October Wrap-up

Hello! November is here, which means it's time to see what I read in October. Last month was a weird reading month for me, especially at the beginning. I wouldn't say that I was in a slump, because I did read, just not as much as I usually do. I really wanted to read some gothic and some classic novels this month, but I just wasn't in the mood. It probably had something to do with the almost summer weather we had for most of the month. In the end, I finished 10 books, which is pretty good, and I read almost 4000 pages, with a few lighter reads that definitely helped with the final page count. So let's get to the books!

The Librarian of Auschwitz by Antonio G. Iturbe

Based on the experience of real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, this is the incredible story of a girl who risked her life to keep the magic of books alive during the Holocaust.

Fourteen-year-old Dita is one of the many imprisoned by the Nazis at Auschwitz. Taken, along with her mother and father, from the Terezín ghetto in Prague, Dita is adjusting to the constant terror that is life in the camp. When Jewish leader Freddy Hirsch asks Dita to take charge of the eight precious volumes the prisoners have managed to sneak past the guards, she agrees. And so Dita becomes the librarian of Auschwitz. *

The first book I finished this month didn't leave a very good impression. I got it as a physical book, translated to Romanian, but really struggled with reading that edition. The book was written in Spanish, so both the Romanian and the English versions are translations, so I'm not sure if my issues were just because of bad translations, or the book is actually badly written. The Romanian one I just couldn't get into, but I really wanted to read the story, so I switched to the English audiobook. That one was a little better and the audiobook made it easier to get through, but I still didn't like it too much. The story is interesting and beautiful, but unfortunately the form it is delivered in didn't do it for me. I expected another Book Thief and I was disappointed. I ended up giving it 3 stars because of the heartbreaking story. 

Remarkable Creatures by Tracy Chevalier

In 1810, a sister and brother uncover the fossilized skull of an unknown animal in the cliffs on the south coast of England. With its long snout and prominent teeth, it might be a crocodile – except that it has a huge, bulbous eye.

Remarkable Creatures is the story of Mary Anning, who has a talent for finding fossils, and whose discovery of ancient marine reptiles such as that ichthyosaur shakes the scientific community and leads to new ways of thinking about the creation of the world.*

Tracy Chevalier is an author whose books I always enjoy. I read most of her books and after finishing this one I only have one of her adult books left to read. I love how she takes a less known event or time period and creates a story around characters that existed in real life. I had no idea about women discovering fossils in the 19th century. It was definitely interesting to read about the struggle of these women against prejudice and misogyny. As all her books, this is also written from two perspectives, which I love. Although I enjoyed it, the book was a bit boring at times and took me quite a long time to finish for such a short book, so I gave it 3 stars. 

Full Dark, No Stars by Stephen King

This is a collection of horror short stories and was my first spooky read of the month. These short stories are more in the novella range because most of them are over 100 pages, which gives you time to get attached to the characters and to really live the story. The collection features 1922, which was made into a movie recently, and 3 others (plus my edition had a bonus short story that later got published in another collection). I loved all of them and was really creeped out for most of the time I read them, even though they didn't seem that scary in the end. I think my favorite from the bunch was Fair Extension, although the others were almost equally good. I gave this 5 stars and can't wait to read more short stories by King. 

Hollow City and Library of Souls by Ransom Riggs

This month I read the 2nd and 3rd books in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series. Even though I read the first book over two years ago, I recently rewatched the movie, so the story was fresh in my mind. I won't give a lot of details about the books, since I don't want to give spoilers for the first book, but I will say that I enjoyed these a lot. They were just what I needed in terms of spooky reads that were also fun. The mix of historical fiction and fantasy is just up my alley, the writing is great and I love the characters. The 4th book in the series just came out and I can't wait to get it and read it. I gave both of these 4 stars. Really enjoyable! 

The Drawing of the Three by Stephen King 

This second volume in the epic series 'The Dark Tower' both stands alone and continues the adventures of Roland of Gilead. He has mysteriously stepped through the doorway in time to 1980s America, where he meets Eddie Dean and Odetta Holmes.*

I finally read the second book in The Dark Tower series! It took me over two years to pick this up because even though everyone says that the series picks up after the first book, I was still nervous. But in the end of course that everyone was right, I loved this! It took me some time to get into it, but I think that was because of my mood. However, once I got in the right place, I couldn't put it down. I didn't expect such a mix of historical settings with the fantasy one. I always enjoy that, especially if the writing is as great as it was in this book. This and the other King book that I read this month got me really excited about his works, so excited that I got 5 new King books that I can't wait to read. I gave this 5 stars and I won't wait another two years to continue the series. 

