I'm reading more books than ever this year which has been a ton of fun. I was on spring break this month and finished studying for a career related exam, so that definitely helped boost my reading. I read a lot of good books/graphic novels and finally found my first 5 star book of the year!
I ended up reading 16 graphic novels this month. The gems of those were definitely the first four books of the Dog Man series (Dog Man, Dog Man Unleashed, A Tale of Two Kitties, and Dog Man and Cat Kid) by Dav Pilkey that all got 4/5 star ratings. I grew up on Captain Underpants as a kid, so it's nice to see the author doing other series. The art is cute, and the plots are always ridiculous/entertaining. Some of my other favorites (rated 4/5 stars) were Book Love by Debbie Tung and Bully Wars volume 1. Bully Wars had great art/colors and a fun premise where bullies are pitted against each other to become the sole bully of a school. Book Love is more of a memoirish graphic novel about someone that loves to read which I found to be very relatable. Some other ones that I thought were good but not great (3/5 stars) were Umbrella Academy volumes 1-2, The Backstagers volumes 1-2, and The Little Prince by Antione De Saint-Exupery. The Little Prince is a classic children's book that I've heard a lot of good things about. I'm glad I finally got around to reading it. It has a good message and cute art as well. All around, I haven't read this many awesome graphic novels in quite a while. Hopefully I can find some gems in April as well.
Getting into books, I read a lot of things that have been adapted for movies/TV shows, like Bird Box by Josh Malerman (2/5), Dumplin' by Julie Murphy (3/5), You by Caroline Kepnes (2/5), and Moneyball by Michael Lewis (2/5). I'm normally the type of person that prefers the book to the film adaptation, but that wasn't the case with any of these. Bird Box was written by a singer of a band, and you can tell writing is not his strong suit. The writing was very choppy with mostly very short sentences instead of varying sentence structures. Dumplin' is just a YA romance that was quick/fun to read but nothing spectacular. I also read a spinoff novel from the same author, Puddin', that I also rated 3/5 stars, though I think I liked it more than Dumplin'. I watched Moneyball a few years ago (which I loved) and finally got around to reading the book. It was too bogged down by unnecessary stats and didn't have the personal perspective I was hoping to hear. Lastly for this batch, You had a somewhat interesting premise where a bookstore worker becomes obsessed with this girl, and their relationship is nothing short of dramatic. My biggest gripe with it was how cringely written the characters were. The Netflix show is much more enjoyable than the book.
I finally found my first 5 star book of the year, Whiskey in a Teacup by Reese Witherspoon. After reading a lot of celebrity memoirs/lifestyle/cookbooks, I always find them to be hit or miss in terms of the actual content. This book was a neat blend of memoir, recipes, and lifestyle tips on decorating/fashion. It's not necessarily things I'll go implement in my own life, though I enjoyed hearing her perspective. The recipes are actually things I want to try to cook, and there were lots of nice photos throughout. Another one I enjoyed was I'll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara (4/5), a true crime novel all about the Golden State Killer. This was a cold case for awhile before the killer was finally caught at the beginning of last year. Since the author unfortunately passed away before it was published, the writing was a little disjointed at times. Still, it was well-researched and interesting to read.
This post is getting long enough, but I also wanted to mention some average and disappointing reads for me. Some of the averages ones (3/5) were Anthem by Ayn Rand, Assume The Worst by Carl Hiaasen, On The Come Up by Angie Thomas, and The Little Book of Lykke by Meik Wiking. Huge letdowns were Fire and Fury by Michael Wolff (1/5), Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng (2/5), Elevation by Stephen King (2/5), The Lost Art of Reading by David Ulin (1/5), and The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner (1/5).
I'm up to 97 books for the year with 40 of those read this month. This is by far the best start I've had to a year since I started tracking my reading. My goals for April are to finish all of the library books I've got checked out (probably 10 between physical and ebooks) and continue reading some of my own physical books. Thanks for looking!
No comments:
Post a Comment