ReGina's Bringing It Up to 30

[ReGina]

So, I only got 25 books in for 2015, but I hope to meet this goal and exceed it this year. Will greatly depend on how the summer goes....

[Megan]

Good luck with your challenge!

[ReGina]

Megan wrote: "Good luck with your challenge!"

Thanks Megan!!

[ReGina]

So, for January, I read , , and .

I had really planned to finish A Good Indian Wife in 2015 for another reading challenge, but school this year has been brutal so I haven't had a much time to read as I would have liked. However, I did really enjoy this book. The ending was a little cheap and easy, but it was still relatively forgivable with the rest of the book. Not the greatest book in the world, but a good time nonetheless.

I read The Martian for our January book read in this group. I usually don't read a book and see the movie (though I have violated that rule a lot in the last few years). This one didn't let me down. I saw the movie first with someone who had read the book, so I was prepared for more science to be in the book. I didn't expect to relate to it as easily as I did because I am not a science person at all. Both the book and the movie are worth checking out. I had an issue with a "voice change" in the book once he starts working on the rover, but others didn't have it and it's relatively minor. I'd give it 4 1/2 stars.

Last, but not least, is Dorothy Must Die. The premise is the most intriguing part of the book. Amy, another girl from Kansas, gets swept up by a tornado (seriously, why isn't it Oklahoma? OK has more tornadoes than any other state....) and lands in Oz. However, she then learns that Dorothy has returned and is quite the evil queen now. Not only that, the Lion, the Tin Woodsman, and the Scarecrow are also a part of her evil entourage in some very disturbing ways. Wicked may be good, good may be wicked, and you can trust no one. I love turning this story on its head and then changing all the rules. Be warned - it is part of a series (I hate that new trend!!), so you might not want to get too hooked.

If I can keep this trend up, I should be able to surpass my reading goal for the year!

[ReGina]

So, for February, I read , , and .

I'm not a big fan of graphic novels (though I am of comic books - it's a long story). However, I thoroughly enjoyed Ms. Marvel. I liked having a Muslim female protagonist who is a teenager struggling to bridge her culture, her desires, and the expectations of teen peers. This is a great book especially for teens - lots of social commentary while still very traditional super hero story.

The Light Between Oceans - wow. This is storytelling at its best. It's engaging but not over the top; it's tension-filled with very little action. You can't see what's coming next and that's just so delightful. And even though you know it has to be a big, steaming, heaping ball of mess rolling at breakneck speed, you still don't know exactly how it's all going to go down. I hate spoilers, so I won't say more, but this is definitely one to check out. Hope the movie will be good too.

Last, but not least, I read We Should All Be Feminists as a part of my Leap Day Challenge. I love Adichie as a writer; her words are so prolific and melodious. However, the concept here is the attention-grabber. While we have come a long way in terms of gender constructs in the world, we still each have the active responsibility of calling gender biases on their face and refusing to accept them as a part of a normed society. Love. It.

So, I'm ahead of my goal and I've got a break coming up this month! I might actually get to exceed my goal this year - fingers crossed!!

[ReGina]

It's been a minute since I've updated this, so let's catch up!

For March, I read , , and .

For April, I read .

For May, I read and .

I didn't finish a book in June, but I made up for it in July where I read , , , , , , , and .

This list is too long to review, and I've already reviewed all of these books individually. However, a couple of things I wanted to mention:

Leaving the Comfort Zone Behind - I read two books in particular that were not my kind of books - The Girl With All the Gifts and Cinder. I'm glad I pushed myself (and it pays to have people who know you who can make recommendations that will still work). Both books had engaging stories and were totally not what I was expecting. I'm really glad I read both of these.

Non-Fiction Is Okay Sometimes - #GIRLBOSS and The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up were also good reads. I got more from The Life-Changing Magic (my closets and drawers are immaculate and I was surprised by how much stuff I owned that I really didn't like, much less love), but both were good in pushing my thinking.

YA Trilogies - I need someone to stop the madness. Every YA story does not have to be part of a trilogy, especially if there is not enough story to carry you through three books. The Selection series is one of them (and technically, there are five of those - the last two though are like another series). This definitely could have been told better as two books, and truthfully, it could have been done in one.

So, I'm still ahead of my goal thanks to a whirlwind reading spree in July. Hopefully, I can keep it up! I'm also reaching out into some new genres this month, so I'm hoping that will go well as well.

[Kadijah Michelle]

Great job ReGina. Keep it up!

[ReGina]

Thanks Kadijah!