May Wrap Up

I finished a total of 9 books and published as many new blog posts in the month of May, all of which will be listed below.

BOOKS WRAP UP:

The Girl Next Door by Jack Ketchum
My Rating: ★★★★★

Wow, what can I say about this one? To start, this was a hell of a story to kick off the month with. I had seen a really great review of this and wanted to read it, then I found that it also worked for the buzzwordathon, the buzzword this round being "girl". This story has little plot but is a fantastic character study. I wouldn't recommend this to anyone, because of the content. If you're bothered by things like rape, physical abuse, torture, pedophilia, or violence, I would say stay away from this, especially considering the victims and abusers are mostly children.

I Am Malala by Malala Yousafzai

My Rating: ★★★★★

This was my second book for the buzzwordathon. This took me a while to get through, not because I wasn't enjoying it, but because it is about a topic I know very little about. That said, this was really easy to read as the writing is accessible and I did learn a bit about more about Pakistan's general history and the recent politics there. 

Caraval by Stephanie Garber 
My Rating: ★★★★

This may be the first audiobook I've been able to listen to without losing focus. I've seen a lot of people say they were disappointed in this, but I loved it. I didn't go into this expecting too much from it, and for that reason, it was just a really fun read for me. I loved the role color played in this, and the idea of caraval as a game. I was a bit disappointed in the ending, it felt very

Dogs Vol. 0 by Shirow Miwa

My Rating: ★★★★

This is the prequel to a manga series about a group of hitmen. This gives some backstory to the characters and shows how they all come together. I don't know if I'll continue with this series. I enjoyed this, but there are so many other books I want to read that this just isn't a priority right now. 

What Happened by Hillary Rodham Clinton
My Rating: ★★★★

I listened to this on audiobook and really enjoyed it and the fact that it's narrated by Hillary herself. I thought this would be more "Why didn't I win? Also, fuck Trump.", and though there were some digs at Trump here and there, this was primarily about Clinton's campaign and her feelings and experiences during the election. While this mostly focuses on the past US Presidential election, there's a decent amount of Hillary's past given, we get bits about her career as a whole and mentions of things like her emails, and Bill's affair. It felt transparent, or as transparent as a politician can be.

Gold Shadow by L.C. Perry

My Rating: ★★★★

This was my first read-for-review book, which was really exciting. I read this slowly and really paid attention to the details so I could review it fairly. While I didn't find this to be perfect (what book is??), I did enjoy it. The full review is linked here. 

Horns by Joe Hill
My Rating: ★★★★★

I may be doing a special review of this soon-ish...maybe. I absolutely loved this! I had been wanting to read this for a while, and I'm so glad I finally did. I could tell just a few chapters in that this was going to be a new favorite. I loved the concept and the main character, Ig. I also really enjoyed the pop culture references and the parallels between Ig and Satan. This is considered horror, and while it does fit the genre, it reads like more of a thriller/murder mystery type story than it necessarily does horror.

Too Fat, Too Slutty, Too Loud by Anne Helen Petersen

My Rating: ★★★★

This is a feminist essay collection centering on celebrity women who are criticized for not fitting what society considers to be the 'ideal woman'. This was a decent collection and I think it would be a good book for people who are wanting to get into more books about feminist issues. However, for me, this didn't feature any new ideas and it had a tendency to drone on. I've read other feminist essay collections I would recommend over this one.

Julius Caesar by William Shakespeare
My Rating: ★★★★★

Unfortunately, I didn't love this one as much as the other plays I've read. It was alright overall, but not one that I would consider rereading. This is largely about Roman politics, which is something I'll admit I don't know much about, but it wasn't done in a way that I found terribly interesting. I was familiar enough with the basics of Caesar's story that there really wasn't anything unique to this to keep me interested, as the story is entirely about Brutus betraying Caesar resulting in his death.


POSTS WRAP UP: 

• Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Authors You'd Want to Write Like - linked here
• KonMari Method for Book Purging - linked here
• Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Books I Disliked, But Love to Discuss - linked here
• Review: Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed - linked here
• Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Books You've Read Because of Booktube/Bookblogs - linked here
• Books by leynes Tag! - linked here
• Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Recent Additions to Your Wishlist - linked here
• Review: Gold Shadow by L.C Perry - linked here
• Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: TBR Benchwarmers - linked here

✿ Have you read any of these books? Comment below what you read this month or link your wrap up post if you've made one. Subscribe to BookSass for more bookish goodness and thanks for reading!

Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: TBR Benchwarmers

Top 5 Wednesday (T5W) is a weekly meme created by Lainey (gingerreadslainey) and hosted by Sam (ThoughtsOnTomes). Learn more by checking out the Goodreads group here.

Today I chose the topic "TBR Benchwarmers". These are books that have been on your TBR way too long.

BOOKS:

The Wrath & the Dawn by Renée Ahdieh

I really have no excuse for this one. It's been sitting on my since 2015 and I still have not read it. I've heard amazing things about this, and continue to hear about it even though the hype has died down a bit, but for some reason, I just haven't picked this up yet. It even sounds like exactly the kind of thing I would enjoy. I do plan to read this sometime this year as part of my new TBR rule which I briefly mention in this post. Maybe I'll get to it this summer? It seems like it might be a good summer read. 

Review: Gold Shadow by L.C Perry

•Disclaimer: This book was provided to me in exchange for an honest review•

Title: Gold Shadow (Bronze Rebellion #1)
Author: L.C Perry
Publication Date: December 2, 2017
Format: Mobi File
Rating: ★★★★

Goodreads Page

Synopsis:

In the North American continent, eighteen year old Ebony has been living as a slave for as long as she can remember. The underground cities, the tattoo, the scars and the shackles are a part of the only world she has ever known. She knows that in order to survive, she will have to stay strong. And she will stay strong, cursing those in power, until her very last breath. She waits for a meaningful way to die as she quietly pushes her body to its limit…but that all changes when rebels from the surface drop down right in front of her. 

Now, Ebony is challenged to envision a life beyond slavery as she and the other escapees are thrown into the center of a rebellion against the monarchy. She has to embrace this glimmer towards a real life…this glimmer called freedom. But what can she contribute to a rebellion that is doomed to fail like those before it? How can they stop a corrupt monarchy that has lasted for a century? Among the lower class, those with hope are hard to come by, but Ebony has found refuge with people full of it. And through their strong desire, an idea emerges…one that has never been done before. The princess of the country is coming of age and what better way to send a message to the king and queen than to kidnap their only daughter?

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Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Recent Additions to Your Wishlist

Top 5 Wednesday (T5W) is a weekly meme created by Lainey (gingerreadslainey) and hosted by Sam (ThoughtsOnTomes). Learn more by checking out the Goodreads group here.

Today for Top 5 Wednesday I chose the topic 'Recent Additions to Your Wishlist'. I thought this seemed like a really fun topic, and might give you some insight into the kinds of books I like to read, but that I might not always find an opportunity to talk about here.


BOOKS: 

The Complete Works of Oscar Wilde

I've mentioned The Picture of Dorian Gray a few times before. It is one of my absolute favorite books, but I haven't gotten to read any of Oscar Wilde's other work, so this collection is a must for me. Wilde's work encompasses plays, essays, letter, and poems in addition to his stories, and this is the complete collection of that. 

TAG: Books by Leynes Tag!

This is a tag that has been floating around parts of booktube recently. It was created by Adrian from Stripped Cover Lit (channel linked here) about Hélène from books by leynes (channel linked here). This tag looked really fun, and I love both of their channels, so here we go.

Questions:

Question #1 - That Stupid Accent: What is your favorite piece of literature by an author foreign from your country?

Answer:

Lolita by Vladimir Nabokov

I absolutely adore this book. I think for this tag question, it is especially worth mentioning that Nabokov originally wrote Lolita in English, despite the fact that Russian was his native language. I can't even imagine learning that level of fluency in a second language.

Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Books You've Read Because of Booktube/Bookblogs

Top 5 Wednesday (T5W) is a weekly meme created by Lainey (gingerreadslainey) and hosted by Sam (ThoughtsOnTomes). Learn more by checking out the Goodreads group here.

For today's Top 5 Wednesday topic I'll be talking about something I'm sure we've all had first-hand experience with, and that is 'Books You've Read Because of Booktube/Bookblogs'. I have been suckered into reading a hyped book on more than one occasion and it hasn't always worked out well, so below I'll be sharing some of these books with you.


BOOKS: 

Rook by Sharon Cameron

I read this in 2015, around the time it was published, for a booktube book club I participated in at the time. This was a dystopian/historical fiction retelling of The Scarlet Pimpernel (which I've never read) and is set in a version of France that has experienced a new revolution and is being controlled by a religious sect. I don't remember much of this now, but I know at the time, I really liked this and gave it 4 or 5 stars. This is a book I hope to reread eventually and after I've read The Scarlet Pimpernel first.

