Hello, everybody. I know that I said that I would start posting Favorites in two-month installments, but I read a lot of good books last month and consumed a bunch of other fun forms of media and I don’t want these posts to get too long. Anyway, here are books, movies, t.v shows, and music I loved in January, along with a few priceless moments.
//Books
I finished more than ten books this month, and I don’t want to review all of them, so here are a few books that I haven’t read before and a series reread.
Legend Trilogy by Marie Lu – I started off the year reading History Is All You’ve Left Me by Adam Silvera, one of my favorite authors, but it was very depressing and I wasn’t in the mood for a sad book. I usually listen to an audiobook and a physical book, so I spent a lot of time listening to the audiobook Legend to avoid reading History. I ended up finishing the entire trilogy in the time it took me to read 100 pages of the other book, so I’ve decided to put it down for now.
I haven’t read Legend since I was fourteen, and it was so good. I forgot how good it was. I rated all three books five stars. It’s very rare to find a trilogy where the books get better and better, but this was one of them. The only real complaint I have is that there should’ve been a little more time in the first book for the characters to become more attached to each other, but even then, the character development was good for a YA dystopian. I forgot almost everything from the second book and never got to the third book (I didn’t read as much as I do now in high school because I didn’t have time), so it was like reading it for the first time. The books are dual perspective in the point of view of the country’s most wanted criminal and it’s most talented soldier. It’s a dystopian series about the Republic of America, and the world building for this country is phenomenal. There is a reason why everything is the way it is and how it got to that point.
This is a long review, but since it’s for three books, I’ll let it slide. To wrap it all up, I’ll say that the best part is that the way you think each book is going to end happens in the middle. And when the big reveal happens in the middle, you’re left wondering, “where are they going with this?” Even looking at the series as a whole, the second book ended in a place most dystopian trilogies end and you’re left wondering where they will go with the third book. It was very refreshing. I loved that the third book went into the aftermath of things and that we were able to see how other post-apocalyptic countries were run. (Like, we never got to see international relations in the Hunger Games series, but this book does a good job at it. Normally, we only see the war aspects in the final book rather than the political negotiations. We got both in this series.
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella – I finished this audiobook within 24 hours. It was so funny. I would walk around campus listening to it and start laughing randomly. I really enjoyed it. This book is about a girl with severe social anxiety. As in she has to wear sunglasses everywhere and can’t bring herself to look even her family in the eye. We follow her as she goes through the aftermath of an unnamed incident. The blurb makes it sound like a contemporary romance, but it really isn’t. The romance doesn’t even happen until 2/3 of the way through the book and it’s not the main plot of the story, which is why I think it’s branded incorrectly. It’s about her and her eccentric family living their life after Audrey’s incident.
The book takes place in the U.K., so it was read in a British accent, which was lovely to listen to and it made the funny parts even funnier. To give you an example, the story starts with the mother getting ready to throw Audrey’s older brother’s videogame console out the window and making a huge schene and all the neighbors come out to watch. I relistened to the first five minutes with my friend Stellah, and we were belly laughing on the couch. She got the audiobook from the library immediately and also finished it within a day. It definitely has serious subject manner but is presented in a very light way. I like that Audrey can logically understand the fact that her reaction to social situations isn’t sensible, but she can’t control her anxiety, which is something I think many people don’t understand.
Let’s Talk About Love by Claire Kann – My reviews are getting really long. I’ll try to make them shorter. This book is about a biromantic-asexual college student. Asexuality is definitely a topic that needs to be written about more because a lot of people don’t understand it. A friend of mine who is asexual recommended it to me, and even though I’ve researched and learned about asexuality because of her, I still got a lot out of this novel.
Alice was a very well rounded character. I loved the parts where she was in therapy or just very introspective about her experience. Also, any time her family showed up, even when they just texted her, I got excited because I loved their dynamic. Oddly enough, it was the romance that didn’t do it for me. I understand why the author did it the way she did. It was to emphasize that asexual people can still feel romantic love despite feeling apathetic towards sex, but it was a bit dramatic to me. Even so, I think everyone should read this book to get rid of a lot of taboos they have about asexuality and learn things like the fact that asexual people can have orgasms. There isn’t a medical thing wrong with them.
