Hey guys, it's Kirsti, welcome back to my
channel and welcome to another weekly
wrap up. This one is for the 21st through
the 27th of May and this week I read a
total of nine books and
2,974 pages.
Sunday marked the end of the #AroundtheWorldAThon
and I managed to finish off one more book,
so I finished a total of six books for
the #AroundtheWorldAThon, and then I
finished two more in the, like, day or
so after the #AroundtheWorldAThon
finished, which is kind of annoying but,
like, I still finished them, so whatever. So
the final book that I finished for the
#AroundtheWorldAThon is The Art of War
by Sun-Tzu. This book is a classic
Chinese text about the strategies that
go along with war, essentially, and so it
breaks war down into its various
components, like, you know, using spies
and knowing the terrain that you're
going into and knowing how to fight
under certain situations, and it breaks
it down within that to all the different
types of terrain that you might
encounter and how to fight in each of
those various circumstances. I found it
incredibly interesting. The first, like,
ninety-something pages, the first
chunk of the book, is the original as
written by Sun-Tzu. The rest of the book,
the remaining, like, 200 pages, is the exact
same text but with commentary from
various people throughout history. So
some of them are, like, classic
commentators on this text from, like, the
3rd century AD or something, and then it
goes all the way through to, you know,
people in the present day, effectively
and particularly Western commenters
comparing this to things like the
attacks done by Julius Caesar. And that
stuff I just found incredibly dry. So I
found the first chunk of this book, the
actual original text, very very
interesting. There is a lot in there that
is basically saying "You know what? If you
don't have a complete grasp of the
situation, if you don't know what you're
going into, if you don't know exactly
what the situation is, don't go to war." It
also emphasises the fact that war is,
like, super fucking expensive and will
kill a bunch of people and piss people
off, so, like, maybe don't go into war
if you know you're in a perilous
political situation. So there is a lot in
this book that remains incredibly
relevant and that I thought was
really really interesting to read, the
fact that it was such a balanced
perspective coming from one of history's,
like, greatest generals. The
commentary I just found incredibly
boring, so
I gave up on the commentary. I
figured I had the gist of what I needed to
know from the original text, so I
ended up I did enjoy what I read up this
book, I don't know that I missed out on
anything by not reading that commentary
and I gave this one 4 stars.
Book number two is Green Island by
Shawna Yang Ryan. This is one that I started
during the #AroundtheWorldAThon and
didn't end up finishing until I think
the Monday or the Tuesday afterwards. So
this one is set in Taiwan and it starts
out in 1947 with the birth of the main
character and it follows her throughout
her life and it tells Taiwan's 20th
century history through her life. Now, I
really enjoyed a lot of this book,
particularly once she has married and
moved to the US. I thought all of that
was really really interesting and her
dealing with Taiwan's political
situation while being away from home and,
you know, her husband gets very embroiled
in politics to do with Taiwan and she's
like "Well, but I want to go visit my
parents" and she can't because of the
situation that he's put her into. So all
of that kind of stuff in the second half
of the book I really enjoyed. The first
half I struggled with a little bit more
because the narrator ends up being
omnipresent, and so is telling us about
things that happened when her father
was arrested and sent off to prison and
sent to this prison camp and the way that
he was treated and she knew nothing
about that because, like, she was
literally an infant. And that just really
didn't work for me, I found that very
frustrating. But once I got through that
section of the book, it worked a lot
better for me. It did still feel like it
took a really really long time to get
into the story, once I hit that section
where she moves the US and then when she
goes back to Taiwan in, like, 2003 I think
it is? Once I hit that stuff, I pretty
much flew through it, but up until that
point it was like wading through
quicksand. So I did eventually enjoy this
one, but it took me quite a while to get
there and I gave this one 3.5
stars. The third book that I
finished this week is another one I
started for the #AroundtheWorldAThon,
and that is the Three Body Problem by
Liu Cixin, and I really struggled
with this book. This book I have heard
amazing things about, it is a sci-fi book
that has been translated from Chinese - I
think by Ken Liu - and I've heard
wonderful wonderful things about from a
whole host of people on Booktube.
