August 2017 Wrap Up and September 2017 TBR!

August Wrap Up

It the last day of August and basically the last day of summer! That means it's time for another monthly wrap up. This month, I finished a total of 8 books for a total of 3321 pages. Here's how I rated the books I read (rounded to the nearest star):

5 Stars - 2 books

4 Stars - 3 books

3 Stars - 1 books

2 Stars - 1 books

1 Star - 1 books

After including partial ratings, my ratings averaged to be 3.38 stars, which significantly less than the average ratings last month. I think this is mostly because I read a couple of books that I really disliked. 

List of Books:

1. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia, Margaret Stone - 1 Star
2. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi - 4.5 Stars
3. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay - 4 Stars
4. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas - 4.75 Stars
5. The Time Traveler's Wife by Audrey Niffenegger - 3.25 Stars
6. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas - 1.75 Stars
7. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley - 4 Stars
8. Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn - 3.75 Stars

I'm feeling pretty good about these books since 5 of them were on my TBR at the beginning of the month.

September TBR!

Since school is picking back up and I still have a lot of experiments to complete, I will be cutting down the usual length of my list. I'm not one of those seasonal readers, so my TBRs are still all over the place.

1. Real Food/Fake Food by Larry Olmsted
2. The Secret History of Wonder Women by Jill Lepore
3. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead
4. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
5. The Good Daughter by Karin Slaughter
6. The Only Investment Guide You'll Ever Need by Andrew Tobias

Let me know if you have other suggestions or which one you think I should read first!

Happy reading!

July 2017 Wrap Up and August 2017 TBR!

July Wrap Up

Oh my goodness! It's the last day of July already! That means it's time for another monthly wrap up. I had the best reading month of the year in July, completing 13 books for a total of 4079 pages. For me, this is is a huge number. Here's how I rated the books I read (rounded to the nearest star):

5 Stars - 4 books

4 Stars - 2 books

3 Stars - 7 books

2 Stars - 0 books

1 Star - 0 books

After including partial ratings, my ratings averaged to be 3.73 stars, which means that I have read a lot of average books, but also a lot of memorable 5-star books. 

List of Books:

1. The Curious Case of Benjamin Button and Other Short Stories by F. Scott Fitzgerald - 3 Stars
2. Landline by Rainbow Rowell - 3 Stars
3. Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone by J. K. Rowling - 5 Stars
4. Hamilton the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter - 5 Stars
5. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*** by Mark Manson - 4 Stars
6. Big Magic by Elizabeth Gilbert - 2.75 Stars
7. Caraval by Stephanie Gerber - 3.25 Stars
8. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari - 4.25 Stars
9. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon - 4.5 Stars
10. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - 3 Stars
11. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - 3.25 Stars
12. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - 3 Stars
13. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling - 4.5 Stars

August TBR!

I will still make a TBR even though I usually never end up following it. I always just think that I'll get to the book eventually.

1. The Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
3. Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
4. Beautiful Creatures by Kami Garcia and Margaret Stohl
5. Difficult Women by Roxane Gay
6. Alex, Approximately by Jenn Bennett
7. Flame in the Mist by Renee Ahdieh
8. The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas
9. The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Let me know if you have other suggestions or which one you think I should read first!

Happy reading!

2017 High Summer Readathon Wrap Up!

It is officially the end of my second readathon this year and I think I did pretty well! This event was hosted by Seasons of Reading and I would definitely be interested in participating their future events.

In total, I finished 7 books for a grand total of 2394 pages:
1. Caraval by Stephanie Garber
2. Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
3. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
4. Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
5. Into the Water by Paula Hawkins
6. The Paris Wife by Paula McLain
7. Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J. K. Rowling

Even though these books deviated from what I originally planned in my TBR, I still think that I've done a fairly good job of consistently reading every single day.

Let me know if any of you guys have read the books I have posted here and what you thought of them. Also, please let me know if you can think up of future readathons that I can participate in!

Review: Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets

Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets by J.K. Rowling
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

EDIT: 7/31/2017

I first read this book in elementary school and then probably reread it again sometime in middle school. I have always remembered disliking this book because I, like Ron, am terrified of spiders. Rereading this book as an adult and after completing this series made me see all the details that J. K. Rowling used to build up to the seventh book. Honestly, this lady is a queen.

