"There were plants and birds and rocks and things, there was sand and hills and rings."
day one • a song
day two • a picture
day three • a book/ebook/fanfic
day four • a website
day five • a youtube clip
Remember last year, and two years ago, when I did those Reading Challenges? I had to interrupt the 2015 one for obvious reasons, but I've been doing a 2016 one, although I've never mentioned it here before. Sorry about that. ^^" So here's a summary of what I've been reading so far, in chronological order (all hail the mighty Kindle, that weighs nothing, I can carry everywhere, and stores thousands of books at the same time!):
The Kane Chronicles novels, by Rick Riordan. From the author of Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase, a similar story but with Egyptian Gods and a non-white cast. I loved these books, but regrettably not as much as the other two series, which is a shame because I really wanted to love them more.
The Raven Cycle tetralogy by Maggie Stiefvater. I read them because everyone on tumblr was talking about them and I got curious. They are objectively good, and they have a bisexual kid and a gay kid in a relationship among the main cast, and it's a major plot point, so major kudos for that. My one problem is that the writing left me very cold, and I felt I couldn't relate to the characters at all. It was beautiful writing, but very impersonal. I'm not going to re-read them, but I definitely enjoyed them.
Then I got that terrible infection, got hospitalized for ten days, and I re-read all the Percy Jackson books on my phone. I'm a fast reader and one gets bored quickly in a hospital. Plus I had no roommate because of the infection. Fun times.
When I finally got better and went back home I started reading A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle, because they had just announced the movie and I wanted to see what it was about. It took me something like a hundred pages to realize I had already read it as a kid. And it was one of my favourite books too! I... I have no excuses. I read the second book and got halfway through the third one before giving up. I still think the first one is really beautiful, but then it gets too religious for my tastes, and way too boring, with some weird pacing issues.
Then I read Gone Girl without knowing anything about it, and I finished it in a day because it was so intriguing and I just couldn't wait to see what was coming next. I did not see the ending coming, at all. And I have to say I agree with some of the accusations of misogyny this book has recieved. While I agree with the author that we need more female villains in literature, because female characters are usually trapped in nurturing roles as that's what's expected of a woman in our society, what she did in this book was to create a female villain whose evil nature is inherently linked to her sexuality. She makes false rape accusations, gets pregnant to trap her husband, everything she does as a villain is because of her being a woman. She's not a villain who also happens to be a woman, the unicorn we readers would like to see more, she's the Psycho Bitch meninists keep rambling about. So yeah, it's a fascinating thriller and the writing is really good, but it's very misogynistic, no way around it.
It's been kind of a disappointing year for me when it comes to new novels. Right now I'm reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and so far I'm enjoying it, so maybe the tide is turning. ^^
day two • a picture
day three • a book/ebook/fanfic
day four • a website
day five • a youtube clip
Remember last year, and two years ago, when I did those Reading Challenges? I had to interrupt the 2015 one for obvious reasons, but I've been doing a 2016 one, although I've never mentioned it here before. Sorry about that. ^^" So here's a summary of what I've been reading so far, in chronological order (all hail the mighty Kindle, that weighs nothing, I can carry everywhere, and stores thousands of books at the same time!):
The Kane Chronicles novels, by Rick Riordan. From the author of Percy Jackson and Magnus Chase, a similar story but with Egyptian Gods and a non-white cast. I loved these books, but regrettably not as much as the other two series, which is a shame because I really wanted to love them more.
The Raven Cycle tetralogy by Maggie Stiefvater. I read them because everyone on tumblr was talking about them and I got curious. They are objectively good, and they have a bisexual kid and a gay kid in a relationship among the main cast, and it's a major plot point, so major kudos for that. My one problem is that the writing left me very cold, and I felt I couldn't relate to the characters at all. It was beautiful writing, but very impersonal. I'm not going to re-read them, but I definitely enjoyed them.
Then I got that terrible infection, got hospitalized for ten days, and I re-read all the Percy Jackson books on my phone. I'm a fast reader and one gets bored quickly in a hospital. Plus I had no roommate because of the infection. Fun times.
When I finally got better and went back home I started reading A Wrinkle In Time by Madeleine L'Engle, because they had just announced the movie and I wanted to see what it was about. It took me something like a hundred pages to realize I had already read it as a kid. And it was one of my favourite books too! I... I have no excuses. I read the second book and got halfway through the third one before giving up. I still think the first one is really beautiful, but then it gets too religious for my tastes, and way too boring, with some weird pacing issues.
Then I read Gone Girl without knowing anything about it, and I finished it in a day because it was so intriguing and I just couldn't wait to see what was coming next. I did not see the ending coming, at all. And I have to say I agree with some of the accusations of misogyny this book has recieved. While I agree with the author that we need more female villains in literature, because female characters are usually trapped in nurturing roles as that's what's expected of a woman in our society, what she did in this book was to create a female villain whose evil nature is inherently linked to her sexuality. She makes false rape accusations, gets pregnant to trap her husband, everything she does as a villain is because of her being a woman. She's not a villain who also happens to be a woman, the unicorn we readers would like to see more, she's the Psycho Bitch meninists keep rambling about. So yeah, it's a fascinating thriller and the writing is really good, but it's very misogynistic, no way around it.
It's been kind of a disappointing year for me when it comes to new novels. Right now I'm reading The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho, and so far I'm enjoying it, so maybe the tide is turning. ^^