16 Books Reading Wrap Up | 2019

Hey Guys! It’s Max here and today, I will be manufacturing an article that has been long behind schedule and that is a meticulous wrap up of my reading progress from the last time that I had updated all of you. As you can tell from the title, I had read 16 books since the previous wrap-up and I am kind of proud of that progress because this has been a busy year in terms of studies and adapting to a new environment such as college and to still be able to have time to read, however little, is considered a blessing to me. Therefore, I am thankful for the free time that is bestowed upon me even though I am far behind on my ‘read 100 books this year’ goal and will definitely fail it this year and probably the next because of my finals. Finger-crossed for a good reading year next year.   

So, without further ado, let us get into the wrap-up!

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1. THE GOOD THIEVES BY KATHERINE RUNDELL

Page Count: 336

Genre: Middle-Grade

I had constructed a review for this novel and I raved about this book in that article. I thought it was clever and a confounding stepping stone from The Wolf Wilder, a book which I thought was obtuse and contained an absolutely ridiculous ending. If you are interested to read the review for this novel, click here.

I am going to give all of you a snippet of the review that best describes the book:

“The atmosphere of this novel is a mixture of comedic relief, hatred and anger. It is facetious because of the constant banter between the characters and the arguments seem to never end which I, at times, found myself laughing at the exchange of words between them. Hatred and anger come into play due to certain characters doing nasty businesses and I thought the author did a good job at extracting our emotions out from our body and let it diffuse into the atmosphere. Thus, I admired the crafting of the atmosphere made by the author.”

Final Verdict: 75% (A-)

2. ASCENSION BY VICTOR DIXEN

Page Count: 496

Genre: Young Adult, Science Fiction

Again, I had manufactured a review for this novel and I had expressed my frustration and love for this novel in that article. If you are interested to read it, click here. I will extract a paragraph from the review to give you an insight into what this book is about if you do not want to read the whole article which I perfectly understand:

“Another thing that I unconditionally adored about this novel was the readability and the pacing. I found myself compulsively reading this novel due to how easy it was to get into this novel and thus, contributed to the pacing of the novel. The pacing was pretty consistent throughout the novel EXCEPT for the speed-dating scenes and Andrew’s scenes. I thought those scenes were drawn out and I thought it could be moderated to drape in with the rest of the story. Otherwise, everything would be perfect.” 

Final Verdict: 70% (B)

3. THE GIVING TREE BY SHEL SILVERSTEIN

Page Count: 64

Genre: Children’s Fiction

I understood the symbolism that is presented in this tiny picture book but I do not understand why this book is so popular? Is it because of the nostalgia factor? I did not read this picture book when I was young and this is the first time that I cracked open the book to read it. I thought the story was okay and the drawing was mediocre. I have nothing much to say because it’s a picture book and you have to read it for yourself to perceive the way you feel about it. 

Therefore, my final verdict for this picture book is 60% (C)

4. 13 REASONS WHY BY JAY ASHER

Page Count: 352

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary Fiction

I read this book in 2 sittings and I could not stop thinking about this novel after I had finished it. It was so heartbreaking to read about Hannah Baker’s life and the way she narrated the story and the trauma that she had gone through was truly plaintive. It was an eye-opening novel for me and I love a plethora of quotes in the novel, especially this one: 

“You don’t know what goes on in anyone’s life but your own. And when you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re not messing with just that part. Unfortunately, you can’t be that precise and selective. When you mess with one part of a person’s life, you’re messing with their entire life. Everything. . . affects everything.”

Final Verdict: 85% (A) 

5. Mooncakes By Suzanne Walker

Page Count: 256

Genre: Graphic Novel; Fantasy

It was a cute story and I enjoyed reading it. The art style was nicely crafted and the storyline was easy to follow. However, I did not enjoy the problems that were presented in the story as I thought they were resolved in a matter of seconds.

In addition, I did not enjoy the world-building. After I finished the last page of this graphic novel, I came out of it knowing so little about the world and its magic system that I couldn’t give it a rating that is higher than 3 stars as I thought this graphic novel was lacking the basic foundation of its world-building and the limitations to the usage of magic.

Overall, I enjoyed the graphic novel but it wouldn’t be something that I would re-read.

Final Verdict: 62% (C)

6. INFINITY SON BY ADAM SILVERA

Page Count: 368

Genre: Young Adult Fantasy

I had manufactured a review for this novel and all I can say is that a pretty cover is not equal to a great story. They are mutually exclusive for this novel. If you would like to take a look at the review that I had made for this novel, click here. 

Here’s a snippet of the review if you are interested:

“The characters, like I said earlier, felt like caricatures to me as they have no character development and little to no personality throughout the novel. Even when one of them is killed by a loved one, it did not evoke any feelings from the depths of my heart. However, Brighton, the protagonist’s brother, is the only one that elicited any feelings that I have and that feeling is anger. I hated him and throughout the novel, I rooted for the spectres to murder him because of how annoying he is about his Youtube Channel and his jealousy towards his brother’s powers. I totally despise his POV and I would rather read one-dimensional characters POV than his. Thank you very much.”

I do not want to be a terrible person so I will try out Adam Silvera’s to see if his novels are for me. 

