January Wrap-Up

As you can see, I ended up reading quite a lot of books this month, a grand total of 25. Believe me, that’s not how many books I normally read… Below, I’ve listed them all and added my Goodreads reviews of them.

Sarah Porter – Vassa in the Night

Even though I enjoyed the book, I feel like somehow it could’ve been better, had the wonderful weirdness of it not been surrounded by the normality of a teenage girl living in modern day Brooklyn. For me, that was quite distracting at times. That being said, some parts of the book were really good, and I loved the interaction between Vassa and Erg.

Leigh Bardugo – Grisha Trilogy
For my review of this trilogy, see: First review: Leigh Bardugo.

Leigh Bardugo – Six of Crows Duology
For my review of this duology, see: First review: Leigh Bardugo.

Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie – We Should All Be Feminists
Not only should we all be feminists (I didn’t need this book to convince me of that), but we should all read this book as well. Adichie wrote a clear, insightful essay on a modern day problem that every woman deals with on a daily basis, but weirdly doesn’t get a whole lot of attention.

J.K. Rowling – Very Good Lives
This was an incredibly inspiring read! For the most part, I felt like she was addressing me personally. Because of course I am afraid of failure, but why exactly? Also, it made me rethink the responsibility I have and will have in the future when it comes to people less privileged than I am. This lecture is definitely something I can take with me on a day-to-day basis.

Rainbow Rowell – Fangirl & Carry On
To read my review on these books, check out: Review: Rainbow Rowell – Fangirl & Carry On.

Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians
To check out my review of this series, see: Review: Rick Riordan – Percy Jackson and the Olympians.

Serena Valentine – The Beast Within
The Beast annoyed me so much in this book! He was insufferable throughout the whole story and then suddenly, at the end of the book, he falls in love with Belle? It didn’t make any sense. I was hoping for at least a bit of the cuteness Beauty & The Beast offers, but this book offers none of it…

J.K. Rowling – Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban
Rereading the Harry Potter books is always a treat. I’m currently rereading the series one book a month with the book club I’m a co-host of: The Magic Book Club (you can find us on Instagram).

Jay Kristoff – Nevernight
I’m not gonna lie, this book disappointed me. Reading it, I could definitely see its potential, and the plot was pretty good. Unfortunately, I wasn’t able to get immersed in the plot, because of the writing style. I can see Kristoff is a talented writer, but in this book, he was trying too hard, and that made it hard to follow the story. The writing style was meant to be ‘different’, but in the end, it just felt forced, which made reading this book pretty exhausting.

The footnotes add a fun extra, the narrator is certainly interesting. But if you need a number of footnotes to explain the background of the story, your writing just isn’t clear enough.Had the writing style felt more natural, I probably would have ended up loving this book. The plot was definitely strong, and there were some plottwists I really did not see coming. Also, I loved the idea of the shadow animals! Where can I get one?

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – Character Guide
This had a lot of beautiful pictures, but there could have been more interesting facts.

Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus
To read my review of this book, click this link: Review: Erin Morgenstern – The Night Circus.

Lauren Laverne – What Would Alice Do?
This is such a cute little book! Quite a lot of (often funny) life lessons were distilled from fragments of Alice in Wonderland. Some examples: ‘Alice on… Keeping Cool in a Crisis: If all else fails, deny everything’, ‘Alice on… Being A Feminist: Break through the glass ceiling [aka the looking glass]’, and ‘Alice on…Enjoying food and drink: When in doubt, have dessert’. Every lesson is followed by the fragment it’s based on, and all pages show the original illustrations in color.

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them – The Beasts: Cinematic Guide
This is a fun, quick read that combines beautiful pictures and fun facts about the fantastic beasts. It is mainly aimed at children, so it also provides a fun, short summary of the movies storyline where the beasts are involved, giving it almost a comic book feel at times.

Jay Kristoff & Amie Kaufman – Illuminae and Gemina
To read my review of these books, click this link: Review: Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff – Illuminae and Gemina.

Jody Revenson – J.K. Rowling’s Wizarding World: Movie Magic Volume One: Extraordinary People and Fascinating Places
This book is full of fascinating and funny facts! It’s great to see Fantastic Beasts and Harry Potter combined like this, and the removable items make for a fun extra. Especially enjoyable was the actors’ take on their role.

Conclusion
The very best book I’ve read this month is The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. It had everything! If you’re into YA fantasy, I’d highly recommend the Six of Crows duology, and if you’re more into sci-fi, you should definitely check out The Illuminae Files. Whatever you like to read, and whether you’re male or female, I urge you to please read We Should All Be Feminists when you get a chance (or watch the Tedx talk), because it’s a quick read and it’s such an important subject!

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