For the month of July 2018, I have read more books than any other month and that number of books is,
drumroll please...
Six books.
Yeah, I know six is a low number compared to most booktubers,
but it's not my fault you guys are fucking nerds, okay?
I usually read about three books in a month, maybe four if I'm on a roll.
So I'm kind of in this weird middle where I read more than the average person,
but I read way less than a booktuber.
Booktubers are a separate species on their own, okay?
Regardless, I'm doing a July wrap-up of all the books I've read this month.
Because we all know that wrap ups are really just a way to humble brag about the books we've read.
Right? Am I right? I'm right.
So the first book I read this month was War Storm by Victoria Aveyard.
This is the fourth and final book of the series, and thank god.
I rated it three stars which is a pretty generous rating because this series is like same shit different book.
Everything's the same just dragged out over 3,000 pages of monologue.
Every other page we have "heat" rising up to someone's cheeks.
What's wrong with these characters? Go see a doctor.
You don't need to be blushing that much. Chill the fuck out.
Mare is like that one annoying friend you have who keeps breaking up with her boyfriend
and saying, "This time I'll never get back together with him,"
and then next week you see her back coming out of his room and you're like bitch look at your choices.
Meanwhile, Maven is still a creepy little loser who's just mad because his brother's the hot one.
I don't know why so many readers like him. If you actually like him, after you dislike this video,
please let me know in the comments why, because I don't see anything redeeming about his character at all.
Cal may not be perfect but at least he didn't kill babies and he's hot.
Those are like the two basic requirements of a love interest.
The series may be done, but I was done with it like two books ago.
Will I read another Victoria Aveyard book again? The answer is probably yes, because I'm trash.
Second book I read is Dear Ijeawele, or A Feminist Manifesto in Fifteen Suggestions.
I gave this book three stars as well, which is a shame because I know that this book was a raved about a lot.
The way that I perceive this book is kind of like feminism 101.
I think we can all agree that girls should be allowed to play sports
or they should be allowed to play with toy trucks
or they should not be the only ones expected to do house chores, you know.
Just like basic things that most of us can agree on
and is pretty much common knowledge in first world countries.
I think this book would be useful as an introduction for people who have no idea what feminism is,
like an elementary school kid or like an alien or something,
but then it makes me think that only feminists would pick up this book, right?
So what are we actually taking away from this that we don't already know?
Sexism is a complex subject to write about
and I think that the simplicity of her writing and the shortness of her book
takes away a lot of the nuance of the discussion and scratches only the surface.
Which I guess is fine, but it's not for me.
I agree with her points I just don't think I learned anything new.
The next book I picked up was The Art of Creative Thinking by Rod Judkins.
I picked up this book because I have a career in the creative field,
and it ended up being the worst book that I've read this year.
It advertises itself as a self-help book, which it is not.
It's a book with a bunch of random anecdotes about very stereotypical famous people
like Steve Jobs and Bill Gates, and then the author attaches it to very generic lessons,
If I want to read a bunch of anecdotes about famous people, I can just go on their Wikipedia page.
And why would you use quotes from Donald Trump and Woody Allen? Ew.
There is nothing inspirational about them except inspiring me to die.
And then to add insult injury the writing is also very disjointed, super clunky and just very unorganized.
I might as well read a Pinterest board. That's how generic and disjointed it is.
I gave it one star which I don't do very often to books but I found that if I was dreading reading it the whole time
that's a pretty good indicator that it deserves one star.
And then the next book I read is Made in North Korea: Graphics From Everyday Life in the DPRK.
So I picked up this book because I love to travel but the one country that I'll probably never go to is North Korea
because they would probably just take one look at me and then see that I violated every rule over there.
Basically, it's a book that puts together all these artifacts
that the author has collected during his time in North Korea.
It gives you a glance of what everyday life is for a North Korea and also the graphic nature of their designs.
But I gave it three stars anyway because I think I was a bit let down by how
there wasn't much of a design analysis of these images.
I think showing a lot of everyday objects like beer can labels and food packages
helps normalize the people over there but I just kind of wish that it was more in depth with the design analysis
and some of the design influences from other countries, too,
But again, that's just my opinion as a designer, so.
And then finally the one book that I've wanted to talk about this whole video.
Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo is awesome.
And I know I'm just over hyping it like everybody else and I don't care.
I picked this up because everybody on booktube
was acting like they were gonna give up their firstborn for this book.
So I was like, okay, let's see what the hell is up with it. And you know what? You bitches were right.
I loved it. I gave it five stars, and I'm so happy that I read it.
Booktube: one. Cindy: zero.
Actually, that's not true because we are all winners for having read this book.
The only thing that I hate about this book is that I didn't read it sooner.
I tabbed all of my favorite moments from this book, so I obviously am a little obsessed.
I'm gonna make a whole review video about it, and I'm just excited to talk about it.
And then the last book I read is something that I haven't started yet but I will tonight
and that is Crooked Kingdom, which is the sequel to Six of Crows.
So I'm jumping the gun a little bit by including the book in my video,
but I know I'm gonna finish it before the end of the month and I know I'm gonna give it five stars.
I just don't see any instance where I wouldn't give it anything less. Maybe four stars. Maybe.
But I already love the universe so much. I love the characters. I love the writing. It's just some good shit.
And I know everybody has hyped it so much already, so I guess when I make my review
I'll add in a few other things that the book could have done better just to be "objective,"
but realistically speaking it's probably just gonna be a bunch of shitty jokes like most of my videos.
So expect that to come pretty soon and if you haven't read Six of Crows,
what the hell are you doing with your life?
Just kidding. You can do whatever you want.
Overall, I pretty much read half fantasy and half nonfiction and...
Overall, it was kind of like, meh until Six of Crows saved my month and also saved my life.
Again, I'm overhyping it way too much, but I think it's just nice to be excited about a book.
That's why we're all doing this right? To actually feel something in our lives.
And that's pretty much it for this video if you've read any of the books that I talked about,
let me know what you think in the comments. Especially if you've read War Storm because first of all,
I want to know why you keep on reading Red Queen.
I actually really want to know people's opinions on the ending of war storm,
because I kind of felt like it was very lukewarm.
And if you've also read Six of Crows hit me the fuck up
cause I got so much to say about it and so many characters to make fun of, so yeah.
That will all be there in my next video.
Until then,
Bye.