June 2020 Wrap-Up

School is officially in session (early, I know right), so as expected my reading is slowing down a bit and I fully anticipate it slowing down even more as the year picks up pace. I managed to get through 12 books this month, and I imagine this is the last month of the year I will be able to read over ten books. I read 4,733 pages for an average book length of 394 pages, and my average rating was 3.92 which is not too shabby. Here are the books I read in June:

1. The Blood of Olympus (The Heroes of Olympus #5) by Rick Riordan

Rating: ★★★★☆
This book is so highly rated because of my dear precious Nico. I love him so much. For some reason, this book just didn't feel like it was a part of the same series as the previous 4, which makes no sense because it was the conclusion of everything that built up in those books. But something about the way Percy, Annabeth, Hazel, and Frank were completely sidelined, as if they weren't the main focus of the books 2, 3, and 4... the book just felt so incomplete. Regardless, even with that bit of disappointment, I still do like Piper, Jason Leo, and Reyna, and of course Nico was the shining star of the book. I also liked the plot points (like the visit with Ascelius and the demigod-Olympian team-up against the giants). I only just found out that Rick Riordan's Trials of Apollo quintet is a continuation of the Percy Jackson world, so I'll be reading that as soon as my book shipments arrive in the mail. Justice for Percy and Annabeth!!

2. My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Rating: ★★★★☆
This book is downright difficult to read at times (most of the time/all of the time). It's not a book you're supposed to enjoy, but a book that is supposed to expose you to the complexities of societal expectations and allowances. Check out my full review HERE.

3. Lucky Caller by Emma Mills

Rating: ★★★★☆
This book was really cute! I've never read Emma Mills before, but it sounds like a lot of her writing talent is in creating characters and interactions that are actually real-life realistic. The amount of stammering and awkward shuffling in this novel... amazing.

4. Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds

Rating: ★★★★★
Jason Reynolds has done it again. This book was SO GOOD, and EVERYONE needs to read it.

5. The Hunger Games (The Hunger Games #1) by Suzanne Collins

Rating: ★★★★★
My unofficial rereadathon continues with The Hunger Games. This is of course in preparation of reading the newly released prequel book, The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes, which I will likely have completed in July. Upon rereading, I was even more intrigued by this than I was the first time. The impossibly high stakes, the realism of Katniss's will to survive, the complicated romantics... glorious.

6. Catching Fire (The Hunger Games #2) by Suzanne Collins

Rating: ★★★★★
Again, I was surprised how well this series survives the test of time (the first and only other time I read these books was in middle school). This book is high-stakes, the arena is so interesting, and the book really serves as a nice transition into the political aspect of ending the Games.

7. The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson

Rating: ★★☆☆☆
To be frank, I was pretty bored through most of this. This book did not engage and retain my attention the way The Devil In the White City did. If you're really into WWII history, check this out (as it gets glowing reviews from many others), but this was not for me.

8. Mockingjay (The Hunger Games #3) by Suzanne Collins

Rating: ★★★★☆
The finale of The Hunger Games was solid, although it does leave some items left to be desired. I fall into the category of people that finds it absurd that Katniss married Peeta, when their relationship isn't based on romantic love but a love of necessity. Maybe that was the point, but this book definitely showed me how I've changed since reading it the first time. In middle school, I read this like a romance. Now I can see that the romance is completely fabricated and flat out rejected by Katniss, and rightfully so as she's a 16 year old girl who only wants to survive her grief and trauma. I do want to mention that I appreciate the messages in here about how just because the rebels are fighting against the abusive capitol doesn't mean the rebels are automatically the "good guys", there is always a large gray area in the struggle for political power. In all, I didn't love this book as much as the first two in the series, but it was still enjoyable and by no means decreases my overall opinion of the series as a whole.

9. They Went Left by Monica Hesse

Rating: ★★★★☆
This book is engaging throughout, but by far what makes it so unique and heartrending is the ending. I don't want to give anything away, but if you pick this up, definitely stick with it through the end. It is extremely powerful, emotional, and satisfying without being predictable.

