I managed to read 4 out of the 5 books I set for myself in TBR Takedown – a feat I’ll pat myself on the back for because I have never managed to stick to a TBR so closely before. Here are some of my thoughts on the books I read, and I will be doing more full-length reviews for them later on!
I also have a poll at the end of this post, please help me fill it out, it will literally take you 2 seconds and will let you pick what I’ll be reading next month!
The Dream Thieves by Maggie Stiefvater: 5 Stars I absolutely loved this, and all I can wonder is how on earth did it take me so long to read this book? I forgot how beautiful Maggie Stiefvater’s writing is. It’s descriptive, vivid, and she has such a masterful command on human emotions and characterisation. Ronan just jumped up to being one of my faves, his development was phenomenal in this book. Also, all the ships! I absolutely can’t wait to get started on Blue Lily, Lily Blue.
Gossip From The Forest by Sara Maitland: 3 Stars I wanted to love this one so much, but it turned out to be an average read. As mentioned in the previous post, this is a non-fiction linking forests to the magic of fairy tales and how our environment transform our imagination. While I liked Sara Maitland’s writing style and the way retold several fairy tales in this book – I found that the book as a whole lacked research.
The Book of Phoenix by Nnedi Okorafor: 4 Stars This was another winner for me, such a unique science fiction with great, diverse characters. It’s action-packed and intriguing, centred on the escape of a genetically engineered woman from Tower 7. It mixes African lores with hard science fiction – but more than that, it’s a commentary on colonisation and cultures reclaiming their identity and stories. I definitely need to check out the rest of this series.
My Year of Meats by Ruth Ozeki: 4 Stars While I did not love this as much as A Tale For The Time Being (a tough call, in any case, as Time Being is my favourite book of this year), I still found this very interesting and well-written. It features a biracial documentarian and her expose on the US meat industry. Along with unravelling from ugly truths about the cattle industry, it also makes a comment on cultural identity and traditional gender roles. If you’re after a thought provoking read, I would recommend it – be warned that it does get quite violent and gory in parts, though.
Lastly, I was meant to read Pinball by Haruki Murakami, which did not happen because I got side-tracked and read Smoke by Dan Vyleta (2.5 Stars) instead (somewhat of a mistake, as Smoke was quite disappointing). However, I did somewhat redeem myself by also reading The Strange Library by Haruki Murakami (3.5 Stars), which was a short, breezy read – filled with weird and wonderful plot as expected from Murakami. The hard copy edition is also gorgeously printed with several art plates within, highly recommended!
I think it worked out well for me, so I will be doing more of these readathons in the future. I am tackling the Make Me Read It Read-a-Thon next. You can check it out here if you’re interested. Could you please help me by voting for what I should read below? I have included a lot of popular YA titles I’ve yet to read/need reread before I continue on with the rest of the series. I will choose the top 3 options!
Read at Midnight 
That is quite the list. I want to pick 5 of them. 😛
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I agree so much about The Book of Phoenix. Now that I’ve read Who Fears Death, I don’t know which one I like more >.<. This is an excellent idea, I might do my own TBR takedown.
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Can I tell you how much I ADORE your designs!! They are so pretty and lovely. Great reads. I am not sure about Nnedi. Sci fic is not my thing. However I am reading The Long way to a small and angry planet and it sounds fun! I will read A tale of time being first and then see if I like Ozeki. Will you be doing a longer review of the Meats book?
Also I hope you pick up Lanini Taylor. I voted for that
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I think you should definitely read the Percy Jackson series, as soon as you can, because I `ve just finished the series and I love it sooo much! 🙂 Although, there are some great books on that list!
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I couldn’t vote on the poll for some reason, but my choice is Miss Peregrine’s Home For Peculiar Children by Ransom Riggs. If you were to read Percy Jackson, before you read Sea of Monsters you should read The Argonautica by Apollonius of Rhodes. You could also read it in place of Sea of Monsters, since Sea of Monsters is an extremely overly fictionalized account of The Argonautica.
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You are the design queen. *bows down*
I picked the Winner’s Curse because that trilogy has my heart, my mind, my soul- literally every piece of me.
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Congrats on sticking so close to your TBR! The Miss Peregrine’s movie is coming out sort of soonish, so if there was ever a time to read that series, this would be a good time 🙂
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I basically love ALL the books you put on your poll, but I just had to go with Daughter of Smoke and Bone 🙂 Also I know I already mentioned this, but I need to read My Year of Meats, because I loved her other book.
Thank you so much for joining Aenteeeee 🙂
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Fantastic list of books to choose from there, but I had to go with Daughter of Smoke and Bone as well. Really loved that book! I am so curious at the results!
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I liked The Dream Thieves too. Voted for Daughter of Smoke and Bone because it is amazing. Still my favourite book 2 years on 🙂
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I loved the Lunar Chronicles! Its honestly one of my favorite series of all time so I voted for Cinder lol But the other books on your list seem really great too. I really want to pick up the Winner’s Curse to see what the hype is all about! 🙂
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I love discovering new books from your blog and diverse range of books that you read Aentee! It sounds like you’re doing really well with your tbr too, great work! I voted for my favourite Cinder of course.
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I nominated you for the Real Neat and Fangirling Book Awards: http://wp.me/p2wWq7-hr
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OMG I’M SO GLAD AND RELIEVED YOU LOOOOVED THE DREAM THIEVES. ❤ That book is my everything. RONAN IS MY EVERYTHING. I adore him so so much afdjaskldf and his character development is basically phenomenal. Like omg how is Maggie Stiefvater THAT good at words?! #goals And SHRIEKS BECAUSE THE GRAPHICS IN THIS POST ARE THE PRETTIEST.
And I voted for The Winner's Curse…but I also adore The Impostor Queen and Percy Jackson. So…read them all?! I KNOW I KNOW I'M SO HELPFUL.😂😂
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Huh. This is the second time tonight my comment on a blog has not shown up. Let’s try this again…
This sounds like a great stack of books! I might have to check out The Book of Phoenix and My Year of Meats.
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They aren’t showing up because most WordPress accounts have to approve the comment before it shows up on our page to prevent spam 🙂
Thank you! I hope you enjoy the books.
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I really need to just get to the Maggie Stiefvater series. I liked her debut series a lot, so no doubt this will work for me too. Her writing sounds lovely and obviously, I’m here for the ships. 😛
And ahhhh the voting was so hard. I love multiple books from that list, but I went with TWC.
I hope it wins and you like it!
Happy reading and good luck! 🙂
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Cinder is amazing!! Enjoy your reads!
I’d love if you would vote on my list! 🙂 – http://www.smilingshelves.com/home/make-me-read-it-readathon-vote-please
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So many good choices! I stick by Cinder, my absolute fave! Here is mine: https://thebookmonsters.com/make-me-read-readathon/
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