November Wrap-up

Hello! December is upon us, so it's time to wrap up November. I only managed to finish 7 books last month, with a page count of less than 3000 pages, which is a lot worse than most of the months in this year. I had a slower start to the month, with a few books that took me longer to finish than I expected. Plus I had another huge audiobook that I didn't manage to finish in time to include in this wrap up, so it will go towards the December page count. Here are the books!

The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

Jay Gatsby is the man who has everything. But one thing will always be out of his reach. Everybody who is anybody is seen at his glittering parties. Day and night his Long Island mansion buzzes with bright young things drinking, dancing, and debating his mysterious character. For Gatsby---young, handsome, and fabulously rich---always seems alone in the crowd, watching and waiting, though no one knows what for. Beneath the shimmering surface of his life he is hiding a secret: a silent longing that can never be fulfilled. And soon this destructive obsession will force his world to unravel.*

I was in the mood to read one of my favorite books of all time, especially because it's been years since I read it last. Even though I started it last month, casually reading a couple of chapters, I wasn't very far into it the weekend I got my wisdom teeth out, when I picked it up and flew trough it. That isn't surprising, since it's such a short book of course. This was the perfect comfort read and as usual I had a lot of fun with it. I won't get into the cliche of explaining how you notice new things in a book with every reread, but it's great sometimes to read a story that you know so well and can focus on details rather than the plot. My copy of this book is falling apart, which says a lot about how much I love it. 5 stars weren't enough, but what can you do if that is the maximum.

Agnes Grey by Anne Brontë

Agnes Grey is the touching story of a young girl who decides to enter the world as a governess, but whose bright illusions of acceptance, freedom and friendship are gradually destroyed.*

Anne Bronte is the only Brontë sister that I hadn't visited before reading this. I finished all of Charlotte's books, so now I finally moved on to this forgotten sister. I picked up her first book this month because the second one is supposed to be better so I didn't want to ruin this one by reading the better one first. Anyway, I really liked Agnes Grey. The writing is great, like with all the Brontë sisters, so I really enjoyed reading this, even though it was a really slow read for me. My edition of this book is only 168 pages long and it took me over 4 days to read. That explains my really slow start for the month. I gave Agnes Grey 3.5 stars. The only thing that made me really mad while reading this was how submissive Agnes was while everyone around her kept pushing her around. She never said anything and never complained, which is so not my way of handling things. I really hope that the main character in The Tenant of Wildfell Hall is not like that. Really excited to read that one in the next months. 

Life After Life by Kate Atkinson

What if you could live again and again, until you got it right? 

On a cold and snowy night in 1910, Ursula Todd is born to an English banker and his wife. She dies before she can draw her first breath. On that same cold and snowy night, Ursula Todd is born, lets out a lusty wail, and embarks upon a life that will be, to say the least, unusual. For as she grows, she also dies, repeatedly, in a variety of ways, while the young century marches on towards its second cataclysmic world war. 

Does Ursula's apparently infinite number of lives give her the power to save the world from its inevitable destiny? And if she can — will she?*

A big favorite of mine, I first read this book back in 2014. Meanwhile the sequel has come out and I decided to reread this one before starting the sequel. As much as I love this book and as much as I enjoyed myself while reading it, I really took my time with it. It took me over a week to finish, which contributed to my low page count this month. But I am really glad I reread it because this is such a phenomenal book. It's brilliant historical fiction mixed with literary fiction and a touch of fantasy. That is right up my alley! I can't wait to read the sequel and hope it won't disappoint me. I gave this one 5 stars, of course. 

A Map of Days by Ransom Riggs

I finally got my hands on the fourth book in the Miss Peregrine's Peculiar Children series, which just came out. As usual with series, I won't talk about the plot of the book. This is probably the first book in another trilogy that is set in the United States, so this book was just the start of a new plot, which means it was definitely slower than the previous ones. It was still really fun and a quick read, which is what I enjoy with this series. I gave this one 4 stars and will continue the series when the next books come out. 

Also read but not pictured: 

The Dark Half  by Stephen King 

Thad Beaumont would like to say he is innocent. He'd like to say he has nothing to do with the series of monstrous murders that keep coming closer to his home. But how can Thad disown the ultimate embodiment of evil that goes by the name he gave it-and signs its crimes with Thad's bloody fingerprints?*

This book had such an interesting premise, but the delivery wasn't the best, unfortunately. I am a huge fan of Stephen King and I usually don't understand people when they say that his books are too long, but with this one I agree. It could have been such a great book if it had been half the size. I listened to this as an audiobook and I probably would have put it down if it had been a physical book. I also found myself not wanting to listen to it and just listen to music instead, which rarely happens. Anyway, I gave this 3 stars because of the good idea and writing but I probably won't reread this ever again. 

Bridge of Clay by Markus Zusak

An unforgettable and sweeping family saga from Markus Zusak, the storyteller who gave us the extraordinary bestseller THE BOOK THIEF, lauded by the New York Times as "the kind of book that can be lifechanging." The breathtaking story of five brothers who bring each other up in a world run by their own rules. As the Dunbar boys love and fight and learn to reckon with the adult world, they discover the moving secret behind their father's disappearance. At the center of the Dunbar family is Clay, a boy who will build a bridge-for his family, for his past, for greatness, for his sins, for a miracle. The question is, how far is Clay willing to go? And how much can he overcome? Written in powerfully inventive language and bursting with heart, BRIDGE OF CLAY is signature Zusak.*

The second audiobook I finished this month was another brand new release. This book was highly anticipated and it ended up being a disappointment for many people. Not for me though. The story is beautiful and the writing is even more so. I think the biggest mistake they make with Zusak's books is marketing them as YA. I remember that when I read The Book Thief  I didn't have any idea that it was YA and was surprised it was considered as such. Same with this one. Though the subject might be YA, the writing is very literary fiction. The only issue I had with this book was that I often got confused by the time jumps. This would probably be solved by reading it as a physical book instead of listening to it. The audiobook narrated by the author was really great though. I loved the accent and felt it gave a lot of authenticity to the story. I gave this one 4 stars. 

An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green

The Carls just appeared. Coming home from work at three a.m., twenty-three-year-old April May stumbles across a giant sculpture. Delighted by its appearance and craftsmanship--like a ten-foot-tall Transformer wearing a suit of samurai armor--April and her friend Andy make a video with it, which Andy uploads to YouTube. The next day April wakes up to a viral video and a new life. News quickly spreads that there are Carls in dozens of cities around the world--everywhere from Beijing to Buenos Aires--and April, as their first documentarian, finds herself at the center of an intense international media spotlight. *

Finally, my only ebook of the month. Another 2018 release, one I really wanted to love and vote in the Goodreads awards, but didn't really enjoy. It's probably my fault, because I know I don't like contemporary as a genre, but I got fooled by the science fiction tag of this book. I will say that there is as little sci-fi as possible in this book. It's a contemporary about social media and other things I don't care about. So I got really bored, even though this is a quick read. I love John Green's writing and his books are contemporary too, but they have something extra that makes me love them. His brother's writing is good too, but not my cup of tea. I initially gave this 3 stars, but reconsidered and lowered it to 2. Also this is a series and I will not be continuing it because I really don't care what happens next. 

So that's it for November. Not such a great reading month. Hopefully December will be better! 

*Source: Goodreads

August Wrap-up

Hello! Where did August go? I had a good reading month, with the BookTubeAThon and everything, managing to finish 15 books, which is this year's record. However, in terms of pages, I didn't read more compared to the last months, because some of the BookTubeAThon books were really short. This month I fell in a historical fiction hole that I still haven't gotten out of. Technically, I read more pages because I have started some books that I haven't finished, either because I'm not in the mood for them or because I didn't have time. So here are the books I managed to finished after the BookTubeAThon ended.

The Last Tycoon by F. Scott Fitzgerald

The studio lot looks like 'thirty acres of fairyland' the night that a mysterious woman stands and smiles at Monroe Stahr, the last of the great Hollywood princes. Enchanted by one another, they begin a passionate but hopeless love affair, starting with a fast-moving seduction as slick as a scene from one of Stahr's pictures. The romance unfolds, frame by frame, watched by Cecilia, a thoroughly modern girl who has taken her lessons in sentiment and cynicism from all the movies she has seen. Her buoyant humour and satirical eye perfectly complement Fitzgerald's panorama of Hollywood at its most lavish and bewitching.*

F. Scott Fitzgerald is one of my absolute favorite writers and this was the only one of his novels that I hadn't read. I picked it up in June but wasn't in the right mindset for it, so I put it on pause and then picked it up again after the BookTubeAThon and finished it in a couple of days. Although this is an unfinished book, I loved it a lot and couldn't put it down. Fitzgerald's writing is just magical and I can't help but be in awe of every sentence. My edition of this book also contains his notes about the book, including plans for changes and the ending that he never got to write. It was so interesting to get into his writing process, something we never get to see from an author. Now I can finally watch the TV adaptation of this book. I gave it 5 stars and will surely reread it in the future. 