Red Queen by Victoria Aveyard

This was soooo hyped up on booktube around the time of its release. Like many other people, I fell into the trap and bought and read this just because a bunch of people online told me to. I read this in one sitting and absolutely loved it after. However, in the three years since reading this, I still haven't continued with the sequel and no longer necessarily plan to. The world was fairly interesting but fell into quite a few of the YA dystopian/fantasy tropes that were common at the time. Since reading this, I no longer feel this is a 5 star read, and honestly don't know how much I'd like it if I reread this now.

Bitch Planet Vol. 1 by Kelly Sue DeConnick

Bitch Planet is a comic book series where unruly women or women who do not fit the idea of femininity are sent to, and imprisoned on, another planet for their crimes. I was so excited to start this when I first got it. The idea of women committing a crime by not being what men want them to be was such a cool idea, and I was sure I was going to love it. The artwork was well done, and the story was interesting, but it did have a few issues. I felt that parts of the story were confusing or poorly explained, and it seemed to jump around a bit too much and covered too many things and characters for it to be considered a 5 star read. I know other people have noticed these same issues, and although I haven't read the next volume in this, these issues may or may not be resolved in the continuations.

Dead Until Dark by Charlaine Harris

I saw this recommended quite a bit on youtube between various booktubers. I know the Sookie Stackhouse series is fairly popular and spawned an even more popular show, but I did not understand the hype for this. I liked the first book enough to read it, but the concept as a whole felt pretty basic and I have absolutely no intention of continuing with this series. If you like generic characters and plots this is the book for you. If not, I would say pass on this. 

Dorothy Must Die by Danielle Paige

This series follows our main character, Amy Gumm, as she is thrown into Oz and finds herself joining an organization working to dethrone the now-evil Dorothy. This series did not disappoint me. I really enjoyed reading about a version of Oz I've never seen before. In this, Oz has been twisted into something darker than the world presented to us in the original series and movie, good is wicked and wicked is good, and I found the concept to be creative and interestingly done. This is a series I continued reading and I highly recommend this to anyone who might be interested. 

✿ Have you read any of these? What are some books you read because they were hyped up on booktube or in the book blogging community? Comment below, or subscribe to BookSass. Thanks for reading!

Review: Love, Hate, and Other Filters by Samira Ahmed

Title: Love, Hate & Other Filters
Author: Samira Ahmed
Publication Date: January 16, 2018
Format: Ebook - 288 pages
Rating: ★★★★★

Goodreads Page

Summary: 

American-born seventeen-year-old Maya Aziz is torn between worlds. There’s the proper one her parents expect for their good Indian daughter: attending a college close to their suburban Chicago home, and being paired off with an older Muslim boy who’s “suitable” to her mother. And then there is the world of her dreams: going to film school and living in New York City—and maybe, just maybe, pursuing a boy she’s known from afar her entire life who’s suddenly falling into her orbit at school.

But unbeknownst to Maya, there is a danger looming beyond her control. When a terrorist attack occurs in another Midwestern city, the prime suspect happens to share her last name. In an instant, Maya’s community, consumed by fear and hatred, becomes unrecognizable, and her life changes forever.

⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫⧫

Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Books I Disliked, But Love To Discuss

For today's Top 5 Wednesday Rewind topic, I chose 'Books I disliked, but love to discuss'. Some of these were books that disappointed me, some I was very unsure about going into them, and some I just plain hate.

The Books:

• Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews - This was the first book I ever DNF'd and to this day, is only one of three. I knew in the second chapter that I was probably not going to like this. I pushed myself through it until page 73 where I realized I would not be able to continue with it. I was trying very hard to make it at least 100 pages in, which would have been about 1/3 of the way through, but I just couldn't. The writing style wasn't just one that didn't click with me, it was plain terrible. It sounded like the author was trying way too hard to sound like a teen and failed miserably at it. The story is largely focused on a girl character who has cancer, but within that 73 pages I read, she's barely mentioned. I know this book is fairly popular and it seems like you either love it or you hate it, but for me, it was hate. 

• Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher - Ooooh boy. I have a review coming very soon for this and I think that will give more of an explanation as to how I felt towards this. Long story short, my feelings for this were incredibly conflicting. I didn't understand the point of the main character's existence, there was some very apparent blame put on the people this girl believed to be the reasons she committed suicide, there was one scene towards the end that I found particularly abhorrent. Maybe this book was helpful to someone, but I know it to have done quite a bit of harm as well. However, this is a book I love reading/seeing other reviews for, and getting to hear others' perspectives on.  

