Showing posts with label wrap up. Show all posts
Showing posts with label wrap up. Show all posts

Saturday, March 5, 2016

February Wrap Up

FEBRUARY WRAP-UP

So it appears that me and set TBRs just don't get along. From the three books (THREE! I COULDN'T EVEN MANAGE THAT!) I only finished one...well to be fair I just didn't enjoy one of them but more on that later.
Now on to the books I did read this month. I read a total of seven books this month, which for me is pretty impressive. 

 1. Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid

My rating: 3.5/5 stars
I have a review for this up on this blog already so if you wanna know my thoughts on it you can just go ahead and read that. 
But I'll just say, this book needs to become a cute, coming of age, high school movie that will be passed on for generations of weird teenagers....




2. The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell

 My rating: 4/5 stars
This book was unlike anything I'd read before and I think there needs to be more books of it's kind to be honest. The story follows a Japanese teenager who was diagnosed with ALS (if you haven't heard of ALS then I'm assuming you'll immediately know what I mean if I say "Ice Bucket Challenge". THAT CHALLENGE WAS TO CREATE AWARENESS FOR ALS DAMMIT WHY DOES NOT ONE REMEMBER?! Anyway...).  So yes, it is quite a sad read when you just see him gradually get worse and there are really dark elements to the story too because, well it's about a teenager faced with death. 
But you do get to see him make some AMAZING friends. Honestly, I adored Sora's friends, they were so incredibly sweet. And just yeah, this book definitely deserves a read by everyone. 

3. Five Children and It by E. Nesbit

My rating: 3/5 stars
I remember, I adored this book as a kid and I'd always had wonderful memories from reading it so I actually wish I hadn't re-read it because reading books like this when you're older.....it changes how you initially felt about it and then all your fun memories of the book as a kid are all sort of weird to think about cause you didn't enjoy it as much as you used to. Ugh. 
But don't get me wrong, it's still a great children's book. I re-read this one for Rainbow-a-thon as I didn't have another orange book with me...heh. 



3. Me and Earl and The Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

My rating: STILL 5/5 STARS 
This was obviously another re-read. It hasn't even been a year since I first read this book but it still made me laugh and just...this book just means a lot to me. 







4. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

My rating: 4/5 stars
Yes, everyone. After what feels like forever, I finally read Fangirl. And I loved every minute of it. It was just so unbelievably cute (apparently as are almost all of Rainbow Rowell's books but still it is worth pointing out that this was no exception) and I feel like I could definitely relate to how attached Cath is to Simon Snow.
I ABSOLUTELY ADORED LEVI. Oh my goodness, that boy did things to my heart....
So if you're looking for a cute sort of contemporary about first loves, and college, and fandoms then you should definitely read this ASAP. 


5. Wonder by R.J. Palacio

My rating: 4.5/5 stars
Again, just like The Last Leaves Falling, I think there should be more books like this one. The story follows August Pullman, who is a ten year old boy and he was born with a facial deformity. 
So basically, he does not look like a regular kid and the story follows him, starting middle school after being home schooled for all of his life. And as you may have figured out, middle school kids can be mean. Very mean. 
I adored this book, it was so heartwarming and it made me smile, and laugh, and cry and just UGH MY FEELS CANNOT BE TAMED. 
I also loved Auggie. He was honestly such a likeable kid. He's super smart and obsessed with Star Wars and he loves science. And I also loved his family.
If you're kind of hesitant to read this because it's technically a "middle grade" novel, please don't let that keep you from reading it. This is one of those books that I feel like everyone should read no matter what age you are. 

6. Keeping The Moon by Sarah Dessen 

My rating: 3/5 stars
Now, I'm aware that Sarah Dessen writes a lot of young adult contemporaries, and they're very well known. But before I read this book I had only ever read Just Listen. Which by the way, is one of my favorite contemporary books. I absolutely loved the story and the characters and the family aspect. But more and that book another time. 
Going in to Keeping The Moon, I was aware that it would be about friendship and all that sort of coming of age things. So while I thought it would be a fun story, I didn't exactly know how I was going to enjoy it. 
But you know, this book surprised me. With her Mom being so well known, and the fact that she didn't immediately become friends with Isabel and getting to see them grow closer as the book progresses, and Norman and his paintings; this book was actually pretty sweet. 





Sunday, January 31, 2016

January Wrap Up and February TBR

JANUARY WRAP UP

So this January was actually a pretty good reading month for me. I read a total of 5 books so I'm quite proud of myself about this.

