January Wrap Up

January was a great reading month for me, probably the best month I'll have this whole year because there's no way I'm going to be able to read this much in one month again. I read a total of 15 books which, I think, is a pretty great way to kick off 2018.

WRAP UP:

A Midsummer Night's Dream by William Shakespeare
My Rating: ★★★★★

My first read this month will probably be one of my favorites for the year. This was my first Shakespeare play so I was super intimidated going into it, but it was actually very easy and quick to read. It was whimsical and funny and had the best set of characters.

Tortilla Flat by John Steinbeck

My Rating: ★★

So this one I actually DNF'd. It wasn't necessarily bad, it just really wasn't for me. I read about 40% of it and still couldn't see a point to the story. Maybe I'll get back to it in the future but for now, I have other things I'd rather be reading. 

Family Happiness by Leo Tolstoy
My Rating: ★★★★★

I absolutely loved this. The only other Tolstoy work I've read is the Death of Ivan Ilych and I thought it was okay, but nothing groundbreaking. This completely changed my opinion on Tolstoy. Family Happiness was frustrating and sometimes sad, but it also had moments that were really exciting. Few classics are so good that they keep me from putting them down, but this one one of them.

Rereading City of Bones 5 Years Later

*Some spoilers for City of Bones and The Mortal Instruments Series*

"All the stories are true."

I'm going to preface this by saying that I initially started reading the Mortal Instruments series when I was 16 years old, I'm 21 now. I don't typically reread books because I find that I have a hard time staying interested in a book where I already know what's going to happen. That being said, the Mortal Instruments series and the other books in the Shadowhunter Chronicles immediately became some of my favorite books and to this day I consider them that.

If you are on booktube or just watch booktube videos like I do, then you might know that emmmabooks is hosting a year-long readathon of the entire Shadowhunter Chronicles. If you did not know then I will link her video here. Having never reread any of the books in the series, I was pretty excited to join the facebook group and see how my thoughts on each of the books had changed, if at all.

I've just finished my reread of City of Bones (and Lady Midnight in preparation for Lord of Shadows because I still haven't read it) and as I had anticipated there were quite a few things I noticed this time around that I hadn't before and basically, I can't even form a solid opinion because my thoughts are so conflicting. In this post, I'll be discussing what changed for me, what I still love, and all of my other thoughts on City of Bones after 5 years of having first read it.

Review: Tash Hearts Tolstoy by Kathryn Ormsbee

Title: Tash Hearts Tolstoy
Author: Kathryn Ormsbee
Publication Date: June 6, 2017 (Simon & Schuster)
Format: Ebook - 384pgs
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Page

Summary:
After a shout-out from one of the Internet’s superstar vloggers, Natasha “Tash” Zelenka finds herself and her obscure, amateur web series, Unhappy Families, thrust into the limelight: She’s gone viral.

Her show is a modern adaptation of Anna Karenina—written by Tash’s literary love Count Lev Nikolayevich “Leo” Tolstoy. Tash is a fan of the forty thousand new subscribers, their gushing tweets, and flashy Tumblr GIFs. Not so much the pressure to deliver the best web series ever.

And when Unhappy Families is nominated for a Golden Tuba award, Tash’s cyber-flirtation with Thom Causer, a fellow award nominee, suddenly has the potential to become something IRL—if she can figure out how to tell said crush that she’s romantic asexual.

Tash wants to enjoy her newfound fame, but will she lose her friends in her rise to the top? What would Tolstoy do?

100 Women Writers

*This post is inspired by a post by Jean's Thoughts. I'll link her post here. Check it out.* 

I made a goal for myself for 2018 to be the year I read more works by women writers and so I was browsing around the internet for lists of women writers that I could use as a starting point. I happened across Jean's blog, who's booktube channel I already watch and love, and found that she had created a list of 100 women writers. So I'm going to put the list below and mark each writer off as I read work from them (stealing the idea, 100% Jean's, not mine).

The writer's I have read are in bold. By the start of 2018, I'd only read 5 of these women in my entire life which is admittedly shameful. Hopefully, by the end of the year, I'll have quite a few of the names on the list boldened. Below the list, I will leave the names of the women I've read and which of their works I've read in case you would like a recommendation. I'll continue adding names/read works throughout the year as I read them.