It starts out in China during the
Cultural Revolution with various
political things tying into scientific things
and somebody witnessing her father's
execution. And then it moves forward to
this guy who is a kind of
nanotechnologist and he ends up being
tied into this police investigation and then he
discovers this game online called
the Three Body Problem in which you
basically use physics to try and solve
some, like, space civilisation thing. I am
way too stupid to read this book. I do
not understand physics. I have no
interest in physics.
I dropped physics at school as soon as
it was possible to do so, and I have
never regretted that decision at all. I
mean, once I got to a particular point in
time and I knew what was actually going
on in the story, I did enjoy a little bit
more. But there was just so much science
in this. It was like very very heavily
science and then, like, a tiny bit of fiction
kind of thing. So yeah, it's not my kind
of sci-fi and it's...yeah. I'm just... I'm too
dumb for this book. I did not really love
it and I gave it 3 stars. Book number
four this week is A Respectable Girl by
Fleur Beale. This is YA historical
fiction book that is predominantly set
in New Zealand, and it tells the story of
a teenage girl named Hannah who is
basically just dealing with life growing
up in fairly rural New Zealand - she lives
in New Plymouth. Her stepmother is Maori,
and her half-brother is Maori and so she
is Pakeha, but she has very much
grown up in the Maori community and now
there are tensions flaring between the
Pakeha colonists and the Maori
population. And so it's her dealing with
all of that and then somewhere along the
way, she discovers that there is this big
family secret where her mother was
involved in some kind of scandal. Her
mother is now dead, and so she and her
brother end up that they go to England to
try and work out what the hell is going
on. I did find it to be a fairly typical
historical fiction book, but I did enjoy
the fact that there was a lot of sympathy
towards the Maori population and
particularly the fact that any time a
Pakeha character refers to a Maori
character by a westernised name, she's
like "You know what? Actually no. Their
name is..." and uses their proper name. She
gives a lot of respect to the Maori
population and she has a close
connection to the Maori population and,
like, the whole time that I was reading
this, I just keep thinking about the fact
that this was set in Australia, there
would be none of that involved.
Hannah as a character frustrated me a lot
of the time particularly where, like,
interactions with male characters were
involved. I was like "Girl, you're so
fucking stupid. You need to, like, think
this situation through before you do
whatever the fuck you're going to do oh no
wait, too late you already did it". So there
were some things like that where she
felt incredibly naive and I just was not
a huge fan of her character. The ending
did tie up a little too neatly for my
taste, and it was ever so slightly
predictable. So I liked this one, but I
didn't love it and I gave it 3.5 stars.
Book number five this week is my first
reread for the week and that is The
Hollow Boy by Jonathan Stroud, which is
the third book in the Lockwood & Co
series. I've talked about this series
before. It is a kind of YA/middle grade
series that is paranormal. So basically,
ghosts exist in this world, only kids and
teenagers can see them. So there are all
these ghost hunting agencies run by kids
and teenagers all over London and this
follows the story of one particular little ragtag
agency. This one is definitely my least
favourite of the series so far. I have the
fourth one waiting to be read at the
moment, which is why I reread this. But
it's definitely my least favourite and I
can't really go into too much detail
about why it's my least favourite, but there
is a lot of, like, girl-on-girl bitchiness
going on where the protagonist in this
one basically hates a new character
solely because the male characters in
the story think that she's nice and
she's great and she's doing a good job
and I'm like "Girl, you need to fucking stop." So
I spent a lot of this book kind of
wanting to punch Lucy in the face a lot
of the time, because you just like... Can
we not? The plot is decent but the
interactions between female characters
made me want to stab things, so I
ended up giving this one 3.5 stars. The sixth
book I finished this week is The Sound
of Things Falling by Juan Gabriel
Vasquez. This one was translated from
Spanish by Anne McLean, and it is set in
Colombia. It's a story of a guy who meets
a former pilot at a billiards hall and
befriends him. Shortly thereafter the ex
pilot receives a tape and he is then
shot down in the street. It's basically
a noir thriller sort of a book, but it
reads a lot more like literary fiction. I
read this one because I picked it up at
work and was like "Wow, that does not
sound like a book that a Catholic high
school library should have..." and turns out
it's on the year 12 literature syllabus,
so, like, clearly we do need to have a copy of it.
