Review: THE PAPER MAGICIAN by Charlie N. Holmberg

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I enjoyed The Paper Magician quite a bit. The beginning was a little hard to get into because of the unique, descriptive writing style, but I eventually got used to it and started loving it. I also loved the setting of early 1900s London; it just felt so happy.

The entire middle portion of the book, when Ceony is inside the heart, was a little slow for me. It was interesting to see Emery's memories and wishes, but I found myself just wanting Ceony to get out already and get back to Emery.

My favourite parts were when Ceony was learning to Fold with Mg. Thane in his house. I liked learning about the specifics of paper magic. And the ending: the ending was adorable and really made me want to read the next two books.

Overall, I'd recommend this book if you enjoy eccentric historical fantasy stories that involve materials magic.

I cannot read all the books.

I currently own over 400 unread books. Every one of those books I bought because I wanted to read it at one point in my life. I never had much time to read in high school, so almost all the books I bought during that time are still sitting unread on my shelf. Many of them I have no desire to read anymore. For a long time, I have felt that I still will read them, or at least that I should read them, not because I own them or because I want to read what was popular six years ago, but because I feel I will be depriving my former self if I don't read them. I wanted to read those books at one point in time, and I want to satisfy my high school self by reading now what I wanted to read then.

I understand that that sounds rather weird, but that is how I feel about the situation. I feel like a part of me will be missing out if I don't read those books. I wanted to read them back when I purchased them but didn't have the time. I kept telling myself, I'll read them next year when I have time; I'll read them eventually. But now that I have time, my reading tastes have changed quite a bit, and I'm not so sure I want to read all those books anymore.

It is a hard realization to accept, but I know that I cannot read all the things I want to in my lifetime. I see books all the time and think to myself, I'll read that eventually when I've read everything else I want to read, but I have come to accept that there will always be books that I won't have time to read or won't ever choose to pick up.

Similarly, I hear people say all time how they've been meaning to read a certain book for a few months or a few years but they haven't gotten to it yet. The simple fact of the matter is that if you keep putting off that book, you probably don't actually want to read it anymore. That's not to say you've been putting it off because you don't have time, but if you have been choosing to read other books rather than "the one you've been meaning to read for quite some time," then it's probably time to reevaluate whether or not you are actually still interested in reading that book or finishing that series.

I have been doing a lot of reevaluating of the books that have sat unread on my shelves for many years, and I've realized that it's time that a lot of those books and I part ways. I bought them for a purpose but the time has passed for that purpose to be fulfilled, and I shouldn't feel bad about that. What I've learned is that I need to read books within a year or so of acquiring the book or I will most likely lose interest in ever reading it. Ideally, I'd like to read books within a month of purchasing them, but that's not currently possible for me.

A good question to ask yourself when looking at all the unread books on your shelf is this: If I went out to the store today, would I still choose to purchase that book? If you find yourself saying definitely not, then it may be time to donate that book instead of stressing out if and when you'll ever find time to read it. Don't feel bad about getting rid of books; feel relieved instead that you have fewer books that you "need" to read.

On Reading Too Much

Is it possible to read too much?

Maybe.

Last month in October, I managed to read and finish fifteen books. That's one book every other day. Needless to say, that's a lot of reading. I thought I would feel great after this accomplishment but I actually just felt burnt out. Upon reflecting on my reading in October, I realized that it wasn't fun. I pounded through book after book, trying to read as much as possible without really enjoying what I was reading (mostly because I was just trying to reduce my TBR as quickly as possible).

I think there is a stigma in the book world today (on BookTube and on Goodreads) that you need to read a certain number of books per month or per year to be considered a "real" reader, and if you're not meeting that goal then people will be disappointed with you. But that's not the case. You should not be reading for anybody but yourself. You are accountable to literally no one but yourself for how much you read. And even if you're not meeting your personal goal, that is okay. The moment that reading stops being fun and starts becoming a chore, you're doing it wrong.

Some people can handle reading fifteen books per month, but I realized I am not one of those people. I usually read about eight books per month, and that seems to be a more realistic goal for me. Whatever you're reading is good for you. Maybe you manage to read one book a month, or one book a year, and that is okay. That does not make you any less of a reader, and you should not feel bad about your personal reading habits. You should also not feel bad if you choose to not read at all. Every reader has more hobbies than just reading, and it is completely acceptable to explore your other hobbies. Maybe you watched movies all month, or maybe you painted pictures all month, or maybe you hiked mountains all month, and you didn't get any reading done. That is okay. You should never feel guilty for not reading or for reading the "wrong" thing.

Read whatever you want whenever you want.

My reflections on my October reading habits have led me to a new personal goal to read only books I want to read and not read a book simply because it's popular, because it was recommended to me, because I feel obligated to read it, or even because I own it. None of those conditions matter. I have realized that when I am reading a book for any reason other than because I simply want to, I never enjoy it. My heart isn't in it, and I usually have no desire to finish it.

So here's to reading only books I want to read and not being so hard on myself if I don't read.

Review: ME BEFORE YOU by Jojo Moyes

Rating: 2/5 stars

Will Traynor is such a selfish and entitled individual, and I really dislike his character.

I was so excited to read this book after hearing praise upon praise about it. I finally started it, and the prologue intrigued me and left me wanting more, but fifty pages in I realized I kept waiting for things to happen while nothing was actually happening. This first half of this book was very slow.

But once the pace picked up and became more engaging, the plot started to frustrate me before it downright angered me.

