January 2016 Wrap Up

Hello all! This year I really want to read at least 60 books, so that means I need to read at least 5 books a month. I'm SO glad to say that I was able to read, well, 5 books in the month of January!

I read:

• ★★★★.5☆ My True Love Gave to Me: Twelve Holiday Stories
• ★★★★☆    Blankets by Craig Thompson
• ★★★★☆    Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel
• ★★★.5☆☆ Nothing by Janne Teller
• ★★★★☆    The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling

I had started My True Love Gave to Me in 2015, and I finished it the first day of 2016, so it was technically my first read of the year. There were a few short stories in it that I didn't really enjoy, but I loved many more than I wasn't a fan of. The whole book was very winter-y and sweet, and I loved it. I have a full review here if you want to read my thoughts on each individual short story in the book.

I read a graphic novel, Blankets by Craig Thompson, as my second read of the month. The artwork in it was stunning, even though it was in black and white. It was the largest graphic novel that I have ever seen, being longer than 500 pages. I enjoyed the graphic novel, and I found that the characters were very memorable. I liked how the art was drawn, and how every square inch of paper was used, without any extra unneeded space taken or used. I gave the artwork, and the story, four stars each.

The third book I read this month was Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel. I picked it up on a whim while on winter break, and I really enjoyed it. It was the first adult dystopian book I have ever read, and the difference between young adult dystopian and adult dystopian astounded me, but in a good way. I loved how the adult genre focusses more on the characters and what they go through then the world and how it got there. Seeing so many different characters' perspectives usually worried me and threw me off the book at the beginning of the story, but once I picked it up and really started reading it, I really enjoyed it. I have a full review here if you want to read more of my thoughts on this book.

The fourth book I read this month was Nothing by Janne Teller. I was really looking forward to this book, and sadly I found myself slightly disappointed by it. I was hoping for a relatively lighthearted book about a group of kids who try to help their friend find the meaning of life, and of everything in it, through things that are important to them. This book did have that, but instead of finding this book to be lighthearted and emotional, I found the children to be slightly disturbed and more concerned about getting back at each other for making them give up their worldly possessions then about their friend. In the synopsis of this book, it sounded like they were going to be very young children, and that their friend who couldn't find meaning in anything was very sad and depressed, but instead they were seventh and eighth graders, and their friend was making fun of them and laughing at them for believing that life has meaning. I honestly found this book to be very dark and heavy, which was nothing like what I was expecting, and I still don't really know if I am super happy or sad about that. I have a full review of Nothing that can be found here if you are interested in reading more of my thoughts on this book.

The fifth and final book I read this month was to start my challenge for myself for this year. I really want to read more classics, so I am trying to read at least one classic book a month, in order to diminish that TBR pile. This month, I ended up reading The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. I absolutely loved the movie adaptation of this book when I was little, so I had very high expectations for it reading it now, and I'm so happy to say that I loved it. I found the book to be very different from the movie, obviously, but I mean that in a good way. I really was able to see the characters in completely new perspectives, and see how they were originally imagined to be. I enjoyed the differences between the movie and the book, and it was a very short, enjoyable read to finish off the first month of the year.