Christmas Wrapping #1: Covers

As a way to wrap up the year, we will be posting our "Top 5's" every Friday until 2016! We are calling it "Christmas Wrapping" because puns. This week's Top 5 is on our favorite book covers. 


The majority of books are from our 2015 reading list with some 2014 exclusions (Fran didn't read that many good books this year)

LYS

5. The Assassin's Blade

4. Tell the Wolves I'm Home

3. Slaughterhouse Five

2. Watchmen

1. Catcher in the Rye

 FRAN
5. Crown of Midnight
4. Magnus Chase and the Swords of Summer
3. The Ask and the Answer
2.Eleanor and Park (2014)
1. Between the Notes

If you want to see the list of books we've read this year, check out our Goodreads accounts!
Lys's: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/27125119-alyssa-skvarla
Fran's: https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/19755098-francesca

Top 10 Soundtrack

Tbh I really got into soundtrack music for writing/reading because of Fran and Sarah J Maas, and now I'm addicted (thanks). Picking a Top 10 is so hard but I'm going to attempt it. Mine will actually be a countdown to my favorite soundtrack piece of all time so here we go...

10. Welcome to Jurassic Park by John Williams
9. Land of Shadows by Audiomachine
8. Short Hair from Mulan
7. Tales of a Jedi Knight by John Williams
6. Forest Battle by John Williams
5. To Die For by Hans Zimmer
4. Transformation from Brother Bear
3. One Summer's Day from Spirited Away
2. King of Pride Rock by Hans Zimmer

and the ruler of my soundtrack playlist:

1. Ihojin No Yaiba from Sword of the Stranger 

I could write an ode to this song oh my god. First off the fight scene that goes to it (scene from it on the right) is bloody brilliant and beautiful but also when taken out of context the song remains to be a terrific score excerpt for me to read/write to. When listening to it, I can easily imagine worlds I'm trying to create, journeys I wish my characters to embark on. It's honestly the best and I can listen to it for the rest of my life and never be annoyed. I can't do it justice but please do yourselves a favor and listen to it.

FRAN'S Top 10ish Soundtracks

FRAN'S TOP 10:
These tracks are in no specific order. Because I've experienced playing in a string orchestra, I tend to listen to a lot of orchestra-type film scores because I appreciate them more. All of these are non-lyrical. John Powell, Joe Hisaishi (Studio Ghibli), and Disney comprises most of my favorites.

1. Arrival of the Birds by The Cinematic Orchestra
2. Suns and Stars by Really Slow Motion
3. The Stag from Disney's Cinderella
4. Romantic Flight by John Powell
1. Battle of the Bewilderbeast by John Powell
2. Battling the Green Death by John Powell
5. Simple and Clean by Utada Hikaru
6. The Wind Forest by Joe Hisaishi
1. Howl's Moving Castle Main Theme by Joe Hisaishi
2. Day of the River by Joe Hisaishi
7. The Lark Ascending by Ralph Vaughan Williams
8. The Last Airbender Suite by Jeremy Zuckerman
1. Red Lotus from Legend of Korra
9. Flying from Peter Pan
10. Mermaids by Hans Zimmer

Top 10 favorite books of all time!!

Fran's Top 10:

10. Winger by Andrew Smith

9. Flipped by Wendelin Van Draanen

8. 1984 by George Orwell

7. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

6.Unwind by Neal Shusterman

5. Legend Series by Marie Lu

4. Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

3. All the Bright Places by Jennifer Niven

2. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey

1. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell

Alys's Top 10:

10. Norwegian Wood by Haruki Murakami

9. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut

8. Charlie Bone Series by Jenny Nimmo

7. Howl's Moving Castle by Diana Wynne Jones

6. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee

5. Percy Jackson Series by Rick Riordan

4. Shadow and Bone Series by Leigh Bardugo

3. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

2. May Bird and the Ever After Series by Jodi Lynn Anderson

1. Tell the Wolves I'm Home by Carol Rifka Brunt

In reality, this would alternatively be called our "Top 11" list because both of our all-time, absolute favorite is the Harry Potter Series, like 96% of the world (don't quote me on that statistic). We figured it wouldn't be fun to finish off our lists in such an anticlimactic way.

Disclaimer: None of this fan art is ours. We're just two losers who can't do much of anything besides read. 

(top) Eleanor and Park fan art by Simini Blocker

(bottom) Shadow and Bone fan art by Irene Koh