Hello everyone!
I'm Ashleigh, and today I'm going to be doing
my September Wrap Up.
In September I managed to read...six books?
I can't actually remember how many books I've
got here.
One two three four five - yes, I read six
books.
In the month of September I managed to read
six books.
Some of them were quite short and then a couple
of them were not.
Wow.
Great statement.
I've just come home from uni and I feel like
my brain is just like, frazzled.
So I don't think words are going to happen
properly today.
But I'm just going to start anyway because
I need to talk about some books.
So the first book that I read in September
was actually a reread of Vicious by Victoria
Schwab, or V.E.
Schwab.
This is about two boys who figure out they
can give themselves abilities like superheroes
through science.
And it's a very morally grey book.
I read this quite a few years ago and the...oh
my god what's the word?
THE SEQUEL has only just come out so I read
this in preparation because I couldn't remember
anything about it basically.
And...yeah, I really enjoyed it.
But I found the relationship between the main
two characters in this absolutely fascinating
because it's so complicated.
You know from the very beginning that they've
gone from being friends to enemies, and even
when you are reading about them being friends,
you can kind of see that there's this really
harsh competitiveness between them that just
turns nast, and it's very much stemmed from
academia.
Please excuse the cat behind me.
But it's very much stemmed from academia,
and it's not something that I can "relate"
to I guess because I don't turn myself into
a superhero from it or end up with an enemy.
But it's very much something I can understand,
I guess.
And I just think that Victoria Schwab writes
it so well, like how obsessive the need to
be the best can be and how toxic that can
be to a friendship, especially between two
highly intelligent people because they always
want to prove that they're the intelligent
one.
And I do like how this story twists old ideas
of what superheroes are, because it takes
a story that we've all heard a thousand times,
like you have your typical superheroes like
superman and batman and things like that.
But it very much twists your ideas of what
a superhero is, because it's not a morally
clear story, it's very much morally grey.
There's not a good and bad binary, it's just
"this is what's happening, whose side are
you on?"
You don't actually know.
It's not easy to make up your mind about whose
side you're on.
It's a very addictive read and it gets even
more intense towards the end because the chapter
headings start acting like a countdown, so
it's very quick to read because you're just
constantly...she reveals enough to keep you
going and it's very hard to put down.
But yeah, I enjoyed this very much and I can't
wait to get to the sequel.
I rated this one 4.5 out of 5 stars.
The next book that I picked up was Fight Club
by Chuck Palahniuk, and this is a uni read
for me, but I read it early because I hadn't
started university at this point.
And I honestly don't know how to explain what
this is about because what I thought it was
about is a lie.
I thought that this book was going to be about
boxing.
And yes there are elements of "boxing" in
it because obviously fight club exists, but
it's not really about boxing or fight club
really, I don't think, so...I'll leave a link
to the Goodreads page down in the description
box.
But I honestly did not get along with this
book at all.
I didn't like it.
I just did not get along with this story,
and I didn't understand it for the majority
of the time.
This book just had a very disjointed narrative
that I couldn't get on board with.
And I do understand why it was disjointed,
but I just hated reading it even after I understood
why it was so disjointed, because there is
a reason behind it.
But...hmmm.
No.
It took too much for me to try and understand.
It was one of those where I fully had to piece
together some sort of storyline because I
just didn't understand how any of these things
were connected.
Like the narrator would just state something
as if you're supposed to know who he's talking
about or what's happened when it'd not been
mentioned before, and it just frustrated me
so much, because I'm like "what on earth is
going on?!"
And like I said, I do understand why, but
it just went on for too long for me to get
on board with it.
There was only one moment in the entire book
that actually got any sort of reaction out
of me, and I can't even tell you about that
because it would be a huge spoiler.
Although I do wish that was revealed earlier,
because by the time it was revealed, I didn't
care.
I was sick of reading it so that reaction
was very short lived.
I literally had to Google what happened at
the end because I read it, and then I was
like "did I read that right?
I don't think I did" so I literally googled
the summary of this book when I finished reading
it because I wasn't sure if I understood what
I'd read.
Which is never a good sign.
And I don't know whether this is true or not
because it's just what someone told me, but
apparently even the author has said that the
movie does this story more justice than his
own book does.
Which kind of says it all really.
