January Wrap-Up 2017

*Image not mine

Hey everyone! Here is my rather belated January wrap-up. Unfortunately, I only read 6 books.

The Books

All titles link to Goodreads

Talking As Fast As I Can

By Lauren Graham

4.5 Stars

This book was fantastic and fun and I’m so glad I decided to listen to the audiobook. Lauren Graham is such a performer and she is just so wonderful to listen to.

A really easy read, I recommend it to all fans of Gilmore Girls.

 

Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5)

By J. K. Rowling

5 Stars

Many people say that this instalment is their least favourite of the series, but I didn’t find that at all – perhaps because I listened to the audiobook rather than reading a physical copy. At any rate, I loved this book.

Overall, it was a fantastic read with brilliant characters, mixing entertaining times with frustrating ones.

If you are struggling to get through, I do thoroughly recommend listening to the audiobook as I feel it would help out significantly. However, that is coming from someone who loves audiobooks and what works for me may not work for you.

You can find my full review here.

 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince (Harry Potter #6)

By J. K. Rowling

5 Stars

One of my favourites of the series, Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince was an easy and engaging read.

Ginny, Neville and Luna continued to be fantastic characters, coupled with the ever-brilliant Hermione and Professor McGonagall. Dumbledore was also most definitely a highlight. While I’m still up in the air about whether I actually like Snape, I did appreciate the foreshadowing where he was concerned.

I appreciate how the relationships between Harry and Ginny & Ron and Hermione were fleshed out, making me more on board with them than I was. However, I’m still not sure if I like Ron and Hermione together.

Ron under the love potion was probably my favourite part, but Luna’s quidditch commentary certainly comes a close second.

 

Hamilton: The Revolution

By Lin-Manuel Miranda & Jeremy McCarter

5 Stars

I love this book and Hamilton with every fibre of my being. It was fantastic and amazing and brilliant. – I read it in three sittings.

Lin’s annotations were definitely my favourite part. I learnt so much and was throughly entertained and sometimes even got slightly emotional (I teared up near the end).

This book cements my love of Hamilton and I will forever love it and pet it (seriously, this book is gorgeous!)

I will forever stand by the fact the Lin is an absolute genius.

 

Ida

By Alison Evans

4 Stars

I was surprised at how much I ended up liking Ida – it took me a while to really get into the story.

An awesome thing about this book is the amount of representation it has, especially considering it’s not the main focus (which some books do). Here, it’s not really a big deal – which I like. There are characters who are bisexual, genderqueer and genderfluid.

Another pro is that the pronoun “they” was used in reference to the love interest, Daisy, which is something that took a little bit of getting used to but was rather cool.

Even though it’s not really highlighted, there are also some PoCs in here.

Frank was great – he was certainly a highlight and perhaps even my favourite character.

Damaris and Adrastos were quite interesting, if confusing – they were never quite explained.

The narrative style of third person present tense was something that I’m not usually a fan of but it did grow on me.

I’m glad I read Ida in one sitting, because it had the potential to be rather confusing. It also had a rather open ending with some things left unresolved. However, it was interesting and I did enjoy it.

 

No Sugar

By Jack Davis

3.5 Stars

This was a school text and while I did enjoy it to some extent, it wasn’t the best. It was better than I’d anticipated but I really had to push myself to read it.  That said, it is probably one of the more interesting books I had to read.

As it deals with the treatment of Aboriginal people in Australia during the Stolen Generation, it is not only diverse but #ownvoices too, which is cool.

Gran was pretty awesome, while Cissie and Sister Eileen were also interesting.

Blog Posts

• October, November & December Wrap-Up 2016

• Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5)

 

Other Notable Points

• I set my Goodreads goal to 70 books. I usually set it to around the hundred mark, but as I’m in year 12 this year I wasn’t sure if I could make it.
• I had an awesome time at a bookish picnic hosted by the YA Room, a new Melbourne-based book club. I’m also actually in a group photo, which is a welcome change (even if I’m at an event, I always seem to miss the group photo. You can find the official wrap-up post here.
• The YA Room’s first book of the month was Ida by Alison Evans. We had a discussion at the Alexandria Gardens where Alison graced us with their presence. It was another awesome time. The wrap-up post can be found here. I also managed to be in this group photo too, which was awesome.
• School started back and with it, year 12 – a.k.a my final year, which is sure to be a lot of fun, but also a stress-fest. We’ll see how the procrastinator in me handles it.

 

Let’s Discuss!

So, what have you been reading lately? Any exciting life occurrences? Any new years resolutions?

Have you read any of the books I listed? If so, what were your thoughts?  Do your opinions differ from mine?

How were your holidays? (If you had any) Did you get up to much?

Are you back at school too?

Please leave a comment so that we can discuss!