Hey guys, it's Olivia here from Olivia's
Catastrophe and today I'm here to give
you my NEWTswrap-up which is also my
August wrap up because I didn't read
anything that was not for the NEWTs. So,
last month I read seventeen books and
I'm here to tell you all about them and
what I thought. We've got a huge range
here from brilliant books to terrible
books. To get an A in Ancient Runes I
read Five Feet Apart by Rachel
Lippincott and this book was actually
surprisingly a good read for me. Five Feet
Apart is about two teenagers who have CF.
However, the male love interest has
bacteria that could be very, very
dangerous for Stella, who is our main
character. And it's kind of the typical
YA sick lit. They kind of have romance
going on but they can't be together. They
have to stay at least six feet apart
from each other. Yes, six feet not five
feet. Away from each other because if she
gets that bacteria she could die. So
while I found this one a little bit
predictable. Things happened in the form
and way that I expected things to happen.
I did find it really interesting to
learn more about CF because that is not
something I've ever learned about before.
And I also found Stella to be such a
lovely character. She's just--she's so
strong that and she's struggling with so
much but she still manages to be so
hopeful and uplifting. And she's trying
to do the most of the people that she
loves and I really, really valued that. I
feel like they tried to make the main
character a really bad boy kind of thing
but it didn't really come across as that and
quickly that kind of this was
overridden. So it was a bit ridiculous
that they tried to pass stuff like that. But overall I did really enjoy this one
and it surprised me because I thought it
was going to be very predictable. And if
you want to know my opinion I liked it
more than The Fault in Our Stars.
Then to get and E in Ancient Runes I read Under
the Jaguar Sun by Italo Calvino. Italo
Calvino is an Italian writer so this is
translated literature. And in this one
you get three short stories which are
all to do with different senses. One
focuses on taste, I think one focuses on
hearing and there's a third sense
included as well. Italo Calvino's writing
it's very abstract and to be honest it's
so hard for me to say what I feel about
this book. Just because it's
almost impossible to pinpoint my
feelings. Ehen I read them I feel a bit
flabbergasted. I'm so confused with
what's going on. But at the same time if
you think deeper you can see what he's
getting at or what he's trying to do,
which makes perfect sense but at the
same time it makes no sense at all. So if
you like weird abstract classics like
Alice in Wonderland you might enjoy
these adult short stories. I feel like
they're good taste tester to get a bit
more of his writing style. But overall I
just cannot make up my mind about what I
think about Italo Calvino's books. Then
to get an E in Ancient Runes I read
World After by Susan Ee. This was the
second book in the trilogy of Angelfall.
I'll tell you what the first one is
about. So, the first one is about Penryn
and her sister. She lives in this
post-apocalyptic world where angels have
come down for heaven and they're kind of
wrecking the whole place and the planet.
And her younger sister who is in a
wheelchair, Paige, gets kidnapped by these
angels. And as is happening one angel
gets severely injured and it is up to
Penryn to partner up with this severely
injured angel to go and find and save
her sister. So this is the second one and
after the events of the second book I
was very curious to see where everything
was going to go. They introduced some
very weird, wacky but still intriguing
monsters in the first book. However, I
feel like in this book it just didn't
angel enough for me. While there were
angels it's kind of these new monsters
that have become a bit more of a focus
and a bit more of the plotline. And there
was one angel in particular I wanted
more of and that was Raffe. We kind of
only get to see him in the last 20% and
let's be honest: I'm more reading this
series for the young adult teen angel
romance and for Raffe and Penryn's
banter then for the post-apocalyptic
storyline. This one focused more the
post-apocalyptic storyline so if that's
thing that intrigues you you're gonna
enjoy it more than I did. But as that
wasn't really my goal for being there I
just felt a bit frustrated that we
weren't getting enough Raffe and Penryn
together. I will say that sometimes the
plot seems a little convenient. Especially things that have to do with
the twins and the sword. But other than
that it's a pretty okay story. It was
good enough for me to want to read the
finale.
