I decided to take a small break from the dystopian craze and read The Prophecy of Days. Still Young Adult genre which I absolutely seem to be stuck on these days. But as with most things I expect this phase to pass and I am enjoying it for now.
This novel is more of a mystery sort of like Incarceron but not dystopian at all. More ancient and related to the Mayans. It was quite a fast and interesting read and I enjoyed it a lot.
She, too, has a sequel but it’s not out on the Kindle yet and like the others, I tend to like to put some time and space between my books so it will have to wait for now.
I bought Self Compassion: Stop Beating Yourself Up and Leave Insecurity Behind because it was recommended in my Ordinary Courage class. At first, I started reading it right away but then life got in the way and I didn’t get to really dig into it and finish it until the holidays last year.
And it was AMAZING.
I mean truly amazing.
If you tend to beat yourself up at all (and I sure do) I cannot recommend this book enough.
I would love to quote large sections from it but I am way too tired and sick to write them up. But trust me when I tell you that this is an truly worthwhile read.
In fact, I think I will have to reread sections of mine right now.
I am not a fan of short stories. But connected stories like the ones in Winesburg, Ohio are more my style. And all the reviews for this book were so darling that I couldn’t wait to read it.
I will admit that while I enjoyed it a lot more than I usually enjoy short stories, I still had a hard time getting through this book. It might have been my mood or my state of mind at the time but either way I struggled my way through it.
Looking back, I am glad I read it and if you like short story collections, this one is certainly worth checking out.
I read Breakfast with Buddha in two days. It was for a new book club and I had just a few days to finish it.
It’s an easy read and didn’t take me long to get through it. I hadn’t read anything by the author before so I had no idea what to expect. To be honest, I didn’t even know if it was fiction or nonfiction while I was reading it (it’s fiction) but I did enjoy it.
I wouldn’t say it’s one of the best books I’ve read or that it was amazing but it certainly was thought-provoking at parts and made for a fun book club discussion.
I waited and waited for Death Cure because I loved Maze Runner and I was promised this last book would have all the answers.
Well, it didn’t.
Even though the book is a mighty fast read and there’s an ending, I didn’t feel like I got the answers to any of my questions. I am annoyed that I read book 2 and 3 since they were much more mediocre and I didn’t even get my answers! I know I am sounding like a spoiled kid. But still…
I do highly recommend the first book. But maybe not the other two as much.
Ficciones was a book club choice. I have been meaning to read it for a long, long time so I was grateful to have the excuse to finally do it.
Alas, it was a super-hard read for me. While I liked some of the stories ok, I found the writing dense and didn’t connect with any of the characters in any story. Almost all of them have twists in the end and those are neat but I just didn’t get into it enough I guess.
This book has such great reviews that I feel there must be something off with me for not liking it. Then again, I’ve never been a huge fan of short stories.
I chose An Abundance of Katherines because it was the only John Green book I haven’t read and I am a huge, huge fan of John Green. So far, he hasn’t written one book I didn’t love.
And so I was really looking forward to this one since it’s got great reviews on amazon, too. And I did like it. A lot. But i didn’t love it as much as I loved Alaska and Paper Towns. I even loved Will Grayson more than this one. Not sure exactly why. Maybe cause I didn’t connect with the characters as much or it didn’t feel as deep as some of his other books did to me.
Nevertheless I did like it a lot and I am really happy to have read it.
I chose Relic because of an online book club. I don’t usually read mysteries so it was a nice change of pace. And it was a quick, engrossing read most of the way through.
I cannot put my finger on why but it left me uninspired for some reason. I didn’t feel happy or clear when the ending came. There’s a big twist towards the end and I didn’t care for that either.
Having said that, I did enjoy reading the book while I was reading it so I don’t want it to sound all bad. It was a fast, interesting and engrossing read. I’d recommend it if that’s what you’re looking for.
I chose This Must be the Place because one of the reviews said the author was like Anne Tyler. And since Anne Tyler is one of my all-time favorite authors I knew I had to try it.
In the beginning, I didn’t like it. I didn’t dislike it but I just couldn’t get into the story. But eventually the characters found their way into my heart and I ended up loving the book. Even though I could tell the twist long, long before it was revealed (though I sort of think that was the author’s intent.) I still loved every little bit of this book.
And it did remind me a bit of Anne Tyler and her quirky, sweet characters that I always fall in love with. I am looking forward to seeing more from this author.
I am a huge fan of John Green so I don’t know why I kept putting off reading Will Grayson, Will Grayson but I finally picked it up.
And, of course, I loved it. I just love the way he writes. I’d never read the other author but I liked his parts, too. Though, of course, not as much as John’s. I love his characters, writing, pacing, etc. I have now read all but one of his books (this post was written months ago, before his January book released but I already have that on preorder.) and I am going to save it for another downturn in my reading list (as it often occurs) because I know I will love it.
I have simply never been disappointed by this author.
I wanted to read One Day before I saw the movie (which I knew I was going to want to see.)
I must admit that the book felt too long at parts and I kept wanting to put it down or felt bored with it. I liked both of the characters okay but I didn’t feel a strong connection with either. Though I could relate to the story and their connection, etc. So I kept reading.
And despite not being able to guess the twisty ending and despite hating the twist, I still did enjoy the book. It felt like a satisfying meal in the end. It was interesting to read a novel that takes place over a lifetime of two characters.
And we did see the movie which was lovely.
I felt guilty about reading so many young adult books in a row so I decided to pick up The First Day of the Rest of My Life and I am so sorry that I did.
I didn’t really like the writing style in this book at all. And to top it all it had two of my least favorite topics (I won’t mention them because they will give away some of the plot but suffice it to say they are miserable things.) And I just felt sad and angry and depressed the whole time. Even with the flippant characters and the funny (not so) articles.
I completely understand that these are real issues and that life is often sad and terrible injustices are done all the time. But I don’t want to read about it. If that makes me ignorant or bad or whatever I am ok with it. I read for pleasure and joy and I like reading books that do not leave me deeply depressed. I do not need more of that in my life.
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projects for twenty twenty-four
projects for twenty twenty-three
projects for twenty twenty-two
projects for twenty twenty-one
projects for twenty nineteen
projects for twenty eighteen
projects from twenty seventeen
monthly projects from previous years
some of my previous projects
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