Final Verdict: 15% (F)

7. JACKPOT BY NIC STONE

Page Count: 352

Genre: Young Adult Contemporary

I do not want to say much for this novel because I am going to construct a full review for this novel but I am going to list a few things about this novel:

1. This is one of my favourite books of the year,
2. Amazing characters that I had fallen in love with throughout this novel,
3. A nicely woven plotline, 
4. Astounding pacing.
5. Read this book. 

Final Verdict: 98% (A+)

8. SPEAK BY LAURIE HALSE ANDERSON

Page Count: 384

Genre: Graphic Novel; Contemporary

I do not know how to put this graphic novel into words because I loved it but that does not sound right because it tackled hard topics such as rape. I really loved the author’s note before the story starts though, it was so saddening to read about and I almost cried out of sadness and by the end of it, I am so proud of the author for writing this novel. 

I need to watch the adaptation of this novel because there is Kristen Steward in it and also, because of my love for this novel. Moreover, I bought another book from this author which is called Chains and I can’t wait to read that novel! I will be buddy reading that novel with my best friend who is currently on vacation. 

Final Verdict: 100% (A+)

9. THIS DARKNESS MINE BY MINDY MCGINNIS

Page Count: 352

Genre: Psychological Thriller

I enjoyed the 1/3 section of this novel. I thought it was unique and nothing like I had read before and then it went downhill afterwards. I do not find this novel as weird as most of the reviewers were vocalizing but what made me disentangle myself from the mess that was this book was how awful the execution and the pacing were. The plot went to a rediculous direction and nothing was resolved in the end. Normally, I enjoyed an unreliable narrator with horrible personalities but towards the end of the novel, I realized that I was not enjoying my time with the main character in this novel. I thought she was ego-centric and a know-it-all-but-really-she-doesn’t and I was rooting for her sister inside her body to consume her and take over her body all this time even though her sister was supposed to be the antagonist. So, yes. 

Final Verdict: 40% (E)

10. 13 MINUTES BY SARAH PINBOROUGH

Page Count: 413

Genre: Psychological Thriller

I thought this book was suspenseful and filled with a plethora of delightful thrills and plot twists. The characters were terrifying in terms of the way they function and the bullying which will never cease as long as the Barbies (the name of a popular girl group in school) was there. The ending, to me, was the most petrifying thing I had read in a while because of how the [said character]’s brain worked and twirled in the little head of hers. However, I thought the beginning was tedious and a little long-winded and I did not particularly enjoy the very last page of the novel but my friend who borrowed me this novel loved it so, take my word with a grain of salt and read the book to test where your footing for the last page lies. 

Thus, if you have not picked this novel up, I urge you to drop everything and pick it up from the bookstore right now because of how amazing it is.

Final Verdict: 90% (A)

11. A COLLECTION OF POETRIES BY VARIOUS AUTHORS

Love & Misadventure by Lang Leav had some poems that I enjoyed but I thought a lot of the poems in this were either poorly executed or poorly written. Some of them rhyme but most of them do not. Therefore, my final verdict for this poetry book is 48% (E).

Delicate Thoughts by M. Ballard was slightly better but it was forgettable. No other comment. Final Verdict: 55% (D).

She Felt Like Feeling Nothing by R.H Sin was the best out of these bunch and most of the poems in this book punched me in the gut with sadness. I enjoyed reading this and would highly recommend people who love poetries to pick this collection up. The only thing I did not like was how it ended and some other poems in this collection were not as good as it should be. Final Verdict: 78% (A-).

12. THE OTHER SIDE OF EVERYTHING BY LAUREN DOYLE OWENS

Page Count: 272

Genre: Domestic Thriller

Spoiler alert: this is going to be in my worst books of the year list because of how horrible it is. First of all, a guy raped ‘said girl’ and an unknown girl who does not know the details said he did not do it even though the guy tried to use this unknown girl as a shield to run away from the police by hiding in her place. Second of all, for an antagonist who was a threat to the whole society throughout the course of this novel, he died in a couple of pages after he was introduced. Thirdly, there are 3 points of view which I thought was too excessive and unnecessary. Lastly, the writing style for this novel was so dry and flaky that I could strip it off the pages and damp it with water and it will still be dehydrated. 

Final Verdict: 10% (F)

13. TO ALL THE BOYS I’VE LOVED BEFORE BY JENNY HAN

Page Count: 355

Genre: Young Adult Romance

This book was amazing in almost every aspect except for some major plotholes which I will not spoil and I did not particularly enjoy how Josh relationship with Song sisters was instantly recovered after that major stunt that he pulled in their house. In addition, I did not like how certain situations were handled and I thought some of them were downright stupid but I still love this book and I am willing to recommence with this series. So, my final verdict for this novel is 89% (A).

14. Lord Of The Flies By William Golding

Page Count: 225

Genre: Classic

I finished this novel today and I thought it was a very interesting book because of the way it conveyed its message and the ending to this marvellous novel was chilling because of how the main character almost died from those children that had turned into savages. However, I thought the beginning was tedious and it could have quickened up in terms of pace if it was not for the long description of the forest, the trees and the rocks.

Thus, my final verdict for this novel is 87% (A).

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This is the end of my ‘16 Books Reading Wrap Up’  I hope you all enjoyed it and let me know what your reading wrap up was in the comment box below! Follow me with your email/WordPress account to get notifications when I post a new article! Have a great day ahead!