Hearth and Pages: January and February 2017 Reading Recap

Okay, the picture says monthly, but really, this post is bi-monthly recap because yours truly is a messy human being who forget things and only realized her mistakes when it was too late. I’ve been meaning to do monthly reading recap post since last year, but I always forgot, and so I promise to do it starting in January. Guess what? I forgot again. So this post is going to be a bi-monthly recap. I promise after this one, the recap post will be monthly. But who am I kidding? I’m a messy human being, so let’s just say that I will try my hardest to make this a monthly thing.

January 2017 Recap:

1) The Princess Saves Herself in this One by Amanda Lovelace (4★)

A beautiful book of poetry. It reflects Lovelace’s own personal life and it was heartbreaking. I understand why this book was so raved last year, but I have to say reading something so personal like the poems in this book is a bit uncomfortable. But I am grateful that Lovelace open up about her struggle, I can see many people with the same experience as her will be grateful for it too. One of my favorite poem is “you may be gone, but i still have a stomachache.” Here is the excerpt:

“a cube of

sugar

in her upturned palm.

greedily,

i accepted.

i reached the inside

my mouth, delicately placing one

(just one)

on the center

of my tongue,

& i clamped

down.

salt.

that is what abuse is:

knowing you are

going to get salt

but still hoping for sugar

for nineteen years.”

I cry when I read this, and it’s only the third book in the poem.

Purchase The Princess Saves Herself in this One from: bookdepository.

2) Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty by Christine Heppermann (4★)

Feminism + Poetry + Fairy tale = LOVE. In my opinion, the poems in this book is quirky, unusual and it’s the best. Not only beautiful poems this book is full of stunning photographs as well, which fits the theme of each poem it represents so wonderfully. Heppermann managed to wrap so many issues women of all ages face in real life: sex, misogyni, insecurites, eating disorder, etc, with fairy tale and mythology and then crunched them into absolutely stunning ball of dark poems. I’m amazed, I really do. One of my favorite is “Nature Lesson”:

I highly recommend this book. It’s dark, and heart wrenching, and at some parts, really funny.

Purchase Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty from: bookdepository.

3) Let’s Get Lost by Adi Alsaid (3.5 ★)

I’m a bit torn, I like this book for most part. I love the main character, I really like some of other characters. I also like the fact that the stories are both predictable and unpredictable. But at the same time, I found a lot of cliche and tropes that I don’t like. If only Alsaid decided to get rid of that, I’m pretty sure the book will be better. If you like to read something that is light and funny but still give you a lot of things to learn. This book might be your cup of tea. Read my full review of Let’s Get Lost here.

Purchase Let’s Get Lost from: bookdepository.

4) The Bad Beginning by Lemony Snicket (3.5 ★)

I read this one in anticipation of Netflix’s A Series of Unfortunate Events. Although The Bad Beginning is not my favorite book in the series, A Series of Unfotunate Events was one of the children book series that I appreciated more as I grow older. One of the reason is because I only realized how clever Lemony Snicket in putting some issues that children face, for example how the Baudelaire siblings’ opinions and pleads dismissed so easily by the adults around them just because they are kids. Society often dismissed kids’ point of views simply because they are kids, and that’s actually messed up. This is definitely a series that I recommend to both kids and their parents to read together.

Purchase The Bad Beginning from: bookdepository.

5) The Hating Game by Sally Thorne (~~ALL THE STARS IN MY HEART~~ 5 ★)

Say hello to my first five-stars read in this year! In this past two months I have read this book three times, and sometimes I read some pasages from the book just because it makes me so happy. This book has become one of my ‘comfort books’. I’m a sucker for Enemies to Lovers trope and this book nailed it so good! I have never give five stars to a romance book. Don’t get me wrong, I don’t hate romance books, it’s just hard for me to find a romance book that really suits my taste. BUT DAMN THIS BOOK NAILED IT HARD THOUGH. Thanks to Sarah J. Maas for recommended this book in one of her newsletters. Read my full review of The Hating Game here.

Purchase The Hating Game from: bookdepository.

6) Breaking Barriers: Portraits of Inspiring Chinese-Indonesian Women by Aimee Dawis (3★)

This book is kind of hit and miss for me, I do enjoy the book because of some inspiring stories the profiles give. On the other hand, I don’t think this book break any barriers. Dawis did deliver some insightful topics in the introduction, though. I was able to learn a brief the history of Chinese-Indonesian people and their shaky relationship with other Indonesian people. Read my full review here.

Purchase Breaking Barriers from: bookdepository.

7) The Winter People by Jennifer McMahon (4★)

I really love how McMahon woven the twist in this book. The level of suspense is also great and it’s just impossible for me to read this book when the sun goes down. However, I really don’t like the conclusion at the end and how she portrayed Native American in this book. She can done it better.

Purchase The Winter People from: bookdepository.

February Recap

February was not really a great reading month for me. I was swamped with works and other personal and urgent business so I barely get the time or mood to read. I managed to read three books though, so it’s not that bad. In February I read:

1) The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose by Fabi Ghittoni (3★)

I received the e-copy of this book from the author in exchange for an honest review. The story has a good premises. I do feel some parts of the story are a bit rushed and I do wish that the author explored more about how the magic works in this book. It has a potential to be a pretty good series, though. Read my full review of The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose here.

Purchase The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose from: amazon.

2) Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz (4★)

This is the first full audiobook that I listen to and I really love it. Not just because the narrator is Lin-Manuel Miranda, but because the book really is beautiful. This book doesn’t really has a plot, but it’s actually one thing that makes me amazed. A book without plot used to be hard for me to digest, since most of them tend to be dragging so hard and ended up bored me. This book give me the same vibes as watching Boyhood, Short Term 12 and Before Sunrise, and I love it. I highly recommended this book. I think I’m going to reread the book in printed copy some times this year. It was one of the most beautiful book I ever read, with beautiful story, beautiful characters, also beautiful, poetic and philosophical narration. Read my full review here.

Purchase Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe from: bookdepository.

3) The Star-Touched Queen by Roshani Chokshi (3.5★)

The Star-Touched Queen was raved by a lot of people last year, including one of my favorite author, Sarah J. Maas, but this book didn’t really wowed me. This book started out good, like really good. And then everything went downhill midway. You know that feeling when you watch a horror movie and you just so frustrated because the characters in it keep doing the obviously idiotic things that they shouldn’t do? That’s how I felt when I read this book. At one point I’m not even frustrated anymore, I’m just pissed. Because this one character was supposed to be smart. It was hinted that she was smart, and people around her said how intelligent she was, but yet her actions said otherwise. I hate when this kind of things happened. There’s one chapter that I stop because I have a hunch that this character would make an obviously stupid things and I said “If she does that, I will play Congratulations from The Hamilton Mixtape.” And she did, so I played that song, and stopped reading this book for two hours because I was so pissed. In case you don’t know, this is the first verse of Congratulations from The Hamilton Mixtape:

However, this book is not bad. It was pretty good, hence the 3.5 stars I gave to this book. I will also read the companion book, The Crown of Wishes, because the main character is the one character I like from this book.

Purchase The Star-Touched Queen from: bookdepository.

Those are all the books I read in January and February. I also managed to fit them all to 10 prompts of Pop Sugar Reading Challenge this year:

1. An audiobook : Aristotle and Dante discovering the Universe

2. A book by a person of color : The Star-Touched Queen

3. A book with one of the four seasons in the title : The Winter People

4. A book by an author who uses a pseudonym : The Bad Beginning

5. A book involving travel : Let’s Get Lost

6. A book with a subtitle : Breaking Barriers: Portraits of Inspiring Chinese-Indonesian Women

7. A book by an author from a country you've never visited : The Elven Tales: The Company of the Rose

8. A book with pictures : Poisoned Apples: Poems for You, My Pretty

9. A book recommended by an author you love : The Hating Game (advance list)

10. A bestseller from 2016 : The Princess Saves Herself in This One (advance list)