The Shape of the Ruins by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

The Shape of the Ruins is a masterly story of conspiracy, political obsession, and literary investigation. When a man is arrested at a museum for attempting to steal the bullet-ridden suit of a murdered Colombian politician, few notice. But soon this thwarted theft takes on greater meaning as it becomes a thread in a widening web of popular fixations with conspiracy theories, assassinations, and historical secrets; and it haunts those who feel that only they know the real truth behind these killings.

This novel explores the darkest moments of a country's past and brings to life the ways in which past violence shapes our present lives. A compulsive read, beautiful and profound, eerily relevant to our times and deeply personal, The Shape of the Ruins is a tour-de-force story by a master at uncovering the incisive wounds of our memories.*

Now let's talk about my favorite book of the month and one of the best that I read this year. I don't remember how I found out about this author, but I knew that I wanted to read this book even before the Romanian translation came out this year. I didn't know a lot about the plot and still I felt I had to read this book. It took me another few months from the moment I got it until I felt in the right mood for it but here we are. This book takes historical fiction to a whole new level. First, it's beautifully written, then there's mystery and suspense, but also so much soul. This book made me quit the other books I was reading and devote my time to it entirely. I'm not even that interested in Colombian history, but this book made me care so much. The Romanian translation by Marin Mălaicu‑Hondrari was also brilliant. This was a 5 star read for me and I will recommend this book to many people in the future.

The Sound of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel Vásquez

In the city of Bogotá, Antonio Yammara reads an article about a hippo that had escaped from a derelict zoo once owned by legendary Colombian drug kingpin Pablo Escobar. The article transports Antonio back to when the war between Escobar’s Medellín cartel and government forces played out violently in Colombia’s streets and in the skies above.

Back then, Antonio witnessed a friend’s murder, an event that haunts him still. As he investigates, he discovers the many ways in which his own life and his friend’s family have been shaped by his country’s recent violent past. His journey leads him all the way back to the 1960s and a world on the brink of change: a time before narco-trafficking trapped a whole generation in a living nightmare.*

As soon as I finished The Shape of the Ruins, I had to get into this one. This was actually on my "to read" list for a longer while, but since it was published a few years ago, I had to order it online. I loved this, although it wasn't as good as The Shape of the Ruins, just because it felt unfinished. It has the same great writing (with the same amazing translator), strong historical setting and good story, but it felt like it should have been longer. Most of the novel felt like and introduction to something and I would have loved for the story to unfold further. That being said, I still gave this book 4 stars and now have a new favorite author to add to the list. I'm really excited to see what he comes up whit next. 

Portrait in Sepia by Isabel Allende

After her mother dies in childbirth, Aurora del Valle is raised by her imposing grandmother, but despite growing up in a rich and privileged environment, Aurora is unhappy. Haunted by terrible nightmares and the inexplicable abscence of many of her childhood memories, and finding herself alone at the end of a love affair, she decides to travel to Chile to discover what it was, exactly, all those years ago, that had such a devastating effect on her young life.*

Next, I decided to continue my historical fiction binge with another South American writer. This novel is the second in the saga of the Del Valle family, the first book being Daughter of Fortune, which I read last year, and the third book being the famous The House of the Spirits, which I read many years ago and plan to reread soon. What I don't understand about the first two books is why Allende made them just historical fiction. The third book, that she actually wrote first (in 1982) was also magical realism and was so much better. Out of the three in the series, Portrait in Sepia was my least favorite, although I still enjoyed it a lot. Allende's writing is always gorgeous and her characters are so full of magic, that she creates an atmosphere that is so typical to her novels. I really love how immersed I feel every time I read on of her novels. I gave this particular one 4 stars. 

The Lady and the Unicorn by Tracy Chevalier

Paris, 1490.  A shrewd French nobleman commissions six lavish tapestries celebrating his rising status at Court. He hires the charismatic, arrogant, sublimely talented Nicolas des Innocents to design them. Nicolas creates havoc among the women in the house—mother and daughter, servant, and lady-in-waiting—before taking his designs north to the Brussels workshop where the tapestries are to be woven. There, master weaver Georges de la Chapelle risks everything he has to finish the tapestries—his finest, most intricate work—on time for his exacting French client. The results change all their lives—lives that have been captured in the tapestries, for those who know where to look.*

Tracy Chevalier is my go to author for quick historical fiction reads. I read most of her novels, but there are still a couple I had left, this particular one being one of them. I like her novels because she takes inspiration from historical elements and then speculates on the story behind the known facts. The writing is light and enjoyable, plus they are written in first person, usually from multiple perspectives, which I love. I love the medieval setting in this one and the artsy theme. This was a quick read and I gave it 4 stars.

Here are the audiobooks I listened to this month:

Leah on the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli

When it comes to drumming, Leah Burke is usually on beat—but real life isn’t always so rhythmic.

She’s an anomaly in her friend group: the only child of a young, single mom, and her life is decidedly less privileged. She loves to draw but is too self-conscious to show it. And even though her mom knows she’s bisexual, she hasn’t mustered the courage to tell her friends—not even her openly gay BFF, Simon.*

One of the most hyped YA releases of the year, this is the sequel or rather the companion novel to Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda, which I listened to and quite enjoyed back in April. I picked this up as an audiobook as well, and I wasn't a big fan of the narration but listening to it helped me get over the boring parts. Many people loved this book but there are many that also gave it 2 and 3 stars, meaning that they thought it was just okay. Unfortunately, it was a 3 star read for me too. That doesn't mean it was bad or I didn't enjoy it, but compared to the first book it was just an average YA contemporary. I wasn't a fan of the character of Leah, for most of the book she was just complaining and hurting other people, especially her mother. The romance in the book didn't feel real to me, I just didn't care, which is so different from the feelings Simon's story gave me. This was  quick listen and I enjoyed myself, so all in all I'm not sorry I read it.

Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman

Neil Gaiman has long been inspired by ancient mythology in creating the fantastical realms of his fiction. Now he turns his attention back to the source, presenting a bravura rendition of the great northern tales. In Norse Mythology, Gaiman fashions primeval stories into a novelistic arc that begins with the genesis of the legendary nine worlds; delves into the exploits of the deities, dwarves, and giants; and culminates in Ragnarok, the twilight of the gods and the rebirth of a new time and people. Gaiman stays true to the myths while vividly reincarnating Odin, the highest of the high, wise, daring, and cunning; Thor, Odin’s son, incredibly strong yet not the wisest of gods; and Loki, the son of giants, a trickster and unsurpassable manipulator. From Gaiman’s deft and witty prose emerges the gods with their fiercely competitive natures, their susceptibility to being duped and to dupe others, and their tendency to let passion ignite their actions, making these long-ago myths breathe pungent life again.*

I discovered Neil Gaiman's books, but specifically his self-narrated audiobooks, this spring. While I did watch the American Gods TV show without reading the book, I knew nothing about Norse mythology, so I thought this would be a fun read. Of course I listened to the audiobook, since Gaiman's voice is so soothing and his narrations are beautiful. These stories were so much fun! There were a few in there that weren't that interesting, but most of them were great and I enjoyed myself a lot. Not much to say other than that because I don't want to give any spoilers, but I ended up giving the book 4 stars and I'm excited to read more from this author.

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Evelyn Hugo is finally ready to tell the truth about her glamorous and scandalous life. But when she chooses unknown magazine reporter Monique Grant for the job, no one in the journalism community is more astounded than Monique herself. Why her? Why now?

Monique is not exactly on top of the world. Her husband, David, has left her, and her career has stagnated. Regardless of why Evelyn has chosen her to write her biography, Monique is determined to use this opportunity to jumpstart her career.

