So I had every intention of keeping this blog updated, at least with a monthly wrap up. But as you can see, that has not worked well this year. I don't know why it's so hard to continue posting here. But I do look back all the time to remember what I've read, or what I thought about what I've read, so I am determined to catch up with this post and then keep up! At least for my own record. So bare with me!
MARCH:
Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer: This one I bought at the new Storycon in February where the author was attending, and had her sign it. It's a cute YA about a girl and guy who had certain ideas about each other, but when circumstances force them to be together, they found out their preconceived notions were all wrong, of course. It had the side story of saving sea animals, and all the fun atmosphere of an ocean setting. I really enjoyed it.
Lunar New Year Love Story by Gene Luen Yang: Another amazing graphic novel from this author telling the story of a girl who doesn't believe in love anymore especially because of the examples in her family. She makes a deal with St. Valentine and has a year to prove this fate wrong. It has awesome tie in to Lunar New Year and we learn all about Chinese dragon dancing. It's so much fun. I loved it.
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath: This was the book for book club this month. I also counted toward my goal to read six classics this year. It was the tragic story of the mental breakdown of the main character which sadly reflects much of what happened to the author herself.
All Better Now by Neal Shusterman: The new book (and series I'm sure) by one of my favorite authors, who was also able to meet at StoryCon and get this book signed. Very cool. It's another dystopian where there's a plague that makes you TOO happy. And our characters meet and have totally different ideas on how to fight against the virus. The showdown at the end is CRAZY and I am so curious as to what happens next.
APRIL:
Sunrise on the Reaping by Suzanne Collins: I don't think I even realized this one was coming out! But when I saw it at Costco I just up and bought and read it! And it was awesome and one of my favorite books of the year. Dang Suzanne Collins does it every single time! This was the backstory of Haymitch and the sad truth of what happened at his Hunger Games, and it's brutal. It explains everything about this character.
The Violin Conspiracy by Brendan Slocumb: A mystery about a stolen violin. But then it ends up being more of a historical fiction novel when we learn the story of the violin. I ended up enjoying a lot more because of that. We read this one for book club and there was a lot of discussion if I remember correctly.
What Happens After Midnight by K.L Walther: I can't remember how I ended up with this one. I think I just up and bought it! A YA about a girl who ends up getting mixed up in the senior prank that a bunch of the kids are doing and she stays out all night to put together this treasure hunt. And stuff happens and of course she gets in trouble which is her worst nightmare. And also falls in love with the guy she wasn't supposed to like. It was fun, but I liked the other book from this author better.
MAY:
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub: I listened to this one during one of our trips to LA for a concert (we had two of those in May... wow!) It was the book club book of the month, an interesting time travel one where our girl finds a portal that takes her back to her 16th birthday, over and over again. She keeps going in order to figure out why her dad dies. And when she finds out why, it's not what you think. Pretty interesting, but I think I ended up not really liking her much, which made it harder to love the story fully.
The Diabetes Code by Jason Fung: I had to read up about this subject thanks to a diagnosis I got in April from my own blood sugar levels. Yay. This book was pretty informative and gave me hope that I can fight it with diet and exercise. I jumped right in on that journey which has lasted the this whole year. And I guess forever from no on!
A Date with Fate by Whitney Hemsath: This was a cute novella I got free for signing up for Whitney's newsletter at May's writing conference (Storymakers.) Cute story of a mortal guy falling for one of the Fate sisters.
Glucose Revolution by Jessie Inchauspe: Another book to help me fight the fight against sugar and my body and all the yummy things to eat. I'm so thrilled to be learning these things! This one gives one lots of strategies in order to maybe still live and by happy but not die at the same time.
JUNE:
In Order to Live by Yeonmi Park: Another North Korean defection story. This girl's story is harrowing. Some have said she embellished the details, but you know, I just don't even want to judge because, no matter what, she lived a nightmare.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid: A fascinating historical fiction drama story about the life of this movie star... all her loves and dreams and failures. It's quite the engrossing saga.