Especially with the scene where they
left on because wow!! But at the same time
I was a little bit disappointed. Then
we're moving on to arithmacy. For a
book that ends on an even page number I
read The Colour of Shadows by
Phyllida Shrimpton. Now, The Colour of Shadows is not at all what I expected from when
I started reading this book. It follows Saffron, who goes into the
attic and finds a secret that her father
has been keeping from her for a very,
very long time. And she chooses to run
away from home because of this. But all
her friends fail her and she kind of
has left on her own. So when I read this
one I thought it was going to be a bit
more like We Are Okay by Nina LaCour when
it comes to terms of what the secret is. And while the secret is something quite
similar to that secret, rather than the
secret being the entire focus of this
book, a lot of it is the focus of the
fact that Saffron runs away from home
and has nowhere to go. For a couple of
days she starts to live life as a
homeless person. And she really has her
eyes opened to homeless lifestyle.
Because she is rich and she is used to
having everything that she wants, and she
doesn't really understand that homeless
people are actually people. She doesn't
really understand any of their
backstories. And this whole journey is
very very eye-opening for her. When I
read this one in the beginning I was
quite annoyed with Saffron as the main
character. She's spoiled, she's rich, she
doesn't realize how much people love her
actually care about her. Yes, maybe her
dad did something that's absolutely
terrible but... but. Let me just leave it
there. And so in the beginning I was a
bit frustrated but the more and more I
read the more I saw the homelessness
theme sneaking in. And the more I could
see Saffron changing and learning. And I
feel like sometimes it's good when you
keep reading books when you don't like the
character because the characters
purposefully made for you to not like
her, because she's gonna go on a journey
and she's gonna develop. So in the end I
did enjoy The Colour of Shadows and I feel
like the homelessness theme was done
very, very well. If you read the author's
note you will see that she was part of a
movement where she got to live life as a
homeless person for a little bit to raise money for homeless people. And a lot
of the scenes and situations in this
book are based on true stories. That's
why I feel like I could buy this story
so much and really believe the
situation and that's because the author
has done their research in thorough detail.
Then to get an E in Ancient Runes I read
The Little Princess by Frances Hodgson
Burnett. I had to read this one for uni. And it was actually a reread because
when I started reading it I was like: wow,
this seems familiar.
Wow, I know what's gonna happen. And then
I realized: I think I've read this before
when I was younger. So The Little
Princess follows Sara. She's this young
girl who has a father who she really
loves. Her father goes off to make a
fortune and then word comes back that he
is dead and he has died without any
fortune. So actually Sara is in a lot of debt.
She's orphaned and so rather than the
school that she's staying in taking care
of her and treating her well, they kind
of make her into a slave girl. Kind of
like a maid that already exists. While I
did not hate this book I didn't
particularly love it eithe. I think when
I read it when I was younger -- I'm gonna
say this -- that I absolutely loved it
because I wanted to give princess when I
was younger. Like, that was my firm
occupation in my head. So reading this
book about what it means to be a
princess must have just blown my mind
and made me very, very happy. However,
reading it as an adult, which I know is
not the target audience. It made me see
quite a few problems with this book. For
starters Sara is too much of a perfect
girl. She just seems perfect in each and
every way and that is quite frustrating
because nobody is perfect. She needed a
lot more flaws. I feel like there's a very
clear distinction between black and
white characters here. There's no
in-between. And because of that it seems
a bit stale and a bit forced. It doesn't
seem very natural. And last but not least
Sara's storyline... the way that she ends
her story versus the way Betty ends her
story is really interesting. And I feel
like although it isn't racist, the ending,
it just makes you think about the
difference of their happy endings when
it comes to their skin colour and
economical situation. It's really saying
that one type of girl can have one thing,
but the other type of girl can only have
this extent of that kind of ending. While
I don't want to say that this book was
racist because it was never explicitly
so, or felt so,
sometimes the way they described black
people or Indians in this book made me
uncomfortable. But it's not overtly
racist. I don't know how to word it
better than that. I apologize. But that's
all I really have to say about that one.
