July 2017 Reading Wrap Up

Cecilia
Sep 24, 2017
8 min read

WOW THIS WRAP UP IS SO LATE HAHHAHA WHAT AM I DOING WITH MY LIFE

CAN I DSITRACT YOU FROM IT’S LATENESS BY SAYING LOOK HOW MANY BOOKS I READ?! BECAUSE LOOK! MANY!

Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief

I am so excited to be finally getting into this series. I know it’s a children’s series (middle-grade? Maybe?) but I’ve heard consistently awesome things about it so it was about time I picked it up. And I enjoyed this first one! It didn’t blow me away or anything, but I think it’s setting up for some more exciting plot development and character arcs later on so I definitely plan to continue with the next four books. I also enjoyed reading about the Gods and mythology, which is something I didn’t think I was particularly interested in. The extent of my knowledge about all that is pretty much just watching Hercules (the Disney version) once or twice as a child. So even though it was aimed for a much younger audience, I found the topic pretty interesting and can’t wait to see where the story goes. Also would 10/10 go to Camp Half-Blood even now as an adult. Where can I sign up? I’m ready.

3 stars. Would most likely have rated this much higher if I’d been in the right age group though. This would have been right up my alley when I was a kid.

The Mime Order by Samantha Shannon

This is the sequel to The Bone Season (which I LOVED) and while it was still great, I didn’t enjoy it nearly as much as the first. I still really love this world and how complex it is, but ultimately it just wasn’t as captivating as the first book. I do think it’s setting up for some major things to happen in the next book, and I’m pretty sure this is going to be a seven book series so I’ve only just touched the surface of everything that’s going on. This series is going to be epic though and I am here. for. it. If you like urban fantasy but want a twist, this is it. Because it’s in a modern setting, but with an almost regressed society. But still with futuristic technology. I realise that doesn’t make a whole lot of sense but once you get around the language and the complex hierarchy of clairvoyance that exists it is soooooo wonderful.

4 stars.

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli

Well wasn’t this just a squishy pile of adorable?! (The answer is yes). Becky Albertalli has this knack for writing characters that I fall in love with and I just want them all to live happily ever after. Which blows my mind because on the cover of my copies of both of her books, the description says ‘the lovechild of John Green and Rainbow Rowell’, who are two authors I honestly can’t get into. The Upside of Unrequited follows Molly, who has constantly has crushes but never acts on them. She then meets two very different guys and her twin sister tries to set her up with one of them. And that’s my problem with this book. While I loved the characters and I thought the story was well-written and I was thoroughly entertained, I just can’t connect with/relate to any character when it comes to crushes/obsessive boy-talk/’why can’t I get a boy/girlfriend’-ness. It’s not my thing. I’ve never been like that and it usually infuriates me more than anything when I’m reading. I knew this was obviously the premise of the book before going in so it wasn’t in anyway unexpected, and it didn’t stop me enjoying the book immensely. It’s just not for me. Not to say it was a bad book. It dealt with usual ‘boy drama’ really well, as well as the how to deal with entering into a romantic relationship without ruining relationships with family and friends. Which is something more YA books need, in my opinion. There are blatant lines about the fact that just because you’ve got a boyfriend/girlfriend you can’t ditch your other friends and I was just like YES CAN EVERY TEENAGER EVER READ THIS NOW PLEASE THANK YOU SO MUCH. Pretty much everyone I went to high-school with could’ve done with hearing that. Just saying… Also, I loved how this linked to Simon vs the Homosapiens’ Agenda. They’re just a cute bunch of characters. So read this if you want some nice warm fuzzy feelings. I like warm and fuzzy occasionally to break up the despair, darkness and twistedness that usually fills the books I read.

4 stars. Cute!

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

Not entirely sure I’m ready to be done with this. Again. If I immediately start reading Philosopher’s Stone again after I finish Deathly Hallows, no one will think that’s weird, right?

5 stars.

Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows by J. K. Rowling

How. Is. This. Over… again. Not ready. Never ready. Really want to do another re-read soon. Not even sorry. I don’t need to explain myself to you. Stop judging me!

5 stars.

Get Your Shit Together: How to Stop Worrying About What You Should Do So You Can Finish What You Need to Do and Start Doing What You Want to Do (A No Fucks Given Guide) by Sarah Knight

This was so great. I’ve read Sarah Knight’s last book, ‘The Life-Changing Magic of Not Giving A Fuck’, which was also fantastic. I just really enjoy how she explains her process of getting things done/dealing with life/not being a giant ball of stress every second of the day. Even the parts of her books that aren’t relevant to me, I still enjoy because even the more serious topics are dealt with in such an easygoing and light-hearted way. And nothing never comes across as preachy. I will immediately disconnect from a ‘self-help’ style book if it starts coming across as too pushy or preachy and then never pick the book back up. I highly recommend these if you just need a little reminder on how to suck less at life. Because we all need help with that sometimes.

4 stars.

