WRAP UP:
My Rating: ★★★★
I listened to this on audiobook which I think was the perfect format for me to consume this. I would recommend reading a physical copy if you want to take notes though. I didn't agree with every aspect of the author's decluttering philosophy, but there was plenty of good advice in this. Reading this has left me very inspired to purge my book collection using this method, so we'll see how that goes. I will be doing a post on that soon, so when it is available, it will be linked here.
Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi
My Rating: ★★★
Full review here. This was an okay story, but it wasn't anything special. I wanted to love this so much, so it's pretty disappointing that it wasn't what I was hoping it would be. The plot was generic, and all but the main character felt 2-dimensional. This is the author's debut novel, so maybe these issues will improve in the future, but for me, this was kind of a letdown.
Nasty Women Edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay & Kate Harding
Nasty Women Edited by Samhita Mukhopadhyay & Kate Harding
My Rating: ★★★★★
This is a very powerful essay collection, which is a genre I've really been feeling lately for some reason. I loved every essay in this. There were, of course, some that stood out more than others, but every single one gave me something to think about, quotes to highlight, and some piece of wisdom to take away from it. I read this as a borrowed ebook, but I plan to get a physical copy so I can annotate this and fully review it essay by essay.
Beowulf by Unknown
My Rating: ★★★ (3.5)
I read this for my 'Care of Magical Creatures' book for the Magical Readathon. This wasn't bad necessarily, it just wasn't quite what I expected it to be. I had a hard time keeping focused while reading this and found myself confusing names and places. I may have enjoyed this more if it was read for a class and I had someone teaching it to me, but for a pleasure read, I was mostly underwhelmed by it.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
City of Glass by Cassandra Clare
My Rating: ★★★★★
This one was a reread, and in doing that I think I may have found my favorite book in the series. The Mortal Instruments was originally planned to be a trilogy with this being the final book, and although I love that the series continued, if the books had ended here I think I still would have been happy with the ending. CoG is so intense, and dark, and it wraps everything up perfectly. I also counted this as my 'Ancient Runes' book for the Magical Readathon.
Love, Hate and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed
My Rating: ★★★★★
I'll have a very long review for this coming soon, linked here when available. Long story short, I absolutely loved this. I think it did a great job of blending a cutesy contemporary YA storyline with more serious topics like Islamophobia and racism. The characters were well written and relatable, and I especially loved the main character, Maya. If you haven't heard about it or didn't think you would want to read it, try it out anyway. Trust me, it's worth it.
My Rating: ★★★ (3.5)
I read this for my 'Care of Magical Creatures' book for the Magical Readathon. This wasn't bad necessarily, it just wasn't quite what I expected it to be. I had a hard time keeping focused while reading this and found myself confusing names and places. I may have enjoyed this more if it was read for a class and I had someone teaching it to me, but for a pleasure read, I was mostly underwhelmed by it.
Hamlet by William Shakespeare
My Rating: ★★★★★
This may be a new favorite Shakespeare play for me. I absolutely loved Hamlet. The plot was complex in the best way, but the characters are what really make this play something special. I'm already wanting to reread this so I can annotate it. I adored Hamlet as a character, he was witty, sarcastic, and brooding, all of which are traits I can appreciate. Even characters that are seen less, like Ophelia, are new favorites of mine.
This may be a new favorite Shakespeare play for me. I absolutely loved Hamlet. The plot was complex in the best way, but the characters are what really make this play something special. I'm already wanting to reread this so I can annotate it. I adored Hamlet as a character, he was witty, sarcastic, and brooding, all of which are traits I can appreciate. Even characters that are seen less, like Ophelia, are new favorites of mine.
Not My Father's Son by Alan Cumming
My Rating: ★★★★★
I listened to this on audiobook, which I think is the best format for auto-biographies and memoirs. I went into this knowing who Alan Cumming was, but not knowing much about him or his life, but I didn't find that this detracted from my enjoyment of listening to his memoir. This does mention bits of his life and his acting career, but the book is largely about his relationship with his father and the abuse he suffered at his hands.
I listened to this on audiobook for the 'Divination' challenge for the Magical Readathon. I've read the physical copy twice before and given it 5-stars both times, so I wanted to try listening to the audiobook. Unfortunately, the audiobook didn't work for me for this. I think it may have been the narrator himself, for some reason, his voice just bothered me.
I reread this to catch up with the Shadowhunter Readlong that's going on this year. I also counted this as my 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' challenge in the Magical Readathon. Of course, I loved this and stand by my original 5-star rating. I remembered so little of the Infernal Devices trilogy, so this was almost like reading it for the first time. I think I may actually prefer the Infernal Devices over the Mortal Instruments. CA is now my most annotated book as I was constantly stopping to highlight/ underline things and make little notes.
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
My Rating: ★★★★
I listened to this on audiobook for the 'Divination' challenge for the Magical Readathon. I've read the physical copy twice before and given it 5-stars both times, so I wanted to try listening to the audiobook. Unfortunately, the audiobook didn't work for me for this. I think it may have been the narrator himself, for some reason, his voice just bothered me.
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare
My Rating: ★★★★★
I reread this to catch up with the Shadowhunter Readlong that's going on this year. I also counted this as my 'Defense Against the Dark Arts' challenge in the Magical Readathon. Of course, I loved this and stand by my original 5-star rating. I remembered so little of the Infernal Devices trilogy, so this was almost like reading it for the first time. I think I may actually prefer the Infernal Devices over the Mortal Instruments. CA is now my most annotated book as I was constantly stopping to highlight/ underline things and make little notes.
POSTS:
- Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Jokesters - linked here
- Books I've Binged - linked here
- Top 5 Wednesday: Auto-Buy SFF Authors - linked here
- Important Works: A Discussion - linked here
- Top 5 Wednesday: Ideal Mash Ups - linked here
- Review: Down and Across by Arvin Ahmadi - linked here
- Top 5 Wednesday: Favorite Fandom Items - linked here
✿ So those were all the books I read in the month of April. Comment and let me know what you read this past month, or subscribe to BookSass. Thanks for reading!
No comments:
Post a Comment