Then to read a book with a flower on the
cover which was for my E in the arithmacy
I read The Color Purple by Alice
Walker and my mind was blown.
I rated this one five stars. So this is a
novel told entirely in letters. This one
follows mostly Celie who lives in the
deep south. She's been abused by her
father, she was currently being abused by
her husband. And she's just trying to
live her life, look after her children
and get by with as little abuse as
possible. Throughout this book other
black female characters come into this
one and I just want to say that this
book just shocked me in each and every
way. I knew it was about black women and
their suffering and the struggles that
they had to go through. And while I like
that this book is about racism, about
domestic abuse, about rape -- guys triggers
all of those things. At the same time I
really like how it is female centric. It's about black woman struggles. Yes, you
see some black men in this book. Yes, you
see some black men struggles in this
book. But you really primarily focus on
the black women. As well as that I did
not expect to have lgbtq+ rep in this
because it is a classic and I find black
lgbtq+ classics, they're so hard to find. If you've got some put the comment
down below because I need to read them! But in this one you do get some f/f romance
vibes. I think you've got a bisexual
character. I think you've got a lesbian
character. I say I think because it's
never explicitly stated. But that's what
I'm just assuming from what I got in
this book. I just loved it. At first it
took me a while to get into the letter
style. The writing style is also a bit
unique because it's written how Celie
talks. And then she was uneducated so she
writes in her dialect with the way
that she says things. But man, this one
took me on a journey. And there's so many
deeper things i could go into but we
don't have time in this wrap up So at
some point I need to film a detailed
review of this. Then for Potions for A I
read my
friend's favourite book and that was Vendi
from Caught Between the Pages. You should
definitely check out her thoughts on
Peter Pan on her channel because she
gives a different opinion, and I think
it's important to hear that opinion too.
However, Peter Pan was my least favourite read
this month and I really didn't like it.
It's the story you all know about this
young boy who lives in Neverland and
he never grows up, and Wendy gets taken
there and everything. But when I read
this book! Okay, first of all it split into
two parts. Peter in Kensington Gardens
and then Peter and Wendy. Peter in Kensington
Gardens was completely unnecessary and
boring. Don't ever read it just cuz you
don't really need to read it. Read Peter
and Wendy if you want to read a Peter
Pan story because that's much more
interesting. However, Peter and Wendy, it's
just racist. The way they talk about the
natives on the island is just absolutely
horrible and terrible. And they even use
the r-word describing them which is
highly offensive. And the fact that Peter
Pan becomes a white Savior character is
just very problematic. Wendy and Peter
Pan and the lost boys:
everything is very gendered. Wendy is a
mother character. She stays at home. The
boys go on the adventures. She just stays
back and looks after them and is
entirely content doing so. So it's very
gendered, it's very racist. Part of the
time but I don't care. I didn't enjoy
reading it. I found it to be a boring
story as well. Not really much happens
and when things happen it's just kind of eh. And it's not interesting. The best
character in this one is Hook. I feel
like he has a very interesting contrast
to Peter Pan and he could be really
intriguing. However, he's not actually in
the book much. I know why that is because
I've been studying this book as well but
I'm gonna do a longer review where I
share my thoughts on Peter Pan because
while I didn't like Peter Pan, JM Barrie
managed to do exactly what he wanted to
do with this book. So you can't fault his
author intentions because he achieved
those. But for enjoyment reading it just
didn't make the cut for me. Then to get
an E in potions I read The Eed Ribbon by
Lucie Adlington. So this one is a
Holocaust story and I don't know if I
should put it as middle grade. I don't
know if I should put it as young adult. Maybe young young adult slash upper
middle grade? It follows
fourteen-year-old Ella as she is put in
to Auschwitz and she
he becomes a dressmaker in one of the
factories there. And it talks about her
friendship with her best friend, Rose. And
just kind of their experiences there in
the prison camp. In the beginning I
struggled a lot. I thought it was going
to be young adult so I didn't
expect the young tone which shocked me. But once I got used to it and realized
that it was not the age audience I
believed it was going to be I enjoyed
this one a lot more. I warmed up to it and
in the middle it got so sad, and then it
got very intense as well. Ella goes
through a lot. Rose goes through a lot.