I didn't get along with it but I did appreciate
that one thing that got a reaction out of
me, so I did rated it 2 out of 5 stars.
Next up we have a book that I'm not going
to talk about for very long because it is
very short and very quick, but that is The
Underdog by Markus Zusak.
This doesn't have a plot.Again I will leave
the Goodreads page down below, but it honestly
doesn't have a plot.
Like, it's just about a boy going through
life and trying to figure out who he is or
who he wants to be.
It's written in a very colloquial style, and
it's a very quick read because I think this
is for a younger audience and like I said,
it's a very skinny book.
And what was slightly disorienting is the
fact that this is about a teenage boy, but
I could see hints of Markus Zusak in it.
Like I recognised parts of his writing that
I recognise from The Book Thief or I Am The
Messenger.
So it didn't quite fit in, but I could tell
he was the one writing it, which was just
odd.
But like I said, nothing really happened,
so there's not anything to comment on for
the story.
And I also read it within a day so...I don't
know.
It was just a thing I picked up.
I read it.
I didn't really have much of a reaction to
it.
SO I rated it 2 out of 5 stars.
The next book that I finished, because I was
reading this one for probably about a month
solid.
I think I started it in August.
But that book is The Woman in White by Wilkie
Collins.
This is a classic that I'm reading for university.
I read it over summer because it's 800 pages
long, and I knew that I wouldn't be able to
read this within semester time.
I don't have to read, like actually study
this until semester two, so that's in 2019,
but I just knew that if I was ever going to
read this it had to be over summer.
This is about a man called Walter Hartright
who is assigned to be a drawing master.
And on his journey to his new job, he meets
the woman in white, and this leads to all
sorts.
There's intrigue, disguise, huge plots, there's
asylums, there's deaths, there's a lot involved.
As you might imagine, being a classic and
this long, this is very intensely detailed.
I genuinely had to split this book into smaller
sections to be able to get through it.
Like I split it into 50 pages so that every
day I would read 50 pages of this book and
get a little bit further because when it's
just a brick this big, I didn't want to read
it.
So it is quite a slow going book, but I feel
like it goes from 0 to 100 real quick, because
it literally turns from the typical marriage
scandals to asylums and deaths and lots of
really dramatic things and I was just like
"woah!
That changed its tune pretty quickly".
I really like how the characters were written
because they were all very much a set personality,
like I have a certain image of each character
in my head which might be ridiculous to say
because surely that happens with every book,
but it doesn't with me, and I can imagine
the characters in this book so clearly that
it does make a difference.
And my favourite characters in this were Mariam
Halcolmbe and Count Focso.
Those characters were just so interesting
to me and I loved reading about them.
And I do have to admire how cleverly thought
out everything in this book was.
Like I can tell why it's so detailed, and
I do have to appreciate the fact that so much
work was put into this.
However, as you might imagine, it did start
dragging out a bit towards the end because
it was a long read.
One of the most annoying things though without
a doubt is the fact that I predicted one of
the main plot twists within chapter 2.
So I went through 800 pages only to find out
that I was right.
Which could've been said a lot earlier because
it was so obvious.
And like, I always say that I'm not someone
who thinks ahead in a story, so like I don't
try and figure out what's happening while
I'm reading, I just read.
So if I have figured out a plot twist, then
it must've been like, glaringly obvious because
I don't notice them, like all the hints.
I just don't notice the hints.
So the fact that I DID figure it out, and
then had to go through 800 pages of knowing
wasn't a fun time.
SO yeah that was slightly annoying - it wasn't
slightly annoying, it was very annoying.
But I do still have to appreciate some of
the characters and the amount of work put
into this book, so I rated it 3 out of 5 stars.
I couldn't remember then.
I had to look down at my notebook.
But I did rate it 3 out of 5 stars.
I then picked up Mary I by John Edwards.
I think I just picked up like the shortest
book on my shelves after tackling that huge
monstrosity of a book.
But this is one of the Penguin English Monarchs
series.
I don't think they're new.
I don't know whether they've just started
releasing the paperbacks of them, but I think
they have been around for quite a while and
it's just me that's been introduced to them
now.
But as you might imagine, this is about Mary
I who was the first queen of England.
I really enjoyed reading about Mary I's place
in the monarchy.
I don't know much about the English monarchy,
like I just don't.
