okay so, today we are doing my monthly wrap-up. We're gonna talk about all the
books that I read in the month of February - Wow it's still January. Well, not
at the time you're watching this. Anyway we're gonna talk about all the books
that I read in January. First we should probably shout out the books that I'm
currently reading, Harry Potter and the half-blood Prince.
I am solidly getting on with it, four hundred and sixty three pages in, so I'll
have this bad boy done very soon. Videos for it will be up next week. And malazan
book 2 - I am 170 pages in, so less impressive, but I'm actually really
enjoying it I had really mixed feelings about book 1 and didn't really know what
I wanted to do but I've been really having a good time with book 2, so that's
solid. Both of those books will be carrying on into next month, but there's
an update on what I'm currently reading. And now for the stats of what I actually
read this month. So I read a total of 12 books this month and as far as
categories and age range they were a little bit all over the place. And for my
star ratings, I'm really happy with how it went. I didn't actually dislike
anything that I read, I at least enjoyed everything that I read this month so
this is gonna be a pretty positive wrap-up. I thoroughly enjoyed most
everything I read and I even have a couple of new favorites definitely, one
new favorite for sure. Anyway as always we're gonna talk about these books
starting from lowest all the way up to highest rated, but keep in mind that even
the ones that are gonna be talked about in the beginning I still liked at least.
So the first book that I'm going to talk about that I read this month is where
the sidewalk ends. This is a book that was sent to me by a subscriber and, okay
I forgot about this book, I read it a bunch in middle school and I loved it
but then I forgot it existed until it came in the mail and it brought back so
many memories so I immediately started reading it and I enjoyed myself reading
this so much. This is a collection of poems and there were a few
poems that I remembered really well and enjoyed kind of reminiscing I guess, it
was very nostalgic but then there were other poems that were a lot more deep
than I remember them being that connected with me a little bit more
later in life so it was a really enjoyable time. I had a great time with
it it's pretty much as soon as this wrap-up is done I'm going to be sending
it off to with my nieces because I know that
they'll love it too. But I really appreciate having this book sent back to
me because it was very nostalgic and it was very introspective and I just I had
a really good time with it. Next I'm gonna talk about is Wheel of Time book 7
and the review for this went up yesterday, at the time this is going this
videos going up, so I guess if you've read it already and you want to see my
thoughts, check it out it'll be linked up there
and down in the description. But if you haven't read the series yet and you want
to know a very short summary of my thoughts they are this book, well we're
in the slog. Wheel time is kind of known for having a section of about 4 books
that are considered the slog that are tough to get through and I felt that. I
definitely felt that. This was hard to push myself to read but looking back,
there were definitely some really awesome moments there was some great
character growth in a few characters, one character in particular really stands
out to me now that I didn't really care about before. One character that I used
to love is no longer cool. Over all, my feelings on this book are, I didn't love
reading it but some interesting things happened so on we go. Next I have the
book thief which I have a full spoiler free review for I'll link it up in the
corner as well as down in the description. So this is a book that
essentially doesn't have a plot. We follow a young girl and her family
during World War two Germany and we just kind of watch her grow up and follow her
and the people in her household as they have different obstacles and as life
gets hard and how they handle it. Now the unique thing about this book is that
it's narrated by death, and so he spoils the book for you. Within the first 15
pages he summarizes the book but that's not the point, the point of the book
isn't the shock value of who's gonna die and how how it's all gonna go down and
how hard this book is gonna hurt, which I thought was a really unique choice and I
really liked deaths voice, I think the fact that this book was entirely without
a plot, which was intentional and it was it was a choice it wasn't a mistake, but
the fact that it was without a plot and the fact that deaths narration ended up
making me feel more removed from the story than actually helping me feel
involved in it, it ended up not being my favorite book. Definitely not my favorite
book in this genre. But I still thought it was really good,
I'm still glad I read it I didn't love it as much as everyone else seems to, but
overall I had we had some great discussion over on my patreon where
we buddy read this and I'm glad I read it even if it wasn't perfectly for me, it
was still - I still had - just watch my spoiler free review I articulate myself
better there. Next book I'll talk about is climbing with Molly and this is a
nonfiction book and this is a dad telling his story about how his daughter
fell in love with and was naturally very good at rock climbing and then he also
ended up falling in love with it by extension, and how they bonded over it
and how well she did and it was just a really sweet story about a father and
daughter and their adorable wonderful heartwarming relationship. I listened to
this on audiobook and the audiobook was, I think three hours long, it was very
very short and that's probably one of the criticisms I have for this book, is
just that it was so short but it was really easy to get through and it was
very heartwarming if you're looking for just a really quick sweet heartwarming
father and daughter memoir story. Tt was really adorable and I recommend it. I had
a great time reading it, I grew up rock climbing with my dad, and dad listened to
this audio book right before I did and I loved chatting with him about it, it
brought back a lot of memories and it was just it was really great for me. Next
I have the starless Sea, which is also a book that I reviewed, linked over there
and in the description. This book is one that I had very mixed feelings about, it
is an extremely atmospheric book so if you love books that focus a ton on the
atmosphere and environment and how everything feels around you then this
book will very likely connect with you. It's about this boy named Zachary who
when he was I think 11 he found a hidden door and he chose not to open it and
then later on in life he finds this book in the library, it's kind of mysterious
and he starts reading it and he realizes that the book is about him and what
would have happened if he had opened that door. And through that he then
enters into a world of his own and it is wild and it's all about fairytale worlds
and how - like living inside of a story and how