And even though the author does a very
good job of explicitly stating what
happens, sometimes she doesn't as well
and the readers just have to
assume. And I think that's really good
for children who are reading this. I felt
like in the beginning it was too happy
for a World War two story. I felt like
they were dodging around a lot of the
very dark and grim realities. But as the
book goes on more and more those grim
realities become present and very
overtly stated. And I feel like the book
kind of reflects Ella's transformation.
In the beginning Ella's trying to
pretend things aren't as bad as they are.
She's trying to tell herself stories and
you know, ignore all the terrible things
that are happening. But as she spends
longer and longer in the prison camp her
imagination just can't take it and she has to
be faced with the stark reality. And as
it hits her, it starts hitting the reader. And I feel like overall Lucy did a very
good job of slowly stripping back the
imagination to show the stark reality.
And I think it actually worked for this
story.
However, the ending ruined it. I thought
the ending was very, very unrealistic and
was just a bit too rushed and let's make
it all neatly tied up in such a way
because this is a young adult book. So
the ending didn't work for me. While it
could happen, I guess?
I felt like it was just dodging away
from making a sad or very dark ending,
and I didn't like that aspect of it. Then
to get an E in potions I read The
Clocks by Agatha Christie. Guys, Agatha
Christie can do no wrong. In this one
it's a Poirot murder mystery where the
murder happens and all the clocks are set at
the same time which I believe is 4:31. And
at the same time Poirot is not present
in
the area where this murder happens. And
actually Poirot embodies the armchair
detective trope because he gets
challenged to actually sit in an
armchair and solve the case while he's
not actually on the scene or
interviewing people himself. So instead
of spending a lot of time with Poirot,
although you do get to see him, you spend
quite a lot of time with the policeman.
Like Hardcastle. And I just really liked
the policemen. Usually I don't really
like the policemen in mysteries like
this but in this one I really liked all
of the characters. Even the policemen
when they made blunders they kind of
admitted it. They weren't stuck-up about
it they were like: oh, I wish I'd seen
that or I wish I'd been aware, or
that's my mistake. And I felt like it was
a really good mystery. And I just... I
really enjoy Agatha Christie, guys. Then
in Herbology to get an A I listened to a
Study in Scarlet by Arthur Conan Doyle.
And it was read to me by Stephen Fry.
Stephen Fry read this one really, really
well. However, A Study in Scarlet, I am torn. The first 50% where we're with Holmes,
where we with Watson, where they're
meeting each other for the first time and
solving the mystery. That was all
interesting. That was all written really
well and was actually so enjoyable. FYI I
haven't enjoyed that much Sherlock
Holmes in the past. However, the second
50% where they tried to show the
backstory was entirely unnecessary. Did I
really care about that backstory?
Absolutely not. Although it adds some
depth to the reasons why the person did
what they did, it was a bit racist. The
descriptions in that were a bit racist
and then it was just a bit boring
because I didn't care. It was a jarring
transition for Part 1 to Part 2. So
overall mixed feelings. Another
disappointment. For an E in herbology I read The Affairs of the Mysterious
Letter by Alexis Hall. So if you didn't
know Alexis Hall is my favourite new
adult author but wait! This is not new
adult. This is young adult fantasy and I
was very intrigued to see him write a
young adult novel.
It's a fantasy retelling of Sherlock
Holmes actually where Sherlock is Shahazarad
or something like that?
