Happy New Year everyone! I usually get around to posting these at the end of the quarter, but I haven't been reading as much as I would like to during the months of October to December. I preferred spending my time re-watching favorite TV shows, and it showed with how long it took me to complete my reading goals for the year. This year wasn't a great reading year for me, but it's okay. There's always next year! This is going to be a quick wrap up, with two books that I want to write about.
It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne (contemporary young adult)
I first picked up a Holly Bourne book some time this year. I've been seeing her books pop up at the bookstore, and while the covers were not appealing to me, I gave one of her works a try. I was instantly hooked - and ended up buying all her books. This is the second one I've read; I tried reading The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting but I had a feeling that there was going to be self-harm in that, so I put it down for now. This book is a love story between two teens, and how expectations on love are made unrealistic by movies. I like how Holly Bourne writes her books in that she doesn't make things predictable. Reading the blurb of this can already make you guess how things are going to go, but she still reels the reader in. I also liked this book because I classify my outlook on love as romanticized, with all the good things and the bad things and resolving said bad things - just like the movies. I know it's not real, but with how relationships around me are, I'd like to hold on to this view just a little bit longer.
The Book of Dust Volume 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
I haven't read Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, nor any of his books so this is my first Pullman book. I though I'd start with this because since it's a prequel, it won't spoil the events of the trilogy. The only concern I had was that maybe there was some explanation to the kind of world this was set in that I wasn't going to get with this. It's as if someone has watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them without ever watching the Harry Potter movies; it doesn't spoil anything in the Potter series, but with the assumption that you would have seen the Potter movies, there's no need to go into deeper world building in that one. I really enjoyed this book. It introduced a lot of characters that I hope I will see in future books. It has a bit of a slow start, but the writing was really good. It wasn't hard to get invested in their plight, and how it ended made me want to start picking up the Dark Materials trilogy.
It Only Happens in the Movies by Holly Bourne (contemporary young adult)
I first picked up a Holly Bourne book some time this year. I've been seeing her books pop up at the bookstore, and while the covers were not appealing to me, I gave one of her works a try. I was instantly hooked - and ended up buying all her books. This is the second one I've read; I tried reading The Manifesto on How to Be Interesting but I had a feeling that there was going to be self-harm in that, so I put it down for now. This book is a love story between two teens, and how expectations on love are made unrealistic by movies. I like how Holly Bourne writes her books in that she doesn't make things predictable. Reading the blurb of this can already make you guess how things are going to go, but she still reels the reader in. I also liked this book because I classify my outlook on love as romanticized, with all the good things and the bad things and resolving said bad things - just like the movies. I know it's not real, but with how relationships around me are, I'd like to hold on to this view just a little bit longer.
The Book of Dust Volume 1: La Belle Sauvage by Philip Pullman
I haven't read Pullman's Dark Materials trilogy, nor any of his books so this is my first Pullman book. I though I'd start with this because since it's a prequel, it won't spoil the events of the trilogy. The only concern I had was that maybe there was some explanation to the kind of world this was set in that I wasn't going to get with this. It's as if someone has watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them without ever watching the Harry Potter movies; it doesn't spoil anything in the Potter series, but with the assumption that you would have seen the Potter movies, there's no need to go into deeper world building in that one. I really enjoyed this book. It introduced a lot of characters that I hope I will see in future books. It has a bit of a slow start, but the writing was really good. It wasn't hard to get invested in their plight, and how it ended made me want to start picking up the Dark Materials trilogy.
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