10. The Southern Book Club's Guide to Slaying Vampires by Grady Hendrix

Rating: ★★★☆☆
I'm generously rating this book 3 out of 5 stars even though it was such a huge whopping disappointment for me. 5% maybe is about slaying vampires, while 90% of the book is about a woman trying to convince her lousy husband and friends that said vampire exists. The book was not unenjoyable, but the title was severely misleading, hence the giant disappointment.

11. Handle With Care by Jodi Picoult

Rating: ★★★★☆
I definitely felt an emotional punch with this one; the multiple perspectives really gives the book a well-rounded feel. One thing that I think was particularly well done is making the characters so morally gray. At times I completely agreed with Charlotte's perspective, while other times I thought she was a truly awful mother. It's one of the those books that makes the reader think, in this case about what it means to be a parent and a person. I also saw the moral grayness in other characters, like Sean, but Sean was such an abhorrent human for other reasons that it wasn't as striking as it was with Charlotte or Marin or Amelia. ALSO - I agree with the general consensus that the ending was trash; it doesn't add to the story or even the moral of the story and just makes the whole thing seem arbitrary.

12. Upright Women Wanted by Sarah Gailey

Rating: ★★★☆☆
Overall, I thought this book was fine. I did appreciate the queer themes explored here, although I don't think it brought anything new to the table. Towards the end I was really rooting for Esther, and I wish this book had developed her more so that I could connect to her even more. 

Review for "A Man Called Ove" by Fredrik Backman

He'd discovered that he liked houses. Maybe mostly because they were understandable. They could be calculated and drawn on paper. They did not leak if they were made watertight; they did not collapse if they were properly supported. Houses were fair, they gave you what you deserved. Which, unfortunately, was more than one could say about people.

Rating: 7.86/10 

★★★★☆

All I knew about this book going into it was that it was about a grumpy old man whose life is changed by some people so that he becomes a less grumpy old man. This is, honestly, a pretty good representation of the plot of the book. However, I did not realize that this would have so much of the grumpy old man's past in it, nor was I aware that this was a tragic love story. And it was wonderful.

People said Ove saw the world in black and white. But she was color. All the color he had.

I was predisposed to like this book because 1) I loved Beartown and Us Against You and 2) grumpy old man! This book was definitely different than most of the adult contemporaries I have been reading lately. It was refreshing, heartwarming, and hilarious. I loved Ove's development throughout the story -- shown most obviously through his shifting relationship with the cat. Obviously his relationship with all the neighborhood people, especially Parvaneh's family, also showed this, but the way he goes from not killing the cat for his wife's sake to actually caring about its well-being was beautiful.

I really liked the cast of characters in this book with few exceptions. I thought the addition of Adrian and Mirsad into the story really added to it, and I liked how everyone comes together at the end. I generally enjoyed the flashback chapters more than the present chapters (for reasons I will get into later), and I really loved Sonja's character. Towards the end of the book, reading about Sonja and Ove was what really caused this book to tug at the heartstrings and the tear ducts.

I have three major complaints about the book, AKA the reason this is only 4 stars and not 5. First of all: Parvaneh. She was so pushy. I understand that part of the plot was that Ove had to get out into the world and Parvaneh was helping him do that, but for most of the book I was thinking what Ove was thinking, which was "giiiiirrrrl, mind your own dang business!". If Parvaneh had been less pushy/whiny, and more kind, as a way to get Ove to open up and be active again, I would have liked the present-day chapters much more.

Another issue with this book that made me roll my eyes on more than one occasion was the fat-shaming. Ove is a judgmental old guy, so of course you'd think he'd be judgy about people who are overweight, but that's not what I'm talking about. It was about the physical actions that Jimmy (the overweight character in question) took that were such stereotypes it was gross to read. The way that Jimmy is always asking for food (literally more than 3 times in the book), or has food on his shirt, or has to squeeze out of car doors, was so annoying. Jimmy's only point to the story was to have a fat character in the story, and I found that hard to sit with.