After an accident, Will becomes a quadriplegic, having no use of his arms or legs. He becomes completely depressed and begins to think that life is not worth living anymore simply because he's in a wheelchair. Will says that "this is not the life I chose." Yeah, well nobody chooses their lives, so you don't get to either. You can choose to be happy or sad about the life you've been given, but you can't change what life you've been given. But he seems to think that his life isn't worth living if it isn't exactly how he wants it to be. Entitled jerk. And tell me, how many times has something unexpected or bad happened in your life? Those kinds of things happen to every single person. That doesn't make a life unlivable.

Will thinks he's so pitiable in his wheelchair, but you can still live a happy and fulfilling life while spending it entirely in a wheelchair. Will doesn't even try. He doesn't look at any positives in his life, not a single one. I hate how he thinks that living with a disability is unbearable. Millions of people live with disabilities every day and you don't see them trying to kill themselves because their lives aren't good enough or how they want them to be. I suspect if I had a disability, Will's character and attitude would frustrate me tenfold what it does now.

I had heard before reading this book that it enforces ableism, which is the idea that able-bodied people are superior to disabled people. I didn't think that was the case for the first one hundred pages or so because I can understand how going from a privileged lifestyle of an able-bodied person to being disabled can be a frustrating learning process for both the disabled person and the family and friends around him. I can also understand how those who have never had experience working with disabled people might be misled or non-understanding about that lifestyle, such as with Louisa's family who kept making disrespectful comments in the beginning of the book about Will's disability. But then it got to the point when I just got fed up and angry about how Will was acting with his disability and how everyone perceived him post-accident, and I began to realize that this book does enforce ableism, even if it doesn't try to.

Enter Louisa, Will's caretaker hired by his mother to keep him happy and safe. Will is the biggest jerk to her, and I hated that. At least she got him to soften up a bit, but that wasn't cause for him to act how he did. I enjoyed Louisa's character quite a bit, even though she did frustrate me sometimes.

Despite the aforementioned parts of this book that irked me, I did actually enjoy other parts of it. I liked the writing style and found it to be easy to lose myself in the pages of the book and keep on reading. In fact, for about a hundred pages I was glued to the book and couldn't get enough of the story. There was also a bit of humor strewn throughout the pages, but I suspect most of the humor was lost on me since I'm not British and the author writes very Britishly.

Overall, however, I don't think you're missing much if you don't read this book. In fact, just watch the movie since most of it is verbatim what's in the book but not as slow paced. I was frustrated and angered throughout most of the book, and the ending makes the whole book feel pointless. I hated it. Ultimately, this was a very unsatisfying book, and I think that's what I disliked the most. I don't need a perfect ending to enjoy the book, but the whole plot leading up to the ending felt like it had no real purpose. I just felt really let down and unfulfilled.

Review: WE SHOULD ALL BE FEMINISTS by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Rating: 5/5 stars

I do not agree with everything that Adichie said about feminism, but I do agree with a great deal of it.

I consider myself a feminist, but not in the traditional sense. I believe that women should be respected. I support fairness in women's rights, but fair rights for women do not always mean equal rights for women, and I am okay with that. It would be equality for women to be drafted into the military just like men are, but that is not fair because women are not built like men and are inherently different from men. But it is fair that women have the opportunity to serve alongside men in the military if they so desire. That example shows where my feminist beliefs lie, in fairness but not in equal rights. I also think it is important to note that feminism is not about women becoming superior to men but equal to men as far as their worth as human beings is concerned.

Feminism has a very loose definition these days. The fact is that there are some things that only men are built to do, and there are some things that only women are built to do; we are different. But it is okay for us to be different. However, our differences do not give each other the right to disrespect any other person simply for being a certain gender (or a certain race, ethnicity, religion, etc.).

Adichie's words are so important, and I think everybody should read this book (or watch the TedTalk) and really think about what she has to say. I know I will be revisiting the words of this book/talk many times in my future.

One sentence that really stood out to me was this: "I knew that as a female I would automatically have to prove my worth." It is so important to recognize the flaws in this sentence. Women should not have to prove their worth; women and men are both humans and should both be treated as humans. It is disgusting how true her statement is for many women in many situations. Women want and deserve to feel valued and respected just as men already are.

Chimamanda Adichie is wonderful and I have quickly come to love her. I watched her two TedTalks today and read this one separately as well (and was surprised at how differently I connected with the talk compared to the book), and now I want to read all her books even more than I already did.

Review: PRETTY LITTLE LIARS by Sara Shepard

Rating: 2/5 stars

This book seemed like it was written by a middle schooler. The writing was awful and cliche and I found many editing errors. The writing was the main reason I rated the book so low.

But the story was good. Although different from the TV show, the story kept me fairly intrigued. Most of this first book was background and character introductions. It basically covers only one episode since this book ends how the first episode ends. I think the second book would be a lot more interesting because the story would finally get going, but I won't know until I read it.

The character development in this book felt flat to me, but that could be because the characters just didn't seem to have very much depth to them. There was a lot of detail to differentiate the main girls from one another, however, but their dialogue was so superficial that I couldn't connect to any of them. The girls sure act immature for being in eleventh grade. Their characterization was the other main reason I rated the book so low.

I think my middle school self or early high school self would have enjoyed this book and felt a lot more pulled in by the series than my current twenty-year-old self feels about it. Nonetheless, I think I may pick up book two to see how the story progresses compared to the show, but I don't know if I will actually be completing the series.

