Progress Report

List updated 2/12/19

For those of you following my challenge!

(Mostly for me to keep track of where I'm at though XD)

I'm enjoying the challenge of reading books I wouldn't normally read! But also starting to feel a little overwhelmed by all the books I need to read haha. I've been getting some incredible ARCs lately and I want to read them all! But I've stalled a little on Circe - I thought this one would take a day or two tops but it's kind of bland so it's been drawn out over a week so far and I'm only halfway.

I think I need to introduce a DNF rule - minimum 50% read before I'm allowed to abandon. But I do really want to give all of these a fair chance!

Highlights so far: Final Empire and Nevernight. I guess fantasy really is my jam.



AA = Australian Author
Titles not in bold are yet to be purchased

1. The Book Thief - Markus Zusak (AA)
2. The Happiest Refugee - Anh Do (AA) (12)
3. Jasper Jones - Craig Silvey (AA) (5)
4. Outlander - Diana Gabaldon
5. Jane Eyre - Charlotte Bronte (20)
6. The Light Between Oceans - M. L. Stedman (AA) (17)
7. The Narrow Road to the Deep North - Richard Flanagan (AA)
8. The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy - Douglas Adams (13)
9. Assassin's Apprentice (The Farseer Trilogy) - Robin Hobb (14)
10. The Goldfinch - Donna Tartt 
11. The Husband's Secret - Liane Moriarty (AA)
12. The Martian - Andy Weir 
13. My Brilliant Friend (The Neapolitan Series) - Elena Ferrante (11)
14. The Guernsey Literary & Potato Peel Pie Society - Mary Ann Shaffer & Annie Barrows (3)
15. Ready Player One - Ernest Cline (25)
16. Shantaram - Gregory David Roberts
17. All the Bright Places - Jennifer Niven (22)
18. Big Little Lies - Liane Moriarty (AA) (10)
19. Reckoning - Magda Szubanski (AA)
20. A Little Life - Hanya Yanagihara (21)
21. The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck - Mark Manson (24)
22. The Historian - Elizabeth Kostova (27)
23. The Final Empire (The Mistborn Series) - Brandon Sanderson (6)
24. Wool - Hugh Howey
25. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine - Gail Honeyman (2)
26. Boy Swallows Universe - Trent Dalton (AA) (16)
27. Nevernight (The Nevernight Chronicles) - Jay Kristoff (AA) (1)
28. Simon VS the Homo Sapiens Agenda - Becky Albertalli (4)
29. Fight Like a Girl - Clementine Ford (AA) (19)
30. Circe - Madeline Miller (7)
31. Mythos - Stephen Fry (23)
32. The Lost Flowers of Alice Hart - Holly Ringland (AA)
33. Becoming - Michelle Obama (15)
34. A Discovery of Witches - Deborah Harkness
35. Crazy Rich Asians - Kevin Kwan (26)
36. Scrublands - Chris Hammer (AA) (9)
37. Normal People - Sally Rooney (18)
38. Nine Perfect Strangers - Liane Moriarty (AA) (8)

Challenge Review: The Final Empire

My #dymocks52challenge book 6/38, for week 20.

Title: The Final Empire

Series: Mistborn #1

Author: Brandon Sanderson

Published: 17/7/06

First appearance in 101: 2017 (#75)

Years in 101: 1

2019 101 ranking: -

Rating: 5 stars

Why I chose this book:
Okay, this was a bit of a sneaky add from me. This book has been sitting unloved on my shelf since 2015, so when I saw it on the 101 list for 2017, adding it to my challenge seemed like a good way to force myself to read it. 

Thoughts:
I'm actually mad at myself for taking so long to read this! It was so amazing! It's got everything an epic fantasy story should have, and you can bet I raced out to grab the sequel straight away.

You can read my full review on Goodreads here.

Verdict: Was it worthy?
ABSOLUTELY. I'm actually really disappointed with the voting population that this only made it onto ONE 101 list. It's an epic story, well-written with fantastic world-building, an interesting magic system and great, lovable characters. It's bound to endure as one of the better fantasies of the genre. More people need to vote for this one in future!

Review: How It Feels to Float

How It Feels to Float by Helena Fox
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Yes look okay this hurt my heart and that is all.

I am going away for four days and maybe when I get back I will have sense but right now my words are broken like in this book that had weird formatting
and long sentences
that had
no punctuation
but punctured my heart anyway.

***

Okay so I've had my four days of craziness to process this one and I'm ready to make a bit more sense!

The metal illness rep here is ridiculously powerful. This book could not have been written by someone who has not experienced something like what Biz is going through. It's heartbreaking, but the way it's told makes it a little hard to follow which is pretty accurate because mental illnesses are heavily misunderstood. Even the people experiencing them might not realise what's happening to them, why they feel or think or say or do things. So it's quite clever in the way its been presented, but if you're the kind of person who is picky about punctuation and sentences etc. having their proper format this may bug you slightly.

It is a little quirky but there's this overwhelming sadness to the whole book that kind of makes the quirky concerning more than cute. These are some deep themes, so you need to appreciate that.

I'm not entirely sure what the deal was with Grace at the start, that seemed a bit out of place in this story to me, but I did really like the relationship between her and Jasper, and how it played out. A story this depressing really needs supporting characters to lighten the load a bit and he was that light for me.

I don't know why there are so many depressing books coming out lately and I don't know why I keep reading them! But even though they kinda make me miserable while I'm reading them, they've all been pretty impressive. This one was no different.

I do recommend this but there's a bunch of triggers in here, too, so check the warnings if you've got your own stuff going on.

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Review: The Illustrated Man

The Illustrated Man by Ray Bradbury
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

What an incredible read this was! It's full of futuristic settings yet relevant, modern themes. I'm not normally into the sci-fi stuff but every single one of these stories was utterly captivating. These are the kind of stories that draw you in instantly, hold you tight and keep you thinking about them long after you finish reading.

