1. Artemis by Andy Weir
Rating: 4 Stars
I liked this book a lot, more than I thought I would. I loved the narration and the main character, and I loved the heisty feel to it. I definitely recommend this to science fiction lovers.
2. The Alchemist by Paulo Coehlo
Rating: 3 stars
This book was fine. Not super special, in my opinion. I thought it was a cute story, with magical realism elements. It's a short read so I didn't feel like I wasted any time on it.
3. World's End (Dormia #2) by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinksi
Rating: 3 stars
This was a quick read for me. The plot was interesting, and I like the characters, generally speaking. I've struggled with this series since I feel like the main character has no personality, and I'm waiting for the plot to come up with something fresh. The plot was essentially the same as the first book - a long journey to some Dormian land to save everything from even the same antagonist. Since the title of the book "World's End" is the name of the American town Alfonso is from, I thought maybe the Dormian/human worlds would collide in this one, like maybe some of the fight would be in his own territory. But no. So we'll see if the third book can turn the series around.
4. The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne
Rating: 5 stars
This is actually one of my favorite books of all time. It's on my favorites shelf with just 5 other books and I love it and my heart breaks every time. Clearly, this was a reread for me and it took about 2 hours to finish it.
5. Catwoman: Soulstealer (DC Icons #3) by Sarah J. Maas
Rating: 3 stars
This book gets three stars, two stars for the first half of the book and four stars for the second half.
I just felt like this story dragged horribly through the first 150 pages. The whole thing was supposed to heist and action, yet I still felt like nothing was happening. Also, I had unanswered questions by the end of the novel and I hate that. However, I loved the ending of this book.
6. Heart Berries: A Memoir by Terese Marie Mailhot
Rating: 2 stars
I don't even know if this should be in the memoir category, or in the poetry category. Every sentence was like poetry. I can appreciate poeticism to a point, but this was a little melodramatic. Also, I didn't realize half the book was going to be letters to her (one) boyfriend/ex-boyfriend/husband(?), so that was just kind of annoying. Overall, I was underwhelmed. Maybe I don't "understand the art" of it, but I feel like I have read and appreciated memoirs (The Glass Castle by Jeanette Walls and When Breath Becomes Air by Paul Kalanithi, the latter of which is a very poetic memoir) and this just didn't do it for me.
7. Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Sáenz
Rating: 3 stars
This book was good, just not amazing. I guess I was expecting more based on how many medals are slapped on the front and how many recommendations I've heard. I thought the book was sweet, if a little predictable. I will probably not reread it or recommend it to people unless they really love contemporaries.
8. Shiver (Shiver #1) by Maggie Stiefvater
Rating: 3 stars
This was a reread for me, and I used to really love this book. I think since I've read more fantasy and paranormal romance novels, this just doesn't do it for me anymore. I will still try to reread Linger and Forever, the second and third books in the trilogy, sometime in the next year probably.
9. The Rest of Us Just Live Here by Patrick Ness
Rating: 3 stars
This book was highly recommended to me, and it was not all that I was hoping for. The story and characters were still good, but it wasn't spectacular. The premise of the book is that there is a fantasy adventure going on, but our main character is not "the Chosen One", he's someone who just happens to be caught up in the crazy things going on. I guess I expected this to be more involved in the fantasy story, like maybe being a side character involved in it, but instead the character had literally nothing to do with the fantasy aspect of the book and to me it just wasn't very interesting. I'm a very plot-driven reader, and there was not much direction with the plot here.
10. Eleanor and Park by Rainbow Rowell
Rating: 3 stars
This book was good and sweet, but I wasn't amazed by it. I don't have much to say about it. If you like contemporaries, books set in the 80's, teen romance, and stories about dysfunctional families, this is the book for you.
11. The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins
Rating: 3 stars
I'm not a huge thriller person. Not because I don't like them, I just haven't read a ton so I am not familiar with the genre. A lot of people said that this was a good book for people who don't read thrillers often. I thought it would be a pretty good fit for me, but I wasn't super impressed. It wasn't shocking or twisty, and overall it was good but just good.
12. It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini
Rating: 5
This was a reread for me and I still love it! The beautiful thing about this book is that it creates such a meaningful story, and you come to know the characters well, without being unnecessarily poetic. There are a lot of books that use obscure poetic lines ("We accept the love we think we deserve") to make the book seem more artsy. This story is simple and beautiful without overdoing it. I love it.
13. The Casual Vacancy by J.K. Rowling
Rating: 3 stars
Boy does this book drag in the beginning... parts 1-4, which comprise more than half of the book, are pretty much just exposition. The problem is that there are so many characters and storylines, that the introductions take forever. Once you get to part 5 though (there are seven parts), it picks up and becomes really interesting. If you pick this up and find yourself wanting to DNF, I recommend sticking it out until the end.
14. Shadow Tree (Dormia #3) by Jake Halpern and Peter Kujawinski
Rating: 1 star
I'm actually mad about this book. I was able to take the flat characters, unnatural flow of conversations and emotions, and ridiculously dry plot with a generous 2-star rating. BUT. There were probably over 25 typos/grammar mistakes throughout the book. It's just sloppy work. I can understand that this book was probably self-published and that presents challenges, but this was just terrible. It seems like the book wasn't revised or edited, either for its story or for basic grammar conventions like spelling and capitalization and COMMAS. The writers got lazy, and I can't respect it at all.
15. 5 to 1 by Holly Bodger
Rating: 5 stars
I didn't plan to read this book this month, I just picked it up and read it in one day. The prose was so creatively expressed, and the story and emotions in the book were beautiful.
16. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo
Rating: 4 stars
This book is very good, and I can understand all the hype for it. The characters have a lot of depth, so if you're a character driven reader, this book is definitely for you. The backstories were definitely the most intriguing part of the story. It was a really brilliant weaving of past and future. The first 2/3 of the book is pretty dry. I didn't feel enraptured by the story for most of the book. I was also disappointed with the world building.
17. Crooked Kingdom (Six of Crows #2) by Leigh Bardugo
Rating: 5 stars
This book was such an improvement on the first one. The first one was good, but I was not super invested in the characters. This book did it for me. A beautiful story that is a remarkable mix of high fantasy, teenage angst, and thriller-level action-packed heist.
18. To Kill a Mockingbird by Harper Lee
Rating: 4 stars
This book was obviously a reread for me, and as expected I enjoyed it more this time around than when I was forced to read it in high school. In general, I love the childhood-innocence-narration trope (see my notes above on The Boy in the Striped Pajamas), and this story is very well done. I love the motifs and metaphors in the book, and Scout is one of my favorite female leads.
19. Eragon by Christopher Paolini
Rating: 2 stars
I don't have a really good reason for why I disliked this book as much as I did, it just felt like a child's rendition of LOTR and I love LOTR so much that I can't accept this.
If I could only recommend one...
This is so tough! I would have to recommend It's Kind of a Funny Story by Ned Vizzini. This is a mental health story done well, and beyond it being a fantastic book, I think it could be an important read for many people.
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