Hello, everyone. I’m back with another monthly favorites post. I’m going to start doing them every two months instead of every month so that I don’t have to spend as much time on them next year. I hope you enjoy.
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//Books
What To Say Next by Julie Buxbaum – This book is a dual perspective of a high schooler with autism, David, and his classmate, Kit, who has just lost her father and is grieving his death. I gave this book five stars. It has its flaws, but I loved how it portrays David’s autism. I also liked that Kit is half-Indian, so we got bits and pieces of her mother’s culture. It shows that you can have diversity in books without the plot revolving around just their diversity.
Winnie The Pooh Series by A.A. Milne – I’ve been wanting to read more classics recently and since Winnie The Pooh is one of my favorite characters, I decided to give his books a try. There are four books and I’ve only read the first three. I’ll read the next one next month. The first two are actually a book of poems and the third one is a book of short stories. You can skip to the third one if you just want to read about Pooh and his friends. It isn’t necessary to read the first two. Poetry is not my cup of tea, but I actually enjoyed the second one more than I thought I would. Both are very quick reads and you can read one short story a day for the third one. I really enjoyed it, but I think I’ll like the fourth one best because it’s one whole story instead of a collection of short ones.
Born A Crime by Trevor Noah – This book was amazing. I listened to the audiobook version, which I think is the ideal way to read this book. Trevor Noah narrates it himself, so his inflection of voice makes it more interesting. Trevor Noah is a mixed man who was born during apartheid. At the time, relations between black and white people were illegal, so he was born a crime. This is a memoir of his life in South Africa. The beginning and the ending are amazing, but it lulls a bit in the middle. I still give it five stars. It’s an amazing book.
Anne Of Green Gables Series 5&6 by L.M. Montgomery – This is another classic series I’ve been getting through. I finished book five in November and book 6 in December. Anne’s House of Dreams takes place in the first few years of Anne’s marriage, and the sixth book takes place many years after with her raising her six children. The series has stopped being plot driven and revolves more around the characters, which is fine. The thing I like about classic literature is that I get to learn more about the time period and how things worked back then. I think I’ll stop after the seventh book (there are eight) because the eighth book revolves more around Anne’s youngest daughter rather than Anne herself.
What If It’s Us by Becky Albertalli and Adam Silvera – This is a dual perspective contemporary romance. It’s very cute and cliche. It’s a very fun read. It’s about two high schoolers Ben and Arthur, who keep almost finding each other and having first dates, second first dates, third first dates…trying to understand why the universe wants them together. It’s a pretty long book and I kept hoping nothing heart wrenching would happen because Adam Silvera is one of the authors, so that kept me on my toes. If you are in the mood to read a feel-good book, this is a cute one to pick up.
Five Feet Apart by Rachael Lippincott – I actually watched the trailer for this movie a few months ago and looked up the book. I found out that the book hadn’t been published yet. So they filmed the movie before the book was even out. That got me interested. I ordered the book from my local library and got it the day it came out. It’s about two characters with cystic fibrosis who start developing feelings for each other, which is a problem since people with CF can’t be less than six feet apart without risk of catching each other’s bacteria. I read this book during finals week (bad idea) and couldn’t put it down. I’ll link the trailer below.
The Little Mermaid by Hans Christian Anderson – I bought a Hans Christian Anderson collection from Book Outlet on Black Friday and the first story was his most famous fairytale: The Little Mermaid. That is my second favorite fairytale after Rapunzel, but I think it may be my favorite one now. I can’t say until I reread Rapunzel, but both are very dark and surprising. This story didn’t take too long to read. It was only about fifty pages, but I loved every second of it and I like that the little mermaid coming to land wasn’t just about the prince. It was also about other things that were too complicated for Disney to go into. I really loved it and I recommend you read it just for the sake of understanding this classic.
5 to 1 by Holly Bodger – Near the beginning of this book, I thought I would end up rating it 3.5-4 stars, but by the end of the novel, it was a five-star book. This is a stand-alone dystopian and it reads like a short story even though it’s 200+ pages long. The book takes place in a society set in post-apocalyptic India, where there are five men to ever one woman. Instead of being a teen romance, it’s about being honorable and fair in a corrupt system. It was really interesting. It was more like an adult dystopian rather than a young adult one. It didn’t follow any of the usual tropes and I loved the world building and the reason for this society’s existence. I haven’t read anything like this before and I recommend this book the most out of all the books on this list.
