Sunday, December 31, 2017

What I Read: December 2017

It's such a great feeling to know I read so many cool books this year. I managed to round out the year by reading 44 books in December, putting my total for the year at 222. That's probably the most I've read in a year throughout my whole life. It was fun, but I definitely won't be reading as much next year. I'm going to be doing another post soon where I talk a little more about my favorites of 2017 and some interesting stats of what I read. Let's get into some of my favorites and disappointments for the month of December.

I finished 6 graphic novels of The Walking Dead like I've been doing for the past few months. The ones I finished in December were Volumes 18 through 23. I'm very happy to be almost done with them. I've enjoyed these last few ones more than the ones at the beginning of the series, since it's finally stuff I've never seen happen before.

The only two books I rated 5/5 stars this month were The Chemist by Stephenie Meyer and Matilda by Roald Dahl. The Chemist was so good and had me on the edge of my seat for the majority of the book. I liked most of the characters, and how the plot follows this secret agent type person that is on the run. It's one of my favorite reads of the year. Matilda was really neat, since I've seen the movies a few times as a kid. I thought it was a cute and fun story. I'm trying to read all of Roald Dahl's books in the new year.

Next up, these are some of the 4/5 star books I read. The one I just recently finished is Bonfire by Krysten Ritter. She's an actress in a few of my favorite TV shows, like Jessica Jones, and this was her debut novel. I really enjoyed it! It follows an environmental lawyer that is trying to uncover the truth of what is happening in her small hometown. There's a lot of twists and turns that I wasn't expecting. I hope she continues writing more books. I Can't Make This Up by Kevin Hart really surprised me. I didn't like Kevin Hart much before reading his memoir, but I've got a lot of newfound respect for him. He worked so hard to get where he is today, and I can respect that. It was funny and interesting to hear more about his life. I also enjoyed American Sniper by Chris Kyle. It's always cool for me to read about people in the military, as that's something I'll never join. The last one I'll mention here is Norse Mythology by Neil Gaiman. I knew nothing about Norse mythology before reading this book. I thought Gaiman did a good job putting together a knowledgeable and entertaining read. He's an author I'd like to read more of in 2018.

Moving onto 3 star books, I'm not going to go that in-depth with each one, as this post is already getting pretty long. I read World War Z by Max Brooks, which I thought lacked action. I read American Gods by Neil Gaiman. This one had a lot of potential, but I thought there was quite a bit of unnecessary info. My expectations were very high, so I think that was why I was ultimately disappointed with it. Artemis by Andy Weir was a fast-paced read, yet there were quite a few cringey moments. Some other ones I got to are Lab Girl by Hope Jahren, Seconds by Bryan Lee O'Malley, and The Undoing Project by Michael Lewis.

Lastly, let's round this post out with my biggest disappointments that were 1 or 2 star books. I read The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood with very high hopes, but ultimately found it very boring. The writing style was not my thing, and I hated the characters. I rated that 1/5 stars. I also read 1984 by George Orwell and was disappointed. It got 2/5 stars from me. I liked the concept, though I found the main character to be annoying and whiny. The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt was another 2 star read. My biggest problem with it was how much unnecessary information there was. It was the longest book I read this year, and it devoted so much time to things that didn't advance the plot. The Subtle Art of Not Giving A F*ck by Mark Manson tried too hard in my opinion. I thought his advice was stupid. There are definitely more motivating self-help books out there. I gave that book 2/5 stars.

I'm going to end it here. I hope you've enjoyed all my reading posts this year. I'm going to have a 2017 wrap-up up soon where I'll be going over some of my stats and favorites of the year. This was by far my best reading month of 2017. Thanks for looking!

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