1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl



My rating: 3 stars
Upon reading this book I realized...THIS BOOK ISN'T ABOUT VAMPIRES. Who knew?! Okay, I'm pretty sure a lot of you know but all the Twilight comparisons led me to believe so.
But surprisingly enough I enjoyed this book. I mean it wasn't the best book ever or anything but I think it deserves a little more love. 
For anyone who doesn't know what this book is about. It's about witches...or sorts. And there's the whole forbidden love thing coming in to play too. However there is NO LOVE TRIANGLE. 
Am I going to pick up the next book in the series? Maybe one day but right now, it doesn't seem like as big a priority.



2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini


My rating: 4 stars
I read this book for class and I'm going to be honest and say that I probably wouldn't have picked up this book if I didn't have to. So yay for school, I guess.
This book is so devastatingly sad, and of course I know a lot more about it now than I probably would've if I'd just read it. Since I'm "studying" it, I know all the metaphors and the foreshadowing and all those writing techniques that the writer put in to the story.
It's all very impressive. I'm serious. 
And like I said in my last post, I don't really read all that many books about war, and I guess that's changing now but reading about the Taliban...it was just eye opening, because I knew hardly anything at all about what was going on in Afghanistan all those years. 
This is just one of those books that you should at least give it a try. At some point in your life. Definitely worth the read. 


3. Everyday by David Levithan

 My rating: 4.5 stars
I really enjoyed this book. It was so different from anything I've ever read before and the writing was gorgeous!
Basically, this book is about a guy who wakes up every morning as a different person. Regardless of gender or sexuality. And this has been going on since he was born so he's never got the chance to witness life as a regular person, he doesn't have any real family or friends. 
And then one day, he falls in love. 
That's all I'm going to tell you, I highly recommend you go and pick up the book right now, because it is honestly amazing. 
Every chapter is him as a different person and I really liked that. It was almost as if they were all individual stories just all told from his POV. 



4. Girl Interrupted by Susanna Kaysen

My rating: 2.5 stars
The only reason I picked up this book was because I was in the library, in the non fiction section, and I figured I'd sit and read for a while. This happened to be the shortest book there. 
This book just sort of let me down, because the initial premise sounded really interesting. It's about a girl who spends her teenage years in a mental institute. It was a true story. 
But unfortunately it just didn't end up being a book I enjoyed. 




5. The Book Thief by Markus Zuzak


My rating: 5 STARS OBVIOUSLY HOW CAN ANYONE GIVE THIS BOOK ANY LESS?

This book. Holy flaming potatoes, this book. I am still recovering from this book and I don't think I'll stop thinking about it ever. 
It's just such a powerful story and when I finished it, I think I just sobbed for an hour straight. 
The book is narrated by Death and that made it a very original and interesting POV. 
It's not uncommon for me to get attached to fictional characters but the ones in this book were just so real and you can't help but love them. 
I honestly have no words about this other than PLEASE PLEASE READ IT. 



And that's it for my January wrap-up. I haven't read more than 2 books in the past few months so 2016 is off to a pretty good start, reading wise. Did I just jinx it...?

FEBRUARY TBR

 So the only set books I have for my TBR this month are:
  1. Never Always Sometimes by Adi Alsaid
  2. The Last Leaves Falling by Sarah Benwell
  3. The Martian by Andy Weir
  4. How To Build A Girl by Caitlin Moran

 I've already started Never Always Sometimes, and I'm about fifty pages in. It's just one of those quick, light contemporary reads, which is exactly what I needed after The Book Thief. I need time to recover from so much emotion overload.


And the reason I said these are the only books on my TBR that are "set" is because there are a bunch of readathons happening this month and I'm not sure exactly which books I'm reading for those.


For any of you guys who are interested, the readathons I'm going to be participating in this month are


1. Rainbowthon 2.0

The Rainbowthon is taking place from the 7th to the 14th of this month.
This just sounds like it's going to be a fun readathon. It's going to give me and excuse to read a lot in one week, and it'll give a really pretty wrap-up shot for instagram. (psst. By the way you can follow my bookstagram @nushoesocks)
If you haven't heard of this readathon, the point is that you try to make a rainbow from the spines of the books you read for this readathon. 
I think there is a hashtag for this readathon over on twitter if you guys want to check it out!


2. AYearAThon - February

The February part of AYearAThon is taking place from the 8th to the 14th and the theme for this month is romance. 
I still have no idea what I'm going to read for this one but if you guys have any recommendations let me know!
And if you want to learn more about THIS readathon, there is a Goodreads group you can join.  

 If any of you guys are participating please let me know.