Not in the picture, but also read: 

The Ocean at the End of the Lane by Neil Gaiman

Sussex, England. A middle-aged man returns to his childhood home to attend a funeral. Although the house he lived in is long gone, he is drawn to the farm at the end of the road, where, when he was seven, he encountered a most remarkable girl, Lettie Hempstock, and her mother and grandmother. He hasn't thought of Lettie in decades, and yet as he sits by the pond (a pond that she'd claimed was an ocean) behind the ramshackle old farmhouse, the unremembered past comes flooding back. And it is a past too strange, too frightening, too dangerous to have happened to anyone, let alone a small boy.*

This month I continued my journey into Gaiman's books with this whimsical little number. Of course I had to listen to it on audio because it was narrated by the author himself. Beside the obvious delightfulness of the narration, I enjoyed this story, although I sometimes felt confused. You really need to pay attention because this book mixes magic with reality in a really unique way. I love magical realism, so this was right up my alley. I will say that it could have been a bit shorter because it seemed to drag a bit at times, so I gave 3.5 stars to my 4th Gaiman book and can't wait to continue my journey.

Sleeping Giants by Sylvain Neuvel

A girl named Rose is riding her new bike near home in Deadwood, South Dakota, when she falls through the earth. She wakes up at the bottom of a square-shaped hole, its walls glowing with intricate carvings. But the firemen who come to save her peer down upon something even stranger: a little girl in the palm of a giant metal hand.

Seventeen years later, the mystery of the bizarre artifact remains unsolved - the object's origins, architects, and purpose unknown.*

This is the first book in a science fiction trilogy that everyone was reading and raving about recently. Given that it's written in the form of interviews and transcripts, I listened to it as an audiobook, with a full cast and sound effects. The audiobook is more like a play actually and it's really well done, which explains why everyone enjoyed it so much. The concept of this story is quite interesting, but I don't think the way it is delivered is for me. I did enjoy it as it's really fast paced and full of twists, but I just didn't find it great. I don't even feel the urge to pick up the next book in the series, which says a lot about how much I got into the story. I gave it 3 generous stars and I'm not sure I will be continuing the series.

Monstress, Vol. 1: Awakening by Marjorie M. Liu and  Sana Takeda

Set in an alternate matriarchal 1900's Asia, in a richly imagined world of art deco-inflected steampunk, MONSTRESS tells the story of a teenage girl who is struggling to survive the trauma of war, and who shares a mysterious psychic link with a monster of tremendous power, a connection that will transform them both.*

I picked this up on a whim because it definitely wasn't on my list of graphic novels I want to read, I have no idea why. This was definitely something for me. Steampunk, art deco, fantasy, what more can I ask for? It was also a great pick for October, since it's as scary as it can get with a graphic novel. The art in this is amazing, but the story is even more so. I can't wait to pick up volume 2. I read this as an ebook and gave it 5 out of 5 stars! 

Strange the Dreamer by Laini Taylor

The dream chooses the dreamer, not the other way around—and Lazlo Strange, war orphan and junior librarian, has always feared that his dream chose poorly. Since he was five years old he’s been obsessed with the mythic lost city of Weep, but it would take someone bolder than he to cross half the world in search of it. Then a stunning opportunity presents itself, in the person of a hero called the Godslayer and a band of legendary warriors, and he has to seize his chance or lose his dream forever.*

Finally, another highly rated and hyped up book. It seems that this month I read more YA than I usually do, but I mostly enjoyed it. This book is definitely something else when it comes to YA books. It is beautifully written, with good world building and the main characters are quite complex. The second half of the book was a bit more boring, with some romance, but since I listened to it on audio, I got through it quite easily. I can see why some people didn't manage to finish this, because it's definitely slow paced. I will, however, continue the series because I'm curious to see what happens and I understand that the second book is a lot more fast paced. I gave this one 4 stars, which is quite good in my book. 

That's it for October. Hope November will go a bit better in terms of reading. 

*Source: Goodreads

September Wrap-up

Hello! September is over and it's time to see what I read. This month I only read a total of 8 books, a lot less compared to the last 6 months. However, I read some really massive books this month, so the number of pages was still pretty similar to the last months. I'm not feeling pressured by the Goodreads goal at all, so I can finally pick up some chunkier reads and no longer have to worry about the number of books I have finished at the end of the month. That is great because I find that I tend to enjoy bigger books more than shorter reads. Next month I'm going to focus on some creepier reads since it's October and I'm also looking forward to dive into some autumnal reads. But until then, let's see what I read in September!