• Nameless by Lili St. Crow - This book is the perfect example of a great idea with poor execution. Nameless is marketed as something between the Godfather and Snow White. I loved the fantasy world the author was telling us about, but nothing in her writing showed us that the world was what she was describing. This book was riddled with problems ranging from confusing characters to inconsistencies in world building to over-explanation in certain areas while lacking in explanation when it came to the history of this fantasy world. Again, the idea for this was brilliant, unfortunately, the author didn't seem equipped to deliver.  

• The Old Man & the Sea by Ernest Hemingway - I have very mixed feelings toward this one. I think several things factor into my dislike of this novella. Firstly, I am not a fan of Hemingway as a person, so I'm sure that contributed in some way to any negative feelings I had toward this. Second, this is a book that was assigned reading for me in high school. While most of the books I'd been assigned in school I enjoyed, this was not one of them. I'm sure there is a deeper meaning I'm missing but at a surface reading level, this is a story about an incredibly unfruitful fishing trip. I can recognize that this is a work of literary fiction, but I just don't get it. This is a very good character study, but for me, that is just not enough. 

• Insurgent/Allegiant by Veronica Roth - These are actually two separate books, but they were equally as disappointing for me so I'll be talking about both as if they were the same book. I cannot describe how much I loved Divergent. I thought it was going to be the next big thing, I saw the potential for it and was beyond ready to see where the story was going. Unfortunately, where it was going was Insurgent, and subsequently, Allegiant. Not only did the world and characters not go in the direction I thought they would, but the storyline in both books felt lackluster at best. I love hearing from people who actually enjoyed books 2 and 3 of the Divergent trilogy because I just don't get it, and it's interesting to hear what they have to say. 

✿ What are some books you like talking about but did not like? Comment below, or subscribe to BookSass. Thanks for reading!

KonMari Method for Book Purging

Last month I listened to The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo on audiobook. Though there were a few things I disagreed with or found a bit preachy, I enjoyed it overall. I learned several tips on organization and storage, and how to get rid of unnecessary clutter in general. If you're curious as to what the KonMari method is, here is an article I found that explains it a bit.

I personally do not like clutter. I'm not a minimalist by any means, but I prefer to have fewer things and designated places for those things to go. I will be implementing some of her tricks into how I store and organize my possessions, but I don't think I'll use this method too precisely for my clothes, household items, etc. as I don't keep enough of those around to feel burdened by them.

However, I did use the KonMari method to purge my book collection. So, I thought I would do a blog post on how that went, what my collection looks like now, and how I organized and cataloged my books.

Top 5 Wednesday REWIND: Authors You'd Want to Write Like

This month our Top 5 Wednesday topics are Rewind topics. This means that instead of having new prompts for every Wednesday, we get to choose any of the topics from previous months and make those our topics for the month of May. The first topic I chose is "Authors You'd Want to Write Like".

Authors:

• My first pick is Leigh Bardugo. She has a very atmospheric writing style and is a master at setting a gritty vibe that carries consistently through her books (you can see this in her Six of Crows duology). She is definitely an author I look to for 'setting' inspiration as I aspire to create the kinds of settings she manages to achieve. 

• Adam Silvera is my second choice. I've only read one of his books, History Is All You Left Me, but it blew me away how invested I was in the character's lives after reading about them in just one book. I felt for them as if they were real people that not only existed but that I knew personally. I would love to be able to convey strong emotions in my writing as well as he does. 

• For my third author, I have Jack Ketchum. Ketchum is a really great author to read if you're looking for books that have topics or themes that are difficult to read or make the reader very uncomfortable, an example of this being his novella, I'm Not Sam. He handles taboo subjects so well and I hope that any writing I do that handles topics like that would be written as well as his. 

• Fourth is Cassandra Clare. Of course, I had to mention CC, how could I not? Her more recent books, such as her Dark Artifices trilogy, have been so completely realized and so well written IMO. She manages to cram so much into her novels without it feeling like the aspects of the novel were crammed into it. Everything from world building to politics to relationships (whether those be romantic, platonic, or familial) are combined seamlessly. My hope is that my writing would be so well put together that it blended as smoothly as hers does. 

• Vladimir Nabokov is my final pick. Lolita is one of my all-time favorite novels. For me, it is a perfect example of what beautiful writing looks like. Though Nabokov's native language is Russian, Lolita was originally written in English, which I think shows what a strong grasp he had on the English language. If Nabokov can write so beautifully in a language that is not native to him, then my goal as a writer would be to obtain, and write with, the same level of understanding of English as he has.

✿ Those are my Top 5 Wednesday picks for today. If you did a T5W post, link it below, I'd love to check it out, or you can subscribe to BookSass. Thanks for reading!