Really fun book, read this over the weekend

1. Don't let the forest in - CG Drews 5/5⭐

2. The Midnight Library - Matt Haig 4/5⭐

3. Vicious - V.E. Schwab 4.5/5⭐

I started out really loving it and flying through it but somewhere along the way I started enjoying it slightly less.

4. Mistborn - Brandon Sanderson 4.75/5⭐

My first Sanderson book and I really enjoyed it.

5. The Sword of Kaigen 4.75/5⭐

I really loved this one. I read this mostly at work and had to take breaks from it because I didn't want to start crying at work. Great book, would have easily been a 5/5 if not for the last few chapters. They felt really unnecessary and it would have been a better ending if it ended just a bit earlier.

Going to try to get to 52 reads this year. Good month of reading overall, let me know if you’ve read any of these!

Couple DNFs this month - White Horse by Erika Wyeth and Sacrificial Animals by Kailee Pedersen

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A small town with secrets. A rich corporation performing experiments it doesn't want publicised. Undercover technology.

So far, you might think, so Stranger Things. However, The Repossession (also titled The Repossession of Genie Magee on the author's website) was published in 2012, and the first series of Stranger Things aired in 2016.

Spurlake is the aforementioned small town, in British Columbia, Canada's south-easternmost territory for those who don't know (I had to look it up), on the Pacific coast and bordering the United States.

The Repossession touches many themes but chief among these is one that continues to be raised: if a person is "processed" by a technology in a way that changes them, do the owners of the technology also own that person? In other words, do the owners have a right to repossess that person?

As the novel starts, 34 children have gone missing in Spurlake, a town beset by religious fundamentalism led by a charismatic minister. Another two go on the run to avoid the same fate, and find themselves hunted fiercely, not knowing who to trust.

Author Sam Hawksmoor doesn't use the theme of missing children lightly. In a personal statement inside the front jacket of the copy that I have, he dedicates the book to "the 'unknown' kids who never call home". These kids, he has informed us, include an average of 60,000 per year in Canada, and a massive 2,185 per day in the US - and that's in 2012! In an authorial interview closing the book he says the statistics for the UK are harder to come by, and I can add, with a sense of frustration and concern, that they certainly are: the UK National Crime Agency recorded over 200,000 incidents reported of missing children in 2022/23, but but does not state how many incidents, on average, are reported for each child. The lack of clarity is disturbing.

The Repossession is written about younger people but, like Stranger Things, appeals to lovers of mystery, thrill and intrigue of all ages. It is a perennial tale of individuals against the defacing machinery of faceless corporate agenda. It's not so much David against Goliath - who was at least an individual - as Hercules against a hydra whose purpose is to have its replaceable parts dismembered, while malevolence broods at its heart. As such, I think it would also appeal to fans of Harry Potter books 6 and 7, as well as students of imperialisms ancient and modern.

Enjoy.

The first month in well over a decade where I read more paper books than ebooks.

I’ve been reading a lot of Japanese authors the past few years and this was a new one for me. I really liked it. Quick read and a great twist at the end.

I’m really loving The Dungeon Crawler Carl series. The Butcher’s Masquerade and The Gate of the Feral Gods was just perfection for me. I’m so excited to catch up with the series this month.

Not sure if it’s allowed, but wanted to add as few of my favorite quotes, too!

My goal is 52 books for the year, and to read/listen to something every day. So far I'm 12 books into it, which is great (also DNF'd 3 others).

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I mostly read romance & fantasy books and these were my 8 reads from January. Have we read any of the same books? Agree or disagree with the ratings?

First book of the year finally done.

I'd give it 7/10. I thought that it was a real slow starter but once it got going it was impossible to put down. Having said that, I thought the ending was pretty disappointing. The first 200 pages slowly built things up in great detail but the last 200 pages felt very rushed and half assed at times imo.

Favourite part was when they found Barlow's letter in the Marsten house.

Least favourite was reading about someone dying by falling down the stairs onto a pile of knives.

Ended up crying a lot this January 🥲 all of these were great though. 4+ stars across the board.

This week I took a Edagar Allaan Poe recopilatory from my high-scholl libary, it was 400+ pages with small letters and big pages, which combined with the fact that it's hard reading it (at least for me) it's like reading 700 pages.

My spanish teacher told me some stories to read, but I have read a little bit more, this is my top from what I have read:

Berenice: the first one, I really like the plot twist
The fall of the House of Usher: Pretty spooky
The black cat: another end of the story that I really like
Morella: It's like Berenice but softer, too much fantastic I think
MS found on a bottle: I like the story-telling, not as scary
The oblong box (or whatever is called in english): same as the previous one
The murders in the Rue Morgue: I like it, but not as good as the others
Maria Roget: Too much long
William Wilson: Still good, but the end is pretty meh for me
Oval Portrait: As the others, it's good, but not as much, I like the way of describing evything but I don't thing the story is as good as it could

I'm not putting it in the tierlist as it's a recopilation of books and I haven't ended, but I think this are enought for calling it a day. I lost motivation/got saturated, I will still read some short stories before going to sleep, but at this moment I have my eyes on the next one: The hobbit.

Probably will make an update when I finish them all and then maybe put it in the tier list, but for now, I will do this, when I ended it it will be 6/52.

Have a great night and see you next week, bye!