Because You Loved Me by Victorine Lieske: A romcom (is there much com in this one? I can't remember but I don't think so actually...) where our girl ends up getting a nanny job in the house of the dude who adopted her kid. Yes. And then she falls in love with the dude. And it's going to all end up perfectly, right? Of course right! It was okay, but I found fault in some stuff.
The Grief Keeper by Alex Villasante: This one was a bit weird and strange. Our girl is caught at the border while come from El Salvador to get to a family friend in the US. And then she ends up getting mixed up in this strange experiment where they put a thing on her leg which causes her to feel the grief and pain and agony of the people around her. This causes her to remember what happened to her brother who was killed back at home. It's a sad book. And weird.
JULY:
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini: I read this one for Big Book Summer and it was definitely big! Space exploration is going on in this future world, and our girl's job is to research alien discoveries. She ends up getting invaded (her personal body) by a being that changes her whole life... which is the understatement of this review, lol! OH boy, but stuff happens. It was really quite good and I totally enjoyed the ride.
Falling for Korea by Piper Jean: I wanted something quick and easy after the big science fiction book, and this was for sure it. It was a lot like a kdrama as I'd hoped, but not as swoony as I'd hoped. It's about a girl who goes to live in Korea and falls in love with the rich boy and she knows she shouldn't.
My Friends by Fredrik Backman: The book club's Backman pick of the year. This is is new release from the year about an artist who paints a picture of four friends and the whole backstory of those friends. It's great and heartbreaking and happy all at once. He's such a good story teller, seriously though.
AUGUST:
Gold Winning by Mare Montague: This is a book about a girl who goes to the Olympics as a rhythmic gymnast and guy who goes as a swimmer and how their stories meet. Then something not good happens and it tears them apart. And how they find each other again. I really enjoyed it. The romance was quite intense, but not sweet and sappy as some might say.
Nectar in a Sieve by Kamala Markandaya: This was part of my endeavor to read six classics this year. It's a book I bought awhile back and I figured it would be a short easy read. But the subject was a bit harsh. It follows the life of a girl in India, as she gets married and starts her family and struggles for survival. Things sometimes look up and are happy, but if one little thing goes wrong, everything falls apart. It's frustrating to see these hardships when simple solutions exist.
You, Me and Comic Con by Teresa Richards: A fun romp of a novella about a skater girl who is going to a competition but gets sidetracked by the crowd going to Comic Con. She thinks they are all nerdy and not the kind of people she would like, but she finds out otherwise really quick!
Here One Moment by Liane Moriarty: This was the book club pick of the month in which we meet several passengers on an airplane and how some crazy lady gets up and predicts when and how they are all going die. Then we follow them as they change their lives according to that prediction. There's so much to think about it! It was a great book club discussion book.
All This Twisted Glory by Tahereh Mafi: The third book in the This Woven Kingdom series in which we learn more about Cyrus and what's going on with him and how Alizeh is needing to chose between him and Kamran. Ah, this story is seriously so intense!
The Unlikely Hero of Rom 13B by Teresa Toten: A random book I picked up last year and decided to read as part of YA'UGUST . We have a group of kids going to therapy sessions and our main boy is suffering from massive OCD and as the story goes we see and watch him live with all his struggles. It's painful and heartbreaking, but told in a very funny and lighthearted way. I really enjoyed it a lot more than expected.
SEPTEMBER:
The Unlikelies by Carrie Firestone: This is another random book I bought one day. I fit it in barely, sort of, for my last YA'UGUST book. It's about a group of kids who become friends through their shared moment in glory of doing something good in the world. And then they decide to keep doing those good things by giving care packages to bullies, and victims of bullies. But really it's about their back stories and the found family that they all become. I really ended up enjoying it a lot.
