Fictional Friday: January Reading Wrap Up

As mentioned last week, I sort of completely failed my reading challenge for this year, and I won’t be trying to do any TBR’s in the near future. That’s just not for me. But I do want to keep up with reading wrap ups and this one is the first of 2018. I didn’t read much, and my reading tempo has been on the slower side so far, but I’m keeping up and enjoying myself – which is all that matters.

TALKING AS FAST AS I CAN: FROM GILMORE GIRLS TO GILMORE GIRLS by Lauren Graham

I did rate this one 4 out of 5 stars, but as time has gone by, I feel less impressed by it, so it’s more like 3,5 out of 5. Sure, it was a fun and quick read, with the comforting Lauren Graham type banter, but the book did miss a bit of depth. Graham did discuss how she got her start, how she was hired for Gilmore Girls and how the renewal happened. The latter, by the way, sounded as big of a mess as it appeared on screen, but I feel like that is no excuse. Sure, they rushed the filming of it all, but the script and the character development, should have been pre-prepared and it’s a shame the creator of the show herself ruined it all so spectacularly.

For me, it was nice to read about Peter Krause, who she had met before filming Parenthood, and how he was trying to hide his attraction to her during filming because they were playing brother and sister. That was a funny moment and actually, the book had quite a few funny moments, which is what I expected. All in all, it was alright, it was a little messy at times and there was too much time spent on Gilmore Girls, which by the way, was the point of the book, but I guess I was more curious about Parenthood by the end.

QUEENS OF GEEK by Jen Wilde

With this one, I was very underwhelmed and ended up giving it a 2 out of 5 stars on Goodreads. I still feel very underwhelmed by it and I don’t really get the hype. But also, I fully understand why I disliked Queens of Geek and it was because of the multiple point of views! For me, multiple POVs only work in fantasy novels, because fantasy usually has characters, who don’t even know each other, and it takes a while before they meet. Having multiple POVs with three characters, who are literally taking part of the same convention throughout a single weekend – it’s too much.

My biggest frustration with this is always the fact that I never connect with the characters and it’s more difficult to root for them. While all three characters in Queens of Geek are probably all awesome, I felt like I didn’t spend enough time with nany of them, to actually feel for them. But that’s me, and I’m sometimes very mean, so it’s not to say Queens of Geek doesn’t apply to you. It does tackle serious themes such as LGBTQ, cheating, social anxiety etc. So yes, it’s an important book, but it simply didn’t work for me and it’s alright.

SIMON VS THE HOMO SAPIENS AGENDA by Becky Albertalli

This was my first reread of 2018, and I picked it up because I saw the trailer for the upcoming movie based on this (Love, Simon), and it looked pretty darn good. So I thought, why not refresh my memory a little, because I indeed had almost completely forgotten the plot of this book – I didn’t even remember who the mystery guy was, what happened with him, and how things progressed. So, it makes sense, that despite being a pretty good book, I rated it 4 out of 5 stars, because it is a little unforgettable.

That being said, Simon is a delightfully amazing character! There’s nothing bad I could say about him, he is so easy to root for and I can’t wait to see the movie on the big screen. It’s especially important for that kind of movie to be seen by many, and I hope its box office numbers aren’t going to discourage studios to make these diverse movies in the future. It’s a bit scary though, that Nick Robinson’s latest movie  Everything, Everything bombed pretty hard (based on a novel with the same name), but hopefully Love, Simon will go differently. I’ll say this though, I didn’t really like Everything, Everything, but I really liked Simon vs. The Homo Sapiens Agenda.

THE CRUEL PRINCE by Holly Black

O. M. G! 5 out of 5 stars and one hell of a read for me because it kept me up all night! I didn’t sleep at all, had to go on a train, had to be in the doctor’s office for hours, and eventually, I was able to finish it before going to sleep that same day. If that’s not a sign of a good book, I don’t know what is.

The Cruel Prince is a really good character development book because we get to know our main character, and we get to know her through the hardship she has to go through. With so many of these YA fantasy novels, romance is thrown in so early on, and it’s almost as if we don’t know these main heroins without their male/female counterpart. But The Cruel Prince doesn’t rush the romance, frankly, when I was asked if it has any, I was reluctant to say there is because honestly, there’s more intrigue and politics than romance. And well, the world of Faes! My favourite! In other words, I really really loved this book and I can’t wait for its sequel. Hell, I’m pretty sure I will reread it again even before this year is over!

Have you read any of these books? And if not, which ones would you be interested in picking up!? Let me know in the comments, I’m nosy, and I want to know!