Hey everybody! The first half of the month, I seemed to have read a lot of average and disappointing books. Luckily, I did read some very neat things during the last part of January. I wanted to chill out on reading this year, but I still seem to be on a reading kick. My goal for the year is 100, and I managed to read 34 books this month. 12 of those were graphic novels, and the rest were novels. One thing that helped me read a ton this month was reading eBooks on my phone. I read a little before each of my classes, and you'd be surprised about how much it adds up. Anyways, let's get into what I read.
So starting with graphic novels, I finished the Scott Pilgrim series (volumes 1 through 6) before I came back to school. I've heard a lot of positive things about the series, but I honestly found it to be kind of stupid. I didn't like the main character that much, and I thought the plot was dumb. I would not recommend it. I believe I'm now caught up on all of The Walking Dead graphic novels (volumes 24-28). These last 10 or so have been very enjoyable, because it's finally things I never saw them do in the TV show. The plot has been moving quickly, and there's lots of good drama. The series has finally redeemed itself to me with the last few volumes. I also read Saga Vol. 8. It was okay. I'm not the biggest fan of this series either, but there are a few characters I like in it.
None of the books I read this month were 5 star reads, but I managed to find a decent number of 4 star ones recently. Columbine by Dave Cullen is a book I've been wanting to read for a while. It takes a look at what happened with the Columbine shootings and a profile of the killers. I thought it was very well-done writing and research wise. One aspect I liked about it was an aside about how media plays a role in these tragedies. If you like to read true crime, it's a worthwhile one to check out. As You Wish by Cary Elwes was a cool look at the behind-the-scenes of The Princess Bride. It is a memoir about his time as Westley in that movie. If you somehow have not seen that movie, you really ought to check it out. It's fantastic! This book was entertaining and talks about some of the other actors/actresses involved in the film. I definitely recommend this one too! Final Girls by Riley Sager had a very compelling plot. If you like thrillers and books revolving around murder, I'd recommend it. It wasn't 100% what I expected, but it still kept me intrigued most of the time. Some other good ones were The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman, The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot, Everybody Lies by Seth Stephens-Davidowitz, and Notorious RBG by Irin Carmon.
The rest of the books I'm going to mention all let me down in some way or another. An average book (3/5 stars) that I was expecting more from was Sourdough by Robin Sloan. Robin Sloan also wrote Mr. Penumbra's 24 Bookstore, which I read last year and really enjoyed. I thought Sourdough would be good, but it feel flat. It's all about a woman in tech who starts making her own bread. I thought the main character was pretty cringey. I also read Carrie by Stephen King and rated it 2 out of 5 stars. Stephen King's writing rubs me the wrong way in places. It was a quick read, but I didn't like that the were essentially no chapters. It was divided into parts that each probably took at least an hour to read. I don't think the characters were developed that much. Big Little Lies by Liane Moriarty was another 2/5 book for me. I've heard lots of good things about it, but honestly it was kind of boring. The last two books I'll mention briefly that I rated 2/5 stars as well are The Circle by Dave Eggers and The Psychopath Test by Jon Ronson. The Psychopath Test seemed very repetitive and disjointed. I did not enjoy it as much as one of his other books, So You've Been Publicly Shamed. The Circle was very cringey as well, mostly due to the main character. It's a neat concept where technology has essentially taken over everything. This was another one that didn't have chapters, which made it harder to read. I felt it was bogged down by a lot of unnecessary crap. That's it for January! Thanks for looking!
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