November 2015 Wrap Up

I read a total of 5 books this month, which isn't too bad in my opinion.


I read:

• ★★★★☆ Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
• ★★★.5☆☆ 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
• ★★☆☆☆ The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger
• ★★★★.5☆ The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher
• ★★★★★ You Are Here by Chris Hadfield

The first book I read this month was Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell. Since Carry On came out, I told myself that I NEEDED to read Fangirl this month, and am I glad I did. It was cute, funny, flirty, and real. Being a grade 12 student this year, and since I am going to be going to post-secondary next year, I've found myself really wanting to read more college-based stories. I loved how Fangirl was just enough realism and fiction; how everything lined up perfectly, but not too perfectly. I absolutely loved it, and I highly recommend it! I have a full review under the review section of my blog if you wanted to hear more of my thoughts.

The second book I read this month was 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith. I really enjoyed the quirkiness of the characters, and I loved how the story was so outlandish and seemingly random, but how in the end everything lined up perfectly and made sense with the things you read about earlier in the story. I wasn't a massive fan of some of the characters, because they seemed so unrealistic to me, but I loved others. Overall, not a bad book, and I will definitely be reading Winger to see how Andrew Smith writing style changes.

I made a goal for myself, that I would read (at least) one classic a month, in order to minimize my classic TBR pile. This month I chose The Catcher in the Rye, and I wasn't a huge fan of it. I found the main character to be a little overwhelming, and I found that a majority of the book was just him complaining. I am glad that I read it though, because a lot of people have read it, and I can finally say that I have had the chance to read it.

The fourth book I read this month was The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher. It was one of my most anticipated books to read this year, and I was not disappointed. I love how Lucy Christopher develops her characters, how she makes us believe one thing to be completely true about a character that we love (or hate) and then at the very end of the book pull a complete 180 on us and make us feel the exact opposite about that same character, only stronger. I loved the storyline, I loved the setting and the description, I loved everything. But the ending I am only about 98% in love with...I have a full review under the review section in my blog, if you would like to read more about my thoughts on this book!

I also read You Are Here by Chris Hadfield, which is a collection of some of his photography of the Earth from when he was on the International Space Station from December 2012 until May 2013. I love photography, and I adore anything to do with space or astronauts, so I figured this would be a good read for me. (Also meeting him on November 24th also helped to make me want to read it even more). I loved all of the photographs in this book, they were all beautifully stunning, and I loved how they were all so unique. He wanted to be able to have a human touch on them, with different parts of the photographs in focus and at a different angle, and I believe he did an amazing job with them. Every single photo in this book is just breath taking. Chris Hadfield also wrote a bit about each and every photograph in this book, explaining where it was taken, what is in the photo, and a little background information about each photograph, which I thoroughly enjoyed. If you like space, or photography, or just cool things in general, I highly recommend this book for you.

November 2015 Book Haul

I got a fair amount of books this month, with 11 reading books and 1 colouring book (because why not?). I told myself that I was going to pull back on the buying this month but...well, sales happened.


I got:

Young Adult:

1. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Hardcover)
2. Half Bad by Sally Green (Hardcover)
3. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (Hardcover)
4. Zac & Mia by A.J. Betts (Paperback)
5. Prophecy by Ellen Oh (Paperback)
6. The Promise of Amazing by Robin Constantine (Hardcover)

Adult:

1. Love, Rosie by Cecelia Ahern (Movie edition paperback)
2. Written in My Own Heart's Blood by Diana Gabaldon (Outlander #8 - paperback)
3. The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion (Hardcover)
4. We Are Pirates by Daniel Handler (a.k.a. Lemony Snicket - Hardcover)

Non-fiction

1. You are Here by Chris Hadfield (Hardcover)

Miscellaneous

1. Lost Ocean by Johanna Basford (Paperback colouring book)

Review: The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher

Title: The Killing Woods

Author: Lucy Christopher

Genre: Mystery (Young Adult)

Pages: 384 (Paperback)
Publisher: Chicken House
Publication date: December 30th, 2014


Synopsis from The Killing Woods' Goodreads page


Ashlee Parker is dead, and Emily Shepherd's dad is accused of the crime. A former soldier suffering from PTSD, he emerges from the woods carrying the girl's broken body. "Gone," he says, then retreats into silence.
What really happened that wild night? Emily knows in her bones that her father is innocent -- isn't he? Before he's convicted, she's got to find out the truth. Does Damon Hilary, Ashlee's charismatic boyfriend, have the answers? Or is he only playing games with her -- the kinds of games that can kill?


The fourth book I read this month was The Killing Woods by Lucy Christopher. I first read Stolen: A Letter to my Captor by Lucy Christopher 3 years ago because of a recommendation from one of my best friends, and I have read it many, many more times since. When I found out that Lucy Christopher had another book coming out, I was ecstatic. (Except I waiting for almost a year before reading it...)
I loved everything about this book, from the setting to the plot and the character, all the way to how the book was written. It was written beautifully, and I will no doubt be reading it again and again.
The plot of the book was very intriguing, with a dead teenage girl, and her classmate's father the supposed killer. The synopsis reeled me in and made me wonder who had killed poor Ashlee, and why.
The setting of the book was also amazing, with it being in a small army town in the British wilderness, with a massive forest right on the edge of town. Having the story take place by something like a forest in England really allows for weeks and months to pass quickly in a short book, just by describing what is happening in those woods. Having the trees go from a pleasant green to bright autumn colours to a dark, dead wood in winter also really helps for suspense to build, and to help the book climax. (A wood also creates a very dark, secluded place that is perfect for a murder to take place).
The characters in this book were all also very well written, as all of Lucy Christopher's characters are. No matter how small a character is, or how slight their time is in the story, each and every character develops in their own way, and each character shows the reader who they are in such a short amount of time. Each character in the story also has their own bits of personality and quirkiness that allows them to each have different emotions and feelings about each thing that happens in the story, at each at varying strengths. What is completely insignificant to one character could change how another character views themselves, or how they view those around them.
Lucy Christopher has done an amazing job with this book, and I am amazed at how much she kept me guessing until the very end. I pride myself on being able to solve mysteries due to the amount of mystery novels and Sherlock books I read (and the amount of Sherlock I watch) and I could not figure out who the culprit was until the very end of the book, almost right before it was revealed. I applaud Lucy Christopher for her amazing writing skills, and I realllllly hope that she will write another book, preferably a mystery, very soon.
Overall - ★★★★.5☆

