Monthly Wrap-Up: April 2017

It’s been rainy in the desert for the last couple of days, which I hope means more flowers for Spring. This month has been eventful and overall busy, but it’s been good.

Book Reviews

• The Magdalen Girls by V.S. Alexander: 5/5 Stars
• Wandering Son, Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako: 4/5 Stars
• Sister Carrie by Theodore Dreiser: 5/5 Stars
• Ash by Malinda Lo: 3/5 Stars
• Snow White and Rose Red by Patricia C. Wrede: 4/5 Stars

Currently Reading

I’m reading Outlander, by Diana Gabaldon, and Rites of Passage, by Joy N. Hensley.

For some fun, I will share a few quotes from Outlander that I liked.

Page 73:

He has cat blood, I reflected sourly, no doubt that was how he managed to sneak up on me in the darkness.

Page 138:

It was only as I walked away that it occurred to me. For a young man on the run, with unknown enemies, Jamie had been remarkably confiding to a stranger.

I love it when books answer questions about situations like this.

Memes

I’m still not posting BTT every week, but I participated in more this month than I did last month. I think I will keep doing the Six Degrees of Separation meme because it was fun.

• Six Degrees of Separation from Room to Alex & Emma
• Book Traveling Thursdays: Spring & Tome Topple TBR
• Book Traveling Thursdays: Book That Originally Had a Blue Cover

Discussion Posts

I’ve only written one discussion post this month: Review Archive by Series: Organizing It. This brings me up to seven of twelve discussion posts for the Book Blog Discussion Challenge.

Reading Challenges

Tome Topple Readathon

I had wanted to read one tome (a book with a minimum of 500 pages) for this readathon. I planned on it being Beautiful Creatures, but then I started Outlander. The latter is taking me a surprisingly long time to read, and it’s frustrating. I failed to read a full tome for the readathon. I didn’t even read a total of 500 pages, but it was fun.

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 29/60

I’m more than halfway through the challenge, and it’s not even June!

Pages Read Challenge: 7,295/17,000

Back to the Classics Challenge: 3/6

The number did not change on this one, but I finally published a review for one of the books.

Banned/Challenged Books Reading Challenge: 5/13

The number also did not change.

Graphic Novel Reading Challenge: 4/12

Wandering Son, Vol. 1 by Shimura Takako is my fourth book for the challenge. The review for the fifth graphic novel, One Thousand and One Nights, Vol. 1 by Jeon Jin-Seok and Han Seung-Hee, will be posted in next month. I’ve also read Michael Cho’s Shoplifter, but I’m still working on the review for it.

Library Love Challenge: 9/12

Jeff Garvin’s Symptoms of Being Human and Michael Cho’s Shoplifter are the library books I read this month.

 

Picture Book Reading Challenge: 5/20

23. a book by Jon Scieszka – The True Story of the Three Little Pigs by Jon Scieszka, illustrated by Lane Smith

The Big Bad Wolf tells his side of the story. He was framed and painted as an evil guy, so he says, for what happened with the Three Little Pigs.

What’s funny about this one is that we used it in my legal writing class for moot court. We sided with the pigs. Here was our client:

Here was my announcement of the verdict that I posted on Instagram:

In class today:
Mr. Pig received justice today in Moot Court. Though he wishes that the wolf paid with his life for the murders of his brothers, he will accept that Mr. Wolf’s sentence of 3.5 years in prison for manslaughter. I’m happy to have represented him with two colleagues. Thank you, opposing counsel for the #puns.
#WhenPigsFly
#college #mootcourt #threelittlepigs #picturebook #jonscieszka #mocktrial #bookstagram #fairytaleretelling

Interesting Finds of the Month

Ceilidhann’s article “‘We Made It for the Fans, Not the Critics’: The False Dichotomy of Criticism” dives into the issue of what people mean by “real fan” and how fandoms around art need critics. I think about the content of this article with my feelings about the newer books and movies of the Harry Potter universe.

On the subject of criticism, Carrie Artrip @ The Butterfly Reader posed an interesting question earlier this month: How much do reviews affect what you read? It gave me pause to think about my own review-reading habits and to think about the fact that I spend a lot of my time on this blog writing reviews. I read reviews, and they help me decide to read the book or be on alert for seeing this problem. Now, I will pose the question to you: How much do reviews affect what you read?

Authors Ellen Hopkins, Kelly Jensen, and Aprilynne Pike defined YA as a genre and discussed trends in YA literature on a panel at the 2017 Tucson Festival of Books.

If you are looking for some Irish literature, Cathy @ 746 Books compiled a list of Irish YA books.

One of my classmates in a Creative Writing—Fiction told us about a Tumblr blog, Writing with Color, that discusses how to write diverse characters respectfully. From what I have read so far, it is a useful resource.

Other Stuff

One: I’m surprised at how many times my review of Thirteen Reasons Why, the novel, has been viewed since the series was released on Netflix. I loved the book. I hope the review is encouraging you to read it or giving you pretty maps to look at. If you have watched the new series, what do you think of it?

Two: This one is personal. I have been elected vice president of my school’s chapter of Sigma Tau Delta, the English honor society. I’ve also become a co-president of my school’s Econ Club. I’m excited for the upcoming school year, as I study for my finals.

Three: I’m still doing well at posting at least once a week on Bookstagram, and I’ve been tweeting a lot more recently. You can now see my Tweets in the sidebar.

Finally: Thank you to everyone who follows, reads, likes and comments on my posts. You have helped this be a great month.

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