Hi, I'm Nicole and today I'm going to
be doing my March reading wrap up.
This month I read 5 books and
2 of them were audiobooks.
The first book I got through this month was The Sun Is Also a Star by Nicola Yoon
And it was a fun little story. It's a YA story
about a girl named Natasha who–for reasons which
will be revealed throughout the story–is going to be deported from the US
and a guy named Daniel whose family
owns a shop in the same area as Natasha
and they cross paths in New York.
The whole thing takes place in a day
so everything's very fast
And that means that, since it is basically a YA romance,
Definitely heavy "insta-love"
–they basically fall in love in a day
So if you don't like "insta-love",
this is not going to be the story for you.
I don't particularly like it. I don't particularly not like it.
I just thought I would pick this up
and see what it was like.
And it was OK!
I listened on audiobook and the narrator for Natasha
is Bahni Turpin who is the same narrator for The Hate U Give
and that made it a little bit confusing for me at first
just because the characters are kind of similar
It's kind of: headstrong, slightly angry protagonist
which seems to be the main way, in a lot of these stories, to show an independent woman who's
not a damsel in distress kind of character
and I feel like there's some room for
growth to be done in that area
because I really don't feel like the only way to show
an independent female character is
is for her to be–I don't know–a bit aggressive.
One of the main things that I particularly
liked about this story's format
was the omniscient narrator.
So with the use of that, we're able to kind of peak into some of the secondary characters' lives a little bit
and I thought that was really interesting because it helped to flesh out some of the other characters
and it expanded the world really well.
Would I recommend it? I think, if you already like these kinds of books, yes definitely.
If you're really not bothered about this kind of story then...
Hm...I don't know.
And then the book that I read after that was
a lot heavier, a lot drier and more difficult for me to get through even though it was also an audiobook
and that was The Female Eunuch by Germaine Greer.
Now, I feel like I can't really say anything bad about this book because, for me, I was kind of drifting in and out
as I was listening and I found myself
playing back bits because I just wasn't
focussing on it, like, hardly...at all.
But it wasn't necessarily a bad book or anything. I just didn't really feel that connection with it.
It felt like it was punctuated with interesting moments
and that's when I would tune back in but, overall,
it didn't really hold my attention that well.
I also found it really jarring the way that
she used course language in the book
Not that I have a problem with swearing or anything like that, but there were a lot of instances of
racial slurs or homophobic slurs that
were used, I suppose, for emphasis
but I just didn't feel like it was effectve
and they just felt heavy and unnecessary
and just kind of...jarring.
So that didn't go over well with me but I've considered re-reading the book because, like I said, I didn't really pay
really close attention to it when I was listening but
I'm also not sure if I will re-read or re-listen
because I'm not convinced it has that
much there to offer me necessarily.
We'll see.
After that, I read this little book which–it's neon
so I'm not sure it'll show up that well on camera...
But it's actually pink, not salmon which
is what it looks like in my screen
And it's called « À nos amours »
and it's an activity book.
I actually came across it because
a friend of mine found it and
since I'm one of the first people she thought of who speaks French and would actually understand it
(because it's all in French)
she thought that I might like it and she gave it to me
and I LOVED it!
It was really really cute, but also profound in its own way
Like I said, it's an activity book
and it's filled with lots of cool illustrations
and activities
to do
and it's just really sweet. It's got loads of
like, games and things to work through
The questions in it were really good like "What is love?"
Or "what will falling in love do to me?"
Or "can a boy love a boy?"
and different little exercises to find out about
I guess the different aspects of love.
For one of the games in it you get lots of cards
with different traits on them
and you have to put together lots of
traits that your ideal person would have
but then you also have to include one negative trait
because nobody is perfect, obviously.
And I think it's just really sweet.
It's aged...I think 8 and up?
So it's for quite a young audience
but it's also...like I said, it's profound in its own little way
and I think it simplifies the idea of love without
without feeling like it's
pandering [*condescending] in any way
And, since I liked it so much, I looked up the publisher
and they do a whole series of these kinds of books
So I think I might start a little collection...possibly...
Then, in a completely different direction,
I finished Why I Write by George Orwell.
This one–very sassy.
Sociopolitical commentary about
what was happening at the time
with Hitler and responses from different
areas of the British public.
And this was really really interesting.
I learned a lot for sure.
But also it was interesting to see how much of this is still relevant and reading his assessment of what will
what will probably happen, what will possibly happen,
what needs to happen, and comparing
that to what we have or haven't done
and where we are now since his time.
I really like George Orwell's writing so I'm gonna
continue picking them up from time to time
On my shelves I have three books of his at the moment.
And that is...
Decline of the English Murder
Books v. Cigarettes
and the third one, which is in my bedroom,
is Burmese Days
And if you have read any of those
and feel like I should really
immediately pick up one of them over the others
or anything then please let me know!
So the last book that I read in the month of March
and I actually only just finished it yesterday...
was a book club read for
The Feminist Orchestra book club
and that was Feminism Is for Everybody by bell hooks.
This is actually the second book
that I've read "with" a book club now.
The first one was sort of an accident
I was already reading Why I'm No Longer Talking to White People about Race
and that happened to be the book club
pick for Emma Watson's book club
So I thought I'll maybe follow
along some of the discussion
but I didn't really end up following along with much
I just kind of happened to be reading at the same time
So this time I've been a lot ore involved and
trying to take part in the discussion and it's been really interesting hearing other people's perspectives and
looking at how my views fit into that
I don't really want to say too much here because
I am planning on doing a video specifically for
reviewing that book
But I will say that I did like it and I also really liked the experience of reading it with a book club
and I think, probably, I would not have assessed
quite so much or highlighted quite so much
had I not read with a book club
and that's both good and bad I think
In one way probably I've been more
critical of it in certain respects
but in another way I've probably
got more out of it for doing so
So that's something I would definitely recommend.
So those are the books that
I read in the month of March
And somehow I find myself now with only 3 books
that I'm currently reading instead of 7 or 8
which I think I had not long ago..!
So that's great!
I'm gonna try to keep it to that and see how things go and see how things go
Let me know if you've read anything really good
in March that you would recommend to me!
Even though I'm not really supposed
to be buying that many books.
And I'll see you again next time. Bye!
