What's this? A Lost in My Library post on a day that's not Tuesday or Friday? Must be a wrap-up! Because I've arbitrarily decided that the calendar is more important than my blogging schedule. (But let's also call this my Tuesday post because I don't have anything tomorrow and I'm really not up for three posts a week right now.)
I can't believe that October is over! I'm in the middle of midterms right now (well, kind of - my classes this semester are weird with midterms), and it feels like I was just moving in a couple of weeks ago. And things are moving quickly in a number of ways - it snowed this week! The snow only stayed on the ground for about a day, and it's going to be warmer for at least a couple of weeks, but still - SNOW.
This wrap-up is definitely a bit longer than my wrap-up from last month - I'm finally getting the hang of balancing my schedule to allow for more reading! I'm not reading as much as I usually did in high school, but I didn't expect to, and I certainly had worse months in high school, too. I'll admit last month had me a bit worried - three leisure books in a month is not good for me - but I'm much happier with this month.
THE BOOKS
I can't believe that October is over! I'm in the middle of midterms right now (well, kind of - my classes this semester are weird with midterms), and it feels like I was just moving in a couple of weeks ago. And things are moving quickly in a number of ways - it snowed this week! The snow only stayed on the ground for about a day, and it's going to be warmer for at least a couple of weeks, but still - SNOW.
This wrap-up is definitely a bit longer than my wrap-up from last month - I'm finally getting the hang of balancing my schedule to allow for more reading! I'm not reading as much as I usually did in high school, but I didn't expect to, and I certainly had worse months in high school, too. I'll admit last month had me a bit worried - three leisure books in a month is not good for me - but I'm much happier with this month.
EMPIRE OF STORMS by Sarah J. Maas (Throne of Glass #5): This one took me a while. And after finishing it, I have so many mixed feelings that I barely know what to say. It had its exciting parts, and there are certain characters that I absolutely love. But there were also a lot of little things that annoyed me, and a lot of similarities to A Court of Mist and Fury. I'm going to reread the entire series as preparation for book 6, so I think I'll have more coherent thoughts on the series as a whole then. ★★★★
KISS CAM by Kiara London: This one was a mixed bag for me - it was cute and had two great leading characters, but a lot of the plot was driven by bad decisions and miscommunication and regret, which got kind of annoying. I've read better contemporaries, but I've also certainly read worse. You can read my full review here. ★★★
STAR WARS: LANDO by Charles Soule: I needed a quick break from doing homework all day, and that's exactly what I got. I've already said at least a million times that I need to stop having high expectations for mini-series, but this one was pretty okay. It also didn't feel like it had a real ending - I could easily see this being continued. ★★½
NORTHANGER ABBEY by Jane Austen: This was the monthly book for the Austentatious Book Club, and it's the first one that I actually got around to reading! I was very excited about this one - I watched and LOVED the Northbound web series, which is a modern adaptation of it, so I was sure that I'd like this. I was right! ★★★★½
THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness: This wasn't a really high priority on my TBR, but then Sky @ Sky's Reading Corner read it and started aggressively recommending it, and my library just happened to have a digital copy...so I picked it up! And I'm so glad I did. There were a few things that I found annoying, but overall, it's such an insightful, important book. ★★★★½
AS I DESCENDED by Robin Talley: If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you probably know that this was my most anticipated release in the history of ever. As in, I was wildly excited about this book for two and a half years before its release. Was it absolutely incredible? Not quite. Was it still pretty great? Absolutely! Was it the most terrifying thing I've ever read? Yes, and I'm going to sleep with the lights on for a while, okay? ★★★★
BREAD GIVERS by Anzia Yezierska: This was required for my America in 1925 class, and while I started off really liking it, I hated the ending. I still think it's a very interesting book, and I enjoyed reading most of it, but those last couple of chapters...I'm just so ANGRY. And frustrated. ★★★½
SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy #1): Yes, that's right - I'm no longer the last person in the world who hasn't read this! And wow, I definitely understand the hype about this! It was so, so good, and then it just kept getting better. ★★★★★
SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy #2): This didn't quite live up to the first book for me. I definitely liked all of the new characters, and I thought that the plot went in an interesting direction, but there were certain spoiler-y aspects that I wasn't happy with at all. I almost never like the second book in a series as much as the first, though, so I wasn't too disappointed. ★★★★★
RUIN AND RISING by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy #3): WOW. This was amazing. All of the twists and turns left me shocked, and I nearly cried at least eight times. That's basically all I can say without major spoilers, but if I'm somehow not the last person to read this series, you should go pick it up. It's incredible!