Overall, if you are questioning whether to read the books or watch the show, pick the show. It's amazing and suspenseful and a lot more mature than this first book, at least.

Review: MONSTER by Walter Dean Myers

Rating: 1/5 stars

This book takes place over the course of a few days in a courtroom, where Steve is on trial for murder. The court case is the entirety of the book. And it was written in the format of a movie script. This was an interesting take, but I did not really enjoy it. I don't have much to say about this book because it had very little effect on me.

I did not really care for this story, and I found myself waiting for it to be over. Although I did not like the format of the book or the plot, the story was still written well. Myers has a talent for writing that I think many other authors do not possess.

Review: STUPID PERFECT WORLD by Scott Westerfeld

Rating: 3/5 stars

The concept for Stupid Perfect World sounds really cool: a futuristic society where students take a class that teaches them about the ancient struggles of their ancestors, AKA us today, and every student has to do a project to experience something like their ancestors did. Kieran chooses to sleep every night (since in their society sleep isn't necessary), and Maria chooses to forgo hormone control. Throughout their experiments, Kieran and Maria learn that life nowadays wasn't so bad after all.

Initially, this concept sounded good enough to be a full-length novel instead of just a novella. I stand by that assessment after having read the story. The world development was almost nonexistent, but I was dying to know more about the world as I read. We don't even find out in what year this story takes place. I would have liked to learn more about their technology that makes them so much superior to us today, but we don't get much information about any of that unless it is directly relevant to the story. This just reinforces why I usually don't like short stories: not enough world building or character development.

While Maria is not on hormone regulation, she acts like the most stereotypical teen girl, which I hated. Her emotions are so crazy that she makes baffling assumptions and does crazy actions. I don't know anyone that actually acted as strongly and recklessly on their emotions while being a teen as she did. It frustrated me that Westerfeld portrayed Maria that way. Once, Maria gets upset and goes to Antarctica while in a dress and with wet hair, and she's not even dying. Unrealistic plots lines like that are what really kill it for me in books. Even in the high-tech futuristic setting of this novella, you'd need more protection than that to survive in Antarctica. But really, she makes the rash decision of going to Antarctica because she's upset...

While Kieran was sleeping, he started dreaming and realized he enjoyed dreaming since he'd never experienced it before (since they don't need sleep in the future). I was hoping this story would offer me more such as once they discovered that the ways of the past weren't so bad after all, they'd realize the ways of the future were actually a degressed society and the government was keeping something from them by not allowing dreams or normal emotions and hormones. But that would be more in the way of a novel instead of a novella.

Overall, this story was unique and I liked it, but it was quite flat in the setting, which really disappointed me.

Review: YOU'RE NEVER WEIRD ON THE INTERNET (ALMOST) by Felicia Day

Rating: 5/5 stars

You should read this book. Yes, you. 

If you've ever used the Internet or played a video game or watched a web show, you should read this book. If you've ever been homeschooled or been a 4.0 hardworking student or tried acting, you should read this book. If you suffer from anxiety or depression or grew up in a weird family, you should read this book. Even if you don't know who Felicia Day is (like me when I started this book), you should still read this book.

I think a lot of content that Felicia includes in her memoir is really relatable, even without my going through the same experiences that she has. A lot of people think that memoirs are stuffy and boring, but her life, and the way she writes about it with so much humor and honesty, is highly engaging to read about. 

Felicia tells her story as a girl who grew up in a different kind of situation than most people, being homeschooled and being addicted to technology and the Internet. She shares how she got started in acting and the laborious process it took for her to become who and where she is today. She shares about her addiction to World of Warcraft and how that affected her life for a time. She talks about her awkward dating stories and the depression and anxiety that consumed her for a while and how she overcame that. Her memoir is both funny and honest, and it's definitely worth a read. 

Also, I would recommend listening to this book on audio because Felicia herself reads the book. She adds so much more emotion and emphasis to the story by reading it herself. It doesn't even feel like she's reading a book but just having a conversation with me instead (one in which I can't actually respond). And she includes sound effects, which is just awesome. 

Overall, this book is great and you should read it.

Review: INSIDE OUT & BACK AGAIN by Thanhha Lai

Rating: 3/5 stars

Written in verse, this book follows Hà, a young Vietnamese girl, through one year during the time of the Vietnam War. It is based on a true story of the author, Thanhha Lai, when she immigrated to Alabama from Vietnam. If read carefully, this book has a lot of deeper meaning to it than the words can simply tell you. It is full of culture. This book is really short and I recommend you read it in one sitting to get the most meaning from it.

Hà lives with her mother and three older brothers while their father fights in the war. They are a poor family living in a desperate situation, and you really get to see this through Hà's descriptions of food and her town and people. The war threatens Hà and her family to flee their home and board a ship in hope of a better life.

Hà said they were a poor family and each had only one pair of shoes. I have an aunt that is from Vietnam, and she told me a story of her childhood when her whole family had only one pair of shoes to share between all of them. I understand that this novel is based on the author's own experience, but her family must not have been as poor as others. It's interesting to me to compare these two experiences of life in Vietnam.

Being written in free verse really adds to the story. It helps you see inside the mind of ten-year-old Hà with her quick, sharp thoughts. I don't think there was any better way this story could have been told.

Review: EVERY HEART A DOORWAY by Seanan McGuire

Rating: 5/5 stars

This book started off in such an interesting way that I was instantly hooked. Seriously, if you're questioning whether or not to pick up this book, simply read the prologue and you'll be in for the whole book. 

