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Pandabearbooks
I love a great world with relatable characters who seem realistic, even if they are fantastical.
Currently reading
City of Ashes
With a Bullet
Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Bridget Jones: Elämäni sinkkuna
We Are The Ants
4,5 starsThoroughly enjoyable. I don't have first hand experience of losing someone to suicide or of being in an abusive relationship, but I felt like this was a very good representation on what going through those things could be like. I especially thought that Henry and Marcus' relationship was portrayed very well. This is pretty much how I would imagine someone who stays with an abusive partner would justify the other's actions.
The main message I got out from this was that you have to save yourself if you want to survive, no one else can be happy for you. Just like you can't be the reason for someone else's happiness. I liked how there were no miracle cures, no "love concurs all" plot devices and how real it all felt. Life is ugly, and difficult, and often it'd be easier to just give up. But life is also beautiful, and amazing, and worth living.
Itsevalaisevat
2,5 tähteä, mutta pyöristetään nyt ylöspäin.En pitänyt yhdestäkään tämän kirjan hahmosta. Kirjailijan näkemys on ilmeisesti se (ainakin tämän kirjan maailmassa), että huonot ihmiset tekevät pahoja asioita huonoille lapsilleen joko suoraan tai välillisesti, ja kaikki ansaitsevat sen minkä saavat. Joissain kirjoissa kirjailija onnistuu luomaan moniulotteisia hahmoja, joilla on sekä hyvät että huonot puolensa. Tämän kirjan hahmoilla ei ollut hyviä puolia.
Se missä kirjailija onnistui, oli ympäristön hienovarainen kuvailu. Tunsin paikoitellen kesäyön lämpimän tuulenvireen kuin myös lokakuun kurjuuden ikkunalasin takaa. Mitään muuta positiivista en tuntenut tätä kirjaa lukiessani. Ehkä kirjan pointti oli se, että ihmiset kokevat myötsyntyistä tarvetta hakea oikeutusta paskoille teoilleen jumalista ja uskonnosta.
Olisin voinut antaa tälle kirjalle huonommankin arvosanan siltä pohjalta, että en pitänyt siitä, mutta varovainen 2,5/5 tähteä tulee sillä varauksella, että kirjailija mahdollisesti halusi välittää tämän kurjan kuvan ihmisyydestä ja uskonnosta, ja onnistui siinä mainiosti. Jos kirjailijalla oli jokin muu tavoite, meni se allekirjoittaneelta erittäin raskaasti ohi.
En aio lukea uudelleen, enkä ihan äkkiä aio myöskään lukea mitään muuta Hautalalta.
The Raven Boys
3,75 stars I had a hard time getting into the story, initially. I didn't fully relate to any of the characters, and I felt like (at least the first half of) the book lacked the required tension to keep me invested. The last couple of fifths in the book were better in this regard, and I ended up finishing most of the second half in a day. But still, two fifths do not a great book make.
Possibly my favorite characters were the adults (particularly Calla) and Noah. Ronan was a close second from the teenagers, but his asshattery is as of yet too unjustified. The Dream Thieves seems to follow Ronan more than any of the others, so maybe there is hope for him yet. In general, I'm hoping the next installment will be better, although I doubt I'll get around to reading it this month.
The "true loves kiss" storyline interests me not at all, so hopefully the story won't head too heavily toward that in the future.
//I have to crank up my rating from 3,25 to 3,75 stars, because this still sticks to my brain and I still find myself thinking of the characters and the story.
The Blinding Light
Jan 3rd - My reading year has gotten off to a good start, so I think my next audiobook shall be of the guilty (but not really) pleasure variety. I'm also trying to be more inclusive in my reading choices this year, so I'm hoping disablity will be represented respectfully in this one."Jan 4th - For some reason I can't stop listening to this, even though this is at points so korny and cringe-worthy it's painful. The "sexy" bits are more ridiculous than anything, but on the whole this isn't *bad*. Just a short and easy listen in between something a little more substantial. Also, Gregor and Patrick and enjoyable, Jake not so much.
Jan 5th - The book got to the "steamier" parts and yeah, I just can't. I have too many things I want to read (and listen to) for me to keep listening to a book that mainly just makes me cringe. The plot took a nose dive and this lacked having anything believable or enjoyable. Goodbye.