stories connect. Hidden doors, it's it's very Narnia esque but still very
uniquely itself and I loved this world so much. However the characters were as
boring as white rice - I don't why I keep comparing Zachary to various food items
but he was really personalityless, plus there was some pretty big insta-love, but
also with some other characters in the book. This book is chaotic, there's like a
million different stories - that's not true, it's an exaggeration, there's a lot
of different stories that are all handed to us separately without any context, and
you have to get through a lot of chaos before they all start connecting and
coming together. But man I loved it when they did come together. This is a book
that I didn't- I couldn't tell if I liked it or hated it until I finished reading
it and then my overall thoughts are very positive I'm glad I read it. I loved this
world so much and I really loved watching all these stories come together,
but also I'm so disappointed at the things that weren't given any sort of
care, like character development and development in the romances that were
throughout this book. I'm really disappointed because I loved this world
so much that this could have easily been a new favorite but there were several
pieces of the story that were so neglected that it made me hold back a
little bit of my love, and it makes me sad. I have really mixed feelings go
check out the review it's spoiler free. I also just summarized the review so
don't watch it. Next let's talk about my classics. I have a whole classic wrap-up
that I do every month, or try to remember to do every month. I'll link it up there
and down below, and I talked about the classics that I read there. So very
brief, I read Oliver Twist which was painful but beautiful. And I read robots
of dawn, I'm pretty sure it's called, which is the third book in Isaac
Asimov's robot detective series and I love the series despite it being a
genre that I don't typically read. The sci-fi elements make up for the fact
that I don't love the detective elements. I talked about over there it's all
spoiler free. I also read a modest proposal but it feels weird to count
that as a book read because it was like 20 pages, it's like a pamphlet but all my
thoughts are in that video. Next I have to whom it may - to whom it doesn't
concern. This is about a boy who is in high school and one of his
classmates who doesn't know very well, and is a little bit - a lot of it
prejudice against, kills himself in front of people. And our main character sees it
happen and it's really traumatizing for the entire school so we're dealing with
the subject of suicide, we're dealing with the subject of grief, we're dealing
with the subject of forgiveness. It's a hard-hitting contemporary, there's
a lot of deep subjects explored as well as a male-male romance. So i
full-disclosure have not finished this book at the time that i'm filming this
video because i have to film it in the morning but i'm going to finish this
book this afternoon, i'm so close to the end. So i hate to give a proper condensed
review having not actually read the ending yet but so far I've really
enjoyed this book. So what I'm gonna do since I haven't read it yet, is instead
of summarizing my thoughts here I'm going to give a detailed yet spoiler
free review over on Goodreads and my Goodreads is always linked in the
description, so if this book sounds interesting to you at all go check out
my Goodreads because there are a lot of things that I'm loving about this book
and a few things that I'm not loving the execution of as much so if this
interests you at all go check out my Goodreads to get my final thoughts and a
little bit more information. But also this is a self-published author so if it
interest you at all definitely check it out and support some self pop authors.
Next I have the Hart's invisible Furies so this is another book that is so very
different from what I normally read and that I have really mixed opinions on. So
this book is another one that wasn't written for me as a reader, it's another
book entirely lacking in plot and again it was an intentional choice not a
mistake, and I just am the type of reader that I tend to like plot and character
development not one or the other, and I read several books that had one or the
other this month. But despite this book not being written in the style that I
tend to like, I still ended up really having great feelings about it in the
end. So this is about a young boy named cyril and again we watch him grow up and
it's just his life story, it's not a story about how he interacts with
something in his life, but it's just his story. And he was born in - oh I can't
remember the year and I read it on eBook so I don't
even have a reference to go back to. Well either way, he was born in Ireland when
being gay is illegal and he's gay so that's rough, so we watch him grow up
and it's tough and then we also watch him as an adult when a lot of things
changes with the laws and his life circumstances and, oh my goodness I love
Cyril so much.There was some things that I definitely didn't like about this book
like the pacing, and not because it was slow-paced I can get down with a slow
paced book, but the fact that we had a ton of time jumps and then once we did the
time jump we'd look back to see what we missed and then there were times where
we would rehash scenes that we had already watched unfold but then we'd
have to watch it unfold again when a character was telling another character
about a scene that we were there for. There were quite a few pacing issues
that I had with this book and then it's just the fact that it's written to be
someone's life story instead of to be you know - no plot which a lot of people
love I'm just talking about my experience with it. If you are a reader
who loves people's life stories and who loves stories that really focus on
well-developed characters, please pick this book up. I buddy read
this with my friend amy, whose channel will be linked down below, and it's so
funny because I wasn't - again I wasn't really sure how I felt about the book. I
really liked the writing style I really liked Cyril I really liked several of
the side characters but I still had so many mixed feelings about it that I
wasn't sure how I felt until I finished the book and then I looked back and I
realized even though this book wasn't necessarily written for me wasn't
written in the way I like books to be written I loved Cyril so much and the
way he handled conflict and oppression in his life. I loved this character so
much and I want to be friends with him so I can learn from him on how to
appropriately handle people that are treating you poorly. I just - I and it's
funny too because after I finished it and I was talking to my friend, to Amy me
all about how much I love Cyril, she said that's funny because I loved
this book - it's one of her favorite books and she said she doesn't even like Cyril,
she likes all the side characters because Cyril is a very deeply flawed
character that makes tons of terrible mistakes in his lives -
in his life but I just overall loved him so much.
