It’s officially December! The month of Christmas! This makes me so excited I can’t even explain it to you all!
Today, I’m bringing you my November wrap up. Since I do a book review for every single book I read, this post is going to serve as more of a summary of my reading for the month, a very basic look at the books I’ve read and a way of getting an overview of my thoughts.
You’ll get the gist of the layout as I go along, but I’ve got to give credit to BooksandLala, for the inspiration.
+ Beautifully written, with poetic imagery
+ A unique look at mental illness
+ Written semi-autobiographically
– Bleak throughout
– Could be very distressing, particularly for those triggered by suicidal references and illustration of depressive episodes
The Sun Is Also A Star by Nicola Yoon
+ Vivid characters (especially Charlie, he may be an ass, by he was very believable)
+ Loved the multiple perspectives, really showed a lot of sides to the story
+ I loved the look at racial difference, and her representation of different races through their vocabulary and dialogue spelling
+ The cuteness of the story – Nicola Yoon is excellent at writing cuteness
– A little bit insta-lovey, but not too offensive
+ Really enjoyed the sections in Croatia
+ Minimalist use of violence made it really impactful
+ Loved the first person narrative, especially the fist section from the perspective of a naive child
+ Set in the context of a book that I know nothing about, so was really informative
– The New York section (if you’ve read my review you’ll understand how much this irked me!)
You Will Not Have My Hate by Antoine Leiris
+ Very poignant, particularly as we remember the one year anniversary of this tragic event.
+ Love that it is autobiographical and so you can tell is a first-hand account.
+ Important to read about recent events, as well as historical pieces.
– Due to its translation from French, the language is simple.
– Some of the emotion of the imagery falls a little flat (however, this could be attributed, once again, to translation)
Christmas at the Comfort Food Cafe
(Note: you’ll see this review in December – so this is really a sneak preview)
+ Made me feel Christmasy
+ Had funny moments and some entertaining sentences
– Characters were often one-dimensional and unrealistic
– Unneeded repetition and explanation throughout the writing
– Quite anti-feminist in its approach to romance
Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
+ One of the few fantasy series that I enjoy reading
+ Loved learning about all the New Bloods different abilities
+ Mere is a surprisingly unoffensive main character, she doesn’t bug me nearly as much as some others (ahem, Katniss)
+ Cal… I think that’s all there is to say
– The ending was a little abrupt, but I guess that’s expected in a series.
In the interest of full disclosure, I’m currently just over halfway through Lolita, so hopefully that will be included in my December wrap up.
Overall, I think it was a pretty good reading month, between reading week and a relatively small school reading list I got through almost everything I wanted to. Stay tuned for my December TBR, it’ll probably be the next thing you see on here.
See you in a couple of days!