Review: Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

Title: Fangirl

Author: Rainbow Rowell

Genre: Contemporary (young adult)

Pages: 433 (Hardcover)
Publisher: St. Martin's Griffin
Publication date: September 10th, 2013

Synopsis from Fangirl's Goodreads page


Cath is a Simon Snow fan.
Okay, the whole world is a Simon Snow fan...
But for Cath, being a fan is her life—and she’s really good at it. She and her twin sister, Wren, ensconced themselves in the Simon Snow series when they were just kids; it’s what got them through their mother leaving.
Reading. Rereading. Hanging out in Simon Snow forums, writing Simon Snow fan fiction, dressing up like the characters for every movie premiere.
Cath’s sister has mostly grown away from fandom, but Cath can’t let go. She doesn’t want to.
Now that they’re going to college, Wren has told Cath she doesn’t want to be roommates. Cath is on her own, completely outside of her comfort zone. She’s got a surly roommate with a charming, always-around boyfriend, a fiction-writing professor who thinks fan fiction is the end of the civilized world, a handsome classmate who only wants to talk about words... And she can’t stop worrying about her dad, who’s loving and fragile and has never really been alone.
For Cath, the question is: Can she do this?
Can she make it without Wren holding her hand? Is she ready to start living her own life? Writing her own stories?
And does she even want to move on if it means leaving Simon Snow behind?


I really enjoyed this book. Why has it taken me so long to be able to say that? Well...because this is the first time that I've read it. *hides face behind hands*
I read Eleanor & Park over a year ago, and I absolutely loved it. I loved everything, the characters, the plot, the writing style, everything. So I went and picked up Fangirl, expecting to read it very soon. And then a month passed. And another, and another. Pretty soon, it became a year, and I still hadn't read it. I finally sat down and told myself I was going to read it this month, and it was amazing. I loved the writing style (obviously - who doesn't love Rainbow Rowell's writing?) the characters, the plot, the storyline, the fanfiction - you name it, I loved it.
Fangirl is a very cute, realistic contemporary. It has very sweet, loving moments, and very stress-filled, difficult moments. It follows a teenage girl in college, and I am so glad that Rainbow kept not only the cute boy and falling in love elements, but also the finals stress, the difficulties of doing everything and how stressful life, and school, can be.
Fangirl was written in a very beautiful style. All of Rainbow's books are. They're sweet and funny and cute and just filled with so many lovable characters, that I would do anything to be able to just jump into one and stay there forever.
Overall - ★★★★☆

November 2015 TBR

Since last month I strayed far...far away from my October TBR, I decided to make a smaller one for this month, so hopefully by doing that I can read what I want to read, and I can get out of this reading slump I'm in.

I plan on reading:

1. Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell
2. 100 Sideways Miles by Andrew Smith
3. The Odyssey by Homer
4. The Catcher in the Rye by J.D. Salinger

I'm hoping that I can start to slowly pick up writing again this month, or at least try to. I also have a lot of travelling around to tour universities for next fall, so I'm hoping I can get a lot of reading done on those long drives. Have a great month everyone, and happy reading, writing, and NaNoWriMo!

October 2015 Wrap-Up

Hey all! So this month, I read a total of...four books. This month was just INSANE for tests and assignments for me, coupled with a horrible, painful reading slump, so not much reading was done.


I read:

• ★★★.5☆☆ The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman
• ★★★☆☆ Lord of the Flies by William Golding
• ★★★★☆ Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell
• ★★★★☆ Through the Woods by Emily Carroll

The first book I read was The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. It wasn't on my original TBR for the month, but I found it on my shelf and saw the illustrations in it, and I decided to give it a go. I throughoutly enjoyed the beginning of the book, but at one point I had to force myself to get through it since I found some parts were a little repetitive. After a little while though, I was back to really enjoying it and I managed to finish it in one last sitting. I enjoyed the story, but I really liked the characters, and the illustrations were absolutely amazing. I  wish there were more illustrations in the book!

The second book I read was Lord of the Flies by William Golding. I read it for my school book club, and I can see why a lot of people enjoy the book, but I honestly was not a massive fan of it. I personally found the characters to have no development throughout the book, and I found the story very slow, even though it is a very short book. I'm glad to be able to say that I've read it, but I will probably never be reading it again.

The third book I read was Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores. I'd heard of it before, and I found it in my local library to I decided to give it a go. I sat down and read the whole book in about twenty-five minutes, and I enjoyed it. I laughed out loud quite a few times, and I had the same reaction that the booksellers were having in the book. I enjoyed the short, quick read and I recommend it to anyone who works in retail or customer service, whether you like books or not.

I also read Through the Woods the same night I read Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores, and I really enjoyed it. I've never been a massive fan of graphic novels, but the few that I've read this year I really enjoyed. This book was creepy and dark, and a perfect Halloween read. The illustrations were amazing and they told the story perfectly. The book is composed of five short stories, and I really enjoyed all of them. They were easy reads, and the illustrations really helped to tell the stories.