I was very excited for March, there were a lot of books that I wanted to read this month that I had been really anticipating for ages (looking at you 'Fire and Flood' and 'Ready Player One').
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Books Read in March:
1. 'Cross Stitch'- Diana Gabaldon
'Cross Stitch'- as it is known in the UK- is more commonly called 'Outlander'. The whole 'Outlander' series has a massive following in America, also having a TV series. Firstly, what I have to say it that the cover is just so, so beautiful can we all take a moment please. I went into this book with very high expectations because of the massive hype behind it in America- and I was disappointed. I'm so upset because I really wanted to love this book and I was fully prepared to love it, but I just didn't. It was a good story and so tense and I loved the characters, I just didn't love this book enough. The copy I read was over 850 pages, and I have heard that the first 200 pages are quite slow, but in the end I found myself kind of pushing myself to read it so that I could go and read other things. On the plus side, I was in a kind of mini reading slump when I started it (which is never good when starting a brand new book), and it did get me out of my slump. Overall I don't think I'm going to read the rest of the series (there are 7 more super thick books), but I would really recommend the TV show, which I am really, really enjoying.
2. 'Maus (Volume Two)'- Art Spiegelman
I read the first of the two volumes in February and, while I thought it was really interesting, I didn't find myself engaging with it all that much. I did want to read the second volume though to see how how the story progressed. I think I enjoyed the second volume more, I read it in one day, which is not all that difficult seeing as it's a graphic novel. I found myself slightly more engaged and interested in the story this time round. I will repeat again what I have said before, this is a very important story. It's immensely interesting hearing the story from a survivor's point of view- especially someone who was an adult during the War- and I think it's a story that everyone needs to read.
3. 'Yes Please'- Amy Poehler
The first thing I have to say about this book is it's so HEAVY. It's a hardback with the average 300-350 pages, but it's also made of that really thick, fancy, glossy paper. I had to hold it in two hands or prop it against my legs when reading it to avoid wrist pain. It's a really quick and easy read in a good way, I thought it would take a lot longer to read than it did, I read it in two days without having to push myself or even realising that I'd read it so quickly. Starting it, I thought I wasn't in the mood for it, but it turns out I really was. I loved this book, I love Amy Poehler, I loved her style of writing, and I thought her book was really interesting. It sounds stupid, but she includes motivation quotes etc. that make you feel really empowered. I loved it and it well deserves the hype.
4. 'Fire and Flood'- Victoria Scott
I was really excited to read this, and I feel a little let down. The book was really good, but I was expecting so much more. I feel that it was meant to be aimed at older teenagers, but ended up seeming more aimed at early teens. The premise of this book was to die for: The Hunger Games mixed with Pokemon and a little bit of The Maze Runner. What's not to love about that? I would estimate this book to be set around 2013/2014, which is really weird because you never get dystopian-style books set in modern times, normally they are set in the future. This book is also a weird one as it's kind of dystopian, but kind of not because the world is as we know it, just with this added, unexplainable extra. Initially I really disliked the main character's voice- she's immensely concerned with her appearance and lack of Internet access, and I just didn't like some of the phrases and words she used. While she really, really annoyed me at the beginning, she grew on me massively as the story and her character developed, and I really did love her by the end of the book. Good character development, that. I did really enjoy this book, but I expected to enjoy it a lot more. I will definitely be buying the second book- 'Salt and Stone'- which is out now or soon.
5. 'Ready Player One'- Ernest Cline
I was so excited for this book, so many people have said that it's one of their most favourite books ever, and, with every over-hyped book, I was disappointed. I hate to say it, but I think I was just a bit bored by a lot of this book. Saying that, it did get really good towards the end, but some bits of the book were so slow-paced that the ending just didn't make up for it. The world building and background is quite slow for the first 70 pages, but the story does pick up slightly after that. What's scary about this is that the situation the world is in is completely plausible- the extreme poverty, lack of essential fuels, and the dependence on a virtual world could actually happen. The virtual world is confusing, the only thing I can really compare it to is the floating Internet chairs in Disney's 'Wall-E'. You don't need a vast knowledge of the 80s or video gaming to enjoy this, but it does help if you have a bit of interest in it. This is the first sci-fi book I think I've ever read, and maybe it's just not my thing. My main problem with this book is that I just really didn't like the main character. As with 'Fire and Flood', I just really don't know how I feel about this book.
6. 'The Princess Bride'- William Goldman
I was really in the mood for an alternative fairy tale type book, and this is one of the weirdest things I have ever read. I went into this book knowing basically nothing, and it can be very confusing. The introduction is very long and odd, and is all fabricated, it's worth searching the book briefly first to try and make sense of the 'back story' the author talks about. I can't say enough that this book is so, so weird, but it has fast become one of my most favourite books of all time, I'm trying to force my whole family to read it. I loved it so, so much.
7. 'Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban'- J.K. Rowling
In December I started rereading the Harry Potter series from the beginning. My family are always saying that the third Harry Potter book is the best one, I was never convinced until now. This book was so, so good that I can't see why I didn't notice it before. My family are cocky about this, but I am converted. I loved it even more than the second one, which was previously one of my favourites.
8. 'Percy Jackson and the Titan's Curse'- Rick Riordan
In January I started reading the Percy Jackson series for the first time; this is the third book in the series. The book was so tense, with so many unanswered questions and cliffhangers, that I powered through it in two days. Both J.K. Rowling and Rick Riordan are geniuses.
9. 'Doon'- Carey Corp and Lorie Langdon
This book. THIS BOOK. Ohmygod. I loved it so much. So, so much. I expected to enjoy it, but I never thought it would end up on my list of all-time favourite books. I need to read the second one now, but then I don't know how I can wait for the third one (there's going to be four in all). Parts of this book made my heart hurt so much, but the ending has just shattered it into a million little pieces. I preferred Veronica's chapters, but luckily there's a lot more of hers. It makes me sad that I can't live in Doon with my solemate. I can't express all my feelings about this book into words. Can we also just take a moment to appreciate just how beautiful the cover is. Just to say here that I read this book on Kindle, the first book I've actually read on Kindle, and it's currently 99p on the Amazon Kindle store.
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