Sherlock is a she, basically. And Sherlock
is definitely lgbtq+. She loves women. And I think she also loves men. I think
she's bisexual. And then we've got Watson
who's actually a captain in this one.
And he is also LGBT+. And this just...
this book was a mess. So, I'm gonna say
some good things first. First of all I
thought it was really great that we had
such a cast of LGBT+ characters in this
one. The mystery they're trying to solve
is about this woman who wants to get
married to her wife. But before she
can get married she's being sent
blackmail letters saying that she
shouldn't do it, and if she does secrets
are gonna be exposed. So the female
Sherlock Holmes has been set on the case.
And I really liked how characters were
just casually lgbtq+. They didn't really
have to define their identity or
whatever. It was just accepted that
everybody was kind of--everybody loved
everybody in this world and that was
great. That's the only good thing I can
really say. So
writing for this book was entirely stiff
and sounded like I was reading a textbook. The mystery was ridiculous. Like, the outcome
of the mystery... I was rolling my eyes. That was not a satisfying outcome. And as
well as that what can I say about the
characters?? The characters felt very 2D.
They didn't feel 3D or realistic at all. And as well as that the author just kept
throwing out phases that didn't mean
anything to us because nothing was
explained. The female Sherlock Holmes
might trap a billion ghosts into her
heart and then explode them outwards, but
we don't know how hard it is to do, if
the method is not described, which means
we cannot see if the stakes are high or
not. You can say they casually went to
wherever, but if we don't know what
wherever is it has no effect on us. So
with nothing explained the fantasy world
was flimsy, because of the flimsy world
building the whole story just didn't
make any sense. It was a total drag. Okay
guys, I messed up my NEWTs. Like, explaining
what newts matched with which newts
somewhere so we're just gonna talk about
the books and don't care what newts I
got. Just know I'm an alchemist to be happy.
Then I read In The Middle of Somewhere
by Rowan Parrish and this one follows
these two characters. It's new adult by
the way and it follows these two
characters who kind of have this chance
meeting and one of them lives in this
small town. He's very introverted. It's kind of like this huge buff guy
with this very soft personality. And the
other guy has these sharp edges. He is a
professor and he is in a dire financial
situation so he comes to this small town
to get a job. But it's kind of just one
step on a journey to somewhere bigger.
And when they fall in love,
inevitably, because it's a new adult
romance, guys... these two guys have this
big problem where they're trying to
learn how a relationship works. They're
trying to learn how to be honest with
each other about each other's pasts and
what it means to be like in a
relationship. And as well as that this
small-town guy has deep roots in this
city--in this small town. He doesn't want
to leave. However, the other guy is just
using this job as a step to the next
thing and is eventually planning on
moving and leaving, so where does that
leave their relationship? So, I want to
say that In The Middle of Somewhere is a
huge contemporary kind of romance. Not
much happens. It's just about these two
guys trying to figure out their
relationship. In the beginning I didn't
really like it. I felt like it was very
juvenile? The writing style sorry
juvenile. The characters were very 2D and
the romance was a bit ridiculous . Their
meet-cute was the most ridiculous meet
cute I've ever met. Nobody meets that
way and nobody does what they do when they
meet strangers like that for the first
time. I found that completely unrealistic.
However, the more I read, the more the
characters became three-dimensional and
had emotions and pasts. And the more I
cared about the relationship and started
shipping them, started loving them and
wanting them to be safe and happy. So the
more I went on, the more these two men
stole my heart and by the end of it I was
just really happy with what went
down. And it did deal with homophobia.