Some of the timeline of the story did not exactly make sense. Early in the book we're told that Ove and Rune are friends for several years before they fall out, but the two couples meet when Sonja and Anita are both pregnant, and then the fallout happens right after Sonja loses the baby, so the time between couldn't be more than 5-6 months. There were other confusing time issues in the book, the specifics of which I'm not going to get into. It just would've been nice if the times were explained more clearly and weren't contradictory.

I know I said 3 things but this one is very minor, I just want to touch on it. The last thing I would mention, which is not as big of a issue to me as the others, is the constant monologues about the meaning of life. As a book about an older gentleman, you'd expect some life-reflecting, but when every chapter opens up with Sonja saying something wise about life (which is also something that a real person in real life would never just say) it gets repetitive.

I always have so many negative comments, but that's only because the negatives are easier to get specific about. The positives are mainly how the book made me feel, how it moved me, and that is honestly a lot more important the nit-picky details about the plot/characters. Overall, I thought this was fun and sad, beautiful and tragic, and I recommend.

August 2020 Wrap Up

I read 11 books in August, with a total of 3747 pages. My average rating was 3.25 which seems low because I really did have some real gems in my 4-star books this month. However, there were also books that were 1 star... which shall not be named (unless you look at #4 on this list). Somehow August was the shortest and longest month--it seems like it was just July yesterday, but I also feel like I finished Clap When You Land forever ago! In other news, I changed my Goodreads goal from 104 books in 2020 (2 books/week) to 125. I'm currently at 102 for the year, and 125 seems like a nice round but still attainable number. Anyhow, here are the books I read in August:

1. Clap When You Land by Elizabeth Acevedo

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.00/5)

This was enjoyable and emotional. It didn't end the way I expected, but I'm not complaining about. The imagery really helped set the atmosphere, and writing in verse helped add to the emotion.

2. House of Salt and Sorrows by Erin A. Craig

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.29/5)

The last 25% of this book was so much better than the first 75%... So many things happened in this book that I can't even wrap my head around all of it, which is why it's surprising that the first half the book dragged so much. To be honest, it might have been a bit too busy with all the different components of the plot, but it is still a solid 3 star plot. Characters were solid except of course Camille and the triplets were infuriating most of the time. I really like how this book mixed genres: it was a fantasy standalone revolving around a murder mystery with intense horror moments sprinkled in here and there. This was definitely an interesting and refreshing fantasy story. 

3. Love, Creekwood (Simonverse #3.5) by Becky Albertalli

Rating: ★★☆☆☆ (1.93/5)

I'm actually not mad at the pointlessness of this book like some people were (I mean come on, it's a novella, what were you expecting? Novellas are pretty much the author writing fanfiction of their own book). However, this was a bit cringey. At some times I was really feeling the ship, but most of the time I was just rolling my eyes at how many "I miss yous" there were. Maybe that's just realistic, but the way the characters are portrayed as not being able to be their own person, like they're only interesting and novel-worthy if they are part of a couple, was exhausting. Then with the marriage talk and how the novel ended... I'm just torn because part of me lives for the ship and the other part of me is screaming at how pathetic their codependency is. Just my honest opinion. It was kind of nice to see the kids in college, it just would have been nicer if they had also developed and matured as characters and as people as they got older. 

4. Conversations with Friends by Sally Rooney

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1.00/5)

This was a hot mess. Read more HERE.

5. Home Before Dark by Riley Sager

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.57/5)

I saw that plot twist coming from a mile away, but I still enjoyed this! I was constantly very intrigued and wanted to continue reading, and there weren't many times that I was bored. My only other complaint is that some of the things weren't explained at the end, so I still have some questions which leaves me feeling just slightly unsatisfied. 

6. Contagion by Erin Bowman

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.07/5)

The plot and the atmosphere in this book made it really pretty enjoyable for me. I can't say I loved it just because some of the characters were insufferable to the point implausibility (I'm looking at you, Dylan). I probably won't be continuing with the series, but if the sequel happens to fall into my hands I might read it. 

7. Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.07/5)

I really appreciated what this book did. The premise of the story was really interesting, but the book also executed it really well. Seeing Charlie's growth as a character in both intelligence and emotion was really fascinating. There were many times Charlie stopped to think about the fact that he was a person before the surgery - that he wasn't created by the surgery; he existed before it. On one hand I thought this was a really important metaphor for the struggles that we as the majority put many disabled or other marginalized people through daily - it calls society out on its casual dehumanization of people who are "other" in an almost juvenlian satyrical way. On the other hand, it is disappointing to realize that this is a topic that even still needs to be taught. This is a new favorite classic of mine though, and I highly recommend. 

8. Felix Ever After by Kacen Callender

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.86)

This book was such a good discussion on queer identity and what it means to be deserving of love. I enjoyed it so much, and this is one of those books that gets better the closer you get to the end. By the last chapter I was so wrapped up in this story, and I loved it. It was a little difficult to get attached to the characters at first, especially when there are so many bad ones introduced (I'm looking at you, Marisol). The book needed those bad ones so that it could call out the bigotry so it made sense, but I wish there was a little bit more resolution between Felix's friend group about Marisol's actions. Then again, that wouldn't be the most realistic ending, and one thing I appreciated about this book was the how realistic it was. Not every single issue gets to be tied up with a neat little bow, and that's okay. Felix was a really compelling character by the end of the novel, and his character growth (in realizing he was deserving of love and that he can't control everything - like the situation with his mom) was amazing. 

9. Starport by George R.R. Martin

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.5/5)

This was a fun, quick read. I have read very few graphic novels in my life, but I enjoyed this one. The plot was intriguing, if a little predictable. I liked the characters, and I shipped Bobbi and Lyhanne a lot considering how quickly I got through the novel. 

10. The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré

Rating: ★★★★☆ (4.35/5)

This was equal parts devastating and hopeful, heartbreaking and heartwarming, beautiful and tragic. I truly don't have the words to describe it. Everyone should read this book. The characters--amazing. The writing--phenomenal. The journey--incredible. I am awestruck and dumbfounded. I want a sequel so bad, I have so much hope for Adunni's future, and I am desperate to see what becomes of her. Wow. 

11. The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.07/5)

I would recommend this to people who love loads of twists/connections in their thrillers, and anyone who likes the secluded-setting murder mystery. I understand why people love this book; it just personally wasn't my idea of a 5-star book. Check out my full review HERE.

Review for "The Guest List" by Lucy Foley

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.07/5)

I feel pretty indifferent about this book; my reading experience was average for most of it. I ended up giving it 3 stars because I did actually like the twists in it and how everything is connected together. Part of me doesn't really believe it (find it believable), but the bigger part of me likes secret ties and connections too much to care about the lack of logic (extreme plot conveniences) in it.

I didn't like most of the characters, I found most of them bland or stereotypes/cliches so none of them were super compelling to me. Most people like this story because of the atmosphere, which was one of the better aspects of the writing. However, I found the constant flips between now and then to be distracting and not that helpful with setting the tone or building intrigue. I also should just mention I wasn't captivated by most of the plot, I would almost say I was bored and just waiting for something substantial to happen.

I also am disappointed by the ending. It felt very incomplete, both because it ends very abruptly and it feels like none of the characters gets closure at all except maybe Aoife? Like Hannah said, many of them went through things too terrible to heal completely from no matter what happens, but still it would have been nice to know how the story played out afterward. Like what about Johnno? Aoife? It just felt like the last few chapters/plot points were missing. The whole point of an epilogue is to wrap up the book and explain the characters' ending outcomes, and this epilogue did none of that for any of the characters.

I feel like this review is very negative for it being a 3 star book so I want to go back to some of the things I liked. The twists were pretty shocking, and despite me previously saying the plot bored me at points, the twists were what made the plot more good than bad. Also, I did get a feeling of creepiness at all the right moments. When Jules narrates the scene of finding seaweed in the bed I shivered a bit in my seat. I also generally liked the setup of the book - the fact that the whole thing takes place over 24 hours was interesting. I liked the fact that there were so many perspectives, although the fact that one of the main characters doesn't have a perspective chapter until the end of novel is kind of telling about who the bad guy is. Still, there were plenty of twists within that that I didn't see coming.