Currently Reading: “The Nanny Diaries” and “History Is All You’ve Left Me” – I’m writing this early, so I can’t tell you if I like these books or not. I’m taking these books on vacation with me this week. One is a super fluffy novel while the other one is super depressing. I packed for whatever reading mood I’m in.
//Movies
Widows – I watched this with a bunch of my friends on Thanksgiving Break. It’s a heist movie following three widows, whose husbands were criminals.
Ralph Breaks The Internet – I watched this with my brother on Thanksgiving day. Wreck-It Ralph isn’t my favorite Disney movie, but I enjoyed the sequel a lot. I loved the message at the end.
Equals – This is an adult dystopian movie that isn’t based on a book, but boy do I wish it was. In this society, people’s genes are suppressed so that they can’t feel any emotion. This procedure hasn’t been perfected yet, so a noticeable percentage of people go through stages where those genes become expressed again in adulthood. The greatest side-effect of this is suicide, so their society is trying to find a cure. The two main characters get the “disease” and don’t want the cure. The movie is on Netflix if you’re interested.
Netflix Christmas Movies (A Christmas Prince; The Christmas Switch) – I watched three Netflix Christmas movies in the last two months. I didn’t watch A Christmas Prince when it came out last year, so I watched it a year late. It wasn’t that bad. It was a reasonable rom-com. The sequel wasn’t as good, but was tolerable. The Christmas Switch, on the other hand, was insanely cheesy. I wouldn’t have watched it if it weren’t for Vanessa Hudgens. It was SOOOOOOO cheesy, and not in a good way.
Dumplin’ – I’ve read a few of Julie Murphy’s books this year, but not Dumplin’. I wanted to read it before the Netflix release but realized that there are other books higher on my TBR. The movie was pretty good. I enjoyed watching it. It’s about a plus-size girl who enters a beauty pageant to spite her mom, a former beauty queen.
Spiderman: Into The Spiderverse – My brother and I watched it the day it came out and loved it. Spiderman is my favorite superhero, and I was excited to FINALLY see Miles Morales on screen. The movie was so creative and I loved how they went about the comic book elements.
//TV Shows
I haven’t watched that much T.V. in the last two months. I mostly watched movies and listened to audiobooks.
The Sick Note – I watched the first season and am in the middle of the second season. The reason I started watching it is that it stars Rupert Grint (Ron from Harry Potter). This is one of those shows that I don’t have to binge watch. I can just watch one episode then move onto other things. Rupert Grint’s character, Daniel, gets diagnosed with cancer and gets treated much better by the people around him. Since he works for an insurance company, they start using him for advertisements. By the end of the first episode, he finds out that the doctor misdiagnosed him, but he has to act like he still has cancer. He and the doctor jump through a lot of hoops to make sure no one finds out. That’s pretty much the premise of the show.
Patriot Act – I loved Hassan Minaj on The Daily Show and was so excited to watch his new Netflix series. I like that it’s not a weekly news recap show. He chooses a topic and deep dives into it. He does a different topic for every episode, whether it’s Saudi Arabia or Amazon Prime. I learn something new every time I watch it.
//Music
Lots of Broadway Music – I went on a huge Broadway kick in the last two months. Here are the top three songs I listened to:
//Priceless
Thanksgiving Break – That week was a much-needed break. I didn’t even attempt to study. I just enjoyed myself all week. One of our cousins also visited for Thanksgiving, so that was fun.
My 21st Birthday – I have survived another year of life. The ultimate goal is to not die young, right?
Finishing My First Semester At My New School – I transferred to another university this semester, so that was an adjustment. I also took the maximum amount of credit hours, which made this semester even busier. I’m glad to be done with it. Next semester should be more fun.
Sleeping-In – I’ve slept in every day since I took my last final. It has been wonderful. All my final exams were at 8 AM, which was cruel of them because there was a reason I didn’t take any 8 AM classes. After taking my last final, I went back to my dorm, changed into pajamas and passed out on my bed for four hours. It was necessary.
Going On A Family Vacation – I’m writing the morning before we leave, so I don’t know if it’s going well or not. This is the first family vacation we’ve been on this year, which is strange for us. Normally, we go on three or four road trips per year, but a lot of personal things had to get done. Now that it’s all sorted out, we’re finally able to take a trip together. First, we’re going to Tennessee to visit my cousin, and then we’re headed to Chicago. We may explore a few other states as well. My parents aren’t very organized when it comes to trips, so who knows where we’ll end up.
Well, that’s it for now. Merry Christmas!
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What were some of your favorite things from last month?