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.
Flat-Out Love just called to me so I picked it up and I must admit that I really really enjoyed the story. There are some twists and turns and I could guess some of them and not the others but even with that I really enjoyed reading it.
I liked the characters, enjoyed the quirks and didn’t mind the writing style.
If you’re looking for a quick, fun read this is definitely on the list. I will look for more from this author. (I’d never heard of her before.)
After Shiver and Linger I moved right on to Forever because all I wanted was more of these characters. More of this story. I can’t remember enjoying a novel this much in a long time. I just felt completely sucked into their world and loved reading all the characters.
I think this was likely my least favorite of the three, maybe cause it was the end.
But I still loved it and wish there were more of them. I know the author has written other novels but I am not sure I will like them equally as much, however I think I have to try at least one now because if they’re half as good as these, I will love them.
If you’re looking for a quick, wonderful read, this is the series for you.
As soon as I finished Shiver, I moved right on to Linger which is super-rare for me since I like to take a break between books in a series.
But this time I couldn’t.
I just wanted to read more and more and see what happened. I loved the second book even more. I loved the additional characters and their stories and how it all weaved together. I couldn’t stop reading the novel and didn’t want to put it down for one second. That, to me, is the sign of a great book. I know that this isn’t everyone’s cup of tea but I really enjoyed it.
So much so that I moved right on to the third book.
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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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