JULY 2017 MONTHLY WRAP UP // What I Read This Month

This month has been one of the busiest months EVER, or at least in a long time. First I had to prepare for my trip and then I went to Croatia for a week. The day after I came home I went straight to west Norway to attend my grandmother’s funeral. The car ride took 8 hours one way. At the end of the month I participated in two readathons and moved some of my things into my BF’s apartment. We are planning on slowly moving in together. I also had one of my most successful reading months to this date. 

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READING STATS

I rated:

2 books  5stjerner

2 books  4stjerner

2 books  3-5stjerner

2 books  3stjerner

1 book   1stjerner

I read:

 8 books read & 1 DNF

A total of 3.508 pages read this month

Challenges:

Beat The Backlist Challenge: The Titan’s Curse


BOOKS I READ

American Gods by Neil Gaiman – 1 star – DNF @ 18% 1stjerner

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi – 3 stars   3stjerner

The Titan’s Curse (Percy Jackson and the Olympians #3) by Rick Riordan – 3.5 stars3-5stjerner

The Girls by Emma Cline – 5 stars 5stjerner

The Color Purple by Alice Walker – 3 stars  3stjerner

Binti (Binti #1) by Nnedi Okorafor – 5 stars 5stjerner

Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist #1) by Renee Ahdieh – 3.5 stars 3-5stjerner

Every Heart a Doorway (Wayward Children, #1) by Seanan McGuire – 4 stars 4stjerner

The Gentleman’s Guide to Vice and Virtue by Mackenzi Lee – 4 stars 4stjerner

Books I didn’t manage to finish this month: The Book of Strange New Things 86% read – Milk and Honey 42% read – The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women 59% read – Little Monsters 50% read – Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (Harry Potter #5) 84% read


BOOKS I BOUGHT

The Knife of Never Letting Go (Chaos Walking #1) by Patrick Ness

The Wise Man’s Fear (The Kingkiller Chronicle #2) by Patrick Rothfuss


Goodreads Challenge July 2017 2

I finished my Goodreads goal of 50 books, so I bumped it up to 70.


What have you been reading this month?

❤ -Rakel

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May & June 2017 Monthly Wrap Up

The end of June is here, and it is time for yet another wrap up. Buuhuu, I don’t want the summer to end, I’m starting to dread it already. Since I had my big blog pause in May I didn’t do a wrap up for that month, so I’m including the books I read in May in this post.

The format of this post will be a bit different from how I used to do my wrap ups. Instead of writing my thoughts on every book I have read that month in one long post, I will do a summary of my month. My thoughts on the books I read will be in separate posts called 3 IN 1 MINI REVIEWS, that means I will post a blogpost of my thoughts every 3rd book I read. You can read my first 3 IN 1 post HERE.


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In May I had my big blog pause. I only wrote 1 post on my blog to let you know I was ok. Even though I was in a blogging slump, I did quite a bit of reading. 7 books isn’t that bad for me. This was also the month I went on vacation to the West of Norway to visit my grandparents and other family. I celebrated 17th of May, Norway’s constitution day, with my family on the West side. It was such a fun day. I wore my Bunad and ate lots of good foods.


Reading Stats:

I rated:

2 books 4stjerner

1 book 3-5stjerner

4 books 3stjerner

I read:

Ca 2.297 pages

Since I didn’t take any notes from this month, I can’t add the pages I read from books I didn’t finish.


Books I read:

Station Eleven by Emily St. John Mandel – 3 stars 3stjerner

American Street by Ibi Zoboi – 4 stars  4stjerner

Stalker (Joona Linna #5) by Lars Kepler – 4 stars 4stjerner

A Living Nightmare (Cirque du Freak #1) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 3stjerner

The Vampire’s Assistant (Cirque du Freak #2) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 3stjerner

Tunnels of Blood (Cirque du Freak #3) by Darren Shan – 3 stars 3stjerner

Sharp Objects by Gillian Flynn – 3.5 stars 3-5stjerner


JUNE.png

This month has been a roller coaster of anxiety and problems with my chronic illness. The start of the month was absolutely horrible, but thankfully it is better now. Besides not feeling great, I have prepared for my trip to Croatia next month. I have dragged my mom and my brother to the mall to buy things I need for the trip. I have shopped A LOT, and spent so much money. The weather has been absolutely beautiful this month and a lot of my time has been spent on the porch tanning and reading.