I had a couple of favourites: I loved the way The Rocket explored the power of the imagination, along with how the family dynamic was portrayed. I enjoyed the cleverness of Usher II, and its rebellion against censored creativity. I appreciated the simplicity of life in The Highway, and the chilling consequence of naive expectations of childhood innocence in Zero Hour. I loved the twists and the cliffhangers, and the more still chapters that invoked quiet contemplation. The compilation was assembled well, with a great balance of fast and slow to keep the brain working and the heart racing. I felt a full range of emotions reading this!

The language is simple enough, and even the futuristic elements are easy to grasp and accept. The themes run deeper than the superficial stories, so if you're not a deep-thinker you may be underwhelmed or even confused by some of the tales. If, however, you're someone who likes to read between the lines and consider the human condition, you'll receive immense value from reading this. Different personalities will relate to different stories - as a writer and lover of the imagination, the stories with similar themes drew me in, however parents may prefer tales like The Veld or The Playground, with their parent-child relationships, and soul-searchers might enjoy mulling over Kaleidoscope, The Man, or The Last Night of the World. There is something in here for everyone; all tied together by the the man inked with these stories. It's a striking concept, and tattoo/visual art aficionados will appreciate the added image of illustrations coming to life as well as - hopefully - its symbolism.

Highly recommend for all lovers of literature. The stories are short and sweet so easy to read, and the themes are varied enough to cater to all tastes. An absolute masterpiece of the written word.

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Challenge Review: Jasper Jones

My #dymocks52challenge book 5/38, for week 19.

Title: Jasper Jones
Author: Craig Silvey (AA)
Published: 31/3/09
First appearance in 101: 2011 (#51)
Years in 101: 9
2019 101 ranking: #28
Rating:  2 stars

Why I chose this book:
Another novel unshakeable from the Top 101. The blurb promised secrets and lies and a 'horrible discovery' which honestly made it sound hard to hate. Plus it seems to be building its reputation as an Aussie classic, so I couldn't avoid it forever.

Thoughts:
Tragically disappointing. Far too long winded for me! It does a lot of talking meaning there's far less room for action. This one is for the thinkers; people who want to mull over how despicable people can be. I'd rather a decent story, thanks.

You can read my full review on Goodreads here.

Verdict: Was it worthy?
Maybe it speaks to my fellow Aussies because it is so true blue. It's coarse and rugged and very classic Australian in the setting, the words, the people. Maybe that's why people think it's so great. It talks about some tough issues but doesn't really settle on a solution or offer interesting views - it just questions. So to me, this was a pretty disappointing read. It's a no from me.

Challenge Review: Simon VS The Homo Sapiens Agenda

My #dymocks52challenge book 4/38, for week 18.

Title: Simon VS The Homo Sapiens Agend
Series: Creekwood #1
Author: Becky Albertalli
Published: 7/4/15
First appearance in 101: 2018 (#38)
Years in 101: 2
2019 101 ranking: #51
Rating: 4 stars

Why I chose this book:

Firstly, it's Young Adult. I have a habit of finishing good YA in a day or two so I wanted this for when I'd spent too much of the week on non-challenge reads (I finished two other books this week, whoops). Read this in a day so it served its purpose. I also chose it because I very rarely encounter books with gay main characters, so I knew this would be something different to what I was used to, and possibly even make me feel uncomfortable in my naivety.

Thoughts:

It was quirky and awkward and hard not to love. Simon is such a typical teenager and you kinda feel for him even though at times you wanna whack him on the back of the head. It was a quick, easy read that provided a little insight into the life of a gay teenager struggling with identity.
You can read my full review on Goodreads here.


Verdict: Was it worthy?

Hmm. I mean, aside from Simon being gay, it's a pretty classic teenage rom com. So I don't know that it is anything particularly ground breaking but I am glad it's so loved. Homophobia is still far too common so I think honest books like this go a long way to encouraging acceptance and helping the ignorant to understand that sexuality isn't a case of right or wrong, it just IS. People are people. That's all there is to it.

Review: King of Scars

King of Scars by Leigh Bardugo
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

Disappointingly average, but a stronger second half.

Thank the saints for Nina and Zoya.

For a little background info, I LOVED Six of Crows and Crooked Kingdom. They were both 5 star reads for me. It led me to the Grisha trilogy, which was sadly not quite as entertaining. I enjoyed the story and some of the characters, but it wasn't on the same level as SoC. I figured it was because that series was written BEFORE.

So I guess with that in mind, and having loved Nikolai from the first, I was expecting this to be a lot more entertaining than it was.

I'M SORRY.

I wanted to like this so much more than I did. But it spends so much of the start talking about boring political problems etc and Nikolai is weary and possessed instead of sassy and mischievous and it's depressingly DULL.

Good:
-Zoya, murderous queen of death and sass
-Nina, goddess of badassery and waffles
-Oh hi helloooooo my furry friend
-Most of Part 2

Bad:
-Too much political yawn fest
-Not nearly enough sass
-Nikolai the flirt has been replaced with Nikolai the Just Ruler
-Nina has boring friends
-Most of part 1
-Was not feeling lil Isaak's feelings

I'm struggling to make my thoughts coherent here and a lot of the stuff I liked is SPOILERS so I'm not gonna mention those. But in general the plot was just unexpectedly UGH. Draining. Nothing new here. It also felt like nothing was really accomplished in the entire 500+ pages so that's kinda frustrating.

It just wasn't the level of fun I was hoping it would be. It was okay, because the characters are still pretty great and the magic is cool, but overall it was pretty disappointing.

I do have high hopes for the next one though.

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