Behold, another successful reading month has passed and I’m now ready to pick up heavier reads in March because I’m ahead of schedule! Meaning, I’m on track to read 60 books in 2016 (oh yeah!). So, anyways, in the month of February, I finished seven books in total: one was a quick read, one a re-read, and one a little heavier read among the much lighter books I picked up this month.
CITY OF BONES
Cassandra Clare / 2007
The Mortal Instruments series is getting a lot of attention at the moment due to the new TV-series Shadowhunters. The series is beyond bad, I haven’t seen anything worse and I was curious to see what the source material was all about. Well, it wasn’t any better. It was just too flimsy, and not action packed enough. The characters were not appealing at all, and I was underwhelmed throughout.
Themes: YA, Urban Fantasy, Paranormal
THE BEACH
Alex Garland / 1996
So, this is a very movie blogger inspired pick, because Alex Garland is the man behind Ex Machina and The Beach was his debut novel. Sure, the movie version of The Beach was also part of the appeal, but luckily I didn’t remember the movie in such detail and the book was a surprise. Though not the best read, probably because the story dragged and the ending wasn’t as brilliant as I hoped, it was still interesting to see what Alex Garland started out with 20 years ago!
Themes: Contemporary, Thriller, Adventure, Travel
PS: I Still Love You
Jenny Han / 2015
This re-read, following my favorite YA contemporary books of 2015, To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before, was bound to happen. I just had to finish the series for the second time and just like last year, I didn’t love the second book as much. Still, it’s a likable read, and following The Beach, which was so serious, it brought me some much needed brightness. I do wish there was a follow up… or a movie of this series because I can see it so clearly.
Themes: YA, Contemporary, Romance
A MONSTER CALLS
Patrick Ness / 2011
It has been decided, Patrick Ness is one of my favorite authors because even with such a short story, he managed to create so much depth and heart with words. His style is effortless and this story was not an exception. Soon to be a movie, A Monster Calls tells a story of coming in terms with bad things and finding the strength to be above them. The tiny little supernatural aspect just makes it a little more special than every other story.
Themes: Middle Grade, Paranormal, Horror, Fantasy, Death
READY PLAYER ONE
Ernest Cline / 2011
This sci-fi story inspired by the 80’s culture had been in my TBR for so long that I decided to pick it up right before I found out there will be a movie! And I’m not surprised. With a treasure hunt as the main plot, Ready Player One keeps everything realistic by infusing the 80’s elements into the futuristic future. It was such a great read I’m now finding it hard to describe it without spoilers, go figure.
Themes: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia, 80’s, Video Games
THE 5TH WAVE
Rick Yancey / 2013
Another dystopian YA novel that has been made into a movie, so I picked up The 5th Wave out of interest. And what a colossally bad decision it was.. I’m now thinking I should have given it just one coffee cup instead of two because it was so bad. The female character sounded idiotic, and I hated the fact that every situation was turned romantic/erotic which is why I’m hating Rick Yancey right now. Even though I really want to read his Monstrumologist series.
Themes: YA, Science Fiction, Dystopia, Aliens
ATTACHMENTS
Rainbow Rowell / 2011
By picking up Rainbow Rowell’s first novel Attachments, I’ve now read almost all her books except Landline and the upcoming Kindred Spirits. I guess I like her, she has a great skill for writing likable characters and Attachments was no different. With characters that were closer to 30 than to 20, I could relate to them well. I do wish the story would have been more modern but I guess the pot wouldn’t have worked as well as it did in the 1999. Definitely among my favorite reads from Rowell so far.
Themes: Adult, Chick Lit, Contemporary, Romance
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Let me know in the comments what you read this month and what you plan to read in March!
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I haven’t read any of these, but I think I’m going to check out A Monster Calls and Ready Player One based on your grades of them.
Ready Player One was good, A Monster Calls was just emotional for me, and the books that make me that emotional are always great!
I had no idea The Beach was based on a book, I’d like to give that a try.
Attachments and the Jenny Han books are all on my reading list, I’m going to move onto some YA once I’ve finished my Liane Moriarty Marathon. (Read Big Little Lies and What Alice Forgot in March, now onto Three Wishes).
Great post 🙂
I remembered it was, but I couldn’t remember the movie that well. I think I’m going to rewatch it soon, because the book is fresh in my mind right now! Jenny Han’s books are amazingly sweet!
*in Feb
I’m afraid I won’t be able to read March’s version of this post because I’m still going to be seething with jealousy/feeling guilty about HOW MUCH YOU READ. I’ve not read The Beach but I did hear it’s good, anything’s got to be better than the film, as a Travel Film blogger I HATE seeing this film on travel blogger’s lists of ‘movies that inspire wanderlust’ because it’s absolutely dire.
No worries, I’m speeding down for March. I read so much in February because I want to pick up BIG books in March!
I can’t remember the movie that well so I have to rewatch it, and maybe I will write about it. But the book doesn’t feel very much travel indeed, there’s not much of traveling around to begin with, just going to the beach in the beginning.
No way Rebecca! I love The Beach.
I didn’t read much in February, but I did finish Bill Bryson’s A Walk in the Woods. A lot of people recommended it to me so I finally broke down read it. It was definitely a pleasant read with a nice dose of history mixed in with the memoir bits. I haven’t seen the movie based on the book yet, but I’m interested to see how they managed to adapt so much walking into watchable film.
Ready Player One’s been on my to-read list forever too. Even though the adaptation won’t be out for while, I’d like read it soon–before all the casting announcements affect my mental picture of the book.
Haven’t even heard of that one! But then again, I’m not a big fan of historic books..
Oh I was so lucky the first casting news came after I read the book. I imagined the leading character to be completely different. I don’t know what that says about the casting but yeah, I recommend reading it soon.
I think I’m going to put Ready Player One higher on my to-read list, everyone seems to be raving about it. Glad you liked A Monster Calls; I also finished it in February and loved it. It’s currently my favorite work of his.
I like all his books but I haven’t put them in order in my head .. and I won’t before I read Chaos Walking 2, 3. I read the first last year but I might reread it this year and go for the whole trilogy.
Nice reads! I had some trouble with the 5th Wave too. I read it mostly to see the movie but then that didn’t get good reviews. lol It felt like the writer was trying too hard to make Cassie sound like a boy/rugged/sarcastic/etc. without it feeling natural. And it didn’t need so much ya romance – a girl can be interesting in the apocalypse without getting swept away into a love story.
Exactly! The girl wakes up in a strange room, clothes changed etc, she checks out the boy rather than gets scared!? So unbelivable and stupid.
I loved Ready Player One. This month I finished Wild Swans by Jung Chang which I really enjoyed and Career of Evil by Robert Galbraith AKA JK Rowling which was average. I’ve just started Possession by AS Byatt which is my March read for now till I see what my book club picks.
That’s great.. I haven’t heard of these.. Though I know about Rowling’s other writing name and Casual Vacancy.. haven’t read it yet though.