Books I Read in Q1
Reading has been one of my favorite hobbies for many years. As can sometimes happen with hobbies, I feel off of it for a bit post-college, but over the last couple years I’ve been re-incorporating it into my daily routine (it’s been a great replacement for doom scrolling).
I’ve been setting different reading goals for the last 3 years for myself based off of what I think I can accomplish. This year, my goal for books is 40 - my highest goal yet and double my goal from last year - and so far I’ve been doing a great job keeping pace! Eventually I’d love to work my goal up to one book a week for the year.
In addition to a higher goal, I included a few additional challenges in for this year. First is reading books I already own because some of them I’ve had since high school and never (!!) read! I started doing this towards the end of last year made a whole list of everything that needs to be read for this year and moving forward. My second challenge is to read one non-fiction or classical novel every month. I’m a HUUUGE fan of fantasy and fiction in general, but girlie is trying to get back some of those reading comprehension skills and I feel like classic lit and nonfiction is perfect for that.
Last but not least to help me stay on track and incorporate a social aspect, two of my friends and I started a little book club! We added a bunch of books that we want to read as well as some of our all-time favorites into a Google Doc and use a random wheel picker to choose our book every month. We do a video call at some point during the month (usually whenever works for our schedules, plus one of us is in a different time zone) and it’s great to catch up and talk about our books!
Alright whew - now that my lil intro is done, here are all the books I read in Q1 (January-March). **Some reviews may contain spoilers but I did my best not to include too much!
January
The Awakening: 3 Stars - I’ve had this series since high school and decided it was finally time to finish! The second book in the Darkest Powers series, this one definitely felt like a filler novel in a series (not necessarily a bad thing) but it was good filler. I still found it entertaining!
The Reckoning: 2.5 stars - I was a bit disappointed with how this series wrapped up. I don’t mind having an ending that sets up for another series (which is the case here), but I felt like there were a lot of unanswered questions about the group and their powers.
People We Meet on Vacation: 4 stars - Great little romance/feel good story. I wanted to read this one again before I watched the movie on Netflix (which at the time of this blog publishing I still have not seen it - oops). I will say, the more I see people chat about this online, the more I gain understanding and feel bad for Sarah (curious to hear others thoughts on this!).
Wuthering Heights: 4.5 stars - My classic novel of the month! I haven’t read this since high school. TBH, my favorite thing in this novel is the level of Heathcliff’s pettiness. Talk about the long game - this man was prepared to wait for his moments. I also wanted to read this again before seeing the movie (which guess what, I ALSO haven’t seen as of the date of this publishing).
February
A Wrinkle in Time: 3 stars - Another book that I read back in high school and really wanted to read again. Prefacing that I understand this book was written for a younger audience, however I wish there was a little bit better world building, or a map instead of a family tree. I also was trying to figure out how they were going to resolve everything in the last like 10-15 pages (which they did), but again, it’s written for a younger audience so they care probs less about pace.
The Lost Girls of Paris: 3 stars - Book Club book of the month! I was also a little frustrated with the ending of this book because I just want resolution (!!) but I understand why the author left it open the way they did. Also, one of the main lady characters just really bothered me with the way she went about doing things. But I did really enjoy the historical aspect of this book!
We the Living: 2 stars - Classic novel of the month. I’m not sure why at one point I bought four of Ayn Rand’s books, I think I just didn’t comprehend her writing the way I do now. This book is partially based on her lived experiences in the USSR. I had a really hard time with the main relationship: zero build up, they just fall in love immediately?? and is wildly toxic (she literally calls him her slave-owner at one point and I GASPED). In my opinion, her themes so pro-self in a negative self-above-all-else way and so anti-collective that I had a hard time making my way through this novel. I finished this mostly out of curiosity to hear a perspective about the world different to mine.
march
The Ghatti’s Tale - Finders Seekers: 3 stars - I thrifted this series strictly because the covers looked interesting and I LOVE cats. So a fantasy world where a cat breed bonds with humans and they speak telepathically? Count me in! Two things to make sure you enjoy if you want to read this series: 1) really dense world building - they go a lot of places and do a lot of things; 2) lots of characters - I could have used a list of everyone because some get mentioned like twice and there’s a lot of background characters. Despite feeling like this book got super wordy at times, I thought it was a fun and unique story and I’m definitely looking forward to the rest of the series!
1984: 3.5 stars - Classic novel of the month. I wanted to give this more stars, but I just could not stand the main character and everything that went on in his brain. Also again, did not understand the build up with the romantic relationship here, and they had a weird age difference. However, this story is very relevant to the world we live in now and I would say it’s worth reading if you never have!
Dance of Thieves: 5 stars - Book Club book of the month. I’m really surprised I haven’t read this before!! Probably one of my favorite fantasy stories I’ve read in a while. I loveeeddd the enemies-to-lovers relationship and all the little twists in the story. Will definitely read this one again.
I hope you enjoyed my reviews (they were very hard to keep short) and I can’t wait to tell you all about my Q2 books! I love talking about them and I’m always open to recommendations. Let me know your favorite book you’ve read this year or your favorite of all time!
See ya soon!