Summoned to Evelyn’s Upper East Side apartment, Monique listens as Evelyn unfurls her story: from making her way to Los Angeles in the 1950s to her decision to leave show business in the late 80s, and, of course, the seven husbands along the way. As Evelyn’s life unfolds through the decades—revealing a ruthless ambition, an unexpected friendship, and a great forbidden love—Monique begins to feel a very a real connection to the actress. But as Evelyn’s story catches up with the present, it becomes clear that her life intersects with Monique’s own in tragic and irreversible ways.*

Ok, so I caved and read, or rather listened to, this very popular book. First off, I must say that I was tricked into reading a chick lit romance book by thinking it was historical fiction. Yes, the setting is historical, but there's very little emphasis on the historical setting and very much on the plot and characters, while the writing is pretty bad. I'm sure that this character was good looking, but I don't need to hear about her breasts every 2 minutes. I was also confused by the narration of the audiobook because the voice of Evelyn telling her life story and the one talking to Monique were narrated by two different people. I get the point of multiple narrators for different characters but not this. Of course the strongest point of this book is the plot that keeps you entertained and interested through 400 pages of bad writing and cringy phrases. I know that many people cried at the end of the book but I didn't feel that sad, probably because I didn't empathize with any of the characters, especially Evelyn. I ended up giving it 3 stars, because I enjoyed myself while listening to it, but I still don't get why this book is so highly rated on Goodreads.

The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver

The Poisonwood Bible is a story told by the wife and four daughters of Nathan Price, a fierce, evangelical Baptist who takes his family and mission to the Belgian Congo in 1959. They carry with them everything they believe they will need from home, but soon find that all of it -- from garden seeds to Scripture -- is calamitously transformed on African soil. What follows is a suspenseful epic of one family's tragic undoing and remarkable reconstruction over the course of three decades in postcolonial Africa.*

The last book I finished this month is another historical fiction. I listened to this big novel as an audiobook and I have mixed feelings about it. This is one of those books that people either love or hate (lots of 1 star and 5 star reviews on Goodreads), but for me it was somewhere in between. I feel like many of the arguments people have against this book come from identifying the characters' ideas as the author's opinions. Yes, the characters often sound preachy and it's annoying sometimes because the book is so long, but that makes them sound real in the end. The story dragged though sometimes, and the book probably could have been  shorter. I would have probably struggled with it if I had read it as a physical book. For that I only gave it 3.5 stars, yet I can't help but admire this author's hard work because this is a solid piece of historical fiction. 

That is it for August. Hope September will be just as good, if not better! 

*Source: Goodreads

June Final Wrap-up

Hello! It is the first day of July, which means it's time to wrap up another month. I managed to finish a couple more books this week, bringing my total for June to 12 books. I did however read more pages than in May, due to the fact that I read a book of almost 900 pages and 4 books of over 400 pages. What I realized is that I often shy away from bigger books because I'm afraid that they are going to take a longer time, lowering my monthly total. But now that I have surpassed my original goal of 50 books (I already finished 65 books this year), I decided to read more of what I want and less of what I feel like I "should" read. I also want to favour bigger books instead of shorter ones that might look like quick reads but then end up being bad. Judging by this month's ratings, my 2 star and 3 star reads have been these short books that I picked up as quick reads. So I'm going to try to get away from the pressure of finishing over 10 books next month. Meanwhile, here's what I read in the second half of June.

Awakenings by Oliver Sacks

Awakenings--which inspired the major motion picture--is the remarkable story of a group of patients who contracted sleeping-sickness during the great epidemic just after World War I. Frozen for decades in a trance-like state, these men and women were given up as hopeless until 1969, when Dr. Oliver Sacks gave them the then-new drug L-DOPA, which had an astonishing, explosive, "awakening" effect. Dr. Sacks recounts the moving case histories of his patients, their lives, and the extraordinary transformations which went with their reintroduction to a changed world.*

Oh, nonfiction! The bane of my existence. I have always been fascinated by neurology, and even though I didn't end up choosing it as a specialty, I continue to be fascinated by this subject. I loved Oliver Sacks'  The Man Who Mistook His Wife for a Hat short story collection and I wanted more from him. That being said, I started this book almost 3 years ago and only now managed to finish it. I struggle with nonfiction, as I mentioned before. In this one I got stuck in the case report part. Basically, it was a brief account of each patient's life story and then their history before and after the L-DOPA treatment. I found this part quite repetitive, which made it hard for me to pick it up and read more than 2 pages. Finally, what saved me was the audiobook. I was only about 30% into the book when I switched to the audiobook and managed to listen to it through the end. Although I didn't remember much from the first part of the book because it's been ages since I read it, I quite enjoyed listening to the rest of it. I'm not sure I learned much information from this book, but I'm happy I read it. Now I'm curious to watch the movie as well as the documentary that goes with this book, if I can find it. I gave this book 4 stars.

How to Stop Time by Matt Haig

Tom Hazard has a dangerous secret. He may look like an ordinary 41-year-old, but owing to a rare condition, he's been alive for centuries. Tom has lived history--performing with Shakespeare, exploring the high seas with Captain Cook, and sharing cocktails with Fitzgerald. Now, he just wants an ordinary life.*

First off, let me just say that this book was a big disappointment for me. I love books about time traveling and immortality, so I was very excited to pick this one up. The premise of the book is great and there are some great ideas in it, but there was so much I didn't like about it. The writing was really strange, with the story being told in a really simple way, but then with lots of motivational and uplifting quotes. Another problem I had was with the historical parts which were really poorly described. I just couldn't feel like I was there at all, which is sad because that's the main reason I like historical fiction. Then there was the issue of the characters, most of them so underdeveloped. Finally, some of the events in the book felt a bit forced and illogical, but I won't get into that because I don't want to give any spoilers here. All in all, this book was average at best, so I gave it 2.5 stars, which is exactly half of the maximum rating.

As usual, multiple books have been ebooks or audiobooks, so no picture. Here they are:

Persuasion by Jane Austen

Twenty-seven-year old Anne Elliot is Austen's most adult heroine. Eight years before the story proper begins, she is happily betrothed to a naval officer, Frederick Wentworth, but she precipitously breaks off the engagement when persuaded by her friend Lady Russell that such a match is unworthy. The breakup produces in Anne a deep and long-lasting regret. When later Wentworth returns from sea a rich and successful captain, he finds Anne's family on the brink of financial ruin and his own sister a tenant in Kellynch Hall, the Elliot estate. All the tension of the novel revolves around one question: Will Anne and Wentworth be reunited in their love?*

This month I continued my Jane Austen series with her last novel, which is also considered her best one by many people. To me it was the least favorite from what I read from her. The story was uninteresting, the characters were uninteresting, this book just felt boring and less than average. I considered dnf-ing it a few times but decided to power through it at 1.2x speed, since it is pretty short and the audiobook was quite nice. That being said, I think I'm done with Jane Austen, at least for this year. I will accept that this is an author I'm not a fan of and move on. I've read 4 of her books and only enjoyed one (Pride and Prejudice), her most famous book and I must admit that there is a reason for it to be so famous. But all her other books have not been for me. I gave Persuasion 2 unimpressed stars.

The Tower of the Swallow by Andrzej Sapkowski

This is the sixth book in The Witcher series, an adult fantasy series that is famous for inspiring the PC games with the same name. I didn't include the synopsis for this book because I think it would spoil too much of the first books, but I will say that this series should be better known in the book world. It is beautifully inspired by Polish folklore and is something different from what I've read before. This book was a bit slower paced than the previous ones and felt more like a bridge between the first books and the next ones, where I feel like a lot is gonna be revealed. I quite enjoyed the read and was happy to be back with these characters cause it's been a while since I read the previous book. I will definitely not be waiting so long before picking up the next book. I read this as an ebook because my physical copy was borrowed by some friends and gave it 4 stars.

The Humans by Matt Haig

Our hero, Professor Andrew Martin, is dead before the book even begins. As it turns out, though, he wasn’t a very nice man--as the alien imposter who now occupies his body discovers. Sent to Earth to destroy evidence that Andrew had solved a major mathematical problem, the alien soon finds himself learning more about the professor, his family, and “the humans” than he ever expected. When he begins to fall for his own wife and son--who have no idea he’s not the real Andrew--the alien must choose between completing his mission and returning home or finding a new home right here on Earth. *

Another Matt Haig book that wasn't quite what I expected. Granted that after reading How to Stop Time, I wasn't that excited anymore. I still wanted to give it a chance, since a lot of people found it extremely funny. For me, it was moderately funny at best. Most of the jokes were cliches, and so were the characters. The first couple of hours of the audiobook made me roll my eyes many times. After that, it was acceptable. In the end it was ok, I gave it 3 stars on Goodreads, but I guess it was more of a 2.5*, like the other Matt Haig book. In conclusion, his books seem average to me and I probably won't pick up any of his other books. I only had these two on my tbr anyway, so no hard feelings.

