March 2018 Book Wrap Up

Hi friends!

I was a book fiend this month.  I ended up finishing six books; more than January & February combined! I will say that February ended up being a slow month book wise, but it's still crazy to think I read over a book a week.

Usually I do a whole Month in Review, but I had so many books this month that I wanted to share as its own post.  This may be something I continue in the future, as I'm doing so much reading it might be worth it.

The Picture of Dorian Grey is about a young man who accidentally sells his soul to stay looking youthful his whole life.  It details the span of his life from that point on.

I had a roller coaster of emotions throughout the story, but it ended with me being happy to be done.  Some of it was really interesting, but there was a lot of time spent on conversations, and lists.  There were sentences that went on for pages at a time with lists.  However, when there was action I felt much more inclined to read; it was an interesting and thoughtful story that would be fun to analyze.

I gave this 3.5/5 stars.

Alright, so let me tell you all a story. I had this book from my Prime Reading, and finally decided to read it because it was so hyped; everyone was constantly talking about it.  It started off very strange and by the end I was enthralled.  It's a collection of poems about the author's experiences with childhood and her parents, friends, and relationships. It is split into four parts: hurting, loving, breaking, & healing. 

I understand that is it probably overhyped, but I loved these poems.  Especially in the third and fourth sections, I was highlighting every other page.  I plan to purchase a copy so I can have it on my bookshelf and mark in it because I enjoyed it so much.

I gave this 5/5 stars.

The next book I read from Prime was Diary of a Wimpy Kid.  This is a story about a boy in middle school who is given a journal to write about his life in.  You read about all sorts of experiences he has in school, with his family, and his friend.

I thought I would enjoy it, but it turns out the main character is just kind of a jerk.  It was frustrating to me to read some of the ways that he acts, but maybe I'm just too old to understand the appeal. I just know that if my child acted like that I would not be happy.

I gave this 3/5 stars.

I finished The Phoenix Project this month!  I knew it was just a matter of time before I did, partially because it was an assignment and partially because I was just enjoying reading it in general.  It's a novel about a man who is promoted to VP of IT and must navigate both the political atmosphere and managing his subordinates.  They must work to get the Phoenix Project underway, which was meant to help the company become a success once again.

It definitely reads like a book that's meant to teach, but if you're in management this might be a great option to read without feeling like you're reading a textbook. I thought it was so easy to read and didn't feel like a knowledge dump.

I gave it 4/5 stars.

Habit Stacking: 97 Small Life Changes That Take 5 Minutes or Less is exactly as it sounds.  It's a book with a list of various habits that are easy to do but can make a big improvement to your life.

I wasn't very impressed with this book.  It read like a really long blog post, which wasn't ideal.  The habits given were so basic, I couldn't believe it.  They were things that most people should just do, without any sort of prompting.  Some of the ideas were strange to even consider a habit.  Like making a to-do list; don't people just do that?  I wasn't happy with what this book had to offer.

I gave this 3/5 stars.

I also decided to read Attack on Titan, which is a manga. Attack on Titan is a dystopian manga about humanity living within three protective walls.  This is because creatures, called Titans, exist seemingly only to eat humans.  In this volume, we see Erin (the main character) go through training to prepare himself for attacking the titans.  We see his backstory, as well as the first attack on the walls.

I actually watched the anime first, and saw that Amazon Prime offered this as something to read for free.  I decided to pick it up, and I wasn't necessarily disappointed, but I wasn't impressed either.  If I hadn't watched the anime first, I might have been more likely to enjoy it.  Still, it was a great story, and very dark.  Not for the faint of heart!

I gave this 4/5 stars.

One of the books I am currently reading is Fairest of All: A Tale of the Evil Queen. It's the first in a series highlighting certain villains' backstories and how they became the way that they are.  This story begins with the Queen (which is what she is referred to) getting married to the King and living with him and Snow.  I'll give a full review of this in my April book wrap up!

Another book that I'm in the early stages of reading is Valley of the Kings. I love everything to do with ancient Egypt, so I was excited to jump in and read this.

I can't tell how I feel about it right now!  I'm not sure why, but I didn't expect to read this and have it be so adult.  In the first 15% of this novel, I have read about sex, war, murder, and child abuse. There's probably more, but those are the biggest ones that have stood out to me.

I still feel drawn into this book as a topic, but the content is throwing me off. I might end up taking a little while to read this, depending on when I'm in the mood for it.










Well, that's my March book wrap up! I'm really excited and proud of the books that I finished, and I can't wait to share with everyone the books I've read in April; I've already got a few to tell ya'll about and it's only the first week!