Anyway this is a book that I have crazy mixed feelings on but overall I'm happy
I read it and if this sounds interesting to you go for it. Next we'll talk about
before they were hanged so this is book 2 in the first law trilogy which is
amazing. This is another book that's oddly off-balance it's a very character
focused though I will say that there was finally a plot introduced in this series
two books in and it was so good. I love these characters, I love the development
that they've experienced so far I love this I mean - I hate this world but I love
this world and what these characters went through. The actual story that
started was so good, I am enjoying myself reading this trilogy so much and it
ended on a note that was so I just it's really good and I'm really excited for
book 3. And now we're into the 5 star books, so first we have my dark Vanessa.
This is a book that I feel like I've exhausted talking about in the month of
January but at the same time it feels like it was so long ago that I read it I
do have a dedicated spoiler free review over there down in the description. My
dark Vanessa is about it deals in then and now so we have then when she was 15
years old she went off to a boarding school and she gets involved in this
love affair with her professor, it all looks very romantic to her. And then we
have the now where her professor allegations have come out about him
about other students and vanessa is starting to get some hard truths about
how not romantic her romance, her first love was.This book was very it was
written in a very self-aware way where vanessa was able to see the grooming
that was happening and she was able to see the manipulation that was happening
and how he would tell her that she has control and then never give her control
and she could see these things so that the reader is it tricked into thinking -
the reader isn't subject to thinking that hey yeah this is romantic.
We see how flawed it is because Vanessa seeing it and yet it was done delicately
enough that it didn't feel like the author was holding her hands and telling
us, this is bad. Because Vanessa, despite all the bad things she was seeing was
still swept away in it and didn't really care about all these bad things because
she still viewed it as love if this book interests you at all. I
recommend checking out the spoiler free review I did because I do talk about
how incredibly difficult this book is to read and why but also how impactful it
is and why I highly recommend it if you think you can handle the subject matter.
And the last book I'm gonna talk about, my favorite book this month a book that
is now on my favorites list, the boy the mole fox and the horse .So I always look
up genres for books so that I can categorize them correctly and this book
was a tough one to source because it's written as psychological / self-help
/ comic book because of the beautiful designs and - what's it called -
artwork inside the book. So I didn't know what to call it, it's certainly not
nonfiction which is what those categories seem, so I just put it under
literary fiction. Anyway this is like elementary school age middle grade age
book and it's so beautiful, it handles tough truths and tough things that we
tell ourselves and think about and it puts them so simply and yet in such a
way that invokes so much emotion and really makes you think. I wish I had
grown up reading this book because it has so many it puts things in a way that
I think would help a child really wrap their head around tough tough emotions
that they're dealing with but at the same time I'm so glad I read it as an
adult because, oh it was so beautiful and made me tear up multiple times. I read
this to my son, again a subscriber sent it to me and Drennan sat through the
whole thing, so it's easy for a kid to listen to and I want to read it to him a
lot growing up and hopefully he'll get stuff out of it each time we read it
together. He's a little bit young for it now but oh well he read it and I loved
it so much. This is another book I'm gonna be passing on to my nieces - well I'm
gonna let them borrow this book, to my nieces and then I'm also planning on
buying a couple of copies for other members of the family because it's just
really good and I really recommend reading it even if you don't usually
read younger books, you will get something out of this book. It's
beautiful you should read it. It's very rare that I tell my subscribers, you
should read this book, usually I just try to let you decide for yourself - but you
should read this book. So those are some of the books that I
this month, I'd love to chat with you more about any of these down in the
comments. I will also have links to all of these books in the description in
case you want to check any of them out. I post videos every Sunday Tuesday
Thursday and Saturday. I'll see you guys soon, bye