And can I just say that Rowling's sense of humor is so on point. I don't like Malfoy until the later books, but his line to Goyle--"Honestly, if you were any slower, you’d be going backward."--had me choking on my water.
Another favorite: “That’d be a cheerful visit,” said Ron, “ ‘Hello, Hagrid. Tell us, have you been setting anything mad and hairy loose in the castle lately?”
The comedic relief in the midst of the tension and stress of finding the Heir of Slytherin was just so perfect. Ugh...

It's not my favorite Harry Potter book, but I have such a high appreciation for this novel. Would definitely recommend.

Overall rating: 4.5 Stars

View all my reviews

Review: Go Set a Watchman

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee
My rating: 2 of 5 stars

This was the second book I finished for the 24in48 readathon, and to be honest, I'm still not sure how I feel about it. On one hand, I enjoyed revisiting the characters that I loved from To Kill a Mockingbird, but this story lacked narrative and plot. It was really hard to get into the story when it was constantly switching between present and past tense. I would have appreciated the flashbacks more if it provided insight on Henry or Atticus's characters. Since it did neither, the climax of the story (this chapter long argument between Scout and Atticus) was pretty anticlimactic.

Even though Scout was portrayed as more "progressive" than Atticus, her actions and thoughts still defined her as a racist 26-year-old woman. I mean, she basically agrees with her father and Uncle Jack that the NAACP is toxic for the South and that the Federal Government shouldn't have any power over states. It was cute when you were younger, Scout, but as a 26-year-old...ugh. Come on woman, didn't you learn anything from New York?

But wait there's more. That ending. So after this huge argument, Scout has with Atticus, they reconcile and live happily ever after. WTF. Literally, nothing happened in this book. The last chapter basically wrapped all the way around so that the story ended in the same way it started. The only thing substantial now is that you know Atticus Finch is racist. But since he's nice she'll just let it go? What actually happened here?

This was a huge disappointment and a waste of my time.

Overall rating: 2.25 Stars

View all my reviews

24in48 Readathon: FINAL WRAP UP!!!

Woooooooooo!!! I have just finished my first readathon and I think it went pretty well. Over 1,300 people participated in this readathon, and sadly to say, I did not win any of the random prize drawings. But it doesn't matter because I read A TON, which was my goal for this weekend. 

1. How many books did you read? How many pages did you read? 

I read a little over 4 books this weekend, 3 of them from my original TBR post:

When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon - 4.5 Stars

Go Set a Watchman by Harper Lee - 3 Stars

Into the Water by Paula Hawkins - 3.25 Stars

The Paris Wife by Paula McLain - 3 Stars

=1,358 Pages (this doesn't include the beginning of the fifth book that I started)

2. How many hours did you read?

I read a total of 24 hours and 26 minutes! This is probably the most I have ever read!

Day #1 Times:

Day #2 Times:

3. What do you think worked well in this readathon?

I love the community support and seeing some other people's posts. I particularly liked recommendation challenges like your favorite #ownvoices books and snacks to eat while you are reading. 

4. What do you think could be done to improve the readathon next time?

I am not a huge fan of the photo challenges. This is just because I don't have an elaborate bookshelf that I want to take a picture and share with people. I think photo challenges severely discourages people from going to their local libraries to check out books. I think it would be good to post optional photos. 

5. Would you participate in future 24in48 readathon?

Yes - even though I am completely burnt out on reading right now, I think I definitely might to do this again if the timing is right for me in January (I can even try to beat my time)!

BONUS: TIPS FOR SUCCESSFULLY COMPLETING THIS READATHON

• planning ahead (most important)
• creating and following a TBR
• have snacks available at all times
• block out the weekend for reading
• setting aside a really good reread book that you are familiar with the plot - this way you can still keep reading even if you feel burnt out
• have one or two audiobooks ready at all times - this is just so you can rest your eyes as you transition from one book to another
• genre recommendation: YA contemporary, thriller - honestly, I don't think I can do something that focuses extensively on setting rather than the plot. Like, if I had to read 3 pages of how Frodo hikes through the Middle Earth, I might fall asleep

Do you have additional tips for me? How much did you guy read? Any good recommendations?

