Goodreads Challenge
In 2015, I initially set my goal at 75 books. I eventually bumped that up to 110 books. I think this year I am going to set it at an even 100 and not change it even if I do end up surpassing that benchline again. I think 100 is a reasonable number, even if I do hope to be busier in 2016 than I was in 2015 (as in, I need to find a full-time job ASAP).

First off, yes, I have abandoned this blog for the last three months. I am a human disaster. I swear I will be better in 2016. I have no excuses, blog, I'm so sorry.

With that being said, 2015 is coming to a close! I know, I can't believe it, either. There will be a lot of different things in this post, so I will try my best to keep it as clear and easy to follow as possible. Here we go.

The Top Ten Tuesday and Top Five Wednesday topics this week didn't really catch my eye (or, I'm too tired from work to really put thought into them). Instead, I wanted to do a tag; however, I'm too lazy to go out in search of a tag to do. As a result, I created my own tag that goes along with the theme of this blog: baseball and books.

I tag: literally anyone! If you enjoy baseball and books (or if you just want to do a new tag), you are more than welcome to try this one out.

The Deets:
Title: The Queen of the Tearling
Author: Erika Johansen
Series?: Book 1 of the Queen of the Tearling trilogy
Genre: Fantasy
Big Issues: Politics
Rating: ★★★★☆

Goodreads Summary:
Magic, adventure, mystery, and romance combine in this epic debut in which a young princess must reclaim her dead mother’s throne, learn to be a ruler—and defeat the Red Queen, a powerful and malevolent sorceress determined to destroy her.

On her nineteenth birthday, Princess Kelsea Raleigh Glynn, raised in exile, sets out on a perilous journey back to the castle of her birth to ascend her rightful throne. Plain and serious, a girl who loves books and learning, Kelsea bears little resemblance to her mother, the vain and frivolous Queen Elyssa. But though she may be inexperienced and sheltered, Kelsea is not defenseless: Around her neck hangs the Tearling sapphire, a jewel of immense magical power; and accompanying her is the Queen’s Guard, a cadre of brave knights led by the enigmatic and dedicated Lazarus. Kelsea will need them all to survive a cabal of enemies who will use every weapon—from crimson-caped assassins to the darkest blood magic—to prevent her from wearing the crown.

Despite her royal blood, Kelsea feels like nothing so much as an insecure girl, a child called upon to lead a people and a kingdom about which she knows almost nothing. But what she discovers in the capital will change everything, confronting her with horrors she never imagined. An act of singular daring will throw Kelsea’s kingdom into tumult, unleashing the vengeance of the tyrannical ruler of neighboring Mortmesne: the Red Queen, a sorceress possessed of the darkest magic. Now Kelsea will begin to discover whom among the servants, aristocracy, and her own guard she can trust.

But the quest to save her kingdom and meet her destiny has only just begun—a wondrous journey of self-discovery and a trial by fire that will make her a legend . . . if she can survive.

The Deets:
Title: The 100
Author: Kass Morgan
Series?: Book 1 of the 100 Trilogy
Genre: Dystopian, Science Fiction
Big Issues: Morality, Survival
Rating: ★★★☆☆

Goodreads Summary:
NO ONE HAS SET FOOT ON EARTH IN CENTURIES - UNTIL NOW.

Ever since a devastating nuclear war, humanity has lived on spaceships far above Earth's radioactive surface. Now, one hundred juvenile delinquents - considered expendable by society - are being sent on a dangerous mission: to recolonize the planet. It could be their second chance at life... or it could be a suicide mission.

Clark was arrested for treason, though she's haunted by the memory of what she really did. Wells, the chancellor's son, came to Earth for the girl he loves - but will she ever forgive him? Reckless Bellamy fought his way onto the transport pod to protect his sister, the other half of the only pair of siblings in the universe. And Glass managed to escape back onto the ship, only to find that life there is just as dangerous as she feared it would be on Earth.


Confronted with a savage land and haunted by secrets from their pasts, the hundred must fight to survive. They were never meant to be heroes, but they may be mankind's last hope.

This month, I wanted to keep my TBR simple. Coming off of this reading slump (heck, I don't know if I'm even out of it yet), I didn't want to have this huge list of things to try and get to. Hopefully, keeping my TBR short and sweet will allow me to feel freer about my reading choices. The goal this month isn't necessarily quantity - I just want to be able to enjoy reading again.

