Rainy Day Reads

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...

Challenges:   Diversity Bingo 2017: Own voices In this book we follow two perspectives. We have Natasha, a young girl who is set to be deported to Jamaica with her family. Then we have Daniel, the son of immigrant parents from Korea. Natasha is desperately trying to stop her family from getting deported to a country she barely remembers, while Daniel is struggling to reconcile his family’s expectations with the life he wants to lead.  They meet, and with Natasha’s flight set to leave that same evening their relationship instantly comes with a timer that is running out quickly. Daniel wants to prove that love can happen in that time span, while Natasha is adamant that it cannot. For the sake of science she decides to give it a go, though. So while Natasha is meeting lawyers and Daniel is prepping for a Harvard interview they set about falling in love, scientifically.  I really enjoyed the writing style of this book. We had not only Natasha and Daniel’s persp...

Challenges:  Diversity Bingo: Main Character on the ace spectrum This book is about Frances who finds herself playing two different roles in life; School Frances and Normal Frances. These two are very different, but she prefers not to mix the two halves of her life. When the creator of her favorite Youtube-podcast contacts her to start making art for the show she is ecstatic, and her accepting is the start of a new life where School Frances and Normal Frances begin to merge and coalesce into one person.  As far as the challenge goes I have to say I don’t really think this fits 100%. You have to accept that Frances is not the only main character at least, and I don’t know about that. But one of the more important characters is on the ace spectrum and while it takes a while for them to “come out” we do get an explanation of what it means and the relationship they are in also seems like a good representation of asexuality. Aside from that this book is quite div...

Challenges: Diversity Bingo: Romance with a trans main character This book follows Amanda who used to be known as Andrew. She moves to a new school after she no longer feels safe in her old town due to an attack in a women’s bathroom. She moves from her mother’s house to her father’s and her father hasn’t really talked to her or seen her since her transition, and he struggles a little bit, but he does his best.  Amanda starts her new school and soon she finds a group of friends and a potential new boyfriend. She struggles to decide if she should tell these people her secret, but knowing who to trust is hard and trusting the wrong person can turn out to be dangerous.  I found this entire story interesting and enlightening. We see things from Amanda’s point of view and that gives us an insight into the thought processes that brought her to where she is today and her struggle trying to decide just who to trust with her secret, if anybody. I found all the ch...

Challenges:  Diversity Bingo 2017: Visually impaired main character 52 Books Around the Year: A New York Times Best Seller This book is set before, during and after World War II in France and Germany. We follow two perspectives; Marie-Laure in France and Werner in Germany. Marie-Laure goes blind at a young age and her single father makes a monumental effort to teach her how to navigate her world, building her a model of their entire neighborhood to help her find her way. Meanwhile Werner lives at an orphanage dreaming of escaping the small town and the coal mines that will swallow him up as soon as he turns 15. His extraordinary capabilities with radios and mathematics gives him a ticket out, but he soon learns that that ticket comes at a heavy price. When war breaks out Marie-Laure and her father must leave Paris, and with them they bring something that will make them a target for the German forces.  This story is definitely a slow burn. I liked it, but not...

I recently decided to start this challenge because I do want to ramp up my reading. I was just too lazy at the start of the year, to bugger down and do this. So I don’t plan on finishing the entire thing this year, I’ll just see how many I can cross off and maybe carry it over into next year.   Sorry about the blurry quality. There are links to the original at the end of the post This is the list of all the topics. The books listed below each challenge are either my options I’m considering reading or the ones I have actually read. The ones I have read will be bold and contain links to my reviews, and my options will be in cursive .  Now, as for the books I haven’t read yet, I obviously can’t tell you if they are good or if I think they fit the challenge. If I read a book that I don’t think fits, I will remove it and try to find another one that fits better. But if you see something completely off on this list, please feel free to let me know :)  Disc...