Every Heart a Doorway is written in third-person omniscient point of view, which I thoroughly enjoyed because I don't see that very often. I can't decide if this book is magical realism or fantasy or a beautiful combination of both, but it's definitely something different in the best way. 

We start off hearing about Eleanor, the owner of a house for misguided children. We know right away how this isn't actually the case, though, how the children aren't really misguided. Children who have been to other worlds come to stay at her house, and she cares for them and understands them because she, too, has traveled to another world. 

Our main character is Nancy, a teen girl who has been to an underworld. The way she expresses her feelings of it being her home and wanting to go back are so beautiful that I wanted to go to the underworld with her. I love the way the characters interact with each other. I feel like I know each character so personally, even though the story is rather short. 

The descriptions in this book are wonderful. I loved how the author described what everyone was doing and thinking at the same time. The narration was written in such a way that I felt like I was personally connected with every character. It was incredible, and it's rare to see a book narrated so well. 

I would highly recommend this book. I was so excited to learn that it's the first in a series because I want to read so much more about this world and these characters.

Twenty-five Bookish Facts about Me

1. I currently own 572 books, not including textbooks, reference books, cookbooks, duplicate copies, etc. If I include those books, I own 595 books.

2. I don't like owning more than one copy of a book because I don't see the point in that. This has become a problem ever since I got married to a bookworm like myself because now we have many duplicate books.

3. I used to not own very many books, perhaps only fifty books from my childhood. But then I bought my first bookshelf (Billy from IKEA), and ever since then I've acquired books like crazy. That's the secret to buying more books: buy a bookshelf.

4. After much thought, I've decided that I prefer paperbacks to hardcovers.

5. I very much dislike ebooks. I will never purchase an ebook, and I won't read an ebook unless absolutely necessary. I also don't own any form of tablet or e-reader or ever intend to purchase one. I do, however, love audiobooks.

6. I used to hate Goodreads and never use it, but earlier this year I suddenly became obsessed with it and now it's my favorite website.

7. I usually don't reread books. I've only ever reread maybe five books. The book I've reread the most is Incantation by Alice Hoffman. I think I've read it four times.

8. The best book I've read is The Book Thief by Markus Zusak. The worst book I've read is Zorba the Greek by Nikos Kazantzakis.

9. I buy most of my books discounted through either Book Outlet, Amazon Prime, the Barnes & Noble membership program, or used bookstores. I've also received a lot of books free from friends who don't want them or from a program through my library that gave out books to high schoolers who review books. Yay for free books!

10. When I was younger, most of the books I read were from the library. I always managed to pick up books that were lesser known, so I didn't grow up reading the popular books or the same books as everyone else.

11. Reading library books led me to prefer books that are lesser well known. I own lots of books that many people haven't heard of, and these tend to be my favorites. The really popular books tend to be only okay for me, not great.

12. Reading lesser well-known books led me to read the Harry Potter series for the first time last year when I was twenty years old. I know, I know, that's a disgrace. But I love it, so that's okay.

13. I don't like novellas, short stories, novelettes, between-the-series books (0.4, 1.5), etc. I only like full-length novels.

14. I have a hard time getting rid of books I own. Whether I read it and didn't like it, I don't want to read it, or I own two copies, I still want to keep it. I'm currently trying to overcome this problem.

15. I like my books to look pristine. I don't like writing in books, folding the pages down, or bending the spine back. But if I buy a book from a used bookstore, I'm okay if it has some wear on it. There's a fine line.

16. I'd like to be a writer someday, but that's never going to happen. I haven't really written any stories, nor do I have any ideas for stories. I just think being a writer sounds nice.

17. I cannot listen to music while I read, even instrumental music. If I do, I'll start singing or humming along and completely lose focus on my book.

18. I also cannot eat and read at the same time. At all. I either focus entirely on reading or entirely on eating.

19. I'm a total cover shopper (who isn't?). What I mean by this is that I will only pick up a book and read its description if I like the cover or if it was recommended it to me. But I will only actually buy a book if I like its plot.

20. My bookshelf is super organized because I can't stand a messy bookshelf. I organize first by type of book (adult fiction, young adult fiction, nonfiction, classics, etc.), and second by series or standalone. Thirdly, all standalones are organized by title alphabetically, and all series are organized by author last name.

21. I don't have a favorite spot to read, but I tend to do most of my reading on the couch.

22. I prefer reading contemporary and historical fiction and dystopian. I have a hard time reading books that aren't believable, which is usually why I don't read fantasy. For me to enjoy a fantasy book, the story has to be believable within its own world, if that makes sense.

23. I believe that my favorite book ever hasn't been written yet, or at least not read by me yet. I've never had that moment with a book when I immediately want to restart it once I finish it, nor have I had the burning desire to reread any book every year. I think that when I feel that way about a book, I'll have found my favorite book.

24. One of my biggest worries is that I will die without having read all the books I want to read. Obviously, that's a tall order since new books come out so frequently, but I at least want to read all the books I own and all the books on my immediate TBR list.

25. I currently have over 1,000 books on my TBR list, but I'm hoping to narrow that down to around 100 and keep it there.

Review: SERIOUSLY . . . I'M KIDDING by Ellen DeGeneres

Rating: 2.5/5 stars

I've never been an overly big fan of Ellen, but I've always found her somewhat funny, so I decided to pick up this book. Or I suppose the more accurate action is to listen to this book.

