Hello, lovelies! I’m back with another Favorites post where I discuss books, movies, music, T.V shows and priceless moments from the previous months. I hope you enjoy!
//Books
I read a lot of books in the last two months. Normally, I review all the books I read, but I decided to share a few special ones here.
An Absolutely Remarkable Thing by Hank Green – I tried reading this book at the beginning of the year but ended up putting it down. I started listening to the audiobook and fell in love with the voice actress and the way she voiced all the characters. This motivated me to continue the book. The story starts with a 23-year-old designer named April, who stumbles upon a giant statue in New York. She and her best friend Andy make a video about it and it immediately becomes viral because the exact same statue has appeared in every big city in the world. She then becomes the center of attention with these stories and has to deal with the consequences because these statues aren’t just an art project. (Can’t say more without divulging spoilers) I had assumed that Hank Green had written a contemporary book, but it ended up being a thought-out sci-fi/speculative fiction. I’m definitely picking up the second book.
Renegades by Marissa Meyer – After binge-reading the Lunar Chronicles earlier this year, I finally picked up another one of Marissa Meyer’s books. This book takes place in a society where superheroes run everything: government, law enforcement, etc. This causes humans to become complacent, allowing everything to be done for them. The book takes place in the point of view of Nightmare, who is considered a villain in this society, and Sketch, who is considered a hero. What I liked about this book was that the issues weren’t black and white. The heroes weren’t all good and the villains weren’t all bad. The book has a very character-driven plot, which works since all the characters are so interesting. I ordered the second book from my library immediately, so expect a review of that in my next favorites post.
The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang – When you read the title of this graphic novel, you assume that it’s a star-crossed romance between a prince and a peasant. That assumption is completely wrong. The book is about a cross-dressing prince, who pretends to be a woman as he dresses in his dressmaker friend’s designer clothes. It’s a quick read and a fun modernization of fairytales.
The House At Pooh Corner by A.A. Milne – I fell behind on my goal of reading 12 classics this year, which is why I picked this book up. I read the first three books in the Winnie The Pooh series last year but never read the last book. This one was a lot like the third one. It’s a sweet collection of short stories about all the characters. Tigger is actually introduced in the fourth one.
Black Widow: Forever Red by Margaret Stohl – My biggest complaint about this book: there wasn’t enough Black Widow in it. Honestly! There were two other points of views whom I was not invested in and the only reason I kept reading was that Natasha’s parts were so good (and that I had invested so much time reading it already). I wanted to hear more about the Red Room and the torture she went through. They did go into that stuff, but I think it would’ve been better if they had just stuck to just her point of view. The book takes place between Avengers and The Winter Soldier (but there was foreshadowing for future movies, like Ant-Man & The Wasp), so there were a lot of cool references. I loved it when any of the other Avengers showed up. The fight scenes were also written really well. It was interesting to see what goes through the Black Widow’s head when she fights.
Percy Jackson and the Olympians (Books 4-5) by Rick Riordan – I’ve finally finished my reread of the series. I read the first three books back in March but stopped for a few months because of their formulaic structure. I needed a break. The series is about the demigod children of the Greek Gods. I thought the first third of the fourth book was kind of boring but loved the second half because it featured my favorite character, Rachel. I forgot why Rachel, Nico, and Thalia were my favorite characters when I first read the series in sixth grade, but I remember now. While reading the final book, I kept thinking that the battles could have been as epic as the eighth Harry Potter movie if the films had done a good job. I was so disappointed in them. I think the fifth book is my favorite in the series now. It was a good conclusion. (I don’t plan on reading the sequel series with the Roman Gods).
The 5th Wave by Rick Yancey – I read the first two books in the series this month and plan on finishing the final book next week. One of my best friends frequently recommended this book series to me in high school, but I never got around to reading it. I think I was over the dystopian phase at that point, but I’ve recently gotten back into them. I’m just going to insert the movie trailer below because I think it’ll give a better synopsis than I can.
I loved everything about the book except the romance. It was really bad and I wish it wasn’t there. I liked the main character in the beginning, but she really started to irritate me when we were 2/3 into the book. I realized it was because a love interest was introduced. This book is an example of how many male authors can’t write female points of view. Yancy was doing well until romance started. I really enjoyed the series and probably would have binge-read the series all at once if I didn’t have other audiobooks from the library. (There was a twist at the end of the second book that changes EVERYTHING.)