Intense homophobia so trigger warning
for that. And also trigger warning for
suicide attempt. But, it wasn't that bad. In the end it wasn't that bad. So the
next book I read -- we're kind of in the new
adult section of this wrap-up. I read Glitterland
by Alexis Hall. It was amazing. Other than The Color Purple, this was my
other five-star read of this month. So
Glitterland is about these two guys. One
of them is from Essex. He's kind of the
stereotypical Essex guy, if you know what
that means in British English. And he's
just a bit like... I don't be offensive. He's a
bit floofy, he's really into fashion and the
author writes in his accent. So he's
always like: alwight babes, let's just go
down to the chippy. And just the way that
he talks is just... it's such an Essex
thing. And as well as that he falls in
love with this upper-class, author who's
very posh, who's very smart, who's had like,
this high education. So basically from
two different sides of the like, social... I don't know... social groups they're from
two very different social classes and
they kind of have to make it work for
each other. Because, you know, one of
them's got like the fake tan that
fashion life. The other's all about higher
education and is kind of like, doesn't be
seen dating him. So they've got to make
that work for each other. It's really
cute. It's really adorable and as I have
said in previous videos -- I keep bringing
this up but -- I've recently moved to
Australia so when I was reading this
book set in England with such British
vibes to it -- I mean you can't get more
British than that Essex feel and that
you know -- stuck-up, upper-class
English... by having that I just felt like I
was just feeling home. In the end this
book turned up to be the opposite of
instant love and the opposite of the
mental health is fixed by love. And I
want to say that especially because it
really delved into these topics deeply.
Even though he's upper-class and all stiff higher education
he does have... he is bipolar. He has
anxiety and depression I believe. And he
really struggles with that in these
books. And the way people treat him
depending on whether they know about his
mental illnesses or not is very apparent.
And at the end of the book they talk
about romance and dealing with these
mental illnesses. And yeah, it was the
opposite insta-love.
I'm not spoiling anything by saying that
at the end of this book the characters
haven't even said I love you. Which is
quite rare for a romance book. But I feel
like, when they talk about why or when
they have this big talk at the end of
the book, it makes sense why they haven't
said I love them yet. I
really good. Brilliant, really a brilliant. Loved it. Then I have to talk about Raze by
Roan Parrish. This was one of my most
anticipated new adult m/m releases of
this year. It's the third book in the
Riven series which is a star romance.
And this one follows Felix and Huey. Huey
is someone who was an alcoholic but has
recovered. Now he mentors other
alcoholics through their problems and
their tough situations. And then we've
got Felix who doesn't know what he wants
to do this life. He helps his sister get
her big break when it comes to rock star
music but that means he's kind of left
thinking: now what do I do with myself?
Felix and Huey start to have feelings
for each other and then again it's just
very contemporary romance. Where they're
both trying to deal with their emotions
and their futures that are coming up.
Huey was a bit scary to read about
because he relates to me a lot.
I feel like Huey has a lot of my
personality traits but then to the
extreme. And then just seeing them just makes
you rethink your whole life and
everything like that. So reading this
book was really impactful for me and a
bit emotional for me. I feel like it did a
very good job of discussing the fact
that you can be fully recovered from an
addiction but that does not mean is
stopped impacting your life. Or that you
cannot regress at some points, but you
can still regress and be recovered at
the same time. It's hard for me to explain this
but I feel like this book talks about
that a lot. And I just feel like it does
those things pretty well. It also really
talks about miscommunication and
communication. Felix and Huey really
have to learn to communicate each other. And they learn how communication is
different for each and every
relationship. As well as that you get
some lovely cameos from characters from
previous books so I enjoyed seeing those
characters come up again a lot. Three
more books and I'm going to try and
do this quickly. Oh my gosh, oh my gosh! Okay, so then we've got Distortion by
Victor Dixon. This one is the second book
in the Ascension series and it's a
translated novel from French. It follows
these children who have been sent up
into space to go on a speed-dating
reality TV show that set in
space. They're supposed to colonize Mars
when they get there in these couples
that form on the journey, on the way. However, in the first book we learned
that there's a lot more sinister things
going on behind the scenes of this TV
show than expected. This one just
continues on from there and I was a bit
disappointed. I enjoyed it a lot less
than the first one.