True to the book's title, I often had a hard time knowing if she was serious or if she was kidding. There were many moments when it was obvious she wasn't being serious, but the moments I was unsure were when she was giving advice. There was a lot of advice given in this book, and I'm guessing most of it wasn't real. On that note, I'm not sure what was real and serious about this book, just like I'm not sure what its point was. This book wasn't a memoir or biography; it was more like a collection of ideas that had run through Ellen's head at some point in time. There are one-word chapters, and there are pages-long chapters. But none of it really felt like it had any meaning. It was all very random.

Ellen is usually pretty funny, but there were a lot of instances in this book where I knew she was trying to be funny but it wasn't coming across that way. She'd make jokes and I'd just kind of go "Really? Okay. . ."

My favorite part about listening to the audiobook was that Ellen read it, and she read the special audiobook version of her book. She'd address the "listeners" instead of the "readers." She included a special segment that was specifically for audiobook listeners. (Likewise, there was a special segment specifically for visual readers and just told us that we had to see it printed on the page to understand it so she was just going to skip it.) The book really felt like a unique listening experience as an audiobook compared to actually reading the book.

Overall, I didn't get much from this book except for an entertaining three-hour listening experience.

Review: THE SELECTION by Kiera Cass

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I went into this book not expecting much. I'd heard it compared to the TV show The Bachelor, which I'm a fan of, but that comparison made the book sound superficial. I wasn't really interested in it, but after having heard rave reviews from many friends, I finally decided to give it a chance. And I was blown away by how much I loved it. 

The Selection is by no means a great work of literature or masterly written, but it is an extremely entertaining and fun read. I found myself rooting for the characters all throughout the book. There were unexpected scene changes and events that occurred, and I was so happy with every progression of the story. Honestly, I was giddy while reading this book. 

If you are unaware, The Selection takes place in a futuristic version of the United States, and it is about Prince Maxon's search for a wife. He holds an event called the Selection, where thirty-five girls from across the country come to the palace to "date" Prince Maxon. The story follows a girl by the name of America as she is chosen to be one of the Selected. 

This book was so fun to read, and that is the primary reason why I rated it so high. I can't wait to see where this series takes me.

How to Read for Fun during College

In high school, I used to be able to read only one or two books per semester. I really didn't get a lot of reading done except during Christmas and summer breaks. I was pretty disappointed with myself and always wished I could read more. Luckily, I have finally learned how to get a lot of reading done while also being in school. Here are the steps you need to know.

1. Commit to reading. The most important step to reading more is to have time committed only to reading. Tell yourself every morning that you will read at least thirty minutes that day. You tend to spend your time during the day doing activities that are important to you. If you keep waiting until you have time to pick up a book, you'll never get around to reading. If you don't have time to read, make time. 

2. Procrastinate wisely. When I get home from school, I like to take a break before I start my homework. I normally tell myself I'll take just a twenty-minute break and then start my work, but these twenty minutes usually turn into two hours. By that time I'm just procrastinating doing homework and end up doing pointless activities instead, such as online surfing or Netflix watching. It is important to commit to procrastinating if you're going to procrastinate. Tell yourself that you're going to take a two-hour break and just sit down and read that whole time. This step was especially hard for me at first because I don't like to let myself do anything fun until all my homework and other priorities are finished, but then I end up just wasting time and doing nothing productive. Once I started letting myself read before doing homework, I ended up both reading more and finishing my homework earlier. 

3. Use Friday as homework day. This one is hard, especially after a long week of school. But if you are able to finish all your homework on Friday, you then have the rest of the weekend to relax and read instead of stressing about homework. This is especially nice on Sunday night when you don't have to stay up late trying to finish all your assignments that are due on Monday. 

4. Always keep a book with you. Whenever you leave the house, whether it be for school or work or a day in the town, put a book in your bag to take with you. Pull it out and read for ten minutes in between classes, while you're eating lunch, or during your bus ride. You'll be surprised at the amount of free time you have during the day that you could be reading. 

5. Listen to audiobooks. We all have mandatory tasks that take our time every day, but this doesn't mean we can't be reading during that time also. Audiobooks are a great way to read while getting these other projects done as well. I always have an audiobook downloaded on my phone and ready to go whenever I'm doing dishes, cooking, cleaning the house, driving, or walking to school. I'm usually able to finish one to two audiobooks per week. You can find many audiobooks online for free from your library. 

6. Buddy-read a book with your friend. If you and your friend are reading a book together, you can hold each other accountable for reading that week. You will want to read because you won't want to disappoint your friend when you tell them that you didn't have time to read that week. You can set goals to read X amount of pages by a certain date, and then get together and discuss what you've read so far. This is a fun, low-key way to get some reading done during the week. 

Review: THE LIFE-CHANGING MAGIC OF TIDYING UP by Marie Kondo

Rating: 5/5 stars

This book changed my life, as the title told me it would.

I am moving across the country next month, and I have way more stuff than I want to move. So it's time to declutter. That was the main reason I picked up this book, and I am so glad that I did. I had no idea it would have such an impact on me.

Marie Kondo's approach to tidying up your home is based on two steps: deciding whether or not to keep something, and deciding where to put it. The steps must be done in that order for the process to work. Her entire book focuses on surrounding yourself only with items that bring you joy.

She starts off by asking you to visualize your desired lifestyle and your desired home, and then ask yourself why you want it to be like that? Keep asking yourself why until you reach the ultimate answer of that it makes you happy. The purpose of this book is to help you achieve happiness in your life. It is stressful to always be around items that don't bring you joy or things that you don't need, so just eliminate them from your life. Choose what you want to keep, not what you want to get rid of.