This month was weird. I look at my spreadsheet and see that I read quite a few things so, in that regard, I'm quite pleased. On the flip side, I put three books onto a shiny new "dnf" Goodreads shelf and had quite a few more that I just didn't end up enjoying. All said and done, August was definitely about quantity over quality.

There is a little over a month left in the regular baseball season. The Tigers aren't making the playoffs. Sometimes, watching them is like pulling teeth. How do we make these remaining games fun? Bingo. Use these as a drinking game (or don't because "Ausmus looks clueless" will result in a blackout) or just as a regular Bingo game. Under the cut, you will find two variations on this card and a brief glossary.

                                                       Top Ten Tuesday was created by The Broke and the Bookish.

I'm in the midst of a reading slump.

Up to this point, I can confidently say that I have never been in this position before. I have never felt so unfilled with reading until now. The overwhelming desire to just do other things won't leave me alone. I look at a book and think about starting it but then I play the Sims instead. I catch up on my YouTube subscriptions instead. I do anything instead.

In August, with a little over a week left in the month, I have finished 11 things: 7 novels and 4 graphic novels. Generally, I would consider this a good reading month. Generally. Of these 11 things, 6 of them have been rated 3 stars or less. 5 things have been rated 3.5 stars or 4 stars. I have not rated anything 5 stars this month. These aren't the worst ratings in the world. It's not like I've read 11 1-star books over the past 21 days, right?

Maybe the most surprising number of this month, however, is 3. I have started 3 books in August that I have not finished. I feel stuck. Despite these ratings, despite these 11 books, I just haven't felt that overwhelming joy in picking up a new book. That feeling of excitement and wonder when I read a synopsis that really captures my attention, a first chapter that hooks me right away. Why should I force myself to finish a book that isn't making me happy to read? Why would I dig this already terrible reading slump into a bigger hole just for the sake of adding a book to my "read" shelf?

For the longest time, I have been a firm believer of finishing everything I start. Even if I hate a book, I will finish it. I will cringe and groan and pick every sentence apart but, never fail, I will finish it. Every reader has their own policy when it comes to DNFing books. Mine was that DNFing something was just not an option. Apparently, though, that has changed.

What was the point? Why would I want to torture myself with something I was absolutely struggling to get through? Was it just to add another book to my yearly total? To come one step closer to my goal? That doesn't make sense to me now. I want my year to be full of books I enjoyed reading. But, with that sort of attitude, where is the line drawn? Do I put down a book if it's just okay? Is DNFing 3 books the start of some new phase where I only read books that are the best of the best? I just don't know.

Throughout this slump, I've tried multiple things; DNFing a book is just one of them. Hopefully, I can find a book that will inspire me all over again, that will remind me of why I read and why I enjoy reading. Until then, maybe I'll push myself through a 2-star book. Maybe I'll put it back on the shelf to come back to later. All I know is that I have a new appreciation for my "dnf" shelf on Goodreads - it might not be in use forever, but it isn't something to be ashamed of now.

How do you deal with a reading slump? Do you pick up your favorite book? Change genres? Just take a break from it all together? Let me know!

I don't know how to be a casual baseball fan.

I've only been seriously watching baseball since 2013. When I was younger, I know I went to some West Michigan Whitecaps (the Tigers' low-A affiliate) games and, I'm pretty sure I went to see the Tigers very shortly after Comerica Park opened. I remember the baseball Ferris wheel. Other than that, though, I was never really a baseball person - a sports person - in general. Things change. In the 3 seasons that I have been a serious and sophisticated fan (yeah, right), a lot has changed.

Let me back up. I can't talk about life as a fan if you don't know who I am a fan of, right? I live in Michigan so, naturally, my home team is the Detroit Tigers. I've adopted another team as my own, as well: the Miami Marlins. What can I say - I love the underdogs. Being a fan of these teams, especially the latter, is not always the easiest. The Tigers are coming off of postseason runs several seasons deep but, this year, things aren't looking quite that sunny. The Marlins, while seemingly better built for this 2015 campaign, are struggling, as well. Star players on both of my favorite clubs have been and still are hurt. Pitching is a weakness. Offense goes missing when it is needed the most. But, through it all, I love them. And I love baseball.

