Hey everybody! This month I managed to read 42 things. That's super inflated, mostly due to graphic novels and some easy YA/kids books. This is definitely not normal for me. It was the last real month of school, and I found myself reading a lot more to procrastinate from studying or doing homework. I've managed to surpass my goal of 100 books for the year, which I figured would happen. I'm currently at 103 books for the year. I do think I'll ease off reading over the summer. Instead, I'll probably focus on doing more blog posts, videos, and catching up on movies/TV shows I've wanted to watch. Anyways, I don't want to make this post too long, so I'll mostly only talk about the things I really enjoyed.
Like I said earlier, I got back into graphic novels this month. I think if my math is right, I read 23 this month. My libraries use this service called Hoopla, which is basically a digital library that actually has tons of graphic novels. I can check out 13 a month between the two libraries I'm a part of, plus I had like 6 from the previous month that I was still able to read. That really spiked up my totals this month, but honestly I'm fine with that. There's a lot of sick graphic novel series out there. One that I surprisingly enjoyed was Lumberjanes. I read volumes 1 and 2 this month and thought they were a lot of fun. It follows the life of these girls at this summer camp where all sorts of weird supernaturalish/fantastical things happen. The art is great, and the plot is pretty interesting. I am looking forward to continuing on with the series. I also read a few different ones from Sarah Andersen, like Adulthood is a Myth and and Herding Cats. There's one more that I read from her, but these two were my favorites. There's a bunch of short individual comics that are cute and relatable. They're not anything mind-blowing, yet they're so enjoyable to read. I definitely recommend those two. A few other ones I enjoyed were In Real Life by Cory Doctorow, Ghosts by Raina Telgemeier, Runaways Vol. 1, and Injustice 2 Vol. 1. Those last two are series that I'm looking forward to continuing. The worst graphic novel I read this month was volume 1 of The Sandman by Neil Gaiman. I thought it was incredibly boring and hard to get through. The plot just didn't appeal to me. I definitely won't be continuing on with that series. It was quite a good month for graphic novels, so I'm excited to read more in May.
Onto books now, I'm finally beginning to find ones that I enjoy. If you've read previous readings posts this year, you'll now that I haven't enjoyed much of what I've read. A few of my favorites this month would have to be American Fire by Monica Hesse, Adnan's Story by Rabia Chaudry, Unqualified by Anna Faris, and One Day We'll All Be Dead and None of This Will Matter by Scaachi Koul. I rated all of those 4 out of 5 stars. I listened to that last one via audiobook. It was just a memoir about this woman's life. She told stories about her growing up, not being white, her view on relationships, etc. It was funny/enjoyable to listen to and really resonated with me. I've found that memoirs where people just share their stories are some of my favorite things to read. I read mostly to hear other people's point of views or to experience things that I normally wouldn't be able to experience. Memoirs offer a great way to do this. American Fire and Adnan's Story are both true crime novels. American Fire focuses on a pair of arsonists, and Adnan's Story goes in-depth about the story behind a man that was convicted of murdering his ex-girlfriend while they were in high school and has always proclaimed his innocence. If you've seen one of my last posts about the podcast Serial, Adnan's Story expands on what was reported there. I thought it was a good look at the wrongdoing and complete failure by the Baltimore PD. I do not believe Adnan is the murderer. I thought the author touched on her story a little too much, and the best chapters were near the end where they talked about all the sleuthing a few different folks did. I loved American Fire, because of how well-written it was. It seemed so conversational and flowed very well. I didn't know what to expect, but it definitely exceeded by expectations. Unqualified is a celebrity memoir by Anna Faris, where she gives advice on relationships. I didn't realize this going into, and I still managed to like it. It was interesting to hear more about her life and relationship with Chris Pratt. She also has a podcast where she gives out relationship advice as well. I've checked out a few episodes so far. It's not the best in the world, but she does have a lot of big-name guests. I think I'm going to do another post soon about some podcasts I've discovered, so stay tuned for that. Also, I'm editing this post the night before to briefly mention how much I enjoyed Irresistible by Adam Alter. It was also a 4/5 star book for me. It goes in-depth about how addictive technology has become and why that's the case. It was so fascinating and really touched on how we behave as humans. The most interesting part to me was the idea of gamification, which is when the ideas behind games, like badges, levels, accumulating points, etc., are used in non-game applications such as exercise, eating, or education. I highly recommend that book.
Four books that also helped provide a boost for me this month were Gary Paulsen's sequels to Hatchet. I remember reading Hatchet back in elementary school, though I had no clue Gary Paulsen even wrote more books in the same world. There were all less than 200 pages and weren't that great. They follow different events in the main character's life, like going back to survive in the woods again several years later, trying to survive in the winter, attempting to hunt a bear, etc. I can see that they're probably meant for a much younger audience. I liked The River, but the ones after that were all kind of the same. I wouldn't necessarily recommend any of them. It was fun to return to the worlds that I read back when I was a kid.
Last but not least, I finally finished It by Stephen King. I was probably 60 to 70% done with this when I started the month, so it was much easier to get through the back half knowing I was so close to being done. It's easily the longest book I've ever read. I do think Stephen King carried it on for way too long. A lot of the material was worthless and a waste of my time to read. I hated the way he wrote the women characters, especially all the violence against them. He also had an abundance of racist slurs that didn't need to have as big of a place in the book. This book was nothing like what I expected. It jumps back and forth in time, which is annoying. I only enjoyed the parts where it focused on the kids. I would not recommend it, since it only got 2/5 stars from me. Another 2/5 star read was Murder on the Orient Express by Agatha Christie. I love a murder mystery, but this one was so boring. There was no action, and pretty much just all talk throughout the book. All the characters were old and lame. Agatha Christie is one of the most acclaimed mystery writers out there, so I thought I'd really enjoy her writing. It was a let down for sure. Anyways, that's more than enough for this post. Thanks for looking!
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