24in48: 24 Hour Challenge

I have already listed a TBR previous, so check that out if you want to see what books I will be reading.

So...I will mostly be providing you a list of snacks that I want to eat for the next half of this readathon:
1. Popcorn. I actually ran out of popcorn, so I will definitely be purchasing more tomorrow. And I want something lighter than chips.

2. Carrots and hummus. Some of my friends have told me this is a really weird habit, but I absolutely love carrots and hummus. Like, I can't stop eating it once I start...

3. Cherries. There are tons of fresh cherries in Michigan during the summer and it's super cheap.

So...I guess most of my snacks are pretty healthy. Though I've definitely considered getting biscuits and eating that with tea. I also might get whatever is on sale tomorrow at the grocery store.

Update: I have currently completed ~10 hours for the readathon and finished 2 books. Reviews and reading overviews will be posted on Monday!

24in48: 12 Hour Challenge

Yay!!! I just finished When Dimple Met Rishi and clocked in 6 hours and 45 minutes! Woot!

The prompt for the 12-hour challenge is: which three audiobooks would you recommend for a road trip and why?

1. Any of the Harry Potter books - this is just for familiarity's sake and an endearing plot overall.

2. Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins - honestly, road trips can be long and boring, so I always feel like you need some mystery and thriller to spice things up

3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - This book was my all-time favorite read in 2016. The vast visual images and life journey will most likely help you endure you own current journey on the highways.

I'm about to jump back and start another book!

24in48 Read-a-thon: Zero Hour Challenge

Annnnnnnnnnnnndddddd we're off! Just a quick update: I have just completed my first hour of the read-a-thon with 80+ pages of When Dimple Met Rishi and I'm about to go to sleep. Here are my answers to the get-to-know you survey:

1.    Where in the world are you reading from this weekend?

I am reading from Ann Arbor, MI.

2.    Have you done the 24in48 readathon before?

This is my first time doing the 24in48 readathon and my second readathon ever!

3.    Where did you hear about the readathon, if it is your first?

I heard about the readathon on LittleBookOwl’s Youtube videos. Plus, I also googled some readathons to do in July because it’s always been on my bucket list to do one.

4.    What book are you most excited about reading this weekend?

Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi

I really hope I get to it, but I might not because there are some many books on my immediate TBR.

5.    Tell us something about yourself.

I am approximately 40% Ravenclaw, 20% Slytherin and Gryffindor, and 10% Hufflepuff. I think that provides a lot of insight as to what type of person I am.

6.    Remind us where to find you online this weekend.

You can find me at my blog: http://zixybooktree.blogspot.com/

Review: Modern Romance

Modern Romance by Aziz Ansari
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

First of all, I absolutely LOVE Aziz! I have completed watching both Master of None and Parks and Recreation, so I might be a little biased.

Even as a millennial, I still found this book to be incredibly insightful. I love how Aziz decided to broach the topic of dating while trying to integrate his humor into sociology data and his personal narrative. I also really enjoyed how many food references he made throughout the book...except that it made me really crave ramen.

By far, my favorite part of the book was when he looked at different dating cultures around the world. It really emphasized to be that the dating culture in America is honestly not as bad as it could be. Maybe Japan and Argentina men should mingle more and figure out a good balance for how to approach women. I wish he could have focused on going to more places and then comparing it to different rural environments. The overview of dating culture in Paris was like three pages!

Overall, I really enjoyed reading this book even though I took a mini break to finish some other books. Highly recommend to people of all ages!

Overall rating: 4.25 Stars

View all my reviews

Review: Caraval

Caraval by Stephanie Garber
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

After finishing this book last night and sleeping on it, I'm deciding to knock my ratings down 0.5 stars, which means it rounds down to 3 stars on Goodreads.

Here's what I actually liked about the book:
The fantasy realm that Garber created was very original compared to most of the other fantasy stuff that I have read recently. I liked how she included the magical potion that allowed you to only see the important aspects of the game in color and the dress that morphs into your emotional state.

