Remember when I said I wanted to read 25 books in 2019? Well, I’m actually more on track to read 52 books this year and I’m SHOOK. I don’t want to jinx it, but I have been doing really well with making reading part of my daily routine and it has made it so easy for me to finish books more quickly! So exciting. I have been on break this whole month, thought, so hopefully I can keep up with reading when my placement + spring semester classes start up next week!
Last year, I did a reading update every quarter since I wanted to give myself time to read enough books to warrant a whole post. Since I kicked off the year reading SIX books (??? literally who am I) I thought, if my reading stays on track, we can meet up to chat books every month. But if I start slacking, we’ll go back to quarterly updates. Sound good? As always, you can keep up with my reading on Instagram (stories and I try to post pics in my feed of what I’m reading as well!) and on Goodreads.
OH and one more thing, I’m participating in the POPSUGAR Reading Challenge this year so I’m including what prompt I read the book for also, in case you were curious!
1. China Rich Girlfriend by Kevin Kwan.
3.5/5 stars.
“A book that includes a wedding”
Rachel & Nick are back in another book in the Crazy Rich Asians series. My strategy when reading these books is to just forget about keeping track of all the characters. I was stressed about this when reading CRA but I decided to just keep reading and figure it out as I go with this one.
This book, like CRA, was super entertaining and you get to dive deeper into the lives of the characters. Nick & Rachel’s wedding was only a fraction of the book which kind of disappointed me because I thought there would be more lead-in. There probably isn’t bc the book takes place ~3 years after CRA.
ANYWAY, overall I’m giving it 3.5 stars because it was entertaining but some of the conflicts were just silly to me. This book mostly just confirmed that I’m not a huge fan of Kwan’s writing, but the characters are a lot of fun!
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it now
2. Rich People Problems by Kevin Kwan.
4/5 stars.
“A book by an author whose first and last names start with the same letter”
This was a great final installment to the Crazy Rich Asians series. I don’t believe Kevin Kwan’s writing is very strong but the plot of this book was 100x better than the previous one.
I have nothing more to say, really, than that these books are just entertaining. They’re not particularly amazing, the writing style isn’t breathtaking, and many of the characters are underdeveloped. But you can’t help but want to be sucked into the crazy lavish lifestyle. I think this book was better than CRG but not as good as CRA. It was a solid ending to the series and left many things tied up neatly (along with some random relationship plot twists in the epilogue). I would definitely recommend this series to anyone who is looking for something light and fun to read.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it now
3. Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng.
4/5 stars.
“A book about a family”
Everything I Never Told You was high up on my list of books to read for a while but I just never had gotten to it. This is Ng’s first book but I read her second, Little Fires Everywhere, last year. I really liked that book but this one fell sort of flat for me. I thought the plot was interesting but only toward the end was I really starting to feel invested in the characters and the family story. It was definitely one of those books that made me emotional and I thought about it for a while after finishing it which led me to give it 4 stars.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it now
4. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin.
4/5 stars.
“A book with a plant in the title or on the cover”
This book was not at all like I thought it was going to be! It was super interesting and I loved learning about each of the siblings separately. It starts with them all together, going to a woman who they believe can tell them the day they are going to die. The rest of the book spotlights each character and their life — long or short. The ending was weird for me and my first reaction was to give it 3 stars, but after talking to a friend about the book I realized what the ending was really trying to say and I bumped up my rating to 4 stars.
This is why having book clubs can be beneficial, people!
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it now
5. Crank by Ellen Hopkins.
4/5 stars.
“A book with no chapters, unusual chapter headings, or unconventionally numbered chapters”
This was a reread! The last time I read this book I was in middle school and I had probably no idea what it was actually about. When I was at my parents house I went through my bookshelf and grabbed some older books that I had forgotten about. This was one of them.
I read this book in one day and I had forgotten how amazing these books were. I remember when they came out everyone was so obsessed with them because they were unlike anything we had really read before. I felt the same way reading it for a second time all these years later! Knowing this is based on a true story about Ellen’s own daughter makes it that much more heartbreaking and interesting. If you’ve never heard of these books, I definitely recommend you read them!
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it now
6. El Deafo by Cece Bell.
5/5 stars.
“A book about someone with a superpower”
I know this picture shows the book on Kindle but if you get the e-book and you have an iPhone or iPad, definitely read it on there so you can get the full color effect! This is a graphic novel that I read in one night and really, really enjoyed. If you’re one of my readers who is going to be an SLP, definitely add this to your reading list.
This is based on the author’s own childhood experience as someone who is Hard of Hearing. I really enjoyed how, though it was a sweet story, it still educated the reader on how to best interact those who are deaf/HoH and introducing them to some struggles of their daily life.
Find it on Goodreads | Buy it now
What have you read so far this year?? Let me know in the comments!