I've met some wonderful people because of this game. Now, admittedly, most of them I have not yet met in person. The girl I call my best friend is a Tigers fan and we came together on Twitter last year, like it was fate. Why wouldn't I want to surround myself with those who I can have meaningful conversations about the sport with? My family just expects me to talk about it, to watch it, to know it.

Like with reading and books, watching and discussing baseball is something that allows me to step away from the stress of job hunting or worrying about money or the complete loneliness that I sometimes feel. Like with books, baseball games can completely suck me into that world - nothing outside matters, only what is happening on the field. Baseball makes me think, fills me with excitement, works my mind in ways that reading can't, works in tandem with the exploration that books provide.

This post took a different direction than I expected. I was just going to talk about baseball and why I am a fan. I guess it makes more sense this way, though, connecting my two favorite things into one. Maybe, in the offseason, I will revisit this idea and think about whether or not reading has more importance when baseball isn't there every day. We'll see.

The Deets:

Title: All Fall Down
Author: Ally Carter
Series?: Book 1 of Embassy Row
Genre: Contemporary, Mystery
Big Issues: Sanity
Rating: ★★☆☆☆

Goodreads Summary:

A new series of global proportions -- from master of intrigue, NEW YORK TIMES bestselling author Ally Carter.

Grace Blakely is absolutely certain of three things:

1. She is not crazy.
2. Her mother was murdered.
3. Someday she is going to find the killer and make him pay.

As certain as Grace is about these facts, nobody else believes her -- so there's no one she can completely trust. Not her grandfather, a powerful ambassador. Not her new friends, who all live on Embassy Row. Not Alexei, the Russian boy next door, who is keeping his eye on Grace for reasons she neither likes nor understands.

Everybody wants Grace to put on a pretty dress and a pretty smile, blocking out all her unpretty thoughts. But they can't control Grace -- no more than Grace can control what she knows or what she needs to do. Her past has come back to hunt her . . . and if she doesn't stop it, Grace isn't the only one who will get hurt. Because on Embassy Row, the countries of the world stand like dominoes, and one wrong move can make them all fall down.

There are a lot of tropes in books. Character tropes, plot tropes, you name it. Sometimes, even if a trope is extremely overdone, I can still enjoy books that use it if they are done well and keep me excited (see: Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard). Other times, tropes that I see a lot of other readers getting tired of (the main character as the Chosen One, for example) don't really register as a problem for me. More often, however, overused tropes drive me up a wall. Here are my top 5 hated tropes in young adult books (and, yes, I do realize a lot of them have to do with how female characters are written):

The Deets:

• Title: Not Otherwise Specified
• Author: Hannah Moskowitz
• Series?: No
• Genre: Contemporary
• Big Issues: Sexuality, Race, Disordered Eating
• Rating: ★★★★☆

Hi, I'm Allison and welcome to my blog. Books and Balks isn't a new idea. I've been trying to maintain a book (and otherwise) blog for quite some time but, no matter how hard I put my mind to it, I always seem to abandon it within a few weeks. This time, I will hopefully be able to stick to it (as I type those words for the third time).

First, I'll direct you to where I was posting previously, Tumblr. You can find the beginnings of Books and Balks right here. Originally, that Tumblr was simply Allison Reads but I found that incorporating something else I really enjoy, baseball, was a way to keep me interested in writing and posting (yeah, okay, I still ended up forgetting about it). In this revamping, I decided that Tumblr probably wasn't the best choice if I wanted to get serious page views and come across as a blogger who cares (not to say that those on Tumblr do not care, of course). I just think that the .blogspot.com attribute is a little more appealing when coming across a blog. Better capability for comments and discussion only further this appeal.

I will be trying to stick to some sort of schedule. I hope to post at least one book post and one balk post each week - a Top 5 Wednesday or a tag or a State of the Tigers, something like that. I can't make any promises about this regularity but, man, I'm going to try.

A little bit more about me, if you are interested: I'm 23 years old and I live in Michigan. I graduated from college with a degree in sociology in May of 2015. I like baseball, reading, writing, playing the Sims, and drinking iced tea. I'm funny and smart (I think) and am always up for conversation.

Thanks for reading and coming along for the ride.