Image Courtesy of The Alliance Française de la Peninsule de Monterey
Hi Everyone!
I hope you all had a fabulous month and hopefully you got to read some enjoyable books! I don’t think I read a lot of books this month, but I do feel like I grew as person, more like a discovery of what I’m interested in. It’s somewhat strange to actually feel growth. I guess it might be because you’re actually paying attention to it happening, you’re looking at yourself and thinking “wow, I’m definitely not that person anymore.” When I look back at my years in University I do know that I changed, for better or worse- I think I did for the better, but I’m sure there’s an argument that I didn’t! The thing is I don’t think I felt myself changing or maybe I did and forgot about it. Anyways like last month this month was one for growth. Maybe this is what happens when you take a post- University break- you start to notice the subtle changes in yourself!
Memorable Moments of the Month/You know things you notice sometimes
- My mom’s birthday: For the past four years I haven’t been home for my mom’s birthday because I was in School and it always falls before Reading Week. So this year after a long time I was able to be at home for her birthday. The downside was that she had to go to work, but she got a lot of phone calls from family and friends which was nice. We also ordered Indian Food (from one of my favourite restaurants since my parent took me there for one of my birthdays) and my dad got her Roses
. - My Grandma’s birthday: This was my grandma’s 81st birthday and my family along with my aunts, uncles and cousins congregated at my great aunt’s (my grandma’s sister) house where we skyped her. It was one of the most memorable evenings of my life. Grandma was really happy to see her extended family and she sang this song called “Ever More.” Apparently it’s the song that wooed my grandpa lol. She has a beautiful voice and it was just nice to see her. We were told that she was elated to see all the famjam, so I’m guessing I’ll be skyping with her for my New Year in April too!
- Hanging out with my Family- It’s funny, when I moved back home on a permanent basis after University I thought I’d honestly find it difficult to adjust after being by myself for so long. After living by yourself you essentially do get used being without your family for long periods of time, however I don’t think I realized how much I missed them. It’s not the same talking with someone on the phone vs. seeing them in real life. I’ve gotten a lot of time to hang out with my brother and my parents which has been really nice. And with my dog of course. Because of all the snow we’ve been outside playing which she enjoys .
- YA Language debate: Another interesting debate that I’ve noticed is the language used in YA. Personally I’m not one for swearing, if I do swear it’s only when I’m really angry, but the use of swear words is pretty much part of today’s vocabulary and it’s hard to get away from it and I can understand people being concerned about using such vocabulary in YA books, but it’s just a part of life for better or for worse. As someone who worked with students in University one of the things that we talked about is language. Most of the times when 18 or 19 year olds enter university they’re unaware of how some use of language is not acceptable on campus. Some examples we talked about was the use of the words “gay” and “retarded.” But is it up to authors to say no to such language or is up to parents to teach their kids? Either way I think it’s an interesting debate. What are your thoughts on it?
February Reading
Like I said I didn’t read that much in comparison to January, but I did enjoy the books I read.
The House of Silk: A Sherlock Holmes Novel by Anthony Horowitz
This was the first time I had heard/read anything by Anthony Horowitz and I wasn’t disappointed. I really enjoyed the story and the ending took me by surprise. I hadn’t suspected it at all, so it definitely kept me on the edge. The characterization of Holmes and Watson too was spot on which I enjoyed. I think it’s a worthy successor to the Sherlock Holmes stories by Arthur Conan Doyle.
The Garden of my Imman by Farhana Zia
I’ve never read a middle grade book about a Muslim girl before and I was pleasantly surprised at how much I enjoyed this one. I thought the characters were awesome and I’ll be reviewing this one on the 18th of April as part of the blog tour for the book.
Adam Canfield, Watch Your Back by Michael Winerip
This is the second book in the Adam Canfield trilogy and while I enjoyed it, it wasn’t as good as Adam Canfield: The Last Reporter. I think the last book in the series is the best. Still this one had some of it’s funny moments. Phoebe, the world’s greatest third grade reporter is always going to be one of my favourite fictional Middle School characters. She is so awesome!
