Hey everyone, I hope you're doing very well!
This is the 4th vlog for Mythothon and the second one for Tome Topple.
Mythothon is the readathon where we have to read books to fill this bingo style board
which is full of Greek mythology heroes and Gods.
And Tome Topple is where he have to read 500+ pages books during 2 weeks.
In the last vlog I started reading My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows.
And I finished it today so I'm starting this vlog with a review.
I'll use this for Homer.
Which is the only one from this board who is neither God nor hero. He's the author of The Iliad and The Odyssey.
Homer's prompt was a retelling. And My Lady Jane is a retelling of the story of Lady Jane Grey.
The Queen of England who lasted 9 days on the throne.
Known in spanish as "Juana de Inglaterra".
And this retelling adds magical elements to the story, which obviously didn't happen in real life.
But with these magical elements, it alludes to the tension they had in those days regarding religion issues.
And the authors, beforehand, let you know it's a book you don't have to take seriously.
That it's going to be a comedy which can deviate a lot from the true story.
And they take charge of giving Lady Jane Grey a better ending from the one we know thanks to history.
I listened to its audiobook and the narrator: Katherine Kellgren does a wonderful job,
she made me laugh so many times and I don't think it was just because of the writing style,
but because of her way of giving life to these characters.
It's a very light and funny read.
And want it or not, it makes you research a bit of history to know what really happened.
I loved it and I gave it 4 stars.
It's 490 pages long so I also used it for Tome Topple.
Tomorrow it's my friend's wedding, the one I've been talking about the whole month.
But it's out of town so we're leaving today so we're ready for tomorrow.
Since we're bridesmaids we have to be there early to help the bride and get ready.
I'm sure this weekend I won't be able to read that much.
But I'm taking my kindle with me to keep up with Treasure Island.
In fact I think it's already time to leave, so I'll see you later.
Black Friday took place during the wedding's weekend.
And Amazon Mexico respects the deals of Amazon U.S.
So I bought some books.
The first 2 are Steal Like An Artist and Show Your Work by Austin Kleon.
These would be considered as self-help for your creativity.
I also have And The Ocean Was Our Sky by Patrick Ness.
It's a Moby Dick retelling in graphic novel. I believe it's told through the whale's point of view.
And without the dust jacket it looks like this.
The harpoon.
And the illustrations have this style.
Bad Girls Throughout History by Ann Shen.
In this one we have stories of women who have marked history in some way or another.
And the last book I ordered got here damaged so I'm going to return it
but it's Belle's Library.
And this one has several quotes from famous books.
As if it were Belle's notebook where she annotates her favourite quotes.
But it's damaged from this corner and I don't want to keep it like that.
So I'm going to change this one.
I also bought my Shower Speaker so I can listen to my audiobooks, or music while I shower.
I've been reading a bit more of Eteka.
I got stuck with that book because the first chapter didn't hook me up
it was taking me a while to pass from the first chapter
because it's a chapter where you don't empathize with any character.
So it's hard to follow the story of characters like those.
Because you don't identify with any of them yet.
But from the 2nd chapter it hooked me up so I kept on going.
I've also been reading Treasure Island. With that one I'm at 30%.
And I also started an audiobook during the wedding's weekend.
My Plain Jane, which is the 2nd book by the authors of My Lady Jane.
But is not really a sequel. These authors are doing a series called The Lady Janies
where they write about famous Janies from history.
The first on was Lady Jane Grey who was real.
And My Plain Jane is based on Jane Eyre, Charlotte Brontë's character from the book… Jane Eyre.
So you don't have to read them in order. And so far it's identical to Jane Eyre.
It's a retelling of the original book.
But this one has a supernatural touch.
And that's the status so far.
Ok, I finished My Plain Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton and Jodi Meadows.
And I used it for Athena's prompt where we had to read a book that's not the first in a series.
They add Charlotte Brontë's character.
Meaning the author from the original book appears as another character in this book.
And I loved that part because we have interactions of Jane Eyre with Charlotte Brontë.
So that part was really cool.
Also the supernatural elements, which were the added bits to the story, felt refreshing.
However, I read Jane Eyre for the first time exactly a year ago.
And I had very high expectations because everybody loves this book.
And I didn't love it to make it one of my favourites,
I didn't hate it either I thought it was a good book but it wasn't the best for me.
And in this retelling they use practically the same story.
And many situations repeat as said in the original book.
So I wasn't intrigued by anything because I knew what was behind this story.
Because of that, what I enjoyed were the new elements.
But I was hoping a funnier book, like the first one these authors collaborated with.
And also a book that made me feel the love, that made me want the characters to end up together.
And this one didn't make me feel that, didn't make me feel anything.
I don't want to say it's boring because it really wasn't but…
My whole state of mind stayed on the same level.
I think a book has to make you feel, and this one didn't make me feel anything.
So I ended up giving it 2.5 stars.
I got the replacement for the book that arrived damaged so let's see if this one is fine.
So I can return the last one that was all battered.
The old one, the new one.
There are 2 days left from the readathon. Today I started listening to Severance by Ling Ma.
It's a dystopia that has being described as a mix between The Office with The Walking Dead.
So far it hasn't made me laugh…
The Office makes me laugh so by that comparison I thought it was going to be funny but maybe I haven't got there yet.
But what I want now is to relax a bit and watch Pride and Prejudice
because I need a break from the reading pressure.
So I'm watching a movie instead of reading.
Today I've been reading a bit more of Eteka: Rise of the Imamba.
My iPad ran out of battery so I had to plug it in so