The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende

In one of the most important and beloved Latin American works of the twentieth century, Isabel Allende weaves a luminous tapestry of three generations of the Trueba family, revealing both triumphs and tragedies. 

Here is patriarch Esteban, whose wild desires and political machinations are tempered only by his love for his ethereal wife, Clara, a woman touched by an otherworldly hand. Their daughter, Blanca, whose forbidden love for a man Esteban has deemed unworthy infuriates her father, yet will produce his greatest joy: his granddaughter Alba, a beautiful, ambitious girl who will lead the family and their country into a revolutionary future.

The House of the Spirits is an enthralling saga that spans decades and lives, twining the personal and the political into an epic novel of love, magic, and fate.*

Since I read the second book in this series last month, I wanted to give this one a reread. Isabel Allende's most famous book, published way before the two prequels, is the only one in the series that's also magical realism. The other ones are historical fiction and even though I liked them and gave them 4 stars, they do not compare with this masterpiece. I read it years ago, because of the obsession with magical realism that I had back then and loved it just as much this time as I did the first time. Beside Isabel Allende's gorgeous writing, which is present in all her books, the characters in this book are so real and so lovable, their stories integrate so well in the history of Chile, that the result is one of the best books of the 20th century. I also love that the author doesn't give names to the political personalities and doesn't accurately place the events. It gives you the feeling that this could be any Latin American country and that these events could take place anywhere in the world. I'm glad I gave this a reread and I will surely do it again every 10 years or so. 5 stars, of course! 

Soldaţii: poveste din Ferentari by Adrian Schiop

This year I decided to read more Romanian books and I'm totally failing because this is only the 3rd one I have finished. This book wasn't translated in English yet, but the title would translate to "Soldiers: A Ferentari story". I picked this one up because it was the first Romanian LGBT book I have heard about and I was really curious to read something like that. If I could describe this book in one word it would be raw. The language is raw, the characters are too, but in the end the story doesn't bring much. There's no message to the story and no conclusion. Actually, if you really analyze it, nothing much happens to these characters. I enjoyed reading the first part but I ended up getting bored by the same "borrowing money and spending it going out and getting beer" routine. It felt like the narrator was on a race of getting broke and then spending more money and getting more broke. This is a book that got many 5 star and 1-2 star reviews, which shows how hard it is to grasp. I definitely didn't hate it but I didn't love it either, so it was a 3 star read for me.

Sleeping Beauties by Stephen King and Owen King

In a future so real and near it might be now, something happens when women go to sleep; they become shrouded in a cocoon-like gauze. If they are awakened, if the gauze wrapping their bodies is disturbed or violated, the women become feral and spectacularly violent; and while they sleep they go to another place. The men of our world are abandoned, left to their increasingly primal devices. One woman, however, the mysterious Evie, is immune to the blessing or curse of the sleeping disease. Is Evie a medical anomaly to be studied, or is she a demon who must be slain?*

I've had this beast on my shelf for a while now, ever since it came out in paperback, so it was time for me to read it. I'm a big fan of King's post apocalyptic or dystopian type novels, so I was excited when this came out. As usual, I enjoyed the writing (didn't really see his son's contribution to that, sorry), the characters and the setting. That being said, I didn't fly through this. It took me about 2 weeks to read, but after all it is a 700 page mass market paperback with tiny font and I am a slow reader. I also feel like some points in the plot weren't quite explained and ended up being totally random. I did like this book but not as much as I did with other King books, so I ended up giving it 4 stars. 

Iran Awakening: A Memoir of Revolution and Hope by Shirin Ebadi

The moving, inspiring memoir of one of the great women of our times, Shirin Ebadi, winner of the 2003 Nobel Peace Prize and advocate for the oppressed, whose spirit has remained strong in the face of political persecution and despite the challenges she has faced raising a family while pursuing her work. *

My adventure with non-fiction continues with my favorite type, a memoir. I always struggle with non-fiction books and need to read them over longer periods of time. This time it took me about a month because I read a chapter of this every now and then, then about half way took a long break and picked it up again last week when I decided to just finish it already. The first part of the book talks about the Iranian revolution and Ebadi's youth, while in the second half she recounts events that happened after the Iranian Republic got established. I actually liked the second half more and found it very interesting, which made it easier for me to finish this book. This is definitely great if you know nothing about Iran, or mostly nothing like I did. Definitely informative although the writing isn't the best at times. She did get help with the editing and organizing of the manuscript but it still felt off at times. I ended up giving this books 4 stars and I'm excited to be moving on to another memoir soon. 