Indian Horse by Richard Wagamese
Indian Horse is one of my favourite reads of the year so far. It’s a beautiful and tragic story about a Ojibway man by the name of Saul Indian Horse as we follow him from childhood to living at a Residential School to his love for Hockey. It’s a book I would highly recommend to anyone interested in First Nations people and I believe it’s a story that deserves more attention. I will be going back to read Wagamese’s other work because his work is just too wonderful to ignore.
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores by Jen Campbell
This is one of the funniest books I’ve read in a long time. I could not believe some of the things that people said in bookstores and on the other hand I don’t doubt them. If you guys are interested I can share some of my favourite quotes with you. But I definitely encourage people to pick this book up sometime
The Golden Compass/Northern Lights (Book # 1 in His Dark Materials trilogy) by Philip Pullman
I’m so glad I finally got to read this book. I saw the movie first and I have to say the book is definitely better! I can’t wait to read the Subtle Knife and The Amber Spyglass. The world Pullman has created is nothing short of amazing, especially the armoured bears!
That’s it from me for this post. I hope all of you have a splendid March!
Cheers,
Savindi
Okay, now I definitely want to read Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores! And this is just another spur in my side to finally get to the His Dark Materials series. I have 3 of the books sitting on my shelf, waiting to be read!
Also, cheers to you on the personal growth. It feels good, doesn’t it? And also strange, looking back at your past self and realizing you’re different. I wish you a happy, fulfilling month of March.
I think you’ll enjoy Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores! It’s laugh out loud funny. You can’t really believe some of the things people say, but I guess that’s what makes life interesting right? I really enjoyed The Golden Compass. I can’t wait to read the other two books! Have you seen the movie?
Personal Growth does feel good, it’s also a little scary lol since you’re venturing out of what is familiar to you. Thank You for the wishes, I hope your March is wonderful and that you get to read some fantastic books!
Indeed!
I did watch The Golden Compass movie, and it only intrigued me to read the books. My husband wasn’t very impressed with the movie, saying the books were better because they went into a lot more detail. We’ll see!
I agree with your husband, the book is much much better! It’s a lot more detailed and you really bond with the characters.
Oooh, excellent! Now I just need to figure out how to fit them into my reading plans, lol!
The Golden Compass was a pretty fast read. I read it in about two and a half days. When you read it I’m looking forward to hearing your thoughts! Ohhh are you excited for the new Raven Boys book? I know we talked about it a bit a while ago
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Yes, indeed! Isn’t the cover GORGEOUS? I really can’t wait to find out what happens next. Especially since this series is supposed to be like 4 books. I’m wondering how the heck their adventure can stretch out that long.
It is!! SO EXCITED to find out more about Ronan. Oh I posted the Synopsis for it. You can check it out if you haven’t seen it yet. I found it on my local bookstore chain website. September can come now please.
The Golden Compass! I keep forgetting that I need to read that. I made the mistake of watching the move first, which nearly always makes it impossible for me to pick up the book. I don’t like knowing what happens when I’m reading. You have me very curious about Indian Horse now, too. I’ll have to check that out!
It’s a really great book Sam! I hope you enjoy it when you get the chance to read it! Trust me the book is SO MUCH better than the movie. You’re drawn to the characters more and the book is more controversial I would say.Indian Horse is amazing! It’s my favourite read of the year so far. It’s a beautiful story. Thanks for stopping by and commenting
I am glad that you had a great February! I hope you have a awesome March
And Happy Birthday to your mother and grandmother! I might try out Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores sometime.
Thank You! I hope I have a great March as well. I highly recommend Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores. It’s quite entertaining!
Everything you said about post-university growth I can totally relate to since I went through most of it myself! It’s an ambiguous time because you’re trying to figure out where to go next but also exciting, because you have seemingly endless opportunities and choices ahead of you. I’m excited to see where you’re headed next! Also, I’ve picked up the Golden Compass again, given your good review of it. I never saw the movie so thankfully I can go in knowing I’m getting the original story.
It really is an ambiguous time. It’s thrilling and scary at the same time because you don’t really know where you’re heading. But we’ll see where I end up eventually! When are you heading back to the states Lillian? I hope you enjoy The Golden Compass! I can’t wait to hear your thoughts on it!
I think you definitely read more than me in February. I literally have no more reviews because I haven’t read anything. *sigh* I just can’t seem to finish anything.
