November Wrap Up

Trying to get back on track this month. Let's see if I can meet all of my goals!

Books read this month:

• East of Eden by John Steinback. An interesting and in depth story.
• Shadow Magic by Patricia Wrede. Definitely an early novel by her; she was not nearly the writer she is now.
• The White Tiger by Tamora Pierce and Timothy Liebe. For the graphic novel part of my challenge. And strong, female super heroes written by TP? Count me in!
• Siddhartha by Hermann Hesse. I liked it, but feel as though I need to read it again to really understand and feel it out.
• P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han. Sooo much teenage drama! If I didn't like the main family so much, I never would have continued after the first book.
• Ready Player One by Ernest Cline. A futuristic dystopia of sorts where nearly everyone lives out their lives in a virtual reality game. Bonus: the audiobook is read by Wil Wheaton for the full nerd experience.
• Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo. Loved the first book and now this one. I love the characters and am sad it's over.

Goals completed:

• A classic book: East of Eden
• A graphic novel: The White Tiger
• A book you should have read by now: Siddhartha
• A book that takes place in the future: Ready Player One
• A book from the end of a series: Crooked Kingdom (it's a duology, but I'm counting it)

Least favorite book read this month:
P.S. I Still Love You for sure. I loathed the ending and was not fond of the message it sends to young girls.

Favorite book read this month:
Ready Player One surprised me and I enjoyed it way more than I anticipated. Or Crooked Kingdom because I love it.

I only have 5 books left to complete my goal to read at least 75 books this year. For my 2016 reading challenge, I only have one left to complete. It looks like I might just make it! It seemed kind of iffy there for a while. I'm not really sure what I am going to do for 2017 yet, but I have a whole month to think about it. Anyone have particular reading goals or challenges for 2017 to share? I am also looking to maybe participate in a book-ish photo challenge in December if anyone has any good ones lying around.

I didn't by many books this month. Well, I bought several audiobooks, but I don't generally count those. Here is my book haul:

That's it for November! Thanks for reading!

October Wrap Up

Alright! Full reviews are posted on my book blog, as usual (except for The Graveyard Book because my review of that is on my Goodreads account).

All books read this month!

Spooky books read this month:

• Shiver by Maggie Steifvater. Like Twilight, but way better, and with werewolves instead of vampires. Also, much as I love Maggie Stiefvater, I feel like this book was before she really developed her writing voice (which comes across so very clearly in The Raven Cycle).
• A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz. A twist on the Hansel and Gretel story. I was not a fan of the narration (I thought that maybe I was too old to read it, but I read books for younger ages all of the time, ie: Rick Riordan and Tamora Pierce and I love their stuff, so maybe it isn't just me).
• The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan. Wow I love his books. I love these characters and the addition of Alex was a pleasant surprise.
• Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury. Interesting, spooky carnival story.
• The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury. Kind of a fun story that explores some of the history of Halloween. Also, where the heck are all of the girls in his stories?? Is he only capable of writing men/boys??
• The Diviners by Libba Bray. Definitely a good, spooky Halloween read! Ghosts, monsters, people with special gifts, grisly murders; basically anything you could want in a spooky read.
• Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones. I randomly got this in an audible sale, not realizing it is part of a series. But it was pretty good, reminds me a bit of Janet Evanovich. I may go back and read the first seven books...
• The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman. I love this book so much. It wouldn't feel right to have an October without reading it. And I always cry at the end...
• Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton. Not sure why the additional author, but I think these books are fun to read around Halloween.

Favorite book read this month:
Magnus Chase and the Hammer of Thor or The Graveyard Book. The Diviners was great, too.

Least favorite book read this month:
A Tale Dark and Grimm

Challenges completed:

• A book you bought on a whim: Eighth Grave After Dark

Only one, sadly, but the point of this month was to read my spooky books, and I did manage to read everything on my list! Yay!

This month's book haul:

Not too many books this month

November doesn't have any special themes. I will try to get back on track to finish my 2016 reading challenge and to finish my Goodreads reading challenge, too. I am a couple of books behind schedule. I need to read twelve more books for my Goodreads challenge, but I only need six more to complete my 2016 challenge (and two are already in the works)!

I love October and Halloween so much. I'm sad that it's over. I already have a huge list of books to choose from for next year.

September Wrap Up

Ok! I read lots of books this month, so be prepared. As usual, review can be found on my book blog!

Books read this month:

• The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. A story about a gang of boys and of friendship and family.
• The Tempest by William Shakespeare. Finally read the tale of Prospero for two reasons: to see where Prospero the Magician from The Night Circus took his name from, and to read Ariel's part as Colin Morgan recently played him in a London stage production of this play.
• Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir) by Jenny Lawson. An audiobook re-read because I love this book...
• Wuthering Heights by Emily Brontë. Decent, but my least favorite Brontë novel so far.
• This Savage Song by Victoria Schwab. A book about monsters and good versus evil. So good!
• My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, and Jodi Meadows. Fun, alternate fantasy/history of Lady Jane Grey.
• A Dog's Purpose by W. Bruce Cameron. The story follows a dog through a few incarnations as he finds his purpose in life.
• The Sword of Summer by Rick Riordan. Re-read to prepare myself for the next book which comes out soon!

Challenges completed:

• A book that taught you something: The Outsiders
• A play: The Tempest
• A book with a very long title: Let's Pretend This Never Happened (A Mostly True Memoir)
• A book from somewhere you want to travel to: Wuthering Heights (Because I want to go back to England, I say it counts)
• A book with not enough hype: This Savage Song
• A book written by two or more authors: My Lady Jane
• A book with a non-human main character: A Dog's Purpose

Least favorite book read this month:
Wuthering Heights.

Favorite book read this month:
This Savage Song. Totally underrated. It gave me nightmares--it would have been a great October Halloween-y read! Plus, I loved the nursery rhyme:

 
Next month is October! Hooray! That means I stop reading everything I am currently reading (I tried really hard to get through everything, but I didn't quite make it...) to read Halloween-y books! Except for Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater. It is about werewolves, so it is Halloween-y enough to continue.

Goals for October!
Finish:
     Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

Read:      The Diviners by Libba Bray
     A Tale Dark and Grimm by Adam Gidwitz
     Wicked Charms by Janet Evanovich and Phoef Sutton
Listen to:
    The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
     Something Wicked This Way Comes by Ray Bradbury
    Eighth Grave After Dark by Darynda Jones

If there is time, I will read or listen to my very favorite: The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman

The exception:
I will also listen to The Hammer of Thor by Rick Riordan because his books usually come out in October and I am Rick Riordan trash. I can't wait a whole month! It comes out the 4th though, so I will finish it nice and early.

Anyone else have any exciting Halloween reads planned?