The Wise Man's Fear by Patrick Rothfuss

I did it! I finished this huge huge book. This is the second book in The Kingkiller Chronicle and one I've been postponing for a long time. I didn't feel particularly rushed to read it because there still isn't a publishing date for the third book, but I was in the mood this summer so I reread the first book in preparation for this one. I enjoyed the audiobook narrated by Nick Podehl so much that I decided to listen to the second one as well. It did definitely help me get through a 1000 page book, I will say that. I won't go into plot elements because I don't want to spoil the first book, but I will say that this continues to be a character driven story. A lot of stuff happens in the book, but the emphasis is still on Kvothe's coming of age and education. There were some parts in the book that felt a bit long, but I hope they will serve a purpose in the end. I loved listening to this and gave it 5 out of five stars because it truly deserves it.


Not pictured but also read:

Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman

This is the second book in the Arc of a Scythe series that I started reading back in June. Again, since it's the second book in a series, it's really hard to talk about without giving any spoilers about the plot in the first book. I enjoyed this about as much as I did with the first one, although to me it didn't have as many mind blowing moments. There is definitely more action in the second book, but there is also more world building, which I always love. What I especially loved about this second book was the fact that the Thunderhead spoke directly to the reader. This ended on a cliffhanger and I will definitely continue the series, but I'm not as eager to get the third book as other people are. I guess that's a good thing, because the next book (and probably the last one) will probably be out in 2019, although there's no official date yet. I listened to the audiobook of this one and gave it 4 stars. 

Rise of the Horde by Christie Golden

Long ago, on the idyllic world of Draenor, the noble orc clans lived in relative peace with their enigmatic neighbors, the draenei. But the nefarious agents of the Burning Legion had other plans for both of the unsuspecting races. The demon-lord Kil'jaeden set in motion a dark chain of events that would succeed not only in eradicating the draenei, but forging the orc clans into an single, unstoppable juggernaut of hatred and destruction.*

This month I picked up my first World of Warcraft book. I have never played the game before until recently, but I became curious about the lore. There are a lot of books in the series, written by multiple authors and I will probably slowly make my way through them. A list I found online placed this as the first that should be read (after the Chronicle books that only contain short stories). It recounts the events that took place before what is shown in the movie, so it was totally new information for me. The story is great and I was pleasantly surprised by the beautiful writing. The only thing I didn't like about this book is the slow pacing it had sometimes. I read this as an ebook and gave it 3.5 stars. 

Spinning Silver by Naomi Novik

Miryem is the daughter and granddaughter of moneylenders... but her father isn't a very good one. Free to lend and reluctant to collect, he has loaned out most of his wife's dowry and left the family on the edge of poverty--until Miryem steps in. Hardening her heart against her fellow villagers' pleas, she sets out to collect what is owed--and finds herself more than up to the task. When her grandfather loans her a pouch of silver pennies, she brings it back full of gold.*

After reading and enjoying Wildwood Dancing a couple of months ago, I was really curious to read this Rumpelstiltskin retelling that just came out. I initially got the audiobook for this one but since it is told from multiple perspectives, I got confused and couldn't keep up with who was talking so I returned the audiobook and switched to the ebook. This happened in August and I actually enjoyed the first hundred pages or so, but then I got bored, not sure if it was a question of mood or it was the book. After that I kept picking it up and getting bored after less than a few pages. Finally, this week I decided to force myself to finish it and I managed to accomplish that on the very last day of the month. All in all, this wasn't a great book for me. It's maybe a case of "it's not you, it's me". The writing is absolutely beautiful, the story is good too, but the pacing is very slow in this book. I also had issues with the multiple perspectives in the book. There is no difference between the voices of these characters and nothing tells you who is narrating, so you have to figure it out from context. That's the reason I was totally confused when I listened to the audiobook. It starts with two perspectives, but then other ones keep getting added, which leads to total madness towards the middle of the book. It's such a shame because I really wanted to love this book. I ended up giving it 3 stars, because the book is good, even though it's not for me. I do want to try some more of this author's books in the future though because I really enjoyed the writing. 

That is it for September. Hope everyone had a great reading month! 

*Source: Goodreads