Still, looks like a fun month with lots of birthdays. WOW 81st. Go Grandma. I’m glad you are enjoying your time back home, Savindi!
Thanks for stopping by and commenting Olivia! Sometimes you do need a break from reading too
. Plus you’re in school at the moment so you’ve got a lot going on! I get that can’t finish syndrome too. Personally I don’t think it’s always the book, it might be me as well because I think you need to be in the right mood to read sometimes too.
Yeah February is the month where my mom’s side all celebrate their birthdays! Go Grandma indeed
. I think she has more life than all of my family combined lol. Hope you’re keeping well! Have a wonderful March!
What you mentioned about language in YA made me think of Moskowitz’s Teeth. Lots of swearing is had! It surprised me, because I didn’t expect the eff bomb and such to be so rampant, but it felt appropriate (in my opinion) for the character.
It raises an interesting point, though. (I’m not sure how to precisely word this, so I hope I don’t ramble!) I like to see authors who present their characters realistically, so if the character has particular attributes that stem from environment/personality — language included — I do like to see that, even in YA. That said, I like to think some responsibility falls on all involved parties. The parent should educate his/her child, and the child should be mature enough to understand what is and isn’t appropriate to say. In regards to authors, I never enjoy seeing profanities slung around without purpose. Just like anything that’s irreverent to the story, it shows sloppy writing. What do you think?
I must pick up The Golden Compass this year. I just have to, because I’ve wanted to read it for years. I took it down from my shelf after reading your review, even, but I’m trying to finish off my two current reads, ahh.
I’m sorry for the late reply! I wanted to think this one out a bit before I replied. Talking about the eff bomb, didn’t TFiOS have it a lot too? I mean not every single sentence had it, but it was mentioned quite a lot. Oh and don’t worry you definitely didn’t ramble at all! When you take swearing though I find it a bit counter productive when parents till their children that they should not swear when they’re younger, but that all turns out differently when they become teenagers. I mean it happens in the ‘real world’ so to speak. Oh yeah I’m not a fan when swearing is included just for the sake of it. That doesn’t help the story or the author. It makes me sigh in defeat when every other word in a sentence is a swear word. Even when I heard phone conversations at University. I’d be thinking “surely you do have a larger vocabulary than this right?”. It definitely is an interesting debate. Like in The Raven Boys there’s this one character called Adam and from what I remember barely swore up until one incident. And his swearing was justified in my opinion because of the situation and his frustration. So that way I thought it was realistic. It’s definitely an interesting debate.
Okay before you pickup The Golden Compass you have to finish HP lol.
Oh, I don’t think you’re late in replying at all! (: WordPress, for some reason, isn’t even alerting me when someone replies to my comments, though. Are you having the same problem as well? I hope it’s fixed soon.
Oh my gosh, TFiOS — I can’t remember! I’ll have to take a second look at it. Mostly, I just remember the immense disappointment I felt after finishing it, ha.
Pshh, all right! I picked up the first HP book last night and started to read it again
It’s a bit of a strange feeling, re-reading a childhood favorite now that I’m older. My perspective has changed, but the book still has the same magical spark.
I’m so sorry for the late reply again! To answer your question about wordpress notifications yes I do have the same problem, but not with my blog. I get notices when people comment on my blog, but not when I get replies to my comments on other blogs. But I think it’s fixed now because I got a notification about your reply.
Ahaha I’m with you about the disappointment surrounding TFiOS.I still haven’t gotten over it as I haven’t touched Green’s other two works yet. I’m scared that I’m going to hate them and just fling them across my bedroom.
And your goodreads status update made me laugh so much. It was one of the brighter things in my life right now because of some things that are going on. So thank you for that!Aahha I’m glad that you’re still enjoying the Magical Spark of HP
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I was having the same problem, but it looks like they fixed it already! They’ve added some new notification features to their app as well, so now I know when people reply to comments on other blogs (:
After the TFiOS let-down, I’m a little hesitant to try Green’s AAoK, to be honest — I need a John Green break (sadly… even a YA break in general)! I will read his next book, whenever that will be, but I think I’ll have to re-read LFA first. Remind myself what made me like John Green in the first place.
Oh no, I hope everything is all right. Yes — HP! It’s been so long since I’ve actually read the books (I honestly didn’t remember that Harry’s hair is black, dhajkdhk), and it will be fun to re-watch the movies as I re-read the books.
