Rainy Day Reads

Another year has ended and that means it’s time for another list of best books of the year. I happen to have rated 10 books 5 stars this year, so here they all are. There is a bit of everything; fantasy, historical fiction, non-fiction and YA. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo I had previously read the Grisha trilogy by Leigh Bardugo and I wasn’t too impressed. But everyone absolutely raved about this book, and I did like the Grisha trilogy, I just had a few issues with it. So I decided to give this a go, and I am so glad I did.  Set in the same world as the Grisha trilogy this book follows an outlaw as he gathers a group of compatriots and misfits to pull off a major heist that seems set to go wrong. There is a wonderful cast of characters and the plot is twisting and turning every which way keeping you on the edge of your seat from the first page to the last.  Crooked Kingdom by Leigh Bardugo This is the sequel to “Six of Crows” and every bit as wonderful as the

This is based off of the Bookish Academy Awards Tag by BOOKadoodles . She changed the categories of the Oscars to fit books, but since I don’t really watch the Oscars I just decided to do this as a sort of “Best of 2017” run through. (I did delete a few of the more movie related questions, just so you know).  Categories/Questions:  Best Male Protagonist:  I like Sean Kendrick from “The Scorpio Races” by Maggie Stiefvater. He is loyal and steadfast, and while some think that boring, I really appreciate those traits, especially in this day and age of the brooding, “misunderstood” (but oftentimes quite manipulating and controlling) YA male “heroes”.  Best Female Protagonist: I really liked Anna from “A Countess Below Stairs” by Eva Ibbotson. She didn’t let life get her down, but took everything in her stride and fought for what she believed in in any way she could and truly cared for everyone in her life.  Best Plot Twist:  This goes to the “Six of Crows” duology

I wasn’t too thrilled by the sound of this book, but I actually ended up quite enjoying it.   This is the story about Delilah, a teenage girl who is having some trouble with her busy corporate mom. One night she climbs in her window after meeting a boy in the woods, only to find her mother waiting for her. Delilah’s estranged grandmother has died and the two must now travel to her lake house in order to take care of the funeral and sell the house. Delilah last saw her grandmother 8 years ago, having previously spent every summer with her grandparents at the lake house. But 8 years ago there was a big family fight and they left never to return. Until now. Being in the house agin prompts Delilah to go searching for the truth of what happened 8 years ago, but the people who know are reluctant to share.  I quite liked this book. It was a pretty fast read, and that might have been its biggest downfall. There is a lot going on in this book; rekindling old relationships, starti

When the movie came out a few years ago I was really interested but I somehow managed to never actually see the movie. So when I found the book on offer I thought “Now’s my chance.” This book is about a number of older people, living in Britain, but for various reasons unhappy about their lives as senior citizens. They don’t know each other beforehand, but only meet when they all decide to sign up for a retirement home in India, created in part by an Indian doctor living in Britain.  We follow these people in more or less detail throughout the book as they come to terms with how their lives have turned out.  I gave this book 3 stars. It was okay, but nothing major. There were a number of story lines, each starring a different person, but in the end I felt like none of the stories really materialized. There was just so much unfinished business and I feel like we left practically all the stories right in the middle. And I hate feeling unresolved. So it was 3 star

This is the second and I assume final book of this series. Only read this review if you’ve read the first book as there are slight spoilers for “Six of Crows” ahead.   After the heist has been foiled our heroes try to regroup. There are massive obstacles in their way, but as always Kaz has a plan. He has many plans and I was constantly amazed by the long game he was playing. He always planned for any eventuality, which kept me on my toes throughout the entire book. There is a danger with books like this, that they become slightly repetitive and unbelievable, because of the sheer immensity of all these plans and eventualities. But that never happened in this book. The action is as breathtakingly quick as the last book, and the characters are even more developed and every single one of them had a place in my heart long before the book finished.  Even more gratifyingly my favorite ship set sail and sailed gloriously into the sunset by the end of this book and my cold, cynic

This is a book for all the fangirls and fanboys out there. A retelling of the classic tale of Cinderella set in the world of fandoms and conventions.   We follow Elle as she slaves away for her evil stepmother and two stepsisters while she waits impatiently for the reboot of her favorite sci-fi series as a film. She dreams about escaping her lonely life with her step-family and when a convention offers plane tickets to LA as a prize for a costume contest she decides to enter in the hopes of winning an escape from her life.  We also follow Darien, the actor playing the main character of the new reboot film. He is himself a fanboy and considers the job as an amazing opportunity. But the world around him only sees him as a vapid teen actor focused on looking good and getting money.  Both are headed for the convention, Elle to join the competition, Darien to judge it, and when they meet they realize a few things about themselves and each other.  This book was okay

Challenges: Diversity Bingo 2017: Disabled Main Character This book has been on my TBR for a while, but I’ve been hesitating to pick it up, because it’s been SOOO hyped. I did also read Bardugo’s other work “The Grisha trilogy” or what it’s called these days, and wasn’t particularly fussed about it. But I have to say this book was way better than the trilogy and I can’t wait to pick up the second book.  In this book we follow a crew of thieves and outcasts who join together to perform a major heist. All the odds are stacked against them, but for some reason or other each person joins the crew and they set off in the face of almost insurmountable obstacles. The plot is insane, intricate and fast paced from the get go, but the characters are almost better. Every single one of them has a distinct voice and a well developed persona, and we slowly unravel their stories and see what has brought them to be outcasts in the first place.  As for representation there is a cha

Month:    November        Year:  2017 Number of books read:    6 Number of pages read:       2160 Number of ratings: 1 star: 0 2 stars: 1 3 stars: 2 4 stars: 2 5 stars: 1 The author: Name Male Female Country of birth Age at writing/ publication Nellie Bly x America 26 Elizabeth Wein x America 53 Adam Silvera x American 25 Yuval Noah Harari x Israel 39 Leigh Bardugo x Israel 40 Jennifer L. Armentrout x America 36 The books: Title Genre Publication date

One of my favorite settings is wartime. It doesn’t specifically have to be World War II, there is just a lot of great fiction set during this time period. I feel kind of bad saying that World War II is a favorite setting of mine, because this was very much a real time and place with real people living through atrocities, and large numbers of people not surviving. If feels wrong to exploit that for my pleasure, but at the same time I do think these books are important. They tell the personal stories of the people of the time, and if not based directly on true events they can share snippets of the history that may have drowned in the larger telling of the historical events. If it is done well, that is. Below are 5 books that I think are not only great fiction, but that gave me new insight into the history of a period I thought I was pretty well versed in.   City of Thieves by David Benioff This is the story about Lev, a young boy in Leningrad during the Nazi siege of