What happens when you've started a revolution? Well Zhao does a good job of showing that>! one opinion isn't universal and even if a system is corrupt you need a movement to back you up. !<

So Wu is now in a different situation but in similar danger and uncertain future. So she pushes on despite all the slander, sexism and distrust in her way. She a great character, not likeable in many ways but compelling and strong. The issues explored in the book are interesting such as men saying they support women as equals as their actions show that they still expect women to act as they are walking on water being one.

The Chinese influence on the story is very interesting to me as the stories that are the usual influences on science fiction and fantasy are normal to me. Roman, Byzantian, British, American and most European history and classic stories I'm mostly familiar with. I know the extremely basic starting point of China's rich history and literature so I am more in suspense at what characters are to do as I could guess with the chronicles of Narnia for instance.

Interested to see what happens in the next book.

Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau ⭐️

DNF about 1/2 way through.

I really wanted to like this book but just couldn't get into it. It was boring and slow and had no substantial or meaningful plot or character development. It just wasn't for me. It began to be a chore to read and at that point, wasn't worth it anymore.

The Let Them Theory by Mel Robbins ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

listened to this as an audiobook and really enjoyed it. Non-fiction isn't normally my jam, but I am finding that they are better for me as audiobooks.

I like Mel Robbins and listen to her podcast on occasion and listened to this episode in particular a few years ago. It's self-help without being overly cliché. It's not spoon feeding you anything or giving you a magic wand. Instead it encourages your brain into focusing on what you can control.

Even the parts that don't necessarily pertain to my current life and needs, I found myself thinking how the advice is solid for that situation. Could have saved me a lot of grief as a teen/young adult to have been able to hear this. Nonetheless, it has helped me see things through a different perspective and start applying this theory to my everyday life.

Started off the year with three 5-Star reads! ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Just completed my 4th book and I thought to share my progress. Followed by this, I read "Metamorphosis" yesterday and just finished "Art of War".

Now, I'm confused whether to go pick another classic or find something from '23/'24

Now, coming to this, maybe I'm just too naive to understand this but I personally didn't like it as much as it's renowned.

Crime and Punishment was my 2nd read after Fellowship of the Ring. My friend persuaded me to read something from Dostoevsky or Kafka and luckily this was in my to be read from a long time. So, I picked this one.

Honestly, This felt like a drag to me. Some Chapters are way too much of a drag.

Might contain spoilers

MC is utterly unlikeable, smug, arrogant, temperamental, condescending while being self-delusional I know it all. What would you call a person like that in today's world ? First interaction and we term him of going through a mental illness. >!Man wasn't able to decide to develop an intent to do a thing he longed for; for reasons known to God!<

Adding salt to injury, he was termed as spiritual than mental thanks to the Dostoevsky. He's your average daily-life grad student of engineering. Smart, highly educated but prone to bouts of self-loathing. >!The guy is proto-Nazi who believes that the world can be divided into 2 classes for one who is free to do what they wish; the other of everyone else. You heard this before, innit? From a man well known. The elite don't have to follow any rules for what they are elites. !<

Once the scene is set, here we come with God knows how many monologues going through that guy. Madness is shown but then it's spiritual ( oh my). These monologues are so effective (/s) that it drive me insane reading 'em.

!Coming to his relations, guy got a friend who is spineless to his insults. I'm still making comparisons to what made me more insane this or the fact above. Then, Comes the cat-and-mouse officer who knew it all but wanted to play a lame game for reasons known to him. Credit where due, that is one of the parts which I enjoyed where he waited for the MC to confess!<

The man is definitely paid for pages but there are events which can be done in pages short but for some reasons have been dragged across multiple pages and sometimes even chapters. This book is something which I feel was unable to keep me hooked and I was reading for the sake of it most of the time.

Not to forget the naming used for God sake, make a distinction what is XY, YX ZyX, XYZ. How on earth, one is supposed to follow names longing miles with similar words yet no relation. I wasn't satisfied with the ending as well.

Can't rate more than 2.5/5.

Metamorphosis --> 3.5/5 [ the theme of the book was evident in few pages itself ] Art of War --> 4.5/5 [ for few notes which aren't perfected but then again can't blame as this book is so old.

I’m surprisingly ahead of schedule! Granted, some of these were short reads. Ina Garten’s memoir and “How To Keep House While Drowning” were audiobooks.

Happy to talk about any of these with anyone :)

Starting the year off with a ton of mood reads.

A couple of the books were kids books for a challenge. I completed one challenge and signed up for several more to push me to read different things. Sad that Story Graph didn't put all my books on the calendar.

I'm not fool enough to think--or forget--that we in the West cheered Putin when he came to power DECADES ago, handed the "tandemocracy" over to Medvedev, took "it" back, and then muddled about in Syria and Ukraine, Ukraine and Syria, ad infinitum, but I'd be lying if I said I'd always cheered for this David...I thought we could get along with the "status quo" and oh how wrong I was (and continue to be (forgive me, Navalny!))...

This memoir, then, is a call-to-action for ALL personally and professionally, then, to find a purpose and a passion and do something about it (and not necessarily in the realm of politics... but ANYTHING!).

Even if you're not into politics or RU-ANGLO relations...read this FOR THE MAN and HIS MISSION!

Need more reasons? Got 'em!

🇷🇺 He was funny! No matter WHAT got thrown at him...he never lost his positive personality!

⛓️‍💥 This book is like Frankl's...or it will achieve such a status soon!

⚖️ Form fits the function--it's part diary, part history book, and part meta stream of conscienceness/consciousness via Instagram!

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/211050273-patriot