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.