The Spaceship Next Door
4,25 starsThere are two possibilities: either I'm rating the books I'm reading way too high at the moment, or my book year just happened to get off to a really good start. Either way, I found this a very enjoyable read. And unexpectedly funny. I think it may have been a really good idea to listen to this in audiobook format, because I don't think my inner narrator would have done anywhere near as good a job as Steve Carlson in capturing the voices of all the characters.
As a story, this was a pretty light one, as YA books often tend to be. Often, I found myself thinking about what the current scene would have looked like in movie format, and the humor of the sixteen-year-old Annie Collins was right up my alley (so I'm juvenile, sue me). There might have been a slight Juno-effect in that Annie wasn't entirely believable as a sixteen-year-old, especially in relation to adults in the book. The again, this was a book about a spaceship landing in a small town in the United States, so I guess realism wasn't really the main goal of the story to begin with.
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe
4,75 stars.I ended up reading my first book for the new year in one sitting, which is something that rarely happens to me anymore, which in itself should tell you something.
Sometimes it’s hard for me to relate to YA books, because the writing is so clearly targeted toward teenagers, and I am definitely not one. With this book, however, I felt like the book was targeted at anyone who is /or ever has been/ a teenager. It was so easy to remember all the confusion, and anger, and the lack of direction.
I loved all of the key characters and really felt for them, and I thoroughly enjoyed the boys' relationships with their families. Though I can freely admit that I was nowhere near this merciful with my parents at sixteen.
The Girl with All the Gifts
4,25 starsI went into the story with mixed expectations. I'm not usually one for zombies, but I did like the spin this book took on the topic. I listened to the story in audiobook format, and I really enjoyed the narration by Finty Williams.
I found the characters believable and the plot interesting and, at least to me, original. Throughout the book I kept thinking about how the story would end, and how I'd like it to end. I didn't expect the ending that the story had, but I was very pleasantly surprised. I was worried the resolution of the story would have been either catastrophic (in so much as it could, in the context of a zombie apocalypse) or tropy and clishéd. To me, it felt like neither. The conclusion felt very right, and left me satisfied with the story.
Six of Crows
Characters were very good (Kaz being my least favorite, Inej most), plot was enjoyable, the world building solid. Wasn't a huge fan of the romance aspect but really enjoyed the friendships. The pacing could have been better, and I would have liked getting to read Wylan's perspective as well. Will more than likely read the sequel next year.
One Small Thing
A promising start but started heading down hill about half way throughAll in all, too much cheese. There was nothing satisfying about the story past the half way point. All the conflicts were unnecessary and trite, the plot was glaringly obvious and clichéd and there was nothing believable about it.
Timing
Stef was a really fantastical character, which really made the whole story a little ridiculous. No body is that perfect yet conflicted at the same time. I get that you wanna make a character flawed, but in doing so you gotta take into consideration the effect those flaws will have on the character over all. Still, a cute story to amuse myself with.
Stay With Me
Porn with plot, basically. Entertaining, hot, eye roll worthy in its cheesiness. Predictable, and unexpectedly funny. Something to sooth a stressed out mind after work.
Overexposed
a three and a half star read. smutty and heartwarming and sweet. pretty well written too.
Surprisingly, this isn't my favorite Klune series. Maybe it's the cheesiness, I don't know, but this hasn't hooked me like the other stuff I've read from him. Enjoyable, though. And I can't wait to read the final installment after that epilogue.
Simon vs. the Homo Sapiens Agenda
This was the most aww worthy little YA novel I've read in a long ass while. I would have loved this when I was sixteen, but it was still pretty adorable at twenty nine.
Tell Me It's Real
I listened to this on Audible, and I couldn't do it outside of my flat for fear of coming across as insane. So fucking funny. I read the Homo Jock before this one, so I got the story a little backwards, but I still loved it. So adorable, so funny. Just what my autumn blues called for.
Supernaiivi
I've read this book many a time before, and it has yet to fail me. It's a simple book on the surface, but for me it's a way to climb out of a hole whenever existing gets to be a bit too much. It's not a magic cure, but it makes life tolerable again.