The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society by Mary Ann Shaffer

January 1946: London is emerging from the shadow of the Second World War, and writer Juliet Ashton is looking for her next book subject. Who could imagine that she would find it in a letter from a man she’s never met, a native of the island of Guernsey, who has come across her name written inside a book by Charles Lamb…. 

As Juliet and her new correspondent exchange letters, Juliet is drawn into the world of this man and his friends—and what a wonderfully eccentric world it is. The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society—born as a spur-of-the-moment alibi when its members were discovered breaking curfew by the Germans occupying their island—boasts a charming, funny, deeply human cast of characters, from pig farmers to phrenologists, literature lovers all. *

This was another quick read that I squeezed in on the very last days of the month. One of those "books about books" that seemed cute and fluffy. And that's what it was. The story isn't particularly believable and the letters didn't seem like they were written by British people in the 40's, but if you take this book for what it is you won't be disappointed. That's what I did and I enjoyed it. It's historical fiction bordering on romance. It did teach me about the German occupation of the Channel Islands during WW2, a subject I had no idea about. And that's why I read historical fiction, to go to places and find out about events I didn't know much about. Pick this up if you are in the mood for something light and enjoyable, with a touch of history. I read it as an ebook and gave it 3 stars.

That's it for June. Hope July will be a great month! 

*Source: Goodreads

April Final Wrap-up

April is over! It was a good reading month, although not as good as March. But let's be honest, I didn't expect it to be. I ended up finishing 13 books this month, which is still amazing. I'm back with the wrap-up for the second half of the month and now realize that I haven't finished a single physical book in the past two weeks. I started a few books that I'm in the middle of but still have to finish. Audiobooks, on the other hand, have been a lifesaver. I had a lot of stuff to do around the house and I also had to travel, so I managed to finish quite a few of those. So here are the books I read in the second part of April.

Pride & Prejudice by Jane Austen

Pride and Prejudice--Austen's own 'darling child'--tells the story of fiercely independent Elizabeth Bennett, one of five sisters who must marry rich, as she confounds the arrogant, wealthy Mr. Darcy. What ensues is one of the most delightful and engrossingly readable courtships known to literature, written by a precocious Austen when she was just twenty-one years old.*

I decided to continue my Jane Austen series this month and picked up her second book, which is also her most famous one. This time I wasn't as disappointed and quite enjoyed the book. It seems this was my second time reading it because I marked it as read in my Goodreads but I didn't remember anything from my first time reading it, which was probably ages ago and also in Romanian. The story in this book is still overly dramatic, but the characters aren't as annoying or boring as the ones in Sense and Sensibility. I quite enjoyed the characters of Elizabeth and Mr. Darcy. I also felt a lot more irony from the author in this book compared to the other one. I listened to it as an audiobook and gave it 4 stars.

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien

Written for J.R.R. Tolkien’s own children, The Hobbit met with instant critical acclaim when it was first published in 1937. Now recognized as a timeless classic, this introduction to the hobbit Bilbo Baggins, the wizard Gandalf, Gollum, and the spectacular world of Middle-earth recounts of the adventures of a reluctant hero, a powerful and dangerous ring, and the cruel dragon Smaug the Magnificent. *

Boy, was this a struggle! I have watched all the movies and was familiar with the story before picking up the book. I was always intrigued by the fact that they made 3 movies out of such a small book, but I didn't imagine that the book would be so much more boring. The movies were dragging at times but I quite enjoyed them. The book, on the other hand, has such a slow pace that I just couldn't follow. I listened to it as an audiobook and it was the first time I found myself thinking about something else all the time. I felt like rewarding myself when I managed to finish it. I was planning to read the Lord of the Rings series next but after going through this one I'm not sure that I'm gonna do that. It's a nice story and the writing is beautiful but I couldn't give it more than 2 stars.

Lincoln in the Bardo by George Saunders

February 1862. The Civil War is less than one year old. The fighting has begun in earnest, and the nation has begun to realize it is in for a long, bloody struggle. Meanwhile, President Lincoln’s beloved eleven-year-old son, Willie, lies upstairs in the White House, gravely ill. In a matter of days, despite predictions of a recovery, Willie dies and is laid to rest in a Georgetown cemetery. “My poor boy, he was too good for this earth,” the president says at the time. “God has called him home.” Newspapers report that a grief-stricken Lincoln returned to the crypt several times alone to hold his boy’s body.*

This is last year's Man Booker Prize winner and one of the Goodreads Choice Awards top nominees in historical fiction. I'm a big fan of historical fiction so I had to give it a try. However, this is not a typical book in that genre. Yes, the subject is historical but this is more like literary fiction. It's also written in a very original form, most of it reads like a play and the plot isn't very elaborate. There's also the supernatural element that is central to the story. So all in all, this is a very different book. I enjoyed parts of it but was sometimes lost, so I wouldn't say this was my kind of book. I also didn't appreciate the random graphic sex scenes that were scattered around the book. They really didn't bring anything to the story so I felt they were there just to shock. I read it as an ebook and ended up giving it 3 stars.

Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda by Becky Albertalli

Sixteen-year-old and not-so-openly gay Simon Spier prefers to save his drama for the school musical. But when an email falls into the wrong hands, his secret is at risk of being thrust into the spotlight. Now Simon is actually being blackmailed: if he doesn’t play wingman for class clown Martin, his sexual identity will become everyone’s business. Worse, the privacy of Blue, the pen name of the boy he’s been emailing, will be compromised.*

Finally a YA contemporary that I enjoyed! This was such a nice, fluffy and endearing read. None of it felt forced like other YA books do. It had some of the YA tropes, but nothing that bad. Most of it was in email form, which was new to me and I quite enjoyed the cyber-romance. Given that I rarely am a fan of romance in books because it feels so unnatural and cliche, it's impressive that I enjoyed this. It's a quick, feel-good read. I listened to the audiobook and gave this 4 stars.

The Martian by Andy Weir

Six days ago, astronaut Mark Watney became one of the first people to walk on Mars. Now, he’s sure he’ll be the first person to die there. After a dust storm nearly kills him and forces his crew to evacuate while thinking him dead, Mark finds himself stranded and completely alone with no way to even signal Earth that he’s alive—and even if he could get word out, his supplies would be gone long before a rescue could arrive. *

I've watched the movie of this years ago, when it first came out, but I've heard that the book is even funnier and the audiobook is nice, so we listened to it on out 8 hour long drive to a friend's wedding. It was quite enjoyable, although I couldn't pick up all the technical details while listening to it and also paying attention to the road. It was quite funny though and my boyfriend also liked it a lot. It was his first ever audiobook and I'm glad I chose one that he enjoyed. One thing though, if you aren't a fan of science don't pick this up! I feel like that is implied with the science fiction genre but with this one it's an absolute must. I gave it 4 stars.

The Diary of a Bookseller by Shaun Bythell

Shaun Bythell owns The Bookshop, Wigtown - Scotland's largest second-hand bookshop. It contains 100,000 books, spread over a mile of shelving, with twisting corridors and roaring fires, and all set in a beautiful, rural town by the edge of the sea. A book-lover's paradise? Well, almost ... In these wry and hilarious diaries, Shaun provides an inside look at the trials and tribulations of life in the book trade, from struggles with eccentric customers to wrangles with his own staff, who include the ski-suit-wearing, bin-foraging Nicky. He takes us with him on buying trips to old estates and auction houses, recommends books (both lost classics and new discoveries), introduces us to the thrill of the unexpected find, and evokes the rhythms and charms of small-town life, always with a sharp and sympathetic eye.*

I'm really not good with reading non-fiction, in fact I have some non-fiction books that I'm in the middle of and can't seem to get through, so when I do pick them up I usually go for memoirs because they are closer to fiction and easier to get through. This one was on my tbr because I love books about books and when it as in the 2 for 1 credit deal on Audible I just had to get it. I really enjoyed listening to it. It gave me an insight into the bookselling world and showed some aspects that I wasn't familiar with. It was also funny in a really sarcastic way, which  I'm a big fan of. The author is really cynical when talking about his customers so if you aren't a fan of that style you will not enjoy this. It also felt a bit repetitive at times, but other than that it was a solid 4 star read for me.

So yeah, quite a bunch of audiobooks. Hopefully next month I will have more physical books finished. Cheers for May! 

