Tag: literature

Summer Reading List 2023

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Hey y’all!!!! For those of you still in school, you’ve got this!!! And for those of you who, like me, are done, congrats!!! But now what to do with our time?!?!

READ!!!!!!!

I’m very excited to tackle some of the books I’ve been meaning to read, but need a few brain cells to get through!!! So, in no particular order, except this is mostly the order of how I’d read these:

  1. Shadowhunters extras

One of the series I’ve been in the middle of is The Dark Artifices series, which is a spin-off of The Mortal Instruments Series. I am currently on the second of the Dark Artifices, and have one more before I can read The Infernal Devices series, and the Magnus Bane Chronicles, and all the other spin-off series. So there’s at least 9 books right there to get to, as I know there is also Tales from the Shadowhunter Academy and The Last Hours Series’. It’s a great world so I’m excited!

2. The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes

I’ve been meaning to read this since it came out, but still haven’t gotten around to it. Mostly because it seems rather dark, and I have to be in the right mindset for that!

3. These Violent Delights

I’ve started These Violent Delights, but given that it’s a version of Romeo and Juliet, I’ve found it a bit hard to get into. However, I am determines to give it a good go, though it too seems a bit dark, but not as much in the “death-games-of-children” way that the Hunger Games world sometimes evokes!

4. To Be a Machine

This was actually a reading assigned to my Happiness and Utopia Philosophy class, and I unfortunately didn’t finish it when it was assigned!!! I still have a few chapters left, and I find the Transhumanist movement fascinating, so I will 1000% be finishing this when I want something a touch more academic. It’s not a hard read at all, however it is about reality, so I’ll need to be in that mood.

5. A Sky Beyond the Storm

This I believe is the last in the series, however I am struggling to get into this one. The main characters are far apart from each other, and while I have a hope for reconciliation, it doesn’t exactly seem like it’s going to work out! This was a great series, very Hunger-Games-esque, especially in the first books, but that means another darker tone for me going back into this one.

6. Normal People

This has been so recommended, but as it is more of a realistic fiction I’ve been hesitant to read it. Especially because I think it’ll make me cry in a sad way.

7. The Light We Carry by Michelle Obama

I started this a few weeks ago, but it was due at the library before I’d gotten to finish it, because schoolwork!! I’m excited to finish it, as I learned one thing already (on the topic of managing anxiety)! I loved Becoming, and so far this hasn’t been quite as good, but it’s more timely with Covid stuff!

8. Mastery by Robert Greene

This was recommended to me by a friend, and he said it was very motivational in a ‘be your best self’ way!!!! As I am always looking to be my best self, I’m hoping this is equivalent to Atomic Habits!!! Clearly, I have high hopes for it!

9. A Deadly Education

A dark academia fantasy book I’m excited about!

10. Find Me

The sequel to Call Me By Your Name, so I am so excited!!!! I’ve heard mixed reviews, but I can’t picture myself being unhappy with any ending, so I’m so so excited!!!!

11. Call Me By Your Name

Obviously I will reread Call Me By Your Name before I read Find Me, to get in the heads of the characters and get into André Aciman’s writing style!! So excited to reread this in the summer heat, especially because I will have apricot juice whilst I read it!!!!

12. Sapiens

Okay, I know I know, I still have to finish this one!!!! The beginning is so good and I read it more than a year ago, but once it got to the part about the institution of money, I got bored because I knew that stuff already. I’m sure there are more interesting nuggets left, but it’s gonna take some willpower to muscle through the boring parts!!!

And that concludes my Summer Reading List for now!!!!! I think this would take me through June, and I may do a part two if I’m feeling it!!! Happy reading to you!!!

MY SEPTEMBER 2020 READING LIST

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It’s about that time when school starts up again, and summer reading is forgotten. At least for me, it’s a lot harder to find time to read during the school year, but good news: all my books that I wanted to read this summer just arrived! By this I mean either on a library app, or in hard-copy, so while I could put off reading the hard copy books, I only have a certain amount of time to get through the library books before they are unceremoniously returned. However, I thought I’d share what I am going to be reading these next few weeks, as I am really excited about these books!

There are three books on my reading list, and the first on is called In Praise of Difficult Women. I actually heard about this book on JEOPARDY!, as it was an answer, but it sounded like a really inspirational read! I don’t know if any of you ever read the Heroes of Olympus series by Rick Riordan, but in one of the books a throne is mentioned which is made out of a (possibly fictional) book called 5 Habits of Highly Aggressive Women. Or something like that. Anyway, this book title gave me similar vibes, just in a less violent fashion, so I decided to look it up. In short, the book profiles 29 ‘difficult women’, ranging from Hillary Rodham Clinton to Amelia Earhart to Lena Dunham. The women described have all made waves in history, and the book chronicles what character traits have allowed them to make such an impact. I thought that I could probably learn something from these women, so after shaking down my family members for their library cards (my local library does not have an ebook version), I finally managed to loan the book. I have made it through two difficult women so far, and if the book continues being as insightful as it has been, I might have to purchase a copy for my future coffee table!

The next book that I plan on reading I have mentioned previously, which is called SuperLife, by Darin Olien. Mr. Olien is self-described as a ‘superfood hunter’, and after watching him on the TV show Down to Earth (read the article on that here) I decided to read the book. Unfortunately for me, the book was on a 14 week waiting list on my library app, so after reading the sample, I decided it would be a good purchase. You see, I’m not a big fan of buying books due to the fact that you can borrow them at the library for free. I also prefer to buy ebooks over hard copy books due to the environmental toll books have, but if I plan on rereading a book, I can justify purchasing it. I unfortunately didn’t consider buying it as an ebook because I had already found it on Amazon, but this is also a good book to lend to someone, which I find much easier with a paperback than an ebook, so I’m not too upset about my oversight.( Hmmm Sidebar: Someone should make loaning ebooks between friends easier! Chew on that Google, Amazon, and Barnes and Noble.) Moving on, I did buy the hard-copy, and it arrived today! I will have to wait until I finish In Praise of Difficult Women first, because I only have it for 14 days – even though you usually get 21 days for an ebook – but I as soon as I am done I will start SuperLife. For me, the sample was a huge pull, because until reading it, I didn’t really understand the negatives of GMO foods, but now I understand, maybe even support the argument! As such, I am excited to learn more about health and the science behind it! One last note is that this book reminds me of The Sports Gene, which I read before sophomore year of high school, for AP Bio. If anyone else is a fan of biology novels, I would highly recommend that too!

The last book on my reading list for the end of August/September is called The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck. This was actually recommended to my by my friend Hannah, who told me that it gave an interesting perspective on life. As someone who enjoys contemplating life – if only I could be an ancient Greek philosopher – I thought this could provide some good brain fodder! The premise of this book is that one should reject the idea that looking on the bright side is the best way to live. Instead, the author Mark Manson offers the idea that we should instead accept that some things suck, and that we should instead care about the things that are worth caring about. Instead of avoiding painful truths, we should accept them, in order to live a better life. I’m very interested in reading this book because it preaches something not my outlook on life. I am very much a positive outlook person, so it’ll be interesting to see what I take away from this book. Even if I don’t end up agreeing, it is always good to challenge your perceptions, so I think this book will certainly do that for me!

Disclaimer: I do not own any of the aforementioned books, series, or TV shows.