Read a Book

I'm not likely to finish another book before the end of the year.

I branched out with quite a few of the books I read this year. Mystery, adult fiction, a hint of sci-fi... 

Good Reads offers trends or whatever on the books that I've read. 17 Books; 5,912 pages (if they were physical books... I'd like to know how much time I spent reading. That'd be cool). Shortest book: Come Closer. Longest book: A Game of Thrones. Most popular: Gone Girl. Least Popular: Fridays.

I like graphics:

The one that I found on my very own is that I read a really disproportionate amount of books with the word "girl" in the title. Nearly 30%!

Take a look:

1.  A Game of Thrones by George R.R. Martin

An amazing read. Long and very detailed. The show stays 90% true to the book. Love it! I've started reading the next in the series but I've stopped and stood still. I've gotten to the chapter where Theon is a little fuckwit.

2.  Saint Anything by Sarah Dessen

Sarah is one of my favorite authors. Easy to read with out lacking sophistication in her writing style. This book focuses on a girl whose brother is incarcerated and she has to deal with the changes that occur within her family and her brother's friend. Anyway, I really think she has a great and realistic writing style.

I wish I had been able to attend her book signing when she came to Dallas this summer. But I don't own any physical copies of any of her books so I don't know what good that would've done.

3.  Panic by Lauren Oliver

Another one of my preferred authors. Panic is about a group of teenagers who live in a shit community. It's an I Dare You competition like fear factor or whatever and the winner gets money and can leave town. It's a bit of a page turner and one of the chapters had me thinking about Dazed and Confused.

4.  Six Months Later by Natalie D. Richards

A girl 'wakes up' after six months of living a life she doesn't remember. Mediocre/slacker student turned SAT/Ivy League University prospect tries to figure out what happened during her blackout.

I found this book to be an interesting read. 

5.  All the Bright Places by Jennifer NivenAll the 

This book brought me to a place I don't want to return to. Sadness, despair, hopelessness. I wanted to cry. Not for the characters, not for the book, but for me because I feel like someone gets it. I know that sounds self-centered but I could really see myself walking in either of the characters' shoes (and nearly wrote shoos). The book also had a theme of follow-the-clues and I think I really like that type of read. I'm going to put this as one of my top reads for this year.

6.  Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell

An innernet famous but IRL shut-in goes to college. She writes fanfic and is coming to terms with not being quite so up-the-butt with her twin sister. I stopped reading the fanfic portions of this book. It seemed like a mishmash of Harry Potter and Twilight thrown in a blender under pulverize and hope for the best in an alternate universe and I just lost interest in that aspect of the book. The actual story was ok. Teen angst in the digital world of someone who can't let go of their love of a story. Meh.

7.  Vanishing Girls by Lauren Oliver

I was really confused but intrigued by this book. A pair of sisters. One comparing herself to the other. Another pair of sisters who one has to come to terms with being, again, not quite so up-the-butt. A mental mystery... And throw in a random missing child to find and you've got yourself a ... well... book.

8.  Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Saw the movie first so I kinda knew what to expect. Wife goes missing. Husband gets framed. This will pop up again. I am still not a big fan of reading from two perspectives and jumping around in time. Oh surprise... this will come up again too. I really liked this book so much. Who did what? The end though just kept on going. 

9.  If I Stay (#1) by Gayle Forman

Here's another case of "I saw the movie before reading the book." Girl survives a car wreck (her family does not) and is in a coma. While in said coma, she has to figure out if she wants to wake up. It's basically a story of her life slowly scrolling before her "eyes" - her family, her boyfriend, her love of cello. I was kindof bored by this book.

10.  Come Closer by Sara Gran

A short story of a demon possession. I really don't know how this book came to be on my Kindle. 

It really wasn't all that great. I only kept reading this because I was curious. I couldn't think of why I would choose this book to begin with and I kept trying to figure out why I even had it on my Kindle. I'm so confused.

A woman becomes possessed with her own personal demon. She tries to have it exorcised. Not successful and she is weak. I think we can all guess where it goes from here. 

11.  Anna and the French Kiss (#1) by Stephanie Perkins

Ugh. I know someone who actually pronounces the word... UGH. That's what I think of this annoying book. "Oh, poor me... My family is rich. My family wants me to live in Paris. Alone. As a teenager at an extremely relaxed boarding school made for the American rich snobs and I hate it." I should chunk this on a Fantasy shelf because that'd never happen. Oh, young love. 

Barf.

12.  The Giver (#1) by Lois Lowery

So many accolades! We have a book award! In a distopian (now utopian?) society, pre-teens are given community assigned jobs. Except one. This one is paired with a hermit who when he touches the kid with intent (sounds shady) transmits all of the memories in the world of things to the person (this kid) who will replace him.There is some twisted shit that goes on in this book and it made me pretty depressed. 

It was a book meant for younger readers so I obviously felt there could have been so much more explained and an extended plot but I guess that's what the series is for? I don't know. I liked the book a lot but I also hated it. Wow, Lena, such a great explanation. Shut up.

13.  Autumn Falls (#1) by Bella Thorne

No. No. No. Shame on you! Stop it.

Father dies. Leaves a magical book for daughter that grants wishes when they're written down. This was very stupid. The end.

14.  Fridays by Patricia Lee Gauch

Okay, we saw all of my posts on this one, right? No? Here: Part 1; Part 2 but just a blurb; Part 3 The Review. 

15.  Dark Places by Gillian Flynn

This book is a strange murder mystery. As a girl, our character's family was murdered and her brother (the only other survivor) was charged with the murder. With the help of a, for a lack of a better word, fan, the pair go in search of answers to who killed the family and why. This book had some parts that I chose to skip because it was stomach turning. Not a favorite book but it was interesting though. A good plot twist.

16.  The Girl on the Train by Paula Hawkins

Wife goes missing. Husband is suspect. Wait, didn't I just...? Well, this one is an outside perspective (as Gone Girl is an inside perspective) because a girl on a train witnesses this couple daily and the wife vanishes. I called the whodunnit about 3/4 through the way. It's another murder-mystery with a multiple perspective and weird time jumps. I liked the perspective and how it ended. A good read! Ha!

17.  Me and Earl and the Dying Girl by Jesse Andrews

So I actually wrote a review on good reads. I did not like this book. Other people I know who've read it seemed to enjoy it so I thought I would. But nope. Here's my actual review. It's about these two boys who befriend a girl who is dying of cancer and they get harpooned into making a film for her. I don't like the writing style. I don't like the... well, you can read it in my review on GR.

* Speak by Laurie Halse Anderson (a re-read not re-dated for the current year)