Scarlet by Marissa Meyer – This is the second book to The Lunar Chronicles series. I read the first book Cinder last month and enjoyed it a lot. All the books are basically sci-fi fairytale retellings and I’ve really liked it so far. Most people tell me that Cinder is the weakest book in the series, but I actually liked it more than this one. Scarlet is the “retelling” of Little Red Riding Hood and it takes place almost immediately after Cinder. I was happy to see that we still get Cinder’s point of view in the second book because I wanted to know what happened to her after the ending of the last book. I don’t know what to say about this book without spoiling the last one, so I’ll just leave it at that. The third book is a Rapunzel retelling, but I feel retelling is the wrong word for it because it still continues on with the ending of this book.
Robinson Crusoe by Daniel Defoe – This was my classic for this month, and I’ve been reading it very slowly over the past few weeks. I should be done by the time this blog post goes live. Robinson Crusoe was my favorite classic as a kid. It’s about a man who was the only survivor of a shipwreck and was cast away on an island for 30 years. This book was written in 1719, so it’s been three hundred years since it was first published. It’s the original castaway novel. The language was definitely more difficult getting used to compared to other classics, but I remember why I was able to look past that as a kid. Things just kept happening! Time passed in the weirdest ways and Robinson had a crazy life even before he was trapped on the island.
Let me give you the preface. This book is about a man who was never meant to travel. The universe kept sending him signs that he should stop traveling. Like, at one point, his ship was taken by pirates and he was a slave in Africa for two years (That’s not a spoiler. Chapter Two is literally named “Escape From Slavery”). So many insane things keep happening to him that it was easy to look past the antiquated language. It’s still a five star book and I think nostalgia will always make it my favorite classic.
(The classic book I’m reading for February is “The Jungle Book”)
A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett – This was definitely my favorite classic from middle school. I never read this for a class. I read it on my own and still love it. I picked it up after almost being done with Robinson Crusoe because I felt the urge to pick up another classic. It’s about a young girl sent to boarding school, after being raised by her father, a soldier, in India. She was a very clever and kind girl and was one of the wealthiest girls there. While living and studying there, her father dies in India, and she is taken as an indentured servant and is neglected and abused. She was only eleven-years-old. The book follows her life surviving that and slowly losing her spirit. It’s an amazing book and feels like such an easy read after reading Robinson Crusoe. I should also finish this book by this weekend.
(I’ve been sporadically updating my Goodreads account. It’s pretty much up-to-date if you want to follow along with the books I’m reading this year.)
//Movies
Ghost – This is a classic movie that I’ve never watched. Prior to watching it, I thought it was about a living person who fell in love with a ghost because that’s honestly what the pictures shared of Patrick Swayze and Demi Moore imply. It’s way better than that. It’s about a man who was murdered and his ghost comes back for revenge on the murderer and to prevent his girlfriend from getting killed. It was good. I think it’s aged well despite the outdated special effects.
The Greatest Showman – I finally watched this movie after many recommendations from a close friend. I think the only reason I hadn’t yet is that it came out while I was in Bangladesh and I missed all the hype around it. The songs were amazing and it was an enjoyable story. My only complaint is that the pacing was off. Overall, it was good. It felt weird watching Wolverine sing, but he’s surprisingly good at it.
Aquaman – I watched this with my family a few weekends ago. I remember when Aquaman was announced in high school and I thought it was the stupidest idea ever. I kept saying that they’ve saturated the market with so many superhero movies that they’ve run out of ideas. I’m right about them saturating the market, but they did a good job with the movie (granted, I had very low expectations). I actually read DC comics as a kid, and I remember that Aquaman got the brunt of jokes, so it was cool to see him have his own movie. It wasn’t on par with the MCU, but I liked it enough. I can’t say it was great though.
//T.V. Shows
I just realized that all the T.V shows I listed are Netflix originals. I did watch winter premieres for shows I follow, like The Good Doctor and Modern Family, but here are some fun Netflix specials I watched.
A Series Of Unfortunate Events – The series is officially over. I wish all book adaptations were like this. Netflix covered the stories of all thirteen books beautifully and the ending made me want more. Even so, I’m glad Netflix did one of my favorite book series as a kid justice. This show is about three orphans whose parents perished in a terrible fire, and their new legal guardian conducts horrific schemes in order to steal their fortune.