I would recommend this to people who love loads of twists/connections in their thrillers, and anyone who likes the secluded-setting murder mystery. I understand why people love this book; it just personally wasn't my idea of a 5-star book.

Review for "Conversations with Friends" by Sally Rooney

I kept reading this, wanting it to get better, and it just never did.

Rating: ★☆☆☆☆ (1.00/5)

I'll preface this with my reason for picking this up in the first place. I had never heard of this book before, it was not even remotely on my radar. The only thing I knew about the author was that she had a wildly popular book last year, Normal People. But look, I'm a huge Taylor Swift fan. If you didn't know, Taylor Swift released her eighth full-length studio album on July 24 of this year. There is one song on the album, illicit affairs, which always reminds me of a book called My Dark Vanessa. Then I heard a rumor that the inspiration for illicit affairs was actually a different book called Conversations with Friends. I'm not sure if that's even true, but I figured if there were similar themes between that song and this book it was worth checking out. After reading the book, I can confirm that the two plotlines are similar, so the rumor may have truth to it. Unfortunately, everything Taylor Swift did right in her songwriting, Sally Rooney did wrong in her novel-writing. 

I disliked every single one of these characters, (except maybe Phillip who is in about 5% of the novel). Not in the way where you dislike a character but can appreciate the realism of their moral grayness, but in the way where they are all just pompous, insufferable bastards. The way Frances and Bobbi would go off on holier-than-thou political tangents was the most pretentious thing I’ve had the displeasure of reading, and it was constant in this novel. 

It was also very difficult for me to empathize with Frances as a protagonist because she was so undeserving of empathy. She sleeps with a married man and is openly hostile to his wife even though she’s the one in the wrong. This book was just the most stereotypical version of an extramarital affair ever - an older married guy with a young woman who believes that he loves her enough to leave his wife for her. It was cringe-inducing to read.

Another thing I hated regarding the characters - it does that thing where all the female characters swear that this guy is sooooo great when all evidence points to the contrary - the man in question being Nick of course. Bobbi and Frances both mention how Nick really is a good person, while at the same time recognizing and accepting the way he is manipulative (that being his habit of being super submissive so he doesn’t have to take any blame - a really common manipulation tactic of abusers especially those who target younger women). Obviously Frances showed poor judgment in a lot of areas, but I still couldn’t help thinking, “what does she SEE in this guy?”

It doesn’t help that the relationships are not well-developed in a show-not-tell manner. We don’t get a feel for Frances and Nick’s relationship because Francis just tells us everything about how she feels about him, rather than the reader getting to experience that firsthand. I guess that’s just a general complaint about the writing - it seemed very monotone. Like Francis was just relaying events instead of living them. The result is reading about a lot of sex and not a lot of feelings.

Having finished this, I just don’t understand what the point of it was. I kept reading, waiting for it to get to the good part, the plot twist, the substantive part of the plot, but there was none. I am shocked at how many people were giving this 4 and 5 stars. 2 stars I understand, even 3 stars. But I just don't see any good in this. It was just this mess of a cheating scandal drawn out into 300 pages. It was not enjoyable and I do not recommend. I'm going to try to not associate this book with illicit affairs, lest it ruin a beautiful song. 

July 2020 Wrap-Up

As my clinicals pick up, I am reading fewer books per month. I anticipated this, and I'm still well ahead of my reading goal for this year, but that means that in lieu of the 16-book months I've been having all year, I read only half as many in July. This month I read 8 books (still not a bad number), with a total of 3,380 pages. This means the average page-count for July was 422 pages/book, which is quite a bit higher than June's average. I have recently started using the CAWPILE method of rating books, and as a result my average ratings from here on out will be a bit lower than normal. This month my average was 3.65 stars. I have rounded the stars under the rating of each book, but include the actual rating in parentheses after the stars. 