*Source: Goodreads

April Mid-month Wrap-up

Hello! It's the middle of April and I already read 7 books! Well, two of them are graphic novels but I still counted them as books. So again, I decided to split this month's wrap up in two to make shorter posts. Here are the books I read so far in April:

The Professor by Charlotte Brontë

The Professor is Charlotte Brontës first novel, in which she audaciously inhabits the voice and consciousness of a man, William Crimsworth. Like Jane Eyre he is parentless; like Lucy Snowe in Villette he leaves the certainties of England to forge a life in Brussels. But as a man, William has freedom of action, and as a writer Brontë is correspondingly liberated, exploring the relationship between power and sexual desire.*

In February, I read Shirley and totally loved it, so I couldn't wait to pick up another book by Charlotte Brontë. This was the only one of her 4 novels that I hadn't read. It was published posthumously but was actually written before the other ones, so the writing is not as great as in her other works. Nevertheless, I still enjoyed this a lot. It was interesting to see her write from the perspective of a man. Some of the thoughts of the main character make him not very likable and the romance doesn't feel that real, so I only gave it 3.5 stars. I rounded it up to 4 stars on Goodreads because it's one of my favorite authors after all. I listened to this one as an audiobook, even though I have the physical copy as well.

Between Shades of Gray by Ruta Sepetys

Lina is just like any other fifteen-year-old Lithuanian girl in 1941. She paints, she draws, she gets crushes on boys. Until one night when Soviet officers barge into her home, tearing her family from the comfortable life they've known. Separated from her father, forced onto a crowded and dirty train car, Lina, her mother, and her young brother slowly make their way north, crossing the Arctic Circle, to a work camp in the coldest reaches of Siberia. Here they are forced, under Stalin's orders, to dig for beets and fight for their lives under the cruelest of conditions.*

This is a highly rated book that I didn't love as other people did. This is a heartbreaking story written very realistically, even brutally I would say. It's a very important book because it teaches people about the Soviet deportations following Western territory annexations during WWII. The fact that it is written as a YA novel is even more important, because it reaches people that would otherwise never find out about these events. I have read many reviews from people that mentioned that it was the first time they heard about what is described in this book. However, I didn't like the writing at all. I realize that YA novels are written in a simpler way but I have read many YA books that are beautifully written. This was just too simple and too distant, which prevented me from attaching to the characters. Even though the events described were extremely painful, I didn't feel too depressed or sad while reading. This could have been a tearjerker but ended up being a 3 star read for me.

The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck

First published in 1939, Steinbeck’s Pulitzer Prize winning epic of the Great Depression chronicles the Dust Bowl migration of the 1930s and tells the story of one Oklahoma farm family, the Joads, driven from their homestead and forced to travel west to the promised land of California. Out of their trials and their repeated collisions against the hard realities of an America divided into haves and have-nots evolves a drama that is intensely human yet majestic in its scale and moral vision, elemental yet plainspoken, tragic but ultimately stirring in its human dignity.*

The first reread of the year! I'm a huge huge fan of Steinbeck's books and have read pretty much every novel he has written. It's been quite a few years since I've read this masterpiece, so it was time for a reread and this time in English since the first time I read it translated in Romanian. It was a little hard for me because the dialog is in dialect and there were words I've never heard before, but I looked them up so it wasn't too bad. This took me about a week to read because it is a big book, but also because it must be enjoyed in small sips. It is quite an atmospheric read. As Steinbeck said:  "I've done my damnedest to rip a reader's nerves to rags." And he surely did! 5 shiny stars from me!

Little Fires Everywhere by Celeste Ng

Everyone in Shaker Heights was talking about it that summer: how Isabelle, the last of the Richardson children, had finally gone around the bend and burned the house down.*

Another book that everybody loved and I didn't. This was also the winner of last year's Goodreads awards in the fiction category so there must be something wrong with me because I don't understand why. There was nothing special about this book. It was easy to read, with a woven plot that seemed to perfectly adjust itself. Some of the coincidences in the book were almost ridiculous. I can't go too much into detail about the plot because it's sort of a mystery that unfolds itself as you read it. Some of the characters were ok, but I didn't see too much evolution in them. For me Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine  was so much better than this one. I plan on reading a few others from that category as well so we'll see what I think about those. I gave this one 3 stars.

Not in the picture:

Lady Mechanika, Vol.1: The Mystery of the Mechanical Corpse by Joe Benítez

The tabloids dubbed her "Lady Mechanika," the sole survivor of a mad scientist's horrific experiments which left her with mechanical limbs. Having no memory of her captivity or her former life, Lady Mechanika eventually built a new life for herself as an adventurer and private investigator, using her unique abilities to solve cases the proper authorities couldn't or wouldn't handle. But she never stopped searching for the answers to her own past. *

This is a very obscure graphic novel that I came across randomly on YouTube. The steampunk setting intrigued me and the graphics seemed gorgeous so I gave it a try. Since I'm new to graphic novels and comics in general, I don't have any experience with superhero ones but this one seems to be a very unusual one. It's really dark and mysterious, so I love it very much. I can't get enough of the amazing images in this comic! The plot is not bad either and I can't wait to read other stories because there are a bunch of volumes out at the moment and each one has a standalone plot. Did I mention this is steampunk with Victorian outfits and monsters? Definitely my cup of tea! I read it as an ebook and gave it 4 stars.

Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

It’s the year 2044, and the real world is an ugly place. 

Like most of humanity, Wade Watts escapes his grim surroundings by spending his waking hours jacked into the OASIS, a sprawling virtual utopia that lets you be anything you want to be, a place where you can live and play and fall in love on any of ten thousand planets. 

And like most of humanity, Wade dreams of being the one to discover the ultimate lottery ticket that lies concealed within this virtual world. For somewhere inside this giant networked playground, OASIS creator James Halliday has hidden a series of fiendish puzzles that will yield massive fortune—and remarkable power—to whoever can unlock them. *

With the movie being out at the end of last month, I had to read the book first because that's what I do if I'm interested enough. Again, many people love this book but I did not. It was an entertaining read and I can definitely admire the innovative aspect of it, unfortunately I got bored about half way through and found the second half quite predictable (including the ending). The world building part was amazing, which made me fly through the beginning of the book. I definitely liked the book so I gave it 3 stars. This was an ebook read. After seeing the movie I began to appreciate the book a bit more. I even debated on changing my rating to 4 stars but decided to leave it that way. They changed many things in the movie to make it more action packed and less geeky, things I loved in the book, and while I understand the reasons behind it, I felt a bit disappointed.

The Infinity Gauntlet (Infinity Saga #1) by Jim Starlin,  Ron Lim, George Pérez

For the dark Titan, Thanos, the Infinity Gauntlet was the Holy Grail, the ultimate prize to be coveted above all else. Now, on the edge of Armageddon and led by the mysterious Adam Warlock, Earth's super heroes join in a desperate attempt to thwart this nihilistic god's insane plunge into galactic self-destruction.*

The Infinity War movie is coming out at the end of this month, so I thought I would do something new, namely read the comic it was based on. I have seen many of the Marvel movies and I must say that the Avengers ones are my least favorite. The characters don't seem to be as complex and the back story isn't that interesting. That sort of happened with this comic as well. There are a ton of superheroes showing up here and it's really hard to keep track of all of them. My favorite part were the supreme beings that almost certainly won't show up in the movie. I enjoyed this but not quite as much as Lady Mechanika. It is an older comic though, so it's not as beautiful as the present day ones. This was an ebook and I gave it 3 (maybe 3.5) stars.

That's it for now. I'm not expecting the second half of April to be as prolific but I'm gonna do my best. Happy spring!

*Source: Goodreads

March Final Wrap-up

Hello! It's the end of March and I'm really pleased to announce that this month I finished 15 books. 15! So that's 3 books more than I read in the first two months of the year combined. I don't know what happened to me this month but I was in a great reading mood. I am now over 50% done with my reading goal for this year after only 3 months. In the second part of the month, I continued with my challenge of only reading books written by women. I found it hard after a while, not because there aren't enough women authors on my tbr, but because I'm such a mood reader and don't really stick to my tbr. It was frustrating to not be able to pick up a book I really wanted to read just because it had a male author. So yeah, the challenge was fun, but I'm glad it's over. In this second part of March I discovered graphic novels, which contributed to the length of this list, because they are faster reads. There aren't many books pictured below because I read many ebooks and listened to a couple of audiobooks as well. Anyway, here are the rest of March's reads!

