A Big Review: Part 1

(Source: Kelsey Darling via BeFunky Photo Editor)

So we're going to play some catch up here because I've been a bad blogger. And I'm extremely sorry. I could give you every excuse in the book, some are valid, some are not, but it cannot be denied that I have neglected my books and my readers. So I'm going to do some mini-reviews for the books I've read. Mostly, they're mini because it's been so long since I've read them and it would be a disservice to you and to the author to write a full blown review when I don't remember all the details. But I do remember how each of these books made me feel, and that is what these will be based off of. So I hope you enjoy!

#GirlBoss by Sophia Amoruso (Read on May 5th, 2017)

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

I read this because I started the Netflix series and I wanted to have the background. The book had been sitting on my shelf for probably over a year and had picked it up many times to read it, but never did. I loved this book, and I wish I had read it sooner, but I think I read it at the right time for me. Sophia is an amazing writer, she paints a wonderful picture, and she definitely has a story to tell. After reading this book, Sophia has become a role model for myself and I'm glad that I read it when I did, as I have been in a transition in the professional world.

On a side note, the Netflix series was amazing and I'm sad that it was not renewed.



Rating: 9/10
Author: Sophia Amoruso
Genres: Non-Fiction; Autobiography; Feminism

The Handmaid's Tale by Margret Atwood (Read from May 6-9th, 2017)

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

I read this one for a couple reasons. I've been wanting to read it for a long time is the main reason. The second reason was it was the selected book for Our Shared Shelf. And lastly, I really wanted to watch the Hulu series and did not want to spoil anything.

Overall, I was happy that I read it. It always amazes me when I read a book that was published a while ago (1985 in this books case) that still rings true today. And I feel it's even more relevant today than it was a year ago. It saddens me that a book that is 30+ years old is still so relevant, and that issues that were issues then have not yet been fixed. This book shows a dystopia universe that one would hope, and maybe even believe, could never happen. However, in out world today, we are probably closer to the Republic of Gilead than we have been in a long time.

I do wish there had been more back story, or more explanation in the afterward about how America became so messed up, and what happened afterwards. Not what happened to Offred, I can use my imagination there, but what happened to Gilead. Anyone who's read my reviews before knows that I really appreciate that stuff. The Hulu series did a good job of that, but I would have liked to hear it from Atwood.

Side note: This book has ended up on the banned books list numerous times for being "anti-Christian" and "sexually lurid."

Rating: 7/10
Author: Margret Atwood
Genres: Fiction; Classics; Dystopia

The Magicians Trilogy by Lev Grossman (Read from May 15-20th, 2017)

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

I promise this isn't a reoccurring theme, but again, I read this one because it's a TV show on Syfy. A friend turned me onto it while season 1 was on Netflix, and now I am not so patiently waiting for season 2 to arrive there so I can be ready for season 3.

I have some mixed feeling about the trilogy. Since I had started reading it after I had started watching it, I knew a little bit about what was going on. So I was surprised when then characters were actually in high school, and not college. It is rare for me to say this, so take note: I liked the TV show more. To me, it had more color, more vivaciousness. If I wasn't the kind of person to finish a book no matter my feelings, I would have stopped.

Luckily, I'm glad I didn't. As the characters aged and the plot progressed (at a much slower speed than the TV show), I liked it more. By halfway through the second novel, The Magician King, I was glad that I had continued reading.

It reminds me of an adult version of  The Chronicles of Narnia. Because of that, some of the rules of the imaginary land of Fillory annoy me. However, unlike Narnia, it shows the dark side of imagination, and that gave it some pizzazz. There are also some very adult scenes that would never pass for a children's book.

Rating: 7/10
Author: Lev Grossman
Novels: The Magicians, The Magician King, The Magician's Land
Genres: Fantasy, Fiction, Magic

Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them by Newt Scamander (Read on May 21st, 2017)

I don't think this book really needs a review. It's Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It's a view into the magical world of Harry Potter. It's narrated by Newt Scamander himself, Eddie Redmayne. If you don't like it, then I don't like you.

Rating: 10/10
Author: Newt Scamander
Genres: Fantasy; Young Adult; Fiction

This Is Where It Ends by Marieke Nijkamp (Read on May 22nd, 2017)

(Source: Kelsey Darling)

This was a hard one to read.I cried a few times, and definitely held back tears on multiple occasions. It tells the story from varying viewpoints of a school under attack by a student shooter. Unlike The Handmaid's Tale that is a warning to our society, This Is Where It Ends is a story that rings true more often than I ever dreamed possible.

From the different student viewpoints, you learn about the chaos ensuing inside the school; you see a beloved teacher shot down trying to protect students; innocent lives lost over and over and over. You learn about students trying to help others escape; going back when they know they should not; putting themselves at risk when they were safe because they could not watch their friends, siblings, cousins, teachers, or anyone else die. You learn about the shooter and the type of person he was.

I was very numb after reading this. I thought of my nieces, and other school age children I know, who are at risk of this happening on their school campus one day. But I also know, especially after recent events, that this doesn't only happen on schools. It can happen at a concert, a mall, a city function. We live in a world where any place is up for grabs for people who feel that they have been wronged and want to take it out on anyone and everyone.

That being said, when I read novels like this, or hear of a new attack on the news, it makes me hold my loved ones closer, tell them I love them more. It makes me try something that I never would have tried before. But most importantly, it makes me rethink how I interact with people I meet; it doesn't matter where I meet them, or how long I've known them; but I tell myself that they are human too, and that I have no idea what they are going through. Acts of violence like this should make me a colder person, but they have had an opposite effect-I am a more loving person.

Rating: 9/10
Author: Marjeke Nijkamp
Genres: Young Adult; Contemporary; Realistic Fiction