October Wrap up

Hiya,

In October my reading started realy well with a handful of books I almost finished in September.

Total Pages- 2,781

Audio- 4

Physical-3

Ebook-1

Total-8

The first audio book I finished within October was a reread (or is it relisten?) of The Book Thief by Marcus Zusak. I originally borrowed my friend’s physical copy but now request the audiobook from my library. This book is set during the war and focuses on the life of a young girl. The imagary created is amazing and so beautiful. One of the reasons I love this book is that it is written from the perspective of death which is really unusual.

One of my friends and I have decided to read the Matched Trilogy by Ally Condie so we read the first one. It has been a while since I physically read a dystopian. I really enjoyed learning about a new world and different way of functioning. Parts of it felt a little futuristic with the way they are controlled. It was super intreging.

I had the privilage of having an ARC (Advanced Reader Copy) of Love at First Fright by Rori Pierce. Usually. spooky books don’t interest me but thought I would try something new because it also has romance in it. This was read in the space of foty eight hours in a car on my kindle. There was definitely spooky vibes, reading late at night in the dark car was honestly the best atmosphere! There were some really tense moments and I was physically shaking. Such a great reading experience. Another brilliant story.

Next up I finished Love Frankie by Jacqueline Wilson. As a child I read almost all the available books. Now she has around 100 published books. A couple of my favourites are Lola Rose and Lily Alone. There is something about the way she writes and how real each story feels that means at 23 I still love her work. She started my love for reading and I will be forever grateful. So back to Love Frankie, once again everytthing felt so real, each book tackles a real life topic and this was no different. In her early teens the main character Frankie is unsure if she is in love with a girl at school or if she is being used. Some aspecs reminded me of my own time at school.

The fifth book I completed was an An Angel Healed Me by Theresa Cheung. The idea of this book was sweet, a compilation of encounters with those who have passed away. – few stories may stay with me for a short time but I can’t see any lasting impact. This might just be that I’m not the right audience for it. Even as I type, I’m unsure if this was fiction or non fiction as it has people’s stories in it. There are no plans to read any of her other work in the future.

Cinder by Marissa Meyer was the next completed audiobook. Sci-fi isn’t something that I gravitate towards very often so yes, a quick search was done for what is a cyborg? (For those of you who like me, don’t know its part human part machine.) This was one that surprised me. It was great fun and a really cool twist on Cinderella. My favourite character was Iko her assistant. I didn’t realise it was part of a series but my plan is to continue. It was odd that it was around a virus as usually that’s something I avoid.

The seventh book was another audio book this time Jane Doe Cradle of All World by Jeremy Lachlan. I managed to listen to this one alongside my friend who lives on the other side of the world!! It was a really cool middle grade adventure story. It was full of friendship, betrayal, travelling and keys. I fell in love with it super fast. A few times as I took my powered chair to collect my medications I was listening to it on the way. It isn’t something I would have picked up on my own but it was great fun.

The last book I finished was The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd. This one I borrowed from a friend. It was really interesting to see the world when there was a big divide due to a person’s skin colour. I thought it was really cool that it was written from the young white girl’s perspective and how innocent she is to begin with. There was one character I instantly fell in love with and got very upset by her ending.

Take care,

Dolphin xx

September reading

Hi everyone,

The month of September was a full month readathon by one of the handful of booktubers (youtube for books) that I love to watch. Becca plays a spin on the game Monopoly to decide the books. I got a copy of the board. If a double number on the die is thrown an extra book is added. In total I had a stack of twelve books. Overall four of those were completed.

Total Pages-1,315

Audio-2

Physical-2

Ebook-0

Total-4

The first book I finished in September was The No.1 Ladies’ Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. This was borrowed off a friend and I am super glad to have read it. The setting of Botswana was interesting to learn about. On a couple of occasions, I did lose track of what was happening. (Probably should have put it down before midnight). The plot was better than the way it was written in some places due to the repetitiveness at times. If possible, I would continue the series.

The second book of September was Becoming by Michelle Obama. As an audiobook this was over nineteen hours long!! Despite that it was worth it. Throughout I was taking some notes as it was just so interesting. I especially liked that the lives of her children being in there as one is the same age as me.

Educated by Tara Westover caught my eye many years ago so when the audio book became available, I got really excited and reserved it instantly. This was her experience living in a very strict Morman household which is something I know nothing about. Some of what she has been through was difficult to listen to so I had to pause ever now and then. The whole experience was really interesting to me. She was so brave to actually even write it despite some of the painful memories that was have surfaced.

The final book I finished was Wishful Thinking by Ali Sparkes. The beginning of this book was really intriguing to me. But although I do really enjoy adventure stories this one just didn’t click with me which I am sad about. Even as I’m typing this, I can’t place why that is. Maybe it was too young for me, maybe a couple of events felt to close to my current situation and was just bad timing.

I hope your reading is going well. Are you reading spooky books this month? I might read one.

Take care,

Dolphin xx