Illusionarium Audiobook Cover
Okay, so this is TOTALLY random (which is kind of the point of this post?) but I noticed the other day while I was glancing over Goodreads that there was an Audiobook done of Illusionarium AND IT HAS A DIFFERENT COVER AND I LOVE IT. LOOK. BEHOLD ITS AWESOMENESS. (No, I don’t, in fact, know what you’re supposed to do with this information. Unless it’s to just stare at it. You’re welcome.)
#3 — I’m spontaneously rereading Chrestomanci
Yes, this is a thing. I should be doing all sorts of things like getting ready for Christmas and getting through other things I need to read… but I somehow got it into my head that it would be a blast to (finally!!) re-read Diana Wynne Jones’ Chrestomanci series… aloud… because voices… and because I needed something to semi-reward myself with/relax after the insanity that was NaNoWriMo.
So I just reread Charmed Life and alskdjflskdjlfj SO MUCH LOVE. ❤ (Fun fact: I read it for the first time almost exactly two years ago, in early December 2014. I read it the 11th then, and finished it the 9th this month. History does repeat itself.) I’m now on The Lives of Christopher Chant, which is a prequel about Chrestomanci’s childhood and it’s AWESOME.
I love these books even MORE on the second-reading, if possible. o.o DWJ books are like that.
(These are kind of strange covers but at least they match and aren’t AWFUL like some other ones… I actually have both these books in a double-book collection so I don’t have covers for them… *coughcough*) *dies of laughter at “follow your dreams” on the second cover* XD
It would be gorgeous and epic and sweet and medieval and modern and time-travel-y and just yes. Somebody make this happen.
I know, I’m cheating slightly with a series… But I have to put them all here together in place of one. These were so much fun. YA heist/con-artist books, clean and fun, and well-written — the writing is sort of humorous and just… yes. I quite enjoyed them and wish there were more! Also notable for a certain character, namely Hale, who is awesome. (What is his first name?? We may never know…)
Oh my goodness, how do I even start? Um. These are super dark YA, I don’t even think they should be considered YA? But despite the darkness/content and stuff, I couldn’t help really having a blast with them. (They’re even in first-person-present-tense, which I generally hate? But I just forgot while I was reading.) The hero, Cassel, is just so snarky and hilarious and unfortunate, and the series is… I don’t know. It’s mafia crime family con-artists with magic. WHAT IS NOT TO LOVE. The magic is fascinating — like, there’s four or five different “types” and people are born with different kinds, and everyone wears gloves because the magic comes from the touch of hands. These books I feel like could teach me a lot about pacing and stakes and stuff, for my writing, because just everything comes at our poor hero all at once! My goodness. I can’t fully recommend them due to content, but I really enjoyed them aside from that. But yes, definitely outside my genre/comfort zone; but I’m glad I read ’em all the same. I picked up the first one on the sole recommendation of 
The Page Dreamer (Deborah O'Carroll) 