January Reading Wrap-Up!
Hi everyone! January was an awesome reading month for me! I read 9 books this month, though two of them were picture books for my Children's and YA Literature class this semester. I'm going to include the books I read for that class in my wrap-ups each month since I did read them. Some people may discredit children's books as actual reading but I can't be bothered because I'm a busy woman and reading is reading, no matter what it is. PLUS, I'm critically analyzing them for my class so I am getting something out of the books. This month, I didn't have any books that were less than 4/5 stars for me! If I'm not too busy, I'm hoping to participate in Contemporary-a-thon in February. This readathon takes place from the 11th to the 17th and it is a full week of reading challenges focused on reading contemporary books! Keep an eye out for my TBR for that readathon (if I'm able to do it) and if I do, I will do a separate wrap-up for the readathon and then do my overall February wrap-up! Without further ado, here's what I read in January!
I know I'm super late to the game with this one, but I read The Invention of Hugo Cabret and ABSOLUTELY LOVED IT! This was the perfect way to start off the year. I always remember seeing this book in the library when I was in middle school and junior high but I never picked it up. My friend, AA, has a copy and she let me borrow it and I am so happy that I finally read it. The art work really drew me into the 1930s when this book is set. I love that it is tied into the story of an actual historical figure and the author did such a wonderful job at tying in an element of magic. Rating: 5/5
In September(ish) I started re-reading Strange the Dreamer, in preparation for the sequel coming out in October. I had already planned to do a re-read before the sequel came out and annotate the book so I could reflect on why I loved it so much. Well, clearly it took me way longer to annotate this book than I expected. I don't always have time to read in a detailed manner. I usually read right before bed so my brain isn't paying as much attention as needed for annotating. Anywho, I absolutely loved this book again. I finished my re-read almost exactly a year after the first time I finished the book which gave me warm-fuzzy feelings. This was my favorite book of 2018 and I got so much more out of it the second time I read through. I can definitely see myself reading this book over and over and over. Rating: 5/5
This was a book that I was trying to read to accomplish one of the challenges for my 2018 Reading Challenge, but I wasn't able to finish it before the year ended. This book is an interesting tale about storytellers in Middle Eastern culture. I don't have much knowledge of Middle Eastern culture so it was really neat to read about it in this book. I'm not going to lie, I mostly picked up this book because of the gorgeous cover. There were many bizarre mythology stories that were quite entertaining. The book follows two main story lines and I enjoyed the mythology story line much more than I liked the generational family story line. Rating: 4/5
Right after I finished my Strange the Dreamer re-read, I was immediately in the mood for picking up the sequel, Muse of Nightmares. LOOK AT THIS GORGEOUS COVER! I love it so much. Unfortunately, I did not love this sequel as much as I loved Strange the Dreamer. The story went in a different direction than I was expecting, which is fine, I just didn't feel as connected. Laini Taylor's writing is beautiful and lyrical and it kept me turning the pages, needing to know what was going to happen next. There were a couple times that I teared up, because I am VERY attached to these characters. I had a few problems with this book, but I can't wait to find out if there is going to be a surprise third book in the series or if there is going to be a spin-off novel following different characters. Rating: 4/5
The Vanishing American Adult was the book we discussed in our faculty-staff book club called the Gutenberg Conspiracy. This book is about how parents of Gen Z and later generations have not been raising their children to grow into mature adults. They rely on the education system to try to teach kids social skills. I found this to be a very poignant read and quite a bit of what was mentioned resonated with me. I definitely do not agree with all of what the author mentions/suggest we do to fix the problems he addresses, but I got some good take-away from the book. I certainly see the entitlement that the younger generations feel that they have so this was an interesting look at what the author thinks we should do about that. My biggest qualm about this book is that the author writes a letter of what he thinks Teddy Roosevelt would say to the teens of today and it was just a big NOPE for me. Rating: 4/5
I listened to this very short audiobook at work one day and it is super super good. The story is about a boy whose brother is shot and killed and he decides that he is going to kill his brother's killer. The majority of the story takes place over the span of ONE MINUTE as the main character is riding the elevator down to get revenge and is visited by some people from his past. This book is written in verse and the author reads the auidobook and places wonderful inflection on all the right words and helps the story come to life. All of the awards on the book's cover are well-deserved in my opinion. Rating: 4/5
This was the second book I read for my C&YAL class. I really liked this book, which takes a look into Troy "Trombone Shorty" Andrews' childhood in New Orleans, learning to love music. The art was an awesome mix of collage work and paintings. The colors were vibrant and being someone who has been involved with jazz bands throughout my musical career, I thoroughly enjoyed all of the musical elements of the story. Rating: N/A
Maybe A Fox is a super difficult book to describe and it's probably better to go into this book without knowing anything anyway. I liked this book quite a bit, despite the kind of strange plot points. It made me tear up at the end, so it was a pretty moving story. I think this book is categorized as middle grade, but it didn't feel like it read "young." I haven't ever read anything like this book, so I think it will be one that sticks with me. Rating: 4/5