Reading Stats:

I rated:

1 book 5stjerner

2 books 4stjerner

1 book 2stjerner

1 book 1stjerner

1 I don’t want to star rate

I read:

Ca 2.885  pages


Books I Read:

To søstre by Åsne Seierstad – 4 stars 4stjerner

I Am Pilgrim (Pilgrim #1) by Terry Hayes – 1 star 1stjerner

The Upside of Unrequited by Becky Albertalli – 4 stars 4stjerner

An Introduction to the Lightning Process by Phil Parker

The Thief (The Queen’s Thief #1) by Megan Whalen Turner – 2 stars 2stjerner

Kafka on the Shore by Haruki Murakami – 5 stars 5stjerner

Books I didn’t manage to finish this month: Unravel Me 13% read – The Book of Strange New Things 86% read –  American Gods 11% read – Milk and Honey 30% read – The Radium Girls: The Dark Story of America’s Shining Women 59% read


Books Bought:

I have been really good with my book ban so far this year, but in June I got really shopping mad and bought so many things, including books. Here are the books I bought this month.

20th-ann-hp-book

The Ravenclaw editions of the new 20th Harry Potter and the Philosopher’s Stone, in both hardback and paperback.

The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur

Every Heart a Doorway By Seanan McGuire

We Are the Ants By Shaun David Hutchinson

The Hate U Give by Angie Thomas

Flame in the Mist (Flame in the Mist #1) by Renee Ahdieh

The Republic of Thieves (Gentleman Bastard #3) by Scott Lynch

The Girls By Emma Cline

The Underground Railroad by Colson Whitehead

Books received:

Emma in the Night by Wendy Walker

Little Monsters by Kara Thomas

The Fourth Monkey by J.D. Barker


Goodreads Challenge July 2017


I hope you liked the new monthly wrap up layout. And I’m sorry it got so long,I had to include May. What have you read this month?

❤ -Rakel

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April 2017 Monthly Wrap Up – What I Read in April

After my blogslump last month, I’m very behind on my monthly wrap ups. I was debating on if I should write and publish monthly wrap ups from April and May since it is old now. I decided on writing them, not just for you guys, but for myself too. Even though I was in a blogslump I didn’t take a pause from reading. I have read a lot the last months.

I rated:

1 book 4-5stjerner

1 book 4stjerner

2 books3-5stjerner

1 book 3stjerner

1 book 2stjerner

1 book1stjerner

-WHAT.I.READ-.png

#famous by Jilly Gagnon

This is a YA contemporary romance, where the story is highly similar and must have been inspired by Alex from Target (yes the meme, or whatever it is). I didn’t like this book that much. The characters wasn’t anything special or memorable, and I didn’t care for the story or romance. The whole book was just meh. 2/5 stars.

2stjerner


Grave Peril by Jim Butcher

Book 3 in The Dresden Files

I have heard so many people rave about this series. This is the 3rd book in the series and I’m still waiting and wondering when the story is going to as awesome as everybody says. I didn’t love this book, and it is a shame because I really like the idea behind it. I love the world and the main character. A wizard detective who is fighting supernatural crimes, how awesome isn’t that? There is so much potential. Someone told me that the series will be better after book 4, so I’ll give it one more chance.  3/5 stars

3stjerner

The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson

Book 1 in the Mistborn 

This is also a series that everybody raves about, and I totally get why! The story was so good and addictive, I couldn’t put the books down. I also loved the world building, the magic system and the characters, everything about it was amazing! I can’t wait to start the next book, because this was a good ride to say it mildly.  4.5/5 stars

4-5stjerner


The Book Thief by Markus Zusak

Yet again a book that I have heard great things about. I’m sorry to say that this book and the story didn’t grab me in the same way it did for a lot of other readers. I can see why people loves this book though, because the writing is beautiful and the story is heartbreaking. My favorite part and one thing that I found very interesting about this book was the narrator. It was interesting to read a story told from death’s perspective. 3.5/5 stars

3-5stjerner


Blankets by Craig Thompson

Not my absolutely favorite story, but I enjoyed reading it. I liked the drawings. 3.5/5 stars

3-5stjerner

The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up: The Japanese Art of Decluttering and Organizing by Marie Kondō

I picked up this book because a lot of people was recommending and talking about it, and I’m starting to get interested in minimalism and decluttering my house. I think this book was really helpful and gave me a lot of ideas on how to purge and tidy. Some of her views on things was a bit weird, and I don’t think I will be following the book 100% in the future. I don’t think this book is for everyone, but I enjoyed reading it. It is pretty short, so you should give it a try if you are interested.  4/5 stars

4stjerner


The Snow Child by Eowyn Ivey

DNF at 46%. This story wasn’t for me. I thought it was boring af. The snow child (the child in the story) was pretty interesting but not enough for me to continue and finishing the book.  1/5 stars

1stjerner

❤ -Rakel

-Have You Read Any Of The Books On My List?