A Darker Shade of Magic by V.E. Schwab

Kell is one of the last Antari—magicians with a rare, coveted ability to travel between parallel Londons; Red, Grey, White, and, once upon a time, Black. *

Oh, how I wanted to love this book! I was really excited to start reading it and set it aside for a weekend so I would have time to binge read it. Sadly, after reading almost 150 pages of it on a Saturday, I got bored, so bored that I had to take a mini break and read something else (Persepolis) for a day or so. This is not a bad book at all, it just wasn't for me. The writing is good and easy to follow, the details of the world are really interesting and stuff does happen in it. It isn't that long either, not like other fantasy books. However, the characters felt uninteresting to me and I was just not curious to find out what happened next. I also feel like most of the action is packed in the last 100 pages or so, with little stuff happening in the first parts of the book. I know a lot of people love this one so I'm glad I gave it a try. It's especially good for people that are new to fantasy because it's under 400 pages and it does have a YA vibe to it (new adult, maybe). I'm not sure if I will continue this series because some people say that this is the best one, although others seem to think that the next books are better. I gave this 3 stars.

The Lost Daughter by Elena Ferrante

Leda, a middle-aged divorce, is alone for the first time in years when her daughters leave home to live with their father. Her initial, unexpected sense of liberty turns to ferocious introspection following a seemingly trivial occurrence.*

Here's a quick read that comes from one of my favorite female writers. This short novel (novella?) is an earlier work of Ferrante's, published before the Neapolitan Novels and in it I can see some of the themes and stories she later developed in those brilliant books. It's basically a meditation, written in first person as her other novels, of a woman who ponders upon her condition as a mother and as an individual. I am not a mother myself, so I couldn't identify with her thoughts, but I can understand her feelings so I really liked this book. As with all of Ferrante's novels, the writing is amazing. It really brings you close to the character that is telling the story, you feel you know her deepest thoughts, even those she is trying to hide from the world. Now I can't wait to read the last of the Neapolitan Novels. I gave this one 4 stars.

 Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen

Marianne Dashwood wears her heart on her sleeve, and when she falls in love with the dashing but unsuitable John Willoughby she ignores her sister Elinor's warning that her impulsive behaviour leaves her open to gossip and innuendo. Meanwhile Elinor, always sensitive to social convention, is struggling to conceal her own romantic disappointment, even from those closest to her. Through their parallel experience of love—and its threatened loss—the sisters learn that sense must mix with sensibility if they are to find personal happiness in a society where status and money govern the rules of love.*

A few years ago I decided to read all of Jane Austen's works in chronological order and this one is the first. My only previous experience with her books was Emma, read by me in high school and not quite enjoyed at the time. So I tried to read this one as an ebook on my phone, on my ebook reader and I also bought it as a paperback. I kept picking it up and putting it down after one or two chapters, until I finally dropped it for good at about one third of the way. I decided to try again, this time with the help of an audiobook, hoping that it would be easier to get through. It was quite enjoyable to listen to and quite relaxing, but I still didn't like the book, especially the first part. The characters were really annoying and their issues seemed so "first world problem" to me, that I just couldn't get into the story, didn't care about the outcome and felt happy it was over. The only thing that saved this book was the good writing and that's why I gave it 3 stars. I will still continue with the next Jane Austen novel (Pride and Prejudice) because I really want to have an opinion about her books. So far, they are not my favorites.

Also finished, but not in the picture:

The Bookshop on the Corner by Jenny Colgan

Nina Redmond is a literary matchmaker. Pairing a reader with that perfect book is her passion… and also her job. Or at least it was. Until yesterday, she was a librarian in the hectic city. But now the job she loved is no more.

Determined to make a new life for herself, Nina moves to a sleepy village many miles away. There she buys a van and transforms it into a bookmobile—a mobile bookshop that she drives from neighborhood to neighborhood, changing one life after another with the power of storytelling.*

This is a story about how I got tricked into reading a romance book, which is a genre I don't enjoy at all. I found this book on a magical realism list and since it was a "book about books", I decided to give it a try. There's absolutely no magical realism in this one and it's more of a book about inexistent books. Instead of writing about books she enjoys, the author invents a bunch of books to talk about. Why? There are so many things wrong with this novel that I would have to write an entire post about it. The story is predictable and bland, like a really bad romantic comedy (and not a funny one). There were many cliches that made me cringe, like the character of the librarian that dreams about characters in books or the two romantic interests (of course it's a triangle). Her talent of matching people to the books they like seems to consist in finding a book that is exactly about their life, which I don't think is a talent at all. I mean why do all these people only want to read about themselves instead of escaping to different places and times? I would carry on but I'm only going to say one more thing. The people in this book are British but they all talk like Americans, except for a couple of "knickers" inserted here and there. This was a quick read, I read it as an ebook and I did manage to finish it so I gave it 2 stars to reward myself for the effort.

Persepolis by Marjane Satrapi

Persepolis is the story of Satrapi's unforgettable childhood and coming of age within a large and loving family in Tehran during the Islamic Revolution; of the contradictions between private life and public life in a country plagued by political upheaval; of her high school years in Vienna facing the trials of adolescence far from her family; of her homecoming--both sweet and terrible; and, finally, of her self-imposed exile from her beloved homeland. It is the chronicle of a girlhood and adolescence at once outrageous and familiar, a young life entwined with the history of her country yet filled with the universal trials and joys of growing up.*

My first graphic novel! I've heard a lot about this one and since it's written by a woman, it had to be the first one I tried in this genre. Well technically graphic novels are not a genre, because they have their own genres like books do and this one is a memoir so it's non fiction. It has two volumes but I read them as a whole and counted them as one book. I was very interested in the part about the Islamic Revolution in Iran, yet it ended up being my least favorite volume (even though it was great too), while the second part about exile and life after the revolution I absolutely loved. Satrapi's work talks about the condition of immigrants, about the role of women in Islamic society and the way religion shapes their lives in a way that I never thought of before. My first experience with a graphic novel was a brilliant one and it made me look for other ones that are must reads. I read this as an ebook and gave it 5 beautiful stars.

Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel

Meet Alison's father, a historic preservation expert and obsessive restorer of the family's Victorian home, a third-generation funeral home director, a high school English teacher, an icily distant parent, and a closeted homosexual who, as it turns out, is involved with his male students and a family babysitter. Through narrative that is alternately heartbreaking and fiercely funny, we are drawn into a daughter's complex yearning for her father. And yet, apart from assigned stints dusting caskets at the family-owned "fun home," as Alison and her brothers call it, the relationship achieves its most intimate expression through the shared code of books.

When Alison comes out as homosexual herself in late adolescence, the denouement is swift, graphic — and redemptive.*

This was the second graphic novel of the month. There are many I want to read, but since I wanted to only read books written by women in March, I decided to read this one because many people recommended it. It's also a memoir, like Persepolis, but one that talks about sexual identity and the relationship of the author with her father. I quite enjoyed this book. My only issue with it is that the author relies too much on comparisons with classic literature to deliver her message. Don't get me wrong, I love books about books, but this wasn't supposed to be one of those. I would have liked to know more about her feelings without a parallel to heavy books (that I haven't even read). This way the book felt somehow distant and I couldn't get into it properly. It's why it took me 3 days to read, whereas Persepolis took me less than a day. I read this one as an ebook and gave it 4 stars. The graphic part was amazing!

Bridget Jones's Diary by Helen Fielding

Bridget Jones's Diary is the devastatingly self-aware, laugh-out-loud account of a year in the life of a thirty-something Singleton on a permanent doomed quest for self-improvement. Caught between the joys of Singleton fun, and the fear of dying alone and being found three weeks later half eaten by an Alsatian; tortured by Smug Married friends asking, "How's your love life?" with lascivious, yet patronizing leers, Bridget resolves to: reduce the circumference of each thigh by 1.5 inches, visit the gym three times a week not just to buy a sandwich, form a functional relationship with a responsible adult and learn to program the VCR.*

First reread of the year! I was sort of in a reading slump and wanted to pick up something light and funny, so I ended up rereading this. I read it many years ago and since I've seen the movie a few times in the meantime, I totally forgot about the differences between the book and the movie. All in all, I really like this book, despite its many issues. I can understand why some people hate it, because it mentions weight and body image issues so much, but I don't see it that way because you don't have to approve of everything a character thinks to like a book. I think in the end the moral of the story is that her weight doesn't matter at all, but maybe people fail to grasp that. I liked this more than the first time I read it, probably because I'm older now. This was also an ebook and I gave it 4 stars.

Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman

Meet Eleanor Oliphant: She struggles with appropriate social skills and tends to say exactly what she's thinking. Nothing is missing in her carefully timetabled life of avoiding social interactions, where weekends are punctuated by frozen pizza, vodka, and phone chats with Mummy. But everything changes when Eleanor meets Raymond, the bumbling and deeply unhygienic IT guy from her office. When she and Raymond together save Sammy, an elderly gentleman who has fallen on the sidewalk, the three become the kinds of friends who rescue one another from the lives of isolation they have each been living. And it is Raymond's big heart that will ultimately help Eleanor find the way to repair her own profoundly damaged one. *

Oh man, this book! Even though I expected to like this a lot, it still surprised me. I rarely am impressed by a book and this one impressed me a lot. It was such a breath of fresh air! Both funny and heartbreaking at the same time. The character of Eleanor was extremely relatable, even though she seemed a horrible human being in the beginning of the book. I really feel sorry for the people that started the book and never finished it, they lost a lot. I listened to it as an audiobook and the narration was amazing, but I now wanna get it as a physical book so I can have it on my shelves, reread it and maybe annotate it one day. I gave it 5 stars. One of my favorite reads of the year for sure!

This was March. I am already in the middle of a couple of books that will count as April reads, so I'm not too worried about next month. Hope April is a good one too!

*Source: Goodreads

March Mid-month Wrap-up

Hello! We're only halfway through March and I've already finished 7 books! Yes, seven, one more than I read in January and February. Of course this is because I have finished two massive ones that I started before, but who cares? The important thing is that I'm already way ahead (10 books ahead) of my goal for the year, which makes me so happy. I didn't want my March post to be 10 books long so I'm splitting it up in two. Since the 8th of March is International Women's Day, I decided to dedicate this month to books written by women. So except for the 3 books that I started before the beginning of the month, all the books I read were written by women and I will continue this until the end of March. Here are the books!

The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams

One Thursday lunchtime the Earth gets unexpectedly demolished to make way for a new hyperspace bypass. For Arthur Dent, who has only just had his house demolished that morning, this seems already to be more than he can cope with. Sadly, however, the weekend has only just begun, and the Galaxy is a very strange and startling place.*

I was a little nervous starting this book because I didn't know what to expect. The beginning was sort of boring to me, there was a lot of funny, quirky nonsense that I'm not a big fan of, so I was sure that I wasn't gonna like it and would not continue the series. Since it's a short book, I decided to keep on reading and try to finish it, so I went on and started to like it more and more. In the end, this is a rather deep book with lots of original and smart ideas and even though there is a bit of gibberish that I'm not into, I didn't mind it in the end. I will definitely continue the series because I'm really curious about where this story is gonna go. I gave this one 4 stars.

Under the Dome by Stephen King

It is the story of the small town of Chester's Mill, Maine which is inexplicably and suddenly sealed off from the rest of the world by an invisible force field. No one can get in and no one can get out.* 

I started this massive epic last year but wasn't in the mood and didn't have the patience to continue, so I took a long break. I picked it up again in February and finished it this month, but I actually only read the last 300 pages of it in March. So as you can see, I read a lot more in February than my wrap-up led to believe. Stephen King is one of my favorite authors. The way he writes and tells stories is incredibly comforting to me, his characters always become good friends that I thoroughly miss afterwards. I don't even mind that most of his books are so long, because it gives me time to get attached, plus why would you want something you enjoy to end so soon? I didn't expect this book to be as good as The Stand, but I enjoyed it very very much. If you like dystopian and apocalyptic science fiction, this is a must read. It's such a pity that the TV series based on this book isn't that good, because I would have liked to hang out with these characters again. I gave this 4.5 stars and rounded up to 5 stars on Goodreads.

The Power by Naomi Alderman

In The Power the world is a recognisable place: there's a rich Nigerian kid who lounges around the family pool; a foster girl whose religious parents hide their true nature; a local American politician; a tough London girl from a tricky family. But something vital has changed, causing their lives to converge with devastating effect. Teenage girls now have immense physical power - they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.*

I decided to pick this up based on a few people's recommendations, although I felt like the premise was a little too much. I'm happy I did because this was a great book. Naomi Alderman was able to touch some really painful points. This book really made me think. If you are a fan of distopian books, this is an interesting new perspective. The writing is also great and the characters are great. This book was a big surprise for me. I gave it 4 shining stars!

At the Edge of the Orchard by Tracy Chevalier

1838: James and Sadie Goodenough have settled where their wagon got stuck - in the muddy, stagnant swamps of northwest Ohio. They and their five children work relentlessly to tame their patch of land, buying saplings from a local tree man known as John Appleseed so they can cultivate the fifty apple trees required to stake their claim on the property. But the orchard they plant sows the seeds of a long battle. James loves the apples, reminders of an easier life back in Connecticut; while Sadie prefers the applejack they make, an alcoholic refuge from brutal frontier life.

1853: Their youngest child Robert is wandering through Gold Rush California. Restless and haunted by the broken family he left behind, he has made his way alone across the country. In the redwood and giant sequoia groves he finds some solace, collecting seeds for a naturalist who sells plants from the new world to the gardeners of England. But you can run only so far, even in America, and when Robert's past makes an unexpected appearance he must decide whether to strike out again or stake his own claim to a home at last.*

You know I had to include at least one historical fiction book in this month's reads. Tracy Chevalier is an author who's books I always enjoy. I love her writing and I love that her books take me to different places, the atmosphere is so great that they always suck me in. This one had a slower start for me because one of the voices that narrates at the beginning is written in a really broken English. Since I read this as a translation in Romanian, I felt that the many mistakes were very distracting. But after that I totally got into the story and ended up binge reading it for the most part. It's a short book, so that isn't too hard. I have this 3.5 stars but rounded it up to 4 because I felt generous.

Books that are not in the pictures:

Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone by J.K. Rowling

Harry Potter has never even heard of Hogwarts when the letters start dropping on the doormat at number four, Privet Drive. Addressed in green ink on yellowish parchment with a purple seal, they are swiftly confiscated by his grisly aunt and uncle. Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a great beetle-eyed giant of a man called Rubeus Hagrid bursts in with some astonishing news: Harry Potter is a wizard, and he has a place at Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry. An incredible adventure is about to begin!*

OK, unpopular opinion time! When the first Harry Potter book came out in the UK I was 10 years old. But given that I live in a East European country and it was the 90's, the books didn't get translated in my language until a few years later and by the time I found out about them I was already reading classics and felt like I was too old for them. Fast forward until now, when I finally decided to find out what all the fuss was about. I listened to this as an audiobook narrated by Stephen Fry, a really great narration that I sped up to about 1.25 and I still got bored at times. Yes, this is a cute book and I can see why children like it, but for me it didn't feel interesting and at times I actually felt annoyed about some things. It would probably feel different if I had the nostalgia of the people who read it when they were young. I gave it only 3 stars. Sorry, 5 million people that gave it 4 or 5 stars! Right now I don't know if I want to continue the series, if it gets better and if I wanna power through the second and third book to get to the more YA ones that are supposed to be better. We will see!

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Sixteen-year-old Starr Carter moves between two worlds: the poor neighborhood where she lives and the fancy suburban prep school she attends. The uneasy balance between these worlds is shattered when Starr witnesses the fatal shooting of her childhood best friend Khalil at the hands of a police officer. Khalil was unarmed.*

Hyped books. Can't live with them, can't live without them. I often avoid reading them early because I then feel disappointed, not to mention that I then feel bad for not liking them. Luckily, it wasn't the case with this one. My YA read for this month had to be this contemporary meaningful novel that doesn't feel like fiction at all. Well yes, the characters are not real and the story did not happen literally, yet I feel that this happened too many times already. It all felt so real that I couldn't help but read on, rooting for these characters, but knowing in the end that there's still a lot of work to be done. I love that this story was written as a YA book, because it can be read by anyone and it reaches the people that really need to learn about this stuff. It's also really well written. I feel like there's so much to say about this book but it speaks for itself in reality. You need to pick this up! I read it as an ebook and gave it 4 (more like 4.5) stars on Goodreads. 