To declutter, you start with clothes, then move to books, papers, miscellaneous items, and finish with mementos and sentimental items. You must declutter by category, not by room, and you must go through everything in one category at the same time. To decide what to keep, you physically touch or pick up each item, look at it, and ask yourself, "Does this bring me joy?" If the answer is an immediate yes, keep it. If you hesitate to answer or say no, then the item doesn't bring you joy and you should discard it.

Her approach to cleaning isn't hard, but it's effective. I cleaned out my closet four times in the last month before I read this book and got rid of two boxes of clothes. After reading her book, I went through my closet again and got rid of another two boxes of clothes. Now I'm left with only the clothes that I actually wear and like, and I can honestly say that it's made me happier.

Although the author writes with a holier-than-thou attitude and sometimes sounds condescending, her process of helping you organize your life and get rid of unnecessary items works. I've read this book two times already, and I intend to read it again as I continue to declutter my life.

Review: SOUNDLESS by Richelle Mead

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I enjoyed this book more than I thought I would. It turned out to be unique, and I liked that. The main reason I picked up this story was for the deaf main character.

The beginning left me feeling doubtful, but it eventually picked up. At the beginning, the points the author made about being deaf were somewhat inaccurate, which bothered me deeply. I support deaf culture, and I want to see it represented accurately in books. That said, I'm glad that another story with a deaf protagonist has been added to the world of literature. However, I dislike that the main character regained her hearing early on in the book and that her hearing was a key point to her survival. I want a deaf protagonist to stay deaf throughout the story and use all her other senses to survive and not rely entirely on hearing.

The only thing that deaf people can't do is hear. They are very capable of doing everything else. Deafness is not a disability, and I didn't like seeing it represented as such.

As far as the fantasy aspect, that was disappointing. The book had a very nice historical feel until the very end when it suddenly became fantasy. I wish the fantasy aspect would have been strewn throughout the book or not been there at all. It felt like the author intended the story to be historical but couldn't figure out how to end it properly, so she added in some mythical creature to save the day.

As for the Chinese folklore, the overall feel of the book did feel somewhat Chinese, but I would have enjoyed more aspects of the culture that really emphasized specific details of how China is different from other parts of the world.

Despite the parts of this book that I felt like we're lacking and could have been developed more thoroughly with more details, I did really enjoy reading this book. The story grabbed me. And although I prefer standalone books over series, I would have liked to read a sequel to this book.

Review: DAUGHTER OF DEEP SILENCE by Carrie Ryan

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

This book was really intense. After reading and loving Carrie Ryan's Forest of Hands and Teeth trilogy, I knew I had to pick this book up. And it did not disappoint.

After a ship gets into an accident and Frances's entire family dies, she sets out to seek revenge on those who caused the accident that took everyone from her. She spends four years planning the revenge by taking on the identity of someone else and keeping meticulous notes on everyone she knows. In this story, every detail matters.

Other than Frances, the only other people to survive the ship's accident are a senator and his son. And they lie about the nature of the accident. Frances knows that if they're lying then they must be involved in what's going on, so she makes it her goal to expose them as the liars they are and inform the world of the true nature of the accident.

I love the narration in this story and the way Frances connects clues together. I was always enraptured by what was going on and how one detail led to another until a whole picture was built before me in seconds.

The biggest downside was that there were flashbacks throughout the story, and, at least on audio, I had a hard time at first differentiating between the present and the past. I'm not sure if the book displays flashbacks differently than the rest of the book text, but the audio was a bit confusing. Thankfully, it did not detract too much from the story.

Review: LOOP by Karen Akins

Rating: 4/5 stars

I enjoyed this futuristic romantic sci-fi book, although it did have some blatant discrepancies.

Finn is from the 21st century and is visiting the 23rd century, where Bree is from. Finn mentions Einstein, and Bree has a fit that he's going to give himself away as being from a different time because Einstein is so old. But later Bree mentions Spartans, who are from hundreds of years before Einstein, and she doesn't see that as a problem. Eventually, it was explained that Bree's mom loved the 20th century, so she often referenced it, but I just thought that was an easy way out of using references to our day. I kind of wish the author had made up references from the 23rd century to make the story seem more realistic.

As for the love interests in this book, Bree doesn't like either of the guys (Finn or Wyck) romantically at first. But then when she finds out they like her, she gets the tingles and the butterflies when they touch her arm or her leg or whatever. So she ultimately just started liking them because they liked her.
The love interest seemed realistic enough though. There was no insta-love, which is nice. The relationship built up throughout the novel, so it felt much more realistic than a book that starts out with the characters already in love. And the love interest was there for more than that: Finn actually played a role in the plot and the mystery of the book, and he was pivotal in the revelations at the end. I love when a character is in a book for a real purpose and isn't just an extraneous character.

I thought the author did a good job of portraying what the futuristic world could be like. There was a lot of technology and scientific stuff that is different from what we have nowadays. Occasionally I was a bit confused about a new device that wasn't explained well enough, but for the most part the descriptions made sense. I would have definitely appreciated a lot more world building though. Often times, a new idea or piece of technology was introduced as if the reader already knew what it was, so I had to deduce from context how it worked. It was nice that there weren't boring strings of explanations, but if the brief mention of how something worked was confusing, I had a hard time understanding its purpose.

I did like that Bree has new swear words in the future, like "Blarking," and my favourite, "Oh sweet plaid knickerbockers of Zeus!"