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March 2017 Monthly Wrap Up – What I Read This Month

My Month: This month has been so good. My energy levels has been a lot higher than it has been before. I’m really starting to believe that I will get 100% healthy in the future.

My Blog Month: It has been a really good blogging month. I have been posting a lot, and my views are the best they have ever been. I’m also almost at 300 wordpress subscribers, yay! Thank you for following, reading and commenting on my blog.

This month I have started posting a new weekly post called Sunday Weekly Update. In this post I will update you on what I’m reading and what I have been doing that week. This post is also like a diary for me to go back and read later.

My Reading Month: My reading month has been good. I have finished a total of 6 books, plus some books that I’m in the middle of reading. 1 of the books on my list fits the Beat The Backlist Challenge. And 1 of the books on the list fits the 2017 Dystopian Reading Challenge.

I read a total of 2510 pages this month.

I rated:

1 Book 4-5stjerner

4 Books 3stjerner

3 Books 2-5stjerner

what I read.png

The Hostile Hospital by Lemony Snicket

Book 8 in A Series of Unfortunate Events

This is the 5th book I’m reading from this series in just a few months (I read the first 3 last year). Even though I love the writing and find the narrator really funny, I’m starting to get bored of it. This series is really dragged out, and the books are starting to get very repetitive. This book was unnecessary, and to be honest I just want the series to end. 2.5 stars.

2-5stjerner


The Carnivorous Carnival by Lemony Snicket

Book 9 in A Series of Unfortunate Events

I’m still really bored of this series and I have to take a break from it. I liked this book a bit better than the previous one, but still not my favorite. 3 stars

3stjerner

Starflight by Melissa Landers

Book 1 in Starflight

I liked this book. The plot was fast paced and fun to read, but not anything really special or/and exciting. I got a really strong Firefly (the tv show) association from the setting, since the majority of the story is set on a trading spaceship. The romance was just ok, again nothing special, but it was cute at times. One thing that really bugged me was how fast Solara (the main character) forgave Doran (the love interest/other MC) after years of bullying. 3 stars

3stjerner


One of Us Is Lying by Karen M. McManus

This book is so good. It is fast past and interesting, and I just could not put it down. The book was told from the perspective of the 4 teenagers who are linked to the death of Simon, a fellow classmate. The 4 points of view was executed really good, and we got to know the characters well and see them grow. The mystery part was really interesting and exciting. I was hooked from the first page. Brilliant debut from the author Karen M. McManus, and I highly recommend this book. 4.5 stars

4-5stjerner

Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi

Book 1 in Shatter Me

My biggest problem with this book was the writing. This made it hard for me to get into the story, but I pushed on and halfway through it started to grow on me. The book was fast paced with a lot of action. I found the main character’s abilities interesting, it is always fun when characters have supernatural powers. Even though it was just an ok book, I want to continue with the series to see where it goes. 3 stars

3stjerner


The Magicians by Lev Grossman

Book 1 in The Magicians

I’m not sure if I like this book or not. I found the story and the setting interesting, but there is something about it that I didn’t like. It can be that it was too fast paced for me, 4-5 years (I’m not sure) are packed into 400 pages. I also found the main character Quentin to be very unlikable. It really bugged me how mad he was at Alice for sleeping with another person, when he was the one who cheated first. He didn’t see his own fault, and justified it because he was drunk and she was not. This is not ok. 3 stars

3stjerner


Books I didn’t manage to finish in March: The Snow Child 43% read – The Book of Strange New Things 49% read – Grave Peril 34% read – #Famous 33% read


Goodreads Challenge March 2017

❤ -Rakel

-Have You Read Any Of The Books On My List? What Did You Read This Month? And What Was Your Favorite Read? 

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