The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas

In 1815 Edmond Dantès, a young and successful merchant sailor who has just recently been granted the succession of his erstwhile captain Leclère, returns to Marseille to marry his Catalan fiancée Mercédès. Thrown in prison for a crime he has not committed, Edmond Dantès is confined to the grim fortress of If. There he learns of a great hoard of treasure hidden on the Isle of Monte Cristo and he becomes determined not only to escape, but also to unearth the treasure and use it to plot the destruction of the three men responsible for his incarceration.* 

107 chapters and two months later, I'm finally done with this monster of a classic. I listened to this as a Librivox audiobook and only made real progress once I increased the speed to about 1.3-1.4. That's how I managed to get through about half of it in two weeks. If it weren't for audiobooks I don't think I would have had the patience to read this. First off, it was not what I expected. I wasn't familiar with the story since I have never read it or watched the movie, but somehow I expected more at sea action, with pirates and prison breaks. It's a great book, beautifully written, with characters that develop and mature, meaningful life lessons and a few plot twists. But it is also full of long dramatic scenes and intrigue. It was also hard for me at times to follow the characters because there were so many and they were all related to each others in some way. I guess a list of characters with short descriptions at the beginning of the book would help, of course not if you are listening to it as an audiobook. All in all, it's a good story and I enjoyed listening to the book a lot. Totally worth the read if you are a fast reader or don't mind spending a lot of time on it. I gave it 4 stars.

That is all for now. Hopefully I will have some more books to show at the end of the month. We got a Kindle this month so there will be more ebooks showing up, but I still want to read physical books and there are a lot of them on my bookshelf that are unread. See you at the end of the month!

*Source: Goodreads

February Wrap-up

Winter is over! Well, not quite because it's freezing outside, but it's the last day of February so it must be over soon. February is a shorter month and I also was away for a few days and couldn't read too much, but I still managed to read 6 books like last month. Or rather I should say that I finished 6 books because I made progress with a few others. I think that this month I read a lot more pages than in January so I'm really happy. I'm trying to finish at least one big book every month, but this is a newer resolution that I didn't have in January so I have to catch up soon. Here are the books I finished this month!

The Perfume Collector by Kathleen Tessaro

Newlywed Grace Monroe doesn’t fit anyone’s expectations of a successful 1950s London socialite, least of all her own. When she receives an unexpected inheritance from a complete stranger, Madame Eva d’Orsey, Grace is drawn to uncover the identity of her mysterious benefactor.*

This is another historical fiction novel that has been on my 'to read' list for a few years. It was one of those books that I occasionally checked in sales and I finally bought it, without it being on sale, a couple of months ago. I liked it, wanted to love it, but didn't. I wouldn't call this a disappointment, yet I can't hope but feel that my expectations haven't been met. I don't want to give too many details about this book because mystery is part of it, but I found it a bit predictable at times. The perfume descriptions were quite nice and it had a nice period atmosphere, which made it a quick and pleasant read. One of my biggest problems was that I didn't really like the character of Grace, I found her quite spoiled and flat, nothing special. The other characters I quite enjoyed though. There's also a bit of romance in here if you are interested in that kind of stuff. I would have given it 3 and a half stars, but since there are no halves on Goodreads I rounded it up to 4 stars because I liked it more than my other 3 star reads.

Big Mama's Funeral by Gabriel García Márquez

The first short story collection of the month comes from one of my favorite writers. I am a huge García Márquez fan and have read almost all of his books. One that I hadn't read before is this collection of eight short stories from 1962, one of his early works that hasn't been available in my country until recently. I'm not very keen on short story collections and I've been known to leave some unfinished because I got bored, yet I've always enjoyed this author's short stories. I have two of his other collections in my library that I have read many times and enjoyed. It's probably because they are written in his amazing magical realism style that I love. What I don't like about short stories is that there is no time for the development of characters and the plot is more of a tiny scene that often leaves me unsatisfied. This, however, doesn't happen with García Márquez' stories because his style makes them more of an atmosphere piece and you don't really care about the plot, being distracted by the beautiful descriptions. Somehow he does manage to give the plots meaning also, which often leaves you puzzled and wanting to reread the story as soon as you finish it. For me his books are the escape from reality that no other fiction or fantasy book can give me. Naturally, I had to give this one 5 stars.

Shirley by Charlotte Brontë

Following the tremendous popular success of Jane Eyre, which earned her lifelong notoriety as a moral revolutionary, Charlotte Brontë vowed to write a sweeping social chronicle that focused on "something real and unromantic as Monday morning." Set in the industrializing England of the Napoleonic wars and Luddite revolts of 1811-12, Shirley (1849) is the story of two contrasting heroines. One is the shy Caroline Helstone, who is trapped in the oppressive atmosphere of a Yorkshire rectory and whose bare life symbolizes the plight of single women in the nineteenth century. The other is the vivacious Shirley Keeldar, who inherits a local estate and whose wealth liberates her from convention.*

This was by far my favorite read of the month. My history with Charlotte Bronte started in middle school, when I first forced myself to read Jane Eyre. It took me about a year to finish, I didn't like it and categorized it as a boring book. A few years ago I decided to give it another try and absolutely loved it. After that, I picked up the rest of Brontë's books, read Villette, which was also great and took a big break until now, when the classic mood hit me and made me try this one. It's a big book of over 600 pages and not quite easy to read, especially for a non-native speaker like me, yet I went through this quickly because it was amazing. There's a little bit of everything in here, from romance to politics, history and feminism. Charlotte Brontë's writing is incredible and her commentary is witty, funny and insightful. If you enjoyed Jane Eyre, you will probably love this but if you didn't you should still give this a try cause it might surprise you. 5 out of 5 stars for me.

The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

Set in South Carolina in 1964, The Secret Life of Bees tells the story of Lily Owens, whose life has been shaped around the blurred memory of the afternoon her mother was killed. When Lily's fierce-hearted black "stand-in mother," Rosaleen, insults three of the deepest racists in town, Lily decides to spring them both free. They escape to Tiburon, South Carolina--a town that holds the secret to her mother's past. Taken in by an eccentric trio of black beekeeping sisters, Lily is introduced to their mesmerizing world of bees and honey, and the Black Madonna.*

Whenever I'm in the mood for reading YA, I go to my sister's bookshelf and pick something from there. I've been wanting to read this for a while and it also counted for Black History Month, plus it seemed like a cute and quick read. I ended up dragging it for over a week and only finished it because I wanted to have a sixth book finished by the end of the month. Otherwise, I would have probably struggled with it for another week or so. I know many people like this book but for me it was slow, predictable and boring at times. Although I enjoyed the writing style, the story was just not interesting to me. I often felt like I didn't care what was happening next and that's why I had to force myself to pick it up and read from it. I gave it 2.5 stars but rounded up to 3 on Goodreads because I enjoyed the writing style and I learned a few things about beekeeping that I didn't know.

Books not pictured that I also finished:

Uncommon Type: Some Stories by Tom Hanks

Ok, so here comes a review that is probably biased. I am a huge fan of Tom Hanks and when I heard that he wrote a book I had to read it. Then I also found out that the audiobook was narrated by Tom Hanks himself, which made me immediately sign up for Audible just to get it. And then I listened to it in about 4 days and loved it. I realize that this book of short stories doesn't have huge value from a literary point of view and I'm also not a big reader of short stories, but I think that the fact that I enjoyed them makes them special. The stories are very different from each other, one recurring theme is the typewriter, hence the title of this collection. It seems that Tom Hanks himself wrote this book on a vintage typewriter. What I really love about these stories is how familiar they all feel. I felt like I knew these characters and that rarely happens in my experience with short stories. The fact that they were also narrated by one of my favorite actors made them even more special. I gave this 4 (maybe even 4.5) stars. 

The Invisible Man by H.G. Wells

This masterpiece of science fiction is the fascinating story of Griffin, a scientist who creates a serum to render himself invisible, and his descent into madness that follows.*

I started this (pretty short) novel as an ebook on the first day of the year on my phone. Since I don't read much on my phone, I didn't make a lot of progress with it until I decided to download it to my ebook reader and finally finish it. This is supposed to be one of the first science fiction books ever written, but for me it was very disappointing. Except for two or three pages of (pretty questionable) science, the whole book seemed like a narration of a Laurel and Hardy movie to me. The only reason I finished it was because it was so short and I wanted to see where it ended up, needless to say I didn't enjoy the ending either. I gave this a generous rating of 2 stars, because it has the excuse that it's and old book and it tries to describe something that was probably hard to conceive back then. I still want to try some other H.G. Wells books in the hope of finding something I enjoy more, but this one was not for me.

So these are the books I managed to finish this month. I also made progress with the audiobook of The Count of Monte Cristo, a massive 50 hour listen that I'm about half way through. In terms of big books, I've read about two thirds of Steven King's Under the Dome and will finish it in March. I also started the audiobook of the first Harry Potter today because, believe it or not, I have never read those books in my life. So yeah, I love reading. Happy March!

*Source: Goodreads