But I figured I would read it anyway
because, you know, it seemed interesting
and I kind of like to keep up to date
with what's on the Lit syllabus. I don't
even think I could tell you why I
enjoyed this as much as I did. Like, it
just... there was just something about the
story that I found incredibly compelling.
I liked the characters, even though a lot
of the time they're quite unlikable and they
do unlikable things. I just... I liked the
characters, I liked the way the story
played out, I wasn't so keen on some of
the slightly misogynistic attitudes
that the male characters had, but on the
whole I really enjoyed this one. It is
quite violent, I don't even know that I
could tell you what it was about this
book that I enjoyed as much as I did, but
I just found it incredibly compelling
and really really interesting reading
and a wonderful story. So I loved this one
a lot and I gave it 4 stars. The
seventh book that I finished this week
is A Bollywood Affair by Sonali Dev.
This one is an adult romance book that
is split between India and the US. It
follows the story of a girl named Mili
who, at the age of four, was married off
to this twelve-year-old boy in an
arranged marriage that was done by their
grandparents. She is now 24 and she
hasn't seen him since, but she knows that
there have been all these expectations
around her and how to be a good wife and
she's basically devoted her entire life
to kind of learning how to be the
perfect officer's wife, because he is in
the Indian Air Force. Unbeknownst to her,
his family did not get along
particularly well with his grandfather
and so shortly after the marriage was
actually arranged, they organised for it
to be annulled, particularly because
child marriage was illegal at this point
in time. And so he has actually married
somebody else who is now pregnant and he
starts to freak out when he finds out
that she still thinks that they're
married, he freaks out that his child is
going to be considered illegitimate.
She has gone off to the US to do some
post-grad study, and so he sends his
younger brother - who turns out to be this,
like, a Bollywood star, director, actor,
model person - sends him off to track her
down and persuade her to sign a piece of
paper saying basically "No, we're not
married, your wife is totally fine, your
child will be legitimate." Obviously, she
and the brother fall in love and, like, it
was really cute but I also kind of hate
myself for how much I loved this. Because
Samir, the male lead, is incredibly
misogynistic a lot of the time. He has
incredibly antiquated views around women
and yet he's painted very much as this
kind of playboy character and...yeah. There
was...there were just a lot of things that
he said and did
that I was like "Dude, no." Mili I liked a lot more.
She's working in women's health, she's
gone to the US to further her study in
women's health and in public health and
she's very very passionate about
educating women in India. So, like, all of
that was great. But anytime something
happened to her, she would basically
burst into tears. And that drove me
completely bonkers. So I was not really a
fan of the two lead characters individually,
but when you put the two of them
together, the chemistry between them was
just so great and they were so cute that
even though I kind of hated both of them,
I just wanted them to be together and I
wanted it to be squishy and happy and
adorable. I think my main problem though
with this one was that there were certain
elements of the story, particularly where
their backstories were concerned, that I
wanted more about. I wanted more about
Samir's relationship with his
grandfather,
I wanted more about Mili's relationship
with her grandmother, I wanted more about
all of that kind of, like, family dynamic
stuff, particularly seeing as it seems
they both have relatively traumatic pasts.
Anyway, I enjoyed this one a lot, kind of
hate myself for how much I liked it, took
off half a star for the attitudes of the
various characters, particularly Samir,
so I ended up giving this one 3.5
stars. Book number eight this week is The
Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle, and
I don't even really know what genre to
consider this book to be. It's definitely
a young adult book but it's, like, part
contemporary, part paranormal, part maybe
fantasy. It feels like magical realism
but not, somehow? It's set in Ireland and
it tells the story of one family who
every October, accidents happen to them.
Like, you know, they're walking down the
street and they get hit in the head by
football and they get a concussion or
they're walking down stairs and they
twist their ankle or they, you know, grab
a glass from the cupboard and the glass
shatters in their hand and they have to
go to hospital and have their hand
stitched up. All of this kind of stuff
happens to every single member of this
family every October, and it's the story
of Cara and her older sister and her ex
stepbrother, who still lives with them
because his father was a douchebag and
ran off.
