Book Talk: January Wrap Up

You know when you get off the freeway and you're itching to move faster because you suddenly have to drive at half the speed you were just going a second ago? Technically I wouldn't really know since I don't drive and I've only gotten off the freeway once (behind the wheel) while in driver's ed, but I'm telling you that is how this reading month felt. I went from 24 books in 31 days to 5 in 31. Quite the reduction, but I'm not mad about it.

Stats:

• Books Read: 5
• Genre:
• Science Fiction: 1
• Nonfiction: 1
• Adult Fiction: 1
• Fantasy: 2
• Page Count: 2,003

Books:

A Million Worlds With You by Claudia Gray

How will I ever be able to put into words how much I love this trilogy? A Million Worlds With You is the conclusion to the Firebird series and let me just say this book is fantastic. Obviously I cannot give too much away, which pains me to say because boy do I want to talk about this book. It was perfection. I loved all the little details in each world and how our travelers interacted with the natives in this book. The sense of urgency had me flying through this book and yet at the same time, I was taking it slow and letting it all sink in. We return to some worlds we've previously visited and also discover new worlds that both made and broke my heart. I realize now that that does not sound as good in past tense. And speaking of heartbreak, Paul broke mine over and over again throughout this book. Theo did his fair share as well but Paul struck so deep. How Marguerite was able to endure all that I cannot even fathom. I thought that, in trend with the previous installments, the two worlds on the cover would be the ones we would spend the most time in. Not the case, instead, those are the two with the big plot points. While Romeverse and Spaceverse were awesome in their own ways, there was no comparing to Egyptverse or even Moscowverse. Of the new worlds, I have to say I loved Egyptverse the most, but I cannot get over what I'm going to dub The Council. You'll know what I'm talking about when you get there. I can hardly handle my feels. Please pick up this trilogy if you haven't already, I have Book Talks on A Thousand Pieces of You and Ten Thousand Skies Above You (I always jumble these titles together and end up with something with Ten Thousand Pieces With You and it's just wrong enough that it could still be right. You know what I mean?) that you can refer to if you need a little more convincing.

Wayfarer by Alexandra Bracken

The highly anticipated sequel to Passenger! You can tell how much I loved that book by the length of that Book Talk. When I picked up Wayfarer, I found it slower than I remembered Passenger being and I don't know if it was because I was reading this when I was tired or if I really had trouble following, but the details never really sunk in for me. I felt as lost as Etta at times but it didn't impact my reading experience too much, probably because I was hardly lucid while I reading. We met a handful of new characters in this installment and all were imperative to the story but they all felt slightly underdeveloped to me. (It's probably bad that I wanted to describe them as "undercooked"...) I get that one of the conflicts here was Nick and Etta's separation but I wound up really missing their banter. The book was lacking that snarky bite that I would have liked to read. It was an enjoyable book and I was happy to embark on this journey, but I can't think of anything to say that I haven't already covered in my essay about Passenger. 

I Am Malala: The Story of the Girl Who Stood Up For Education and Was Shot by the Taliban by Malala Yousafzai with Christina Lamb

We live in some rough times. I am grateful to Steph for kindly lending me this book (no harm has come to it!) for the first couple months of the year. Although I first heard of Malala's story a few years ago, I never found it pressing to pick up her memoir. Now is as good a time as any. Ever since I was a little girl I've understood that my education was a great privilege and I was always grateful to be at school, but I never could have imagined just how lucky I was. There are times when I feel like school is a drag and those are the times I recall Malala's story to give myself a reality check. In all honesty, I found much of the first two thirds of the book to be very slow. I am not a religious person and I do not have any real interest in religion, but I can appreciate that Islam is a key player in Malala's life and story so I soldiered on, which is frankly not something I could've said if I had read this book two years ago. Despite the pacing, I learned a lot about life in Pakistan. I'm immensely grateful that I cannot imagine what living in a war zone or under a tyrant's control and this book opened my eyes to how something so terrible could ever happen. In the writing I could feel Malala's fighting spirit and I don't want to use the word grateful for a third time but I'm going to because I'm grateful was raised by a father that so greatly valued education and wasn't afraid to be vocal. Malala was given platform after platform to use her voice and she made an impactful change. Her getting shot really backfired on the Taliban, don't you think? Malala's story is inspiring and I would implore everybody to read this memoir. It's a story you need to know. 

The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

A few years ago I remember a bunch of the BookTubers I watched raving about this book but I never got around to picking it up despite my love for Gabrielle Zevin. She's the only author I've read to name a character Yvette. That's not this book, though. The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry is the story of a man who owns a bookstore. He's seriously down on his luck and things only seem to be going downhill until somebody leaves a baby with a note for him. He adopts the girl and the narrative goes on, chronicling his resurrected life (not literally) and how the people around him change him in ways he never thought would happen. The loveliest thing is seeing how he impacts the people around him in return. I kind of want to cry right now writing about this book (it's probably a combination of thinking about this book and listening to Siberia by the Backstreet Boys even though the lyrical content do not reflect the story in the book, just to be clear). Three words I would use to describe Fikry are delightful, lovely, and heartbreaking. Pretty much in that order. I didn't truly understand the significance the little reviews preceding each chapter until it was ready to punch me in the gut. God, I love this book. Fikry is a short book, a quick read, and more than worth your time.

EDIT: I forgot to mention that there is a reference to the original bae in this book. Even more points for Gabrielle Zevin!

Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo

So many people love this book to pieces and I can totally see why. That ensemble is literally squad goals. However, I am not as in love with it as most people are. I was not that big of a fan of the Grisha trilogy and I was hoping Six of Crows, being a spinoff set in the same world, would change my mind about that. Don't get me wrong -- Six of Crows is a fantastic novel and I am eager to pick up the conclusion to the duology, but there's just something about this Grisha world that simply is not captivating to me. It has all the ingredients to be one of my favorites but the measurements must be a little off because I can't love the world as much as I try. The characters are a whole nother story. These guys are the actual best. I could give describing their relationships and their dynamics a shot but I won't because I know my limits. This is something you have to read to experience. All you need to know is that there's a crime boss in the making, the spy to best all spies, a sharpshooter, a Heartrender Grisha (this means she's trained to kill people using their own body), a druskelle (Grisha hunters), and... the son of a rich merchant who also happens to be the explosives guy? Those descriptions alone are enough to convince me to pick up this book. Just not at the speed of other who actually like the world it's set it. The book has a healthy helping of tragic backstories, which were fascinating and brought up at exactly the right moments, angst (!!!), and an epic heist. I would highly suggest reading this book. It was slow going for me at times but if you like the Grisha world you'll enjoy Six of Crows even more than I did, and that's saying something! 

I am off to a good start! Not the strongest, but I'm happy with where I'm at. I need to slow down after that crazy reading month I had in December. Have you read any of these books? I'm curious to hear your thoughts! Do you have any recommendations for me in this new year? I don't want to fall into only reading sequels because, looking at the books I have checked out from the library right now, that's all I got. Feel free to share your thoughts in the comments below!

Talk to you soon!

xo, Yvette