All throughout school and college and up until
now, any history that I've learned within
academia has always been centered around World
War One and Two.
Which frustrates me to no end, like there
were so many years that I could've learned
about other stuff.
But no.
So basically I started teaching myself through
nonfiction books, hence why this is a thing.
So this is the first one of the Penguin English
Monarchs that I've picked up.
I do have three of them.
I'm currently reading Victoria, and I do have
Athelstan.
But anyway, not talking about what I'm currently
reading, we're talking about this one.
This is the first one I've picked up.
It's about the first queen of England.
And I just loved reading about her place in
the monarchy.
Because she was the first queen of England,
it briefly touched upon things like sibling
rivalries, all the prejudices that she had
to overcome in being a queen with power - or
a woman with power rather.
It was detailed but not too academic, because
I feel like it's so hard to find history nonfiction
books that are entertaining as well as informative
without being too academic.
This one managed it.
And I really liked the fact that it included
things like portraits of her, and images of
the coinage when that was changed, because
I feel like that kind of connected my image
of the English monarchy and made it a lot
more grounded, because the only time I really
read about royalty is in fantasy books, so
to me, the idea of being a queen is like really
far-fetched.
I mean it is, like there's no chance someone
like me is going to become a queen.
This changed its tune.
But yeah.
It just made the - it just gave the names
that I'd heard of before an actual personality
rather than just a title, if that makes any
sense.
There were some times where my interest lacked
a little bit just because things like religion
aren't topics that I'm greatly interested
in, which i feel bad for saying but it's just
not something I'm as interested in as the
rest of it.
So yeah I did lose interest at some points,
and there were some times where there were
just too many details thrown in, like people's
names and titles, lots of different things
like that.
So there were some times where my interest
dimmed a little bit, but for the most part
I did enjoy reading this one, so I rated it
3 out of 5 stars.
And the final book that I read in September
was Mythos but Stephen Fry.
I read this alongside the audiobook which
is also narrated by Stephen Fry, and he is
such a good voice actor.
He is just brilliant.
He put so much emotion into the story, and
I feel like he just made it.
Like, I feel like everyone that's read the
audiobook has said this because you can very
much tell this is Stephen Fry telling the
story.
And since it was just him telling the stories,
I feel like I was just like sat on the floor
in front of him all adoringly while he recited
Greek myths to me.
That is a very strange situation to imagine.
But this retelling of Greek myth is very much
an entertaining one, because there's a lot
of sarcasm and witty jokes, there's a lot
of alliteration within the text.
And I don't think I'd have gotten along with
it as well if I hadn't listened to the audiobook,
because when Stephen Fry is doing that, it's
funny and he makes the stories.
However if anyone else tried it, I feel like
I would've just got annoyed with them for
trying to be funny about it and like, taking
the mick out of the stories in a way.
Apart from Rick Riordan maybe.
Maybe he could pull it off.
But you know, it's Stephen Fry.
I don;t know, I just feel like if I read myself,
I wouldn't have taken it as being funny or
humorous, I'd have just gotten annoyed with
it instead, so probably a good choice that
I read the audiobook.
And I like the fact as well that he put it
in a chronological order as well as he could,
because the stories that I've heard before
were just very mismatched, like I hear them
and collect them at random rather than in
any kind of order.
So...yeah.
I like the fact that he did try to chronologise
- chronologise?
Chronology...is that a word?
I liked the fact that he tried to put it in
chronological order because it just made more
sense to read it that way.
Like I said, it was quite an amusing read.
It's quite a memorable read because of the
humour behind it as well.
And there were a few stories in this which
I'd not read before, such as how the bee got
its sting, and I just love little details
like that, and small stories behind things
that are everyday to us.
So...yeah.
Obviously I can't guarantee how accurate a
retelling this is because I'm relatively new
to mythology myself, but it was a good place
to start at least, and I really enjoyed it.
So I rated it 4 out of 5 stars.
So those were all the books that I read in
September!
I feel like there's a huge mix between like
really short ones and really big ones.
There's no inbetween.
As always, I'd love to hear your thoughts
on any of these books if you've read them
yourself.
And I'd also love to hear what your favourite
book of September was.
But that is it for today, so I hope you're
having a lovely day, and I shall see you next
time with a new video.
Bye!