That being said, there were many aspects of this book that I found to be problematic:
1. For some weird reason, Scarlett (the protagonist of the novel) see emotions in colors. This was just way too fluffy and cheesy for me. For example, she hates the color purple and it is synonymous with terror and fear of her abusive father. At first, I thought there was going to be a magic component related to this ability, but sadly no, she just emphasizes everything with her flower talk. It was honestly really hard to stop myself from rolling my eyes 20 pages into the book.

2. I honestly didn't feel attached to any of the characters. I thought that Scarlett and Tella's father just woke up one day and decided it was okay to mentally and physically abuse his children for absolutely no reason (or...because his wife left him, but that's a pathetic excuse). Scarlett was kinda boring as a protagonist because she didn't have any distinctive personality. Without the fantasy elements of this story, this book is just about a girl trying to find her sister and experiencing a dash of first-love.

3. The love interest. Julian honestly didn't do anything except play a game with her. Can't two people honestly be friends without romantic lust getting in the way? And we really need to stop with this YA insta-love, extremely attractive male companion cliche. It's so overused and makes me dislike the characters more.

4. The rushed ending. I mean come on! Why do authors keep doing this? (beginning of spoiler) One second Tella jumps off the balcony to her death and then she's revived in like 5 pages? And all the deaths that occurred throughout the game was all fake. The characters all come back to life and the story concludes in a neatly wrapped box. Mind you, this all happened within like 10 more pages. The only thing that would make me want to continue this series is Tella's story form the epilogue. I wan to the see what bargain she decided to make with Legend for her sister to play the game. Plus, Tella is infinitely more interesting and vibrant as a character than Scarlett. (end of spoiler)[ One second Tella jumps off the balcony to her death and she is revived in like five pages? And all the deaths that occurred throughout the novel was all just fake. The characters all come back to life and the story concludes in a neatly wrapped box. Mind you, this all happened within like 10 pages. The only thing that would make me want to continue this series is Tella's story from the epilogue. I want to see what bargain she decided to make with Legend for her sister to play the game. Plus, Tella is much more vibrant of a character than Scarlett. (hide spoiler)]

I enjoyed reading this, but still had problems with the plot and characters.

Overall rating: 3.25 Stars

View all my reviews

Top Five Wednesdays: July 5, 2017

Topic: Books Without Romance

This is actually one of my favorite topics because sometimes I just want to enjoy a good book without a romantic subplot.

Recommendations:

1. The Cuckoo's Calling by Robert Galbraith (aka J. K. Rowling) - 4 / 5 Stars

2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - 5 / 5 Stars

3. Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden - 5 / 5 Stars

4. The Book Thief by Markus Zusak - 5 / 5 Stars

5. The Help by Kathryn Stockett - 5 / 5 Stars

I also read a lot of nonfiction books, which I feel like would be cheating for this T5W topic. Here is a link to my nonfiction bookshelf. 

Be sure to check out the Goodreads group if you would also like to participate!

June 2017 Wrap Up and July 2017 TBR!

June Wrap Up

Since it's the last day of June, I have decided to post my June Wrap Up and July TBR! This month, I have read 6 books and a total of 2256 pages. Here are the rating distributions of the books I read (including rounding error):

5 Stars - 0 books

4 Stars - 4 books

3 Stars - 2 books

2 Stars - 0 books

1 Star - 0 books

After including partial reading, my ratings averaged to be 3.46 stars, which means that it honestly hasn't been the best reading month. 

List of Books:

1. The Audacity of Hope by Barack Obama - 3.5 Stars
2. $2.00 a Day: Living on Almost Nothing in America by Kathryn Edin and  H. Luke Shaefer - 4.25 Stars
3. Pretty Girls by Karin Slaughter - 3.75 Stars
4. A Court of Mist and Fury by Sarah J. Maas - 3 Stars
5. Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han - 2.75 Stars
6. Hidden Figures by Margot Lee Shetterly - 3.5 Stars

July TBR!

1. The Complete Novels and Stories of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle
2. A Court of Wings and Ruin by Sarah J. Maas
3. Hamilton the Revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter
4. Atonement by Ian McEwan
5. Arabian Nights
6. When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon
7. The Lost Hero by Rick Riordan
8. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson
9. Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

Let me know if you have other suggestions or which one you think I should read first!

Happy reading!