Book Talk: November Wrap Up

As I wrap up the month and finish up this blog post, the books I read at the beginning of November seem so far away. I didn't get to read as much as I would've liked to, especially since I increased my Goodreads Reading Challenge from 80 to 90 books for the year, but it is not a bad number at all. I'm confident that I'll be able to complete this new goal by the end of the year.

Stats:

• Books Read: 7
• Genre:
• Fantasy: 2
• Thriller: 1
• Contemporary: 2
• Historical Fiction: 1
• Non-fiction: 1
• Page Count: 2,839 pages

Books:

Carry On by Rainbow Rowell

Carry On has been a long time coming. Ever since it was introduced in Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell, a lot of people were jonesing for more from Simon and Baz's world. Now that I've finished Carry On, I kind of want to go back and reread Fangirl just for those bits of Simon/Baz fic that Cath had written. In Carry On, we actually get to read Simon's story through many POVs. Rowell really turned the "Chosen One" trope around and I would explain how but spoilers. I really appreciated the relationships in this book and how, with each relationship, we are shown both sides' perspectives throughout the novel. One of my favorite parts of this magical world is the spells. They're all cliches! Imagine having to fight a dragon and yelling things like "U can't touch this!" and "These are not the droids you are looking for!" This book so meta. While I thoroughly enjoyed Carry On (Simon and Baz are so good together goodness) it wasn't without flaw. Before Baz's arrival in the first part of the book, things were slow and a little redundant because all we were hearing was Simon's obsession with Baz (although Simon insisted it was his hate for Baz that fueled him). I also wish we got more explanation for why and how Simon's parents (not named for the sake of spoilers) were able to create the most powerful mage of all time. They made a big deal out if it and when we find out who his parents are, one is not that spectacular and the other is powerful but has "the sort of power you can imagine." In this book you get mystery, ghosts, forever boyfriends, and a good dose of intertextuality. 

The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

When a book I'd been hearing about gets a movie deal, the pull is nearly impossible to resist. I tried to go into this book knowing nothing, which is the ideal strategy for all thriller/mystery/horror books. I think if you're really perceptive or have a lot of experience reading thrillers you would've been able to figure out who the culprit is towards the beginning of the novel. I haven't read many thrillers recently so I'm not super familiar with the genre conventions and I cannot critique the use of genre conventions in this novel. I did take note that both narrators (Rachel is the primary narrator but it switches to Megan for a flashback-type POV) are highly unreliable. Rachel is an alcoholic and Megan is up to her neck in secrets and repressed memories. There were times when I found I really had to push through because all the characters are terrible people but that's what makes this book work. Overall this book was an interesting read and for a while there I thought it was [omitted because spoilers] so it did have that element of  suspense. I don't think I've ever read from the POV of an alcoholic so that was new for me. Reading other people's reviews, I'm seeing a lot of comparisons to Gone Girl but I haven't read that yet so I can't really say. Maybe I should? Let me know in the comments what you thought of it and if I should pick it up!

Landline by Rainbow Rowell

I don't think it'd come as a surprise to anybody to hear Rainbow Rowell is a fantastic author. This is the second book by her this month but Landline could not be further than Carry On. Okay, that may not be entirely true since they both have a (maybe) magical element... but they're both pretty much on opposite ends of the spectrum. Landline tells the story of Georgie McCool, a TV writer who is about to make her big break but she's missing out on family time (and possibly ruining her marriage?!) from all the hours she's logging at work. As timing would have it, Georgie and Seth's (her work partner) pilot got picked up but they need to churn out a lot more episodes forcing Georgie to miss her family trip to Omaha to visit Neal's (her husband) family for Christmas. The longer she's in California, the more stressed she gets about her relationship on top of her workload. The only time when things seem to feel right are when she calls Neal from the landline in her childhood bedroom. When she realizes she's actually talking to Neal from the past, she has the power to fix their marriage... or prevent it from happening at all. I just made Landline sound really dramatic and at times, it was. It was hard to understand how/why Georgie and Neal had such a hard time communicating during the day and why Georgie was so okay with prioritizing work over her family. That's just my personal values talking but, on that level, it was hard for me to relate to the character. I did, however, appreciate how realistic this relationship was. The scope of my reading focuses mainly on YA novels (which idealize relationships on the daily) so this adult novel featuring a couple trying to fix a rocky relationship (without too much of the angst you would find in a YA romance) was a nice change of pace. 