There were a few plot holes that I noticed (that I won't mention because of spoilers), but overall I liked the idea behind the story and intend on reading book two.

Review: THE 5TH WAVE by Rick Yancey

Rating: 3/5 stars

I still don't really understand this book.

It started off so strong in Cassie's perspective, describing the current situation of her world and what exactly was happening with these waves of alien invasions. I was almost positive it was going to be a five-star book in the beginning. But then the point of view switched to that of Ben, and it kept alternating between Cassie and Ben throughout the book. I honestly only cared about Cassie's story, so I didn't like these alternating perspectives. But this wasn't all. There were random places where the point of view switched to that of Evan and to that of Sammy, whose stories were told in third person perspectives. So there ended up being four different narrators, two in first person, two in third person, who switched around in no particular order. This was the weakest part of the book. I'm sure it wouldn't normally be that hard to follow along, but there was one male narrator on the audiobook for the three male points of view without introducing who was speaking when each new character's section started. Often I wasn't even sure who was talking for a few chapters.

This novel didn't feel particularly special compared to all the other dystopian books out there. Overall, the idea of the story reminded me strongly of The Host. The 5th Wave is an alien novel about aliens that come to this earth and take over by invading the human hosts. I loved The Host, so I was a little disappointed when I started noticing the uncanny comparisons. It would have been nice if the second alien novel I read would have not been really similar to the first I read. But it is as it is.

I'm still not sure what's happening with some major plot points of this story. I'm not sure if that's because it's harder to pay attention to audiobooks, so it's my own fault that I missed those details, or if that's because those details weren't explained well in the story. I'm going to finish the trilogy and see if I understand the story better as I progress through it. I hope so. I think there is a lot of potential here.

Review: BEFORE I DIE by Jenny Downham

Rating: 1/5 stars

Tessa has cancer. She creates a list of things to do before she dies, and her main goal before she dies is to have sex. However, she explicitly says that she doesn't want to fall in love.
What kind of world is this where having sex just to have sex, just to cross it off a list of things to do, is an acceptable and desirable action? That's despicable.

To accomplish her goal, Tessa and her friend go to a club and her friend is like, "I found two guys, let's go home with them." But then Tessa is like, "No, I changed my mind." And Tessa's friend gets mad at her and is like "Piss off," just because Tessa won't have sex with some stranger from a club. Some best friend she is.

Almost everything on Tessa's list is stupid and reckless and worthless. Why doesn't her list include things to improve her life and make it worthwhile and memorable? She's basically an idiot. Things she wants to do before she dies: sex, drugs, sex, break the law, sex, etc. and more sex. Like, really? Who thinks about sex so much when they're on their deathbed?

I thought this book was going to be heartbreaking and thought-provoking and make me appreciate my life more. But I am just so disappointed with this story. I felt nothing for Tessa. She was irritating, shallow, stupid, and just plain rude. And her "best friend" was even worse.

Also, I hated the narrator's voice on the audiobook. But even if I loved her voice, it couldn't have made me love this horrendous book.

Review: THE MARTIAN CHRONICLES GRAPHIC NOVEL by Ray Bradbury

Rating: 1/5 stars

I read this book because the name of my favorite band, The Rocket Summer, comes from this book. 

I really only enjoy sci-fi if it's believable. But this story wasn't believable. In this book, Mars is just like Earth: it has water and rain and trees and enough oxygen for people to survive. People live there and drive vehicles. If this book had been set on a fictitious planet, that would have made much more sense. 

There was a large lack of world building and character building. The graphic novel feels very choppy like the characters switch from one conversation to another without finishing the first one, and I couldn't follow along very well. 

The art is not very pleasing. It's very bland and not very colorful. Some pictures are repeated in adjacent frames.

I just wasn't very interested in this collection of stories. I'm sure if I read the original book, I'd enjoy it more than the graphic novel, but maybe not much more.

Review: ENTHRALLED by Various Authors

Rating: 2/5 stars

I started this book years ago, but I read just a few stories and never got around to finishing it, probably because I just don't care much for short stories.

I finally read all the other stories, and overall this collection of stories was just okay. This book was a nice introduction to the writing styles of multiple authors, many whom I've never read before. However, I just wasn't interested in most of the stories. There were only two, maybe three, stories that I actually enjoyed.

I discovered that most of the stories were poorly developed, each using terminology from a world that was underdeveloped and barely described, making it hard for me, as the reader, to have a clear picture of what was happening. I think the biggest problem with short stories is that there is never enough world-building, character-building, and worthwhile plot development for the story to even begin to make sense before it ends. These problems, prevalent in this book, result in a story comprehensible only to those who already have an understanding of that particular world.

My favourite story from this anthology was "Skin Contact" by Kimberly Derting. Although shorter than most in this collection, it was descriptive in a way unlike the others, and it brought out emotions I don't usually feel while reading short stories. None of the other stories left a lasting impression upon my mind like this one did.

I would recommend this book for younger teen readers who enjoy paranormal stories.

Review: ILLUMINAE by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff

Rating: 3/5 stars **minor spoilers included**

I really wanted to like this book, I really did. But it just didn't deliver.

First of all, I love the format it's told in: interviews, IMs, emails, classified documents, security footage reports, pictures, diary entries, thoughts of an artificial intelligence defense system. Anything but prose. The format is the main reason I decided to read this book.

Illuminae had a good plot idea but not a good execution thereof. I was often confused and unsure of what was really happening. However, this is my first real sci-fi book, and science fiction isn't my favourite genre, so maybe I'm just biased.

Sometimes this book was boring and I didn't want to read it. The first 100 pages: good. Next 200 pages: boring. Next 100 pages: intense; the best part of the book that included the twist about Ezra. Next 100 pages: boring. Last 100 pages: moderate.

Here are some discrepancies I noticed:

In the future, they still have the same references as now. If you go back 560 years from today, culture was way different. So 560 years in the future, culture is going to be very different still. Other than having space colonies and massive spaceships, the culture references in this book are exactly the same as today.

The map of the ship has ~130 afflicted on it when there are ~1,000 in actuality. The dots on the map should be smaller and more abundant to be accurate.

They're moving through space at hundreds of km/sec, yet they're running on backup engines and they're too slow for the Lincoln? And the Hypatia turned off its engines and is supposedly just sitting there next to them, but the Alexander is moving fast through space? That doesn't make sense.

A robot cannot have feelings. Aidan essentially acts like a real person. I just didn't understand or enjoy the parts about Aidan. And why does Kady help him anyway? After all the people are off the ship, she should just go back to smashing him to pieces.

Kady moves through the ship quickly, but it's two miles long, so how is she able to get from one end to the other so fast?

If Aidan was pretending to be Ezra, why did he tell Kady not to come to the Alexander if he really did want her there?

Anyway, those were the questions I had while reading. Despite my feelings toward this first book, I still intend to read the second book; I hope it will be better than the first.

Review: AFTERWORLDS by Scott Westerfeld

Rating: 4.5/5 stars

I enjoyed this book way more than I thought I would.

This book is really like two books in one, alternating Darcy's story and Lizzie's story every chapter. Darcy has recently signed a book deal to publish her first novel, Afterworlds. Her story follows her life as a new author as she moves to New York and gets involved in the publishing business and begins her first romance. Lizzie's story is that found in Darcy's book, Afterworlds. Hers is a paranormal adventure about when her developing the power to travel between this world and the afterworld and using that power to solve a mystery with a ghost.

This book would be good for those interested in publishing their own novel because Darcy's story includes realistic details about the struggle of rewriting parts of her book and incorporating suggestions from her editor. Darcy discusses scenes in her book that readers had just read in the previous chapter, so it's really neat to see how her book turned out compared to the other versions she considers using instead. Living in New York, Darcy learns what it's like to live on a budget for the first time and what it means to become a true friend. I personally enjoyed Darcy's story the most.

I love that this book takes a cultural turn that I rarely see in popular YA literature: Darcy comes from an Indian family with Hindu beliefs, and she incorporates this culture into her book. The love interest in Afterworlds is a Hindu death god. I bet you've never read a book like that before.

Overall I think this book goes deeper than one would initially think, but both stories are well crafted.

Review: FINDING AUDREY by Sophie Kinsella

Rating: 2/5 stars

I almost gave up on this book three times within the first hour of the audiobook. But I didn't. I continued through the entire story and came out feeling like it did nothing for me.

I had been hearing so many good reviews about this book, so I was quite looking forward to it. I haven't read any books about mental illnesses or anxiety, and having anxiety myself, I was excited to read about it from someone else's point of view. But it just didn't deliver.

Finding Audrey is about a girl whose anxiety is so severe that she has to stay home from school, and she has to wear dark glasses, even around her family, because she can't look anyone in the eye. She goes to a therapist, Dr. Sarah, who tells her to film a documentary about her daily life, and so she does. Meanwhile, her brother has a video game obsession and constantly has friends over playing video games with him. One of these friends is Linus, who Audrey eventually falls for. He helps her through her anxiety, but that was just so unrealistic. Falling in love does not make mental illnesses suddenly disappear. In fact, most of this book seemed unrealistic to me.

I had a hard time connecting to any of the characters. The story felt somewhat juvenile, and that might be because the main character was fourteen, or it might be because both of Audrey's parents acted like children. Either way, I did not enjoy this book or its writing style, so I most likely won't be reading anything else by Sophie Kinsella.

Also, the voice of the audiobook narrator was irritating, shrill, very British, and highly unenjoyable. So if you plan to read this book, I recommend actually reading it and not listening to it.

Review: YOU by Caroline Kepnes

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I was really looking forward to this book, and it certainly was unlike anything I've ever read before.

One day while working in his bookstore, Joe sees Beck, and he immediately becomes obsessed with her. Joe follows Beck around for months, doing whatever he can to learn everything about her. He has to know her, and he has to have her. This whole story is from Joe's perspective as he talks to Beck, calling her "You." I love stories written in second person.

This book is disturbing in every way. It made me paranoid and afraid that people like Joe really exist. This is the stalker story of the century, and it really puts into perspective how much information is available about any one person simply by use of the Internet.

Although I enjoyed this book, I also didn't. How can I say I loved a book that constantly made me uncomfortable and whose characters I despised? Besides Joe being a disgusting human being and a stalker, he was also a complete douchebag. (Sorry.) I was constantly asking myself how he thought what he was doing was okay, yet he often seemed entirely justified in his actions. And as for Beck, she was an unrelatable, irritating, and weak person. But I might be biased since I knew Joe's motives and actions while Beck didn't.

This book is for mature readers as it contains excessive swearing and detailed sex scenes. This was probably the biggest thing I disliked, more so than Joe's stalking. It was so obscene that I almost stopped reading after only a couple of chapters, but I decided to continue because I desperately wanted to know what happened.