It's the story of the three of them, and
Cara's best friend, Bea, learning that
there are a lot of secrets in their family
and that these secrets may have
something to do with why the Accident
Season happens. I read this one in a
single day, I found the writing really
compelling,
I liked the kind of
paranormal magical realism-y sort of
elements to the story. But at the same time I
found it very predictable. Like, there was
a lot in this story that I was like
"well, obviously that is what is going to
happen" and I was right I think every
single time I was right on what was
happening in the story. So yeah. There was
a lot in here that was predictable. I was
not a fan of the romantic relationship
in the story, mostly because it was a)
predictable and b) kind of squicky. Like,
yeah. I can't really go into detail about
that without, you know, spoilers but I
will put some stuff in my Goodreads
review if you want to check that out
there's always a link to my Goodreads
profile down below, so if you want to
know about that kind of stuff, check that out.
But...ugh. Yeah. So I gave this one 3.5
stars. And the final book that I finished
this week was another reread and that is
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi. Last year I sped
through this and I absolutely loved it.
This year I took it a lot slower.
I read basically a chapter a night over
two weeks. I think I enjoyed this
slightly less this time around, but I
appreciated it a lot more, if that makes
sense.
Like, I didn't find the story as
compelling because I was only reading
that one chapter a night but I saw so
much more in this of how all the various
stories tie together and all the little
threads that ultimately flow through the
stories and how they get pulled together
at the end. All that kind stuff I could
see a lot more reading this more slowly.
So I'm really really glad I reread this
one. I still absolutely loved it,
although for slightly different reasons, I
think, than when I read it for the first
time last year. It is wonderful. If you
haven't read it, you need to. I gave it 5 stars.
Again. I love it.
So there you have it friends, that is all
the books that I finished this week. If
you have read any of these and have
thoughts on them, please let me know down
in the comments, I would love to talk
about them with you. Thank you guys so
much for watching. I love all your faces and
I will see you on Wednesday. Bye guys.
For more infomation >> Error informático provoca caos en vuelos de British Airways - Duration: 0:32. 
For more infomation >> Policía británica divulga nuevas fotos del suicida de Manchester - Duration: 0:41. 
For more infomation >> Investigan si asesino del metro de Portland actúo por odio racial - Duration: 0:30. 
For more infomation >> Masacre en Misisipi: tiroteo deja ocho muertos en tres casas - Duration: 0:49. 
For more infomation >> Padre de niño autista recorre Los Angeles ayudando a desamparados - Duration: 1:49. 
For more infomation >> El FC Barcelona conquista su Copa de Rey número 29 - Duration: 2:19. 
For more infomation >> Andreu Buenafuente - El campo es peligroso (The countryside is dangerous) | 10/01/2008 - Duration: 0:54. 
For more infomation >> El misterio del avión | Villanos / Villainous (TEORÍA) - Duration: 6:25. 
For more infomation >> Zakręty i ciągła linia - NO PROBLEM - Duration: 0:41. 
For more infomation >> Mazda 323 1.5I LX, STUURBEKRACHTIGING, SCHUIF/KANTELDAK, TREKHAAK, LM-VELGEN - Duration: 1:01. 
For more infomation >> Houston man's purple kale romantic blunder goes viral - Duration: 2:58. 
For more infomation >> 소시과 THE LITTLE HOURS 공식 예고편 (한국어 CC) - Duration: 2:02. 
For more infomation >> Stronger Than You Chara Vietsub (mở cc) - Duration: 2:58. 
For more infomation >> A Vênus e a Gata - Duration: 4:51. 
For more infomation >> Injustice 2 - Trailer - DLC - Capuz Vermelho (Red Hood) - LEGENDADO PT-BR - Duration: 1:54. 
For more infomation >> Los deslices de protocolo de Donald Trump durante la gira presidencial - Duration: 2:05. 
For more infomation >> Visita ao Verano Residencial 2 e 3 quartos à venda. - Duration: 5:07. 
For more infomation >> Maduro avanza con el plan Zamora, la milicia organizada del gobierno - Duration: 2:27. 
For more infomation >> Polinomios algebraicos. Curso de Álgebra - Clase 2 - Duration: 5:34. 
No comments:
Post a Comment