Girl Online: On Tour by Zoe Sugg

Earlier this year, I read Zoella's debut novel and, while it was a good effort for an amateur, it was nothing I hadn't read before. I was shocked when I found out her second book would be released not even a year later. I didn't think the end of Girl Online called for a sequel but money is a powerful motivator. You know when you see a movie and they pull a sequel out from thin air a year later? But then the sequel isn't a very original idea let alone a good movie?! That's kinda what happened with this book. It was like they sat down and thought. "Hmm. How can we get more Penny/Noah time while throwing in angst? What would trigger Penny's anxiety the most? I KNOW. Let's let them tour Europe together! That'll be fun." I mean, it's like Alvin and the Chipmunks: the Road Chip... I'm really ragging on Girl Online: On Tour but it wasn't all bad. Sure, it wasn't the best and I would not have picked it up if I weren't trying to support Zoe, but the ending was really frickin cute. Ironically, we went through that whole journey with Penny's relationship that it was actually Elliot's relationship that took the spotlight.As I was reading, I decided I was going to give this book three stars on Goodreads but Zoe did pull the wool over my eyes on the scandal terrorizing the cast of characters so I'll give her that much. I know I made the book sound awful because I've only been pointing out the negatives but it was a really cute book and I think the thing I appreciated the most was Penny's friendship with Leah. I'd love to read a book of just their adventures with no boys because they can have just as much fun without them. It's always great seeing girls supporting girls, especially in literature aimed for a younger audience. We have to let the youngins know they should be lifting each other up. 

All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr 

This book took me longer to read than I expected. Maybe it was because it was about war and that's always hard to read about or maybe I just wasn't in the mood for a historical fiction. Even more likely is that I was too preoccupied with schoolwork to fully enjoy any reading. Yeah, it's probably that. While I think All the Light We Cannot See would've been more enjoyable if I had had the chance to sit down and immerse myself in the story, the short chapters really helped to move it along so it didn't feel like a drag to pick up the book. There were two primary perspectives (with some others sprinkled in), Marie-Laure, a blind French girl, and Werner, a German boy. Because Marie-Laure is blind, one would suspect the imagery to be bland but Doerr did the exact opposite. Everything in Marie-Laure's POV was bright and vivid. She never got the truly see the impact war had on her country. I wouldn't quite call it whimsical, but it was pretty darn close. The other character, Werner, broke my heart. His love for science and his curiosity about the world was a beacon of light in this bleak world but it was his expertise that earned him a spot in Hitler's Youth. The thing is he never really bought into Hitler's regime. His heart wasn't in it and that's what hurt the most. They say villains always think they're doing the right thing but when they're being forced to do it against their will? Obviously, given the nature of this book, there are many heartbreaking things and Werner is only one of them. There's this scene where Volkheimer (one of Werner's mates) marched up to a Russian prisoner and took his clothes. It's a moment that makes me sick to my stomach but I already know that that's something that will stick with me forever. The timeline in this book jumps from before to war to the midst of it and back again. We slowly begin to piece together the entire picture and there's this really dangerous jewel that I still don't quite understand but seems to act as an inciting incident/the reason for all these hardships. This book has, without a doubt, left its mark on me. 

Legal Environment of Business: Online Commerce, Ethics, and Global Issues by Henry Cheeseman 

As we near the end of the quarter, I'm finally able to finish up my textbooks. Even though I actually only read one this quarter, it was so satisfying to mark this one as "read" on Goodreads. This textbook was for my business law class. You probably know it as the one I'm always complaining about. I will say that, for a textbook, this one wasn't horrible. There were cases in every chapter demonstrating the application of the laws and legal concepts discussed. That definitely helped avoid the tragically dry read many textbooks end up being. It's no doubt I learned a lot since most of the content was new information and a lot of the things I learned were useful and it would be in my best interest to retain them for future reference. You never know when you're gonna have to deal with a cocaine fence.

Irredeemable, Vol. 3 by Mark Waid & Peter Krause

Since this is the third volume in the storyline, there's not much I can say that I haven't already said without giving away spoilers. There were a lot of new developments in this volume and we were even introduced to some new characters. Hopefully we'll get to know them better in the next volume. I'm intrigued as to how they fit into the story. Speaking of the story, wow. It's getting so dark. Both the story and the visuals are becoming more gruesome as the comic progresses. It's interesting how as the images on the page are getting more grisly, the art style is starting to get smoother. Like, the lines and the coloring look more polished. I also noticed that there were more full page illustrations. They're switching things up, maybe to match the tone of the story? Or to juxtapose? Am I thinking too hard? I hope I'm doing my comic book professor proud.

Reviewing this Wrap Up, I wrote a lot more than I thought I would. Maybe after almost a year of writing these "reviews" I'm finally finding something to say about these books? Either that or I just like the sound of my own typing. Writing about the things I read has helped me think critically about the books I'm consuming and helps me understand and analyze the world I live in. The sharpened writing skills are just a bonus. Does this make me a super nerd??? If so, I'm cool with that. The Super Nerd in me wants to know what you've been reading this month and what you thought of any of these books if you've read them. By know you know that I will talk about books at any opportunity I get.

Don't forget that as of right now, voting for Fall 2015 Fan Favorite is open! Any hairstyle from the Variety Bun onward is fair game so use your voice! Have your say! Any way you can get a hold of me is fine, but you can only vote once! Heck you can even comment on this post with your vote. Just make sure that you don't miss out on your chance to get your pick to Fan Favorite!


Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette