April 2020 Wrap up

 

Read books: 
read: 5/ listen: 1/ pages: 1955/ hours listened: 7h51m
1. The Distance Between Me and the Cherry Tree by Paola Peretti p.224 ****
2. Knife by Jo Nesbø p.600
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini p.416
4. The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkien p.544

5. Wide Sargasso Sea by Jean Rhys p.171

6.10 Blind Dates by Ashley Elston 7h51m

Movie watched:
1.Constantine (2005) *** re-watch
2. A Monster Calls (2016)  **** re-watch

March 2020 Wrap up

Read books:  read: 7/ listen: 1/ pages: 2576/ hours listened: 8h57m
1. The Flatshare by Beth O'Leary 9h35m ***
2. Thunderhead by Neal Shusterman  p. 448 ****
3. Force of Nature by Jane Harper 8h57m ****
4. Serafina and the Black Cloak by Robert Beatty p.320 ****
5. Anne of Avonlea by L.M. Montgomery p.512 ****
6. Serafina and the Twisted Staff by Robert Beatty p.400 ****
7. Serafina and the Splintered Heart by Robert Beatty p. 384 ***
8. The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan p. 512 ***

Movie watched:
none

Wilder Girls by Rory Power

Author:  Rory Power
Original title:  Wilder Girls
Pages: 288
Edition Language: Russian
Series: no
Format: e-book
Genres: Science Fiction, Dystopia
Goodreads

 Blurb:         
       It's been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty's life out from under her.

It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don't dare wander outside the school's fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.

My thoughts: 
      I have heard positive reviews about this book from multiple sources, and let's be real - the cover is a bomb! Unfortunately, the story itself left me untouched. It felt more like a book of character sketches: you can see framework of people, but none of them is complete and whole. I was let down by how a lot of the characters motivation for their actions didn't seem to make any sense. They either weren't explained, or some characters needed more background to be able to understand why they made the choices they did. I could not make any sense of their past, character traits and motivation. The only more or less round character is Hetty, but again the motivation of her actions is not clear. 

   Altogether, interesting premise, but the book felt very raw: many scenes did not make any impact on the story and felt cut out from the flow of the narration. Byatt's point of view contained a couple of chapters only and I found them out of the place as well. They told the story of what happened with her, but I was expecting more history and character development and got nothing.

 Rating:  

    3/5  

February 2020 Wrap up

 

Read books: 
read: 9/ listen: 1/ pages: 3490/ hours listened: 22h20m/ DNFed: 1
1. Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr. p.224 ****
2. Stalking Jack the Ripper by Kerri Maniscalco p.416 ***
3. Me Before You by Jojo Moyes p.485 ****
4. After You by Jojo Moyes p.381 ***
5. Sky in the Deep by Adrienne Young p.416 *****
6. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han  p.352 ****
7. P.S. I Still Love You by Jenny Han p.352 *** 
8. Always and Forever, Lara Jean by Jenny Han  p.352 ***
9. Hunting Prince Dracula by Kerri Maniscalco p.512 ***
10. The King of Crows by Libba Bray 22h20m
11. Big Sky by Kate Atkinson DNFed

Movie watched:
1. Mr. Mercedes S3. E 1-10 (2019) ****
2. The Frankenstein Chronicless S.1 (2015) *** 
3. Me Before You (2016)  **
4. To All the Boys I've Loved Before (2018)  ***
5. To All the Boys: P.S. I Still Love You (2020)  *** 
6. Death in Paradise S9. E 1-8 (2011–2020 ) ***

January 2020 Wrap up

 

Read books: 
read: 4/ listen: 0/ pages: 1437/ hours listened: 0
1. Dry by Neal Shusterman, Jarrod Shusterman  p.399 **
2. Brave New World by Aldous Huxley p.351 ***
3. One Day in December by Josie Silver  p.480 **
4. A Redbird Christmas by Fannie Flagg p.207 ***


Movie watched:
none

2021 Pages Read Challenge

     While I’m participating in a number of challenges that shows how many books you’ve read, I am joining as well the Pages Read challenge, which is hosted by Gina @ Book Dragon’s Lair. Gina does not seem to post any more or is having a break, but I still like this challenge and would like to continue with it just for my own statistics. According to this challenge you are judged by the number of pages you read.

Levels:

Bonsai - Read 12,000 pages
Shrub - Read 24,000 pages

Dwarf Peach - Read 36,000 pages

Apple Tree - Read  48,000 pages

Oak - Read 60,000 pages

Douglas Fir - Read 72,000 pages

Sequoia - Read 84,000 pages

Redwood - Read 84,001+ pages

Dwarf Peach (36,000 pages) is a nice deal, but I will set my goal to 24,000 (Shrub) again this year.  In 2020 I have read only 26562 pages, so no point to add pressure to my reading.

Read Your Bookshelf – Reading Challenge 2021

This fun yearly challenge is hosted by Chantel from An Intentional Life
         This challenge is about reducing the number of unread books on your shelves. Here are some prompts for each month to make it more interesting and challenging. 

        You can watch the announcement video for info on what the prompts are for each month, Chantel also suggests two books recommendation as well as the book she would read for that prompt.

Let’s get into the challenges for each month!

JANUARY
a “home-ish” word in the title

FEBRUARY
red on the cover or spine

MARCH
recommended by a friend

APRIL
five or more words in the title

MAY
a book you should have read before graduating high school

JUNE
an animal on the cover

JULY
a book that starts with the first letter of your first name

AUGUST
a book in a series

SEPTEMBER
a translated book

OCTOBER
set in a different country than your own

NOVEMBER
has a night scene on the cover

DECEMBER
a winter scene on the cover