Wrapping Up February & March

I'm just going to come clean right now and say that I don't know what I'm doing here (probably as evidenced by the fact that I'm posting March wrap up almost a week and a half into April, but I digress). I've never written a wrap-up post before, because ... I guess I didn't want to talk about what I was doing month to month? Despite the fact that, usually, you guys can barely shut me up? But lately, since I've been posting reviews on Goodreads instead of my blog lately, I figured it might be nice to do a roundup so you can have a peek at what I've been reading in the last few months.

Plus, you know, yak about myself and what I've been seeing online lately and my plans for world domination and ... basically anything I fancy.

Welcome to the madhouse, my friends.

Books

Gemina by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff ★★★★★ full review

Oh. This one. LOVED IT SO MUCH, YOU GUYS. Because I got more amazing formatting and the psychotic Artificial Intelligence I'd been missing since I finished Illuminae, and even more amazing characters! (In fact ... I think I might have loved them more. It's nothing personal, Kady and Ezra, but Gemina has a badass wheelchair-using hacker and what's basically a sci-fi Mafia.)

Salt to the Sea by Ruta Septys ★★★☆☆ full review

Ek, the constant head-hopping irritated me, but I'd definitely still recommend this one. It tells a fantastically important story, a tragedy that is only silent because it was drowned out in the utterly desperate clamour of tragedy that was World War II. Its characters are vivid and diverse; their stories are ones we don't hear enough. So I'm going to encourage you guys to read this anyway.

Waking in Time by Angie Stanton ★★★★★ full review

SO FRICKING CUTE.

I mean, a time travel novel is a tricky thing to pull off. The premise - a girl accidentally time travelling and experiencing university life through the decades - was just mindblowing, but the execution could have let it down. Spoiler = it didn't. The plot intertwined with history beautifully, and I don't think I've ever read anything as shippable in my life.

All About Mia by Lisa Williamson ★★★★☆ full review

So ... was not expecting to love this one - I thought I wasn't going to understand or empathise with the main character, since she's so different to me. But it turns out I was being judgemental, because wow. This was probably one of the best portrayals of family dynamics I've read, well, ever, and ALSO THERE WAS DEBATING. FEMINIST DEBATING.

*swoon*

The Apple Tart of Hope by Sarah Moore Fitzgerald ★★★★☆

So, there are no full reviews for the next three books because when I'm given a choice between reviewing a book and reading a new one, I go with the standard bookworms' choice. #noregrets. But this one was most DEFINITELY amazing - possibly the best MG I've read in a fair while. It was the sweetest thing, and so inspiring for younger kids to read. I mean - overcoming bullies! Subverting popularity complexes! GENUINE FRIENDSHIPS! And, to top it all off, some pretty darn good disability rep, which I can prove with a kickass quote:

‘Was he born in a wheelchair?’ she’d asked as if he wasn’t right in front of her. ‘No,’ I’d answered helpfully, ‘he wasn’t. I think you’ll find that nobody is born in a wheelchair. You get a wheelchair if you need one, after you’re born.’

Yes to shooting down patronising idiots with this amount of style. Plus utterly delicious apple tarts.

The Hollow Boy (Lockwood & Co., #3) ★★★☆☆

I do love this series - and whoop, good ending there, I'm not quite sure what to do with myself - but maybe it's getting a little old? The same characters (which I know and love, of course), fighting slightly different ghosts in the same way? Don't get me wrong, I was hooked, and the author did a particularly good job of making me feel what the main character was, (So much angst guys, so much angst) but ... meh?

Oh, I feel so bad. Because I did enjoy this. But I guess it was kind of a guilty pleasure?

Asking For It by Kate Harding ★★★★★

I've just finished this, so my thoughts are still swirling round my head slightly, but I'll do my best. Much awesome. I mean, this essay was kind of readable? Not only that, but it was fascinating, and as someone who likes to think they know their stuff about rape culture, I was overjoyed to read new angles and arguments.

I'm not going to say that 'if you're a feminist, you should read this', because everyone who thinks that women - not to mention all the non-female rape victims out there - are human beings, whether or not they identify as feminists or not, should. It's one of those books that has the potential to make society better, and I really hope it does.

The Bloggersphere

How To Think Up Discussion Post Ideas For Your Book Blog by Cait @ Paper Fury

This one made me squeal in excitement when I saw it pop up on Bloglovin'. I mean ... discussion posts are downright impossible to come up with when you don't know what you're doing (and wow, I really don't know what I'm doing), but this really was helpful. Not to mention, since it's Cait's writing, downright hilarious.

My Writing Process by Kate @ The Magic Violinist

I'll be honest, this post is mostly awesome because of the GIFs and a music playlist stuffed full of Broadway. And no, I am not ashamed. Being able to read about the angst in another (very successful) author's writing process made me feel a lot better about my own dysfunctional relationship with words, let me tell you.

#AskAmber - Fear, Publishing and Potatoes by Amber @ Mile Long Bookshelf
Okay, fine. In that I'm still fangirling slightly about the fact that Amber was lovely enough to answer my question in this post, I may be slightly biased. But hush. I always find Q&A posts fascinating, a) because I'm nosy, and b) because it's really interesting to see just how much of someone's life you don't normally find out about from their blog, even if you've read every post they've ever written.

Also ... potatoes.

TBR

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

I'm not sure I've ever heard more about a single book from Twitter than this one. At the end of last year (not to mention, let's be honest, the beginning of this one), I could not log in to Twitter once without seeing this book somewhere. That, ladies, gentlemen and others, is good marketing. And it won. I'm just kind of fascinated to see whether all the hype is worth it - or whether the two-star reviews on Goodreads are right.

Wish me luck. *scurries off to flag down the anticipation train*

We Come Apart by Sarah Crossan and Brian Conaghan

Maybe I'm in a mood for poetry at the moment. Maybe I saw this had become available at the library and reserved it on impulse. Who even knows anymore?

Anyway, I'm not sure I've ranted about it online yet, but I became utterly obsessed with Sarah Crossan's One when I read it about a year ago, and ... I don't know. I guess I'm in the mood for more gross sobbing.

Violent Ends by Shaun Hutchinson

Seventeen different authors. Seventeen different viewpoints. You're intrigued already - don't shake your head, I know you are - and I haven't even told you that's it about trying to correlate what you already know about a person with the fact that they just brought a gun into school ... and killed six of your classmates.

I'm excited because a) murder is kind of exciting (horrible too, I know, but exciting), and b) as a maybe-sort-of-aspiring-writer, I can't wait to read so many different styles and takes on the same or similar situations. BECAUSE THIS IS THE KIND OF THING THAT I FIND FASCINATING, GOSHDAMMIT.

Beauty Queens by Libba Bray

Subverting the stereotypes that beauty pageant contestants (not to mention women who care about their appearance) can't be intelligent? With satire? And a Lord of the Flies-style, trapped-on-an-island melting pot filled with a dozen different girls with different upbringings?

Yes, please.

The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

So ... I don't know if it's definitely a good idea to take recommendations on literary entertainment from your English teacher (she is, after all, the one who makes every page in my Poetry Anthology look like the pen section of WH Smith's exploded over it, and if that's not the definition of un-relaxing reading I don't know what is), but I can't say it's a bad one exactly. Especially since the idea of a dystopia that gives women no power or education whatsoever sounds fascinating in a terrible sort of way.

***

In the comments: Did you guys enjoy this post? Or were parts of it kind of boring? Please let me know! I want to get used to this whole 'wrap-up' thing.

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Labels: Monthly Wrap-Ups