One True Loves by Taylor Jenkins Reid: The first book I listened to while on our Epic Road Trip to drive across the country to Florida. (Dang that was a fun trip... I vlogged it here if you are interested in that sort of thing!) It's a love story with two leading male characters, but not a love triangle. Ah, I don't want to give it away, but it's heart wrenching in a huge way. And so good. Like, what would you do if you had to make this choice?
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol 1 by Beth Brower: I finally started this series which seems to be taking the world by storm as they say. I've been hearing so much about it and since reading it have been hearing even more about it. They are short, almost novella length (some of them get a bit longer as it goes though) stories where our heroine, Emma, is recording her life in Regency England as she navigates financial stress, and the loss of her family and love, and becoming friends with all sorts of interesting people. It's very fun.. and funny... and full of heart. So glad to have found it and joining in the craze!
Slow Dance by Rainbow Rowell: Another audio book I listened to on the drive, about a second chance romance. Our couple were friends in high school and they meet up again at a wedding and reconnect, but it's complicated. We get the present story and the past story all mixed up and it's awesome.
Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green: A non fiction book by this favorite fiction author about the history and the hopefulness of a cure for this dreaded disease. We learn about the story of Henry and get very invested in his future and dreams. It was interesting for the most part, but had some slow spots too.
Rewiring Your Mind for AI by David Wood: This is a book by written by my neighbor actually, and he approached me one day and said it would be cool if I read his book and I said, okay sure. This is his argument that AI has some good things and that we should all figure out how to navigate this new world with AI's existence in it. I agreed with most of it and hope that some day maybe we can figure this out and not be quite so scared of it.
Falling Like Leaves by Misty Wilson: A cute fun YA fall romance that showed up in my email one day, which turned out to be one of my favorite books of the year. And now I see it's been nominated for a Goodreads Choice award. Cool! So many fun fall vibes and very much gives off Gilmore Girl feelings too. Small town romance, YA, old friends to lovers, second chance romance. The best.
OCTOBER:We Met Like This by Kasie West: The first adult romance by this favorite YA author. I went to her tour at the local bookstore which was very fun. The story is about a girl who wants to find love and is using the online apps but with no luck. Except she keeps matching with this one dude who she isn't too smitten with. Although he's actually pretty perfect. And then she might start changing her mind. I enjoyed it but am still more fond of the YA books!
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol 2: Continuing the writings of our girl Emma! The first one was okay and fun, but with this second one we are getting more and more invested!
Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen: Our book club's read for this month, one we threw in to celebrate the 250th birthday of this favorite author. The book club's meeting was very fun because I had my brother and sister-in-law come dressed in the period costumes that she makes. It was awesome. The book itself it not my favorite of hers, but it was fun to read (and remember since I think I've read it before!) and have fun with it.
Zozo Zombie Vol 1 by Nagatoshi Yasunari: This was a random book I picked up at the library book sale and read during the Dewey's Readathon in October. I wanted to try some manga and this was fun, but v very middle grade and full of potty humor which is just not my thing you know? All about a zombie and his struggle to keep a hold of his body parts and the boy who is trying to help him. I am still on the lookout for the perfect manga to try.
Moo by Sharon Creech: Another book I read in an hour or so during the Readathon. A middle grade story told in verse about a couple of kids who move to the country and learn how to train a cow for the cow show. Very cute and lovely as is all this author's books are.
Bird Box by Josh Malerman: I finally got this read during the Readathon. I was worried it would freak me out but I ended up totally enjoying it. We have an apocalypse happening where people go crazy and kill each other and themselves if they see something... but we don't know what. So people have to keep their eyes closed or blindfold themselves if they hope to survive. It reminded me of The Walking Dead in the sense that groups of people band together to try and survive and we follow our main character as she does this and how it all ends... AHH!. Crazy stuff.
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion Vol 3: Continuing this series! I got two of them read this month!
If you are interested in the vlog of the readathon, here's that link!
And there's my long catch up! Stay tuned for November's reading wrap up! And here's hoping I can keep up on the blogging a bit better next year.