1. Beach Read by Emily Henry

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.50)
I found January a very convincing and relatable narrator, and I enjoyed this book very much. I'm only knocking a star off my rating because it was terribly cliche and predictable (although I suppose that's not completely fair because what happened was exactly what I wanted to happen, no matter how idealistic). On the cliches note, I'm beginning to think "this second time was different. Whereas the first time we were rushed, as if we would run out of time, this time we savored every moment" is the new "I let go a breath I didn't realize I'd been holding".

2. Aurora Burning (The Aurora Cycle #2) by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.32)
What the heck was that ending??? This book was good, the relationships definitely got more complicated (a good thing in my opinion), and the character development from certain characters was incredible (Aurora, Tyler, Zila). But also, I feel that other characters were overlooked (Finian) or became annoying (Scarlett). I honestly have no feedback on Kaliis, I didn't hate or love his parts of the book.

3. Daisy Jones and the Six by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.86)
Taylor Jenkins Reid is so masterful at weaving together characters and their stories - this was a great read.

4. The Glass Hotel by Emily St. John Mandel

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.21)
Similar to the author's previous book, this is told in several different perspectives over different timelines with different plots that marginally overlap. This makes the book both more engaging and more confusing. Some characters and plots were really intriguing (Vincent, and the Ponzi scheme plot), while others did not hold my interest at all and I had to wonder why they were even in the book (anything to do with Paul's backstory).

5. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes (The Hunger Games #0) by Suzanne Collins

Rating: ★★★☆☆ (3.00)
This was slow, but not completely unenjoyable. Check out my full review HERE.

6. Twilight (Twilight #1) by Stephenie Meyer

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.70)

I guess I'm a h*e for sparkly vampires now. 

7. The State of Us by Shaun David Hutchinson

Rating: ★★★★☆ (3.92)

I know a lot of people are calling this a ripoff of RW&RB, but the Romeo-and-Juliet-in-a-modern-setting was never a new idea to begin with. Yes, there are similarities between the two books, but I ended up rating them the same. I actually found this book to be more realistic, and I think the idealism of RW&RB was what made it so popular. Lots of people complained that this book didn't have Dean (the republican candidate's son) immediately flip over to liberal ideals even though they're more moral, but I was able to appreciate Dean's growth more because it wasn't just a flip of a switch. This book is controversial, but just based on my personal enjoyment I gave it 4 stars. I will include a disclaimer that several people of color have reviewed this book with complaints about the Mexican-American representation. I can't speak to though, but feel free to check the reviews on Goodreads in this concerns you.  

8. The One by John Marrs

Rating: ★★★★★ (4.64)

There were so many twists and turns... but none of them felt forced. There were things I noticed where I was like "hmm, that seems a bit too convenient", and then it turned out that it was related to a later plot twist. I really liked the fast pace and alternating perspectives of this book, and the premise overall was just really interesting.

Review for "The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes" by Suzanne Collins

Rating: ★★★☆☆

I actually think this book did Snow's character very well. He is not an enjoyable protagonist to read; he's arrogant, overly ambitious, classist, cruel, narcissistic... but we already knew all that. It was interesting to see how the inner workings of his brain function, especially at such an impressionable age. So no, I didn't *like* Snow as a character, but I appreciated the way he was written, given that it was pretty consistent with his character in the trilogy.

Not all the characters were so great, though. I really liked Sejanus and Lucy Gray, but then all the other side characters were throwaway characters. All of the girls in the story had completely interchangeable personalities, which both made the book more boring and more shallow. Although this may have been a result of Snow's apathy towards other humans. I'm inclined to believe it was just that the characters weren't developed because the story itself isn't even a first person POV (it should've been).

The main reason I give this 3 stars instead of more is because it dragged soooooo much. And I didn't really understand the point of the story. Like... was this supposed to contribute something? That's not being totally fair though because we do get a lot of Hunger Games and Panem history: we learn a lot about the war, the beginning and progression of the games, and the origins of the songs that Katniss sings. But it just felt like the book didn't have a lot of direction, and it dragged painfully.