The Happiness Project by Gretchen Rubin – I’ve heard about Gretchen Rubin many times before. She’s a big name in self-help books and blogs, but I had never read any of her books. She wrote The Happiness Project over ten years ago back when she wrote biographies for a living. She had the idea of starting a happiness project, not because she was unhappy, but because she wanted to see if happy people can be happier and to stop living her life on autopilot. Every month she would have a focus: health, money, friendship, etc. and create goals for each of those categories. This book is her documenting this project. After reading some reviews, I was worried that this was going to be about a “privileged rich white woman with a perfectly charming life, so she can’t talk about creating happiness.” The thing is that she acknowledges these types of comments in the beginning:
“According to current research, in the determination of a person’s happiness, genetics account for about 50% ; life circumstances, such as age, gender, ethnicity, marital status, income, health, occupation, and religious affiliation, account for about 10-20%, and the remainder is a product of how a person thinks and acts. In other words, people have an inborn disposition that’s set within a certain range, but they can boost themselves to the top of their happiness range or push themselves down to the bottom of their happiness range by their actions.”
The point of the project was to increase her happiness based on the things she could control, not based on her circumstance. I found the book very interesting. Some of the things were a bit outdated, like sending emails or taking photos because back then, emails were like letters and you would have to carry a physical camera around to take pictures., but it got the point across. Overall, I recommend the book. It has a lot of good quotes and statistics.
//Movies
Good Boys – I watched a few movies this month, but I can’t remember most of them. I watched The 5th Wave and enjoyed it, and I watched the new Men In Black movie at the dollar theatre but thought it was boring. My brothers and I went to watch Good Boys last week, and it was hilarious. The reason this movie piqued my interest was that it stars Jack Tremblay, who played Jack in the Room movie. I thought he was really good for a child actor and the trailer looked really funny. It’s rated R, but it’s a light-hearted and fun watch. There was even a message at the end..
//Music
- One by Lewis Capaldi
- Other Side by GAIT
- I Warned Myself by Charlie Puth
- Waves by Dean Lewis
- These Days by Wallows
- Are You Bored Yet? by Wallows ft. Clairo
- The Man by Taylor Swift
//T.V. Shows
Family Reunion – This is a short Netflix Sit-Com. The reason I clicked on it was because it starred Tia Mowry, but it ended up being a fun watch. It’s about a Black family that moves from Seattle to Columbus, Georgia and how they deal with the culture change.
Cable Girls – This is a Spanish show that takes place in 1920s Madrid about the women’s rights movement. I thought Season 4 was really good. Prior to watching, I thought it was the final season, but the cliffhanger says otherwise. I can’t wait for season 5. (I can’t say a lot without spoiling, but trust me, it’s good).
Avatar: The Last Airbender – This is my favorite T.V. show of all time, and I finally got one of my friends to watch it with me after years of recommending it. Thankfully, she loves it, and we’ve been watching a few episodes together every week.
Here’s a summary of the premise (AKA The Intro):
//Priceless
- My friends and I had like four or five get-togethers – I’m adding this here because it’s a battle to get everyone together once a month, but there was a point at the end of summer where we got together every week.
- Akash moved in with us – My friend Deya’s brother moved back to the U.S in July and is currently living with us. At first, it felt kind of surreal, like he was just visiting, but it’s starting to feel like he actually lives here. It’s been great. Zidan has been having fun having a brother his age, and Akash has joined in on the Avatar marathons.
- My Mom Went To Bangladesh And I Was Able To Take Care Of My Brother – This was my first time ever really taking care of Mysoon at this capacity. I drove back and forth from my dorm every day (I’ve calculated 25+ hours of driving specifically for school) and it was a lot. I’m glad I got the experience and it’ll probably start happening more often. I’m glad I got to get a glimpse of what taking care of him will be like after my parents pass away (in the far far future).
- My Senior Year Started – I honestly can’t believe that I’m almost done with college. I’ve barely been on campus the last three weeks, but I definitely want to make the most of college life for the rest of the year. I like all my teachers so far and one of my best friends moved to the same dorm I live in, so it should be fun.
Those are some of my favorites from the last two months. I’ll probably only do them every two months now, which means I won’t include all the books I read like I usually do.
Now that I have more time on my hands, I may be able to post twice a week again, but don’t hold me to it too much since September is my busiest month school-wise this semester. My next post will be up on Tuesday.
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What books have you read recently? Have you seen any good movies?