That's because suddenly I could see how
juvenile the writing style was. There's
quite a lot of exclamation marks. Too
many of them. And there are just some
really cringe lines. Especially when it
comes to the romance. I feel like the
romance storylines of this one are so
juvenile. I've also realized how to 2D the
characters are. They they have these
traits like this asian kid is really
smart and this child has a disability
and they're kind of limited to those
things formatting their whole
personality rather than being 3D
characters. While the concept is still so
interesting in, the plot and what's
happening and the political games games
and the way everybody's playing and
manipulating each other... so, so, so
interesting. And makes me want to keep
reading, and makes me quite addicted to
reading. The characters need a lot of
work, the write of style needs a lot of work and
the plot needs a tiny bit more
tightening up. So while this one is good
I feel like it could just be better if
it was edited more. The next book I read
is Between Us and the Moon. Oh my gosh, I can't
remember the name of the author but it's
gonna be on the cover.
I believe it's Rebecca Maizel. I could
be entirely wrong. So Between Us and the
Moon is about this girl who goes to
holiday with her family. And she tells a
lie before getting into a relationship
with someone. And she's trying to pretend
to be more like her older sister because her
older sister is more mature and more
popular and gets more guys than her etc
etc. The lie she tells is about her age.
She's actually underage for the guy that
she ends up dating. So, this is one that I
talked about with some people of bookstagram so if you follow me and you
look at my stories you could have seen
me talk about this book of it because I
was talking about how we should read
books about tropes and things that we
dislike and disagree with. I completely
disagreed with the decision to lie about
her age and I spent the majority of this
book very, very
frustrated with the fact that she was
lying about her age, what she did while
she lied about her age and the fact that
she never considered what an impact this
could have on the guy that she was lying
to if it got out that he was with an
underage girl. But while she ignores all of
that she kind of does a lot of growing
in this book too. She learns a lot about
life and the way it work. She learns a
lot about relationships. She learns about
the struggles and the disappointments
that come with lying. And she kind of
learns about what this lied really means
by the end of the book. It was really frustrating. I was grinding my teeth.
Especially as Andrew who is the male love
character, is such a lovely guy. I
understand why she lied, I don't approve of
it. But I really appreciate the message
that they also got across at the end. And
I feel like it came off more as a
cautionary tale for why you should not
lie about your age when you meet people,
or when you might end up dating someone,
or even when it comes to having friends
and assuming things about other people. I
feel like those two messages were
brought to the forefront really well. So
while I didn't enjoy reading this book I
feel like has a very important message
that maybe some teenagers need to read
about, learn and hear before they do
something that could be dangerous to
themselves and to other people as well. Definitely mixed feelings about my
experience but overall I feel like it
was an important story. Last but not
least we have the book that wasn;t on my
TBR but I just needed to substitute so I
could get to being an alchemist. And that
is this one. It has no cover but it is
called Those Who Ride the Night Winds by
Nikki Giovanni and this is a poetry
collection. Nikki Giovanni's poems in
this one really focus on being black and
the black struggle. Basically a lot of is
about the black struggle, a lot of it is
about being the black struggle and being
a poet, or being a female black person
and writing as well. And then the last
one seemed to be quite romancey which is
felt a bit random but her writing is
amazing. She has this really interesting
format that has to deal with ellipses and pauses and I'm going to listen to a
recording of her reading these ones out
loud because I feel like it could be
very interesting to see how she reads it,
seeing as how it's written on the page. I
felt like a lot of these lines just like,
hit home and were very emotional. And it
was a really good poetry collection. I
really enjoyed it and this
actually another five-star readthis
month. 3 5 stars. Guys, this video was so
long so I'm going to end it here. Sorry
for the wrap-up being huge. With 17 books
there's no way you can talk about that
quickly. Thank you so much for watching!
Please let me know the comment section
down below what you read in the month of
August? What was your favourite read, what
was your worst one. Have you read any of
the books that I talked about? Please give
this video a thumbs up if you enjoyed it,
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in the next one. Goodbye!