KISS CAM by Kiara London: This one was a mixed bag for me - it was cute and had two great leading characters, but a lot of the plot was driven by bad decisions and miscommunication and regret, which got kind of annoying. I've read better contemporaries, but I've also certainly read worse. You can read my full review here. ★★★
STAR WARS: LANDO by Charles Soule: I needed a quick break from doing homework all day, and that's exactly what I got. I've already said at least a million times that I need to stop having high expectations for mini-series, but this one was pretty okay. It also didn't feel like it had a real ending - I could easily see this being continued. ★★½
THE REST OF US JUST LIVE HERE by Patrick Ness: This wasn't a really high priority on my TBR, but then Sky @ Sky's Reading Corner read it and started aggressively recommending it, and my library just happened to have a digital copy...so I picked it up! And I'm so glad I did. There were a few things that I found annoying, but overall, it's such an insightful, important book. ★★★★½
AS I DESCENDED by Robin Talley: If you've been following my blog for any length of time, you probably know that this was my most anticipated release in the history of ever. As in, I was wildly excited about this book for two and a half years before its release. Was it absolutely incredible? Not quite. Was it still pretty great? Absolutely! Was it the most terrifying thing I've ever read? Yes, and I'm going to sleep with the lights on for a while, okay? ★★★★
SHADOW AND BONE by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy #1): Yes, that's right - I'm no longer the last person in the world who hasn't read this! And wow, I definitely understand the hype about this! It was so, so good, and then it just kept getting better. ★★★★★
SIEGE AND STORM by Leigh Bardugo (The Grisha Trilogy #2): This didn't quite live up to the first book for me. I definitely liked all of the new characters, and I thought that the plot went in an interesting direction, but there were certain spoiler-y aspects that I wasn't happy with at all. I almost never like the second book in a series as much as the first, though, so I wasn't too disappointed. ★★★★★
READING STATS
- Total books: 10
- Longest book: Empire of Storms, 704 pages
- Shortest book: Star Wars: Lando, 112 pages
- Favorite book: Shadow and Bone
- Least favorite book: Star Wars: Lando
- Diverse reads: 7 (all except Kiss Cam, Northanger Abbey, and Shadow and Bone)
- Comics/Graphic Novels: 1 (Star Wars: Lando)
- Classics: 1 (Bread Givers)
BLOG POSTS
- Discussions: The Case Against Tragic Queer Books (Discussion & Review: It Looks Like This)
- Top Ten Tuesday: Ten Great Books that Friends Recommended to Me, Ten Characters I'm Naming My Future Cats After, Ten Creepy Books for Scaredy-Cats
- Reviews: The Case Against Tragic Queer Books (It Looks Like This), Kiss Cam
- Tags: The Zombie Apocalypse Tag
- Other: Classics I Want to Read
How were your Octobers? Read any good books? Did you do anything for Halloween? Tell me in the comments!
Good luck with your midterms, Clara! I hope life at college is going great for you. :) I'm glad to hear you enjoyed the Grisha trilogy! Doesn't it have the best ending? My October was busy but good. I read Blood for Blood by Ryan Graudin, which was brilliant. :D I don't do Halloween, so I didn't pay much notice to it! I hope you enjoyed your Halloween!
ReplyDeleteThanks! I'm loving college so far. And I LOVED the Grisha trilogy! The ending was amazing. I couldn't put it down for the last hundred pages! And I'm so excited to read Blood for Blood! I'm definitely getting to it this month - I read Wolf by Wolf earlier this year, and it's one of my favorite books of the year, so I have high hopes!
DeleteAggressively recommending? I don't think I was aggressive... I just highly recommended it.
ReplyDeleteYou were pretty aggressive :)
DeleteBut I aggressively recommend books to you all the time, so you owed it to me.
You read a lot of books for also being a student and then blogging too. I want to read As I Descended, but I'll make sure I have my people at home when I do based on your review.
ReplyDeleteIt's definitely not a book to read alone! On the other hand, I get scared pretty easily.
DeleteYou have out-read me by quite a few books! LOL
ReplyDeleteDigicats {at} Sbcglobal {dot} Net
Any amount of books read is a good amount!
DeleteTen books during your first term of college? That's super!
ReplyDeleteI read the first Grisha book and was so underwhelmed I never read the rest. But I LOVE her latest series. So now I can't decide if I should go back and try again or what.
Thanks!
DeleteI haven't read the Six of Crows duology yet - my holds at the library STILL haven't come in - so I can't really say how they compare. I've heard a lot more positive things about that series than the Grisha trilogy, but personally, I really loved the series. Maybe give it a try?