Stranger Things – It took me a long time to start this show, but I finally finished it this month. The reason it took me so long to start it is that I assumed I would binge-watch the entire thing in one sitting and I always feel terrible about doing that. I guess I didn’t have to worry because I was able to watch this show very slowly over the course of a few weeks. I really enjoyed it, but I didn’t feel the need to watch both seasons immediately. All the characters are amazing and well developed. Paranormalcy isn’t a genre I typically like, but I was still able to enjoy this show. It begins with a group of four friends and one of them goes missing on the way home. In the process of searching for him, they uncover certain things about a lab conducting experiments on children.
Tidying Up With Marie Kondo – This is a trend that I’ve known about for years. I remember back in 2015 when Marie Kondo’s book came out, and so many bloggers I followed wrote about it. I didn’t feel the need to read the book because all the main points of the process were in those blog posts. I started watching the show during winter break and have watched it sporadically throughout the month (I’m not finished yet). I actually read the book while watching the show, and I think they added a lot to each other. The show is a reality show, where Marie Kondo visits different families to help them declutter their homes. Some of the things that seemed ridiculous to read about in the books made more sense when it was shown in an episode, and vice versa. I recommend both the book and the show if you want some help with tidying your home.
Friends From College – I was surprised when this show got a second season. I had no idea it was renewed until it showed up on my Netflix feed. The second season was way better than the first. The show is more of an adult sitcom. The first season is good, but not great, but I felt invested in the characters during the second season. The show is about six friends from college, and two of them have been having an affair since college, throughout dating, marrying, and having kids with their spouse. The seasons are very short and it’s a quick watch if you want something lighter to consume.
You – I did not plan on watching this show, but my friend Deya slept over and she asked for us to watch it, and I was hooked. I’m still not done with it (I’ve noticed that I have much more self-control now when it comes to binge-watching shows), but I’ve been loving it so far. It’s a very slow paced show, which I know isn’t everyone’s cup of tea, but I really like domestic thrillers and this show reminds me of one. It’s about a stalker who falls in love with a girl who bought a book from his bookstore. The most interesting thing about the show is that you somehow find yourself rooting for the stalker. I’ll link the trailer below.
//Music
I mostly listened to audiobooks last month, but when I wasn’t, these are the songs I listened to the most. Since I watched The Greatest Showman in January, I listened to a lot of songs from that movie.
- Top 5 Greatest Showman Songs I Listened To The Most
I also listened to a lot of Dean Lewis.
//Priceless
Haircut – I cut my hair in the month of January, and I absolutely love it. I don’t remember the last time I cut it this short (probably back in elementary school) and I actually want to cut it shorter now. I really like it. It’s very low maintenance and I can get out of bed with manageable hair.
I Saw So Many Of My Friends – January has been such a fun month and I’ve been really good about making time for friends in between study time. I’ve been on a bunch of coffee dates and meet-ups with friends. The biggest change has definitely been that my best friend Stellah and I have been making it much more of a priority to see each other. It feels like we’ve hung out together more this month than we did all last semester. There have been so many nights where we were laying on the floor for hours talking. It’s been amazing. I’m glad we’ve made that a part of our weekly routine.
My Dad Had Time Off – My dad is self-employed and works from home, so we do see him a lot. It’s just that he works more on weekends than on weekdays, so it’s been a while since all five of us have gone out together outside of visiting extended family or vacations. And since I’m at my dorm on weekdays, weekends are the only possibility for us to spend time together. My dad managed to have two consecutive weekends off, so the five of us drove up to lake lanier and went sledding, went out to dinner, went to the movies, etc. It was nice. Time where we are all available has been hard to come by.
Spring Semester Started – When we were nearing the end of winter break, I felt kind of off when it came to going back to school. I knew that I would get back into the groove of things once classes started, but I was still in vacation mode. Once they started, I knew that this was going to be a great semester. I can already feel that I’m building a community at the school I transferred to, which is something that was hard to come by when I arrived last semester. I feel really excited about 2019 in general. Especially after this month.
My Cousin Mahi Visited From New York – My cousin visited Atlanta for a week. I only saw him during the weekend when I was home, but it was still nice. I stayed three consecutive days and drove the hour back to campus Monday morning before class so that I could spend time with him and my other cousins. It was really nice. He’s one of the 50+ cousins I have that I actually talk to regularly, so it was nice to spend time with him in person.
Well, that’s it for now. February is already shaping up to be a good reading month, so I probably will have to cherry pick a few of my favorite ones to talk about because those reviews got lengthy. I’ll see you next time!
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What good books did you read last month? Movies? T.V Shows? Music?