It’s December Y’all!
That’s insane. I feel like this year has gone by so quickly, especially since the semester started this fall. I am in the throws of final exams, and didn’t really get a break between midterms and finals. This means that (you guessed it!) I read basically nothing in November. I had these grand plans to read a bunch over my fall and Thanksgiving breaks, but my life got seriously interrupted with health stuff. So instead, I watched a bunch of Grey’s Anatomy (which I don’t really regret) and spent most of my free time studying for all of my tests, projects and assignments. However, the books that I did finish in November were all really good. So let’s talk about them!
Dear Martin by Nic Stone
I saw Dear Martin for the first time on Netgalley when I was scrolling through this year’s fall releases. It caught my eye because the cover is stunningly simple, but I stuck around for the concept. Dear Martin is about Justyce, a teenage African American boy attending a predominantly white school whose life is interrupted when he is profiled and handcuffed by a cop while trying to help one of his drunk friends. Justyce’s experience leads him to start writing letters to MLK Jr. about how he is trying to apply MLK Jr’s principles to his life and American society in 2017.
Some of you will recall that All Rights Reserved, a novel that I read a couple of months ago, was on my list of most anticipated releases for the fall. However, that book let me down hard core. Therefore, I was really nervous going into Dear Martin because I had such high hopes.
Guys.
Read. This. Book.
It didn’t disappoint. Its concept and writing style are simplistic but the messages that Dear Martin holds are so, so important. The novel itself is also shockingly short, which made it a very quick read. I have yet to read The Hate You Give (I know! I know. Calm down. I’ll get to it eventually), so I can’t comment on how they are similar. But, it would be safe to assume that if you enjoyed one you will enjoy the other. I also am not a teenage, African American male, so I can’t speak on the representation present in Dear Martin. I can say though that Nic Stone doesn’t shy away from telling it like it is. I gave Dear Martin five out of five stars and I highly recommend it!
Illuminae by Jay Kristoff and Amie Kaufman
If you were anywhere in the book work in fall of 2015 and spring of 2016, you will know that Illuminae was EVERYWHERE. It was heralded as this space opera that was told through a new, innovative storytelling method. Most of the people that I follow read it when it first came out. However, I got it last year for Christmas and hadn’t touched it since. It is sort of the book that I had to be in just the right mood for, or else I was going to get caught up in the gimmicky set up of the novel itself and the love to hate to love again love story that Illuminae centers around. I also put the audiobook on hold in April and it just came in this past month. It was totally worth the wait though.
I enjoyed Illuminae a lot more than I thought I was going to. I don’t know what the reading experience was like for those who injusted this story in its physical form. For me, I consumed Illuminae via audiobook and it was amazing. The production value of the audiobook was phenomenal. It had a full cast, sound effects and musical interludes that made the story come alive. It was like listening to a Star Wars movie. It was a little difficult to piece together the story in the beginning, because the reader is thrown straight into the action. Still, once I got used to the different methods of storytelling and the voices of our main characters Kady and Ezra, it wasn’t as bad. I did find Kady annoying at times and I little naive. I also found some of the plot twists, including the reveal at the end, a little predictable. Yet, I did enjoy the characters for the rest of the time and enjoyed how ruthless Kaufman and Kristoff were with character deaths. Overall, I gave Illuminae five out of five stars and I can’t wait to listen to Gemina. Another read I highly recommend!
Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets
I am really trying to be critical of the Harry Potter series as I read them. Honestly, if I was being free with my ratings and was rating solely on my enjoyment, all the Harry Potter books would get five stars. However, there are some flaws with them that are little enough where I am taking some points off. Just know that no, I do not think these are flaming piles of garbage and even our favorite things can still have flaws. Still, on an enjoyment scale, Harry Potter gets a 10 out of 10. The audiobooks are wonderful and I highly recommend. Yet,
I don’t know if this is just me but the first three Harry Potter books seem very back loaded in terms of their story telling. Like, for most of the book, not much is happening. Or it is everyday stuff and little things that will eventually impact the finale. Then, about 100 pages or so from the end, stuff hits the fan and the team has to scramble to save the day. Sorcerer's Stone wasn’t so much like this, but Chamber of Secrets and Prisoner of Azkaban definitely feel like this. I think out of the three books that I have read, Chamber of Secrets is my least favorite. I wasn’t as invested in the story and I really missed Hermione while she was frozen. J.K makes up for this in Prisoner of Azkaban when Ron is out cold for the end. Still, I found Ron more annoying with Hermione absent. We also spend a lot more time with the ghosts in Chamber of Secrets, which was fun (don’t get me wrong), but wasn’t necessarily something I was invested in.
I still found the audiobook enjoyable and a really quick read. I ended up giving Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets a four out of five stars.
Short PS
I started So Much I Want To Tell You by Anna Akana and Invictus by Ryan Graudin this month. I got a little ways into both and returned them to the library. I also tried to start Warcross by Marie Lu, twice, and I don’t think I was in the mood for it. I also kept comparing it to Ready Player One, which I loved, so I let it sit on my desk until I had to return it to the library. Woops. I am also currently reading (and loving) All the Crooked Saints by Maggie Stiefvater. However, it is taking me *forever* and a day to finish. It reminds me of how I felt while reading Station Eleven. It was really good but really slow and poetic. Look forward to my feelings about it in my wrap up for December.
That’s all folks! I’ll have another post featuring everything I took out of the library (with the best intentions and never read) coming next week. Fingers crossed, after exams, I can become a hobbit and live entirely off of books and baked goods.
Toodles,
Jaime