I didn’t know they added new features to their notifications app, I should check them out then.
Talking about AAoK, I’ve seen a lot of people talking about how John Green’s characters are essentially the same in all of his books. He uses the same formula over and over again. What do you think of that? I guess in some ways Hazel and Alaska were a bit similar, but hands down Alaska was a better character than Hazel..at least for me. I know I will definitely pick up John Green’s other books, but I think I’m going to be cautious about my expectations. Ahaha is a YA Burnout around the corner for you? I haven’t really read a YA book in a while now that I think about it. I can’t say that I miss the genre yet, but I’ll pick up a book sometime and read it.
My grandma was in the hospital because she had a blackout and got a concussion. So my mom flew out to Sri Lanka on Tuesday night to look after her. She’s a lot better now from what I understood, but she’s really weak. On top of that my Grandma is literally almost a Vegan. She doesn’t get much protein in her diet so that’s got to change this time around. Hope you’re enjoying HP!!
I agree with that — virtually all of his characters have the same voice, and the way plots unfold are also similar with a dash of adventure. His characters are all smart and quick-witted, which I find unrealistic in terms of today’s ‘average teen,’ but it’s also why I like his work. In a way, I think his characters make good role models, and their intelligence makes them fun and interesting for both young and old readers. Still, I’d like to see John Green switch it up, but I do enjoy the adventure trips his characters always take (except in TFiOS — it just didn’t work for me).
Alaska and Margo are a lot more alike, I think (as are the two protagonists for each of those books), but the latter frustrated me too much. Hazel is a nice departure from the Margo/Alaska archetype, though, even if I didn’t like her character as much.
It is! I think I’ve already hit the burnout, even. Only a few YA books interest me right now, but I’m otherwise eyeing more adult fiction and especially classics. Oh, and Harry Potter of course! Perhaps the later HP books can be considered more YA than ‘middle-grade,’ but re-reading the series is a nice break from the typical teen angst in young adult books. I also read Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde this week, and now I’ve got my eye on Austen’s Persuasion
I know! No matter how much John Green tries to argue that it’s not the case it is. Or at least my generation and some of the younger kids definitely don’t talk like that.I mean I think we’d all love it if people spoke like that, but the reality is they don’t. And to be honest there’s nothing wrong with that, but it’s just not realistic. I guess that’s why we call it fiction lol. I never really thought about his characters being role models lol. I don’t think I’ve read enough of his books to consider them to be role models. I need to let this TFiOS disappointment go because I feel like it has forever tainted my expectations for Green’s books now lol.
A friend of mine used that five letter word starting with B to describe Margo lol. I’ve noticed people saying the story was very similar to LFA. Like the whole obsession with the girl thing. Ahaha YA is burnout is inevitable I think sometimes, but at the same time it’s such an addicting genre. There are a few books I’m interested to read this year. This sounds really weird, but I go back to read both Prince of Thorns and King of Thorns lol. I question my own sanity because of that. Persuasion is such a good book. Definitely my favourite Austen book from the ones I’ve read.
Generally, I think his main characters show good qualities and make sensible decisions. They think for themselves, which is what I mean by role models. They’re good characters (: Although… I didn’t fancy anyone from TFiOS, and I agree with your friend about Margo. She frustrates me to no end! At the same time, I’m curious to see what John Geen’s next book will be, but I hope it’s a huge improvement from TFiOS.
Ahh I see what you mean now. Sorry I didn’t think about as role models in that context, but I do agree with you they are sharp and strong characters. I really liked Miles and the two Will Graysons, but yes I’m with you about the characters from TFioS. I don’t think I’m going to get over my disappointment of thebook anytime soon so I don’t see myself touching Paper Towns and AABoK this year. I felt like his writing was so weak in TFioS in comparison to LFA. What do you think?
Hey
Who’s hosting the blog tour for The Garden of my Imaan? I’m reading it right now and I’d love to participate as well (if that’s possible of course). I’ve never actually been part of a blog tour before so I’m not sure how it all works 
Hey! I just sent you the information with details/who to contact about it. I hope it helps!
I’m glad you enjoyed Northern Lights!
Me too! I can’t wait to start the other two books