Never Never part 1 by Colleen Hoover

I read this as part of the fail of a week that was Booktube-a-Thon and the Biannual Bibliothon (see my previous post for more about what I was attempting to do that week. Spoiler alert, I failed.

This was for the category ‘a book from a genre you wouldn’t normally reach for’ (or something like that) and honestly I expected to HATE this. Like proper, consume my soul hate. But somehow I didn’t. While I didn’t think it was the best thing I’ve ever read, I was genuinely invested in the story and I’m definitely going to continue with the next two parts to find out what the hell is actually going on. Because I have questions. Many questions. Basically we follow two highschool students who are in a relationship, but both don’t remember anything prior to that morning. Everyone else seems to have all their memory in tact and the story is them trying to work out why they have lost their memory. Some of the highschool/couply stuff got a bit tedious (their relationship has some definite issues) but overall I found the story really interesting and it kept my attention the whole way through.

4 stars.

The Queen of the Tearling by Erika Johansen

So this was actually pretty great. And not at all what I was expecting.

I thought this was a fantasy, probably set a really long time ago and would be all about Kelsea becoming a queen and taking over rule of her country and all that goes along with that.

This is actually set way in the future, after we humans fuck up the world, and society has regressed to what feels like a historical setting. I was right about the Kelsea becoming a queen stuff, sort of, but reading about her dealing with trying to work out how to rule her screwed up society that has been run into the ground from her family is way more entertaining than I thought it would be. She feels like such a realistic character because we get to see so much of her reasoning for doing things, and she has flaws and makes mistakes. There’s none of this ‘I’ve never done this before but watch me be immediately awesome at it and get nothing wrong’. She gets so much wrong. And she’s impulsive. And doesn’t always listen. And I appreciate all of those things! Also, Mace. One of my new favourite characters ever. He’s brilliant. This, so far, seems like a great fantasy trilogy for anyone who doesn’t want to get into fantasy that’s too intense with a thousand different characters from different families/countries/continents etc because it only follows a few points of view and is fairly straightforward with how the story is told.

4 stars.

Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

Here it is. Negative review. Everything before this was so great and then…

I have nothing good to say about this book. That pretty much sums it up.

If I had to say more though I would also say that I found the protagonist to be incredibly annoying and frustrating and generally just a crap person. And I get that that is kind of the point, but I still didn’t care. I also hated all the side characters. I didn’t like the way it was written. And I stopped caring about where the story was going about 10 pages in. There was nothing about this book I could even remotely say saved it for me. Sorry.

1 star.

Attack on Titan volume 8 by Hajime Isayama

This volume was SO DAMN HECTC. We’re 8 volumes in here so there’s absolutely nothing I can say about the plot without giving away all the things but still GIANT TITANS THAT EAT HUMANS. If that doesn’t sell it to you, then I don’t know what will.

5 stars

Talking as Fast as I Can by Lauren Graham

I’m going to start off by saying I LOVE Gilmore Girls. Rory and Lorelai are two of my favourite fictional characters of all time and I will never not be emotionally attached to the show. Even after the Netflix Seasons series, which I’m not particularly fond of. But just like the reboot, this book was a disappointment. I didn’t find any of Lauren Graham’s back story to be very entertaining or even well explained, and there were certain chapters where I just completely don’t even know why they were included in the book. And for a book that mentions Gilmore Girls twice in the full title, I would’ve thought there would be more about Gilmore Girls actually in it. I wanted to find out way more about what it was like working on the show, and then getting to come back and work on it again. I just didn’t buy into the emotional connection that Lauren Graham apparently has with Lorelai as a character.

2 meh stars.

More Than This by Patrick Ness

OMG

THIS BOOK

SERIOUSLLY

THIS BOOK THOUGH.

Read this book. Don’t read any reviews about it. Don’t read the synopsis. Just read it. Or listen to the audiobook like I did. And then wonder about your ENTIRE LIFE AND FEEL ALL THE EMOTIONS FOR THESE FICTIONAL PEOPLE WHO AREN’T EVEN REAL BUT WHO CARES BECAUSE OMG ARE THEY OK ARE YOU OK AM I OK? Books like this are my 1000% favourite.

5 stars.

Attack on Titan volume 9 by Hajime Isayama

This wasn’t as intense as the previous volume, but it was still so good. There’s so much that we’re finding out now that is just blowing my mind and I am here for it all. Also, I’m now past where I’d watched up to with the anime so the mind blowing is next level and not just the standard level of mind blowing.

How many times can I say mind blowing?

The answer is all of the times.

4 stars.

Men at Arms by Terry Pratchett

This is the second book in the Guards/City Watch ‘series’ within the entire Discworld series and it was one of the most entertaining books I’ve read in the series so far. I love these characters so much. They’re such a motley group and I love the banter between them all. And the puns! This book was full of puns. Which I wholeheartedly appreciate. More books should have more puns. Also more books should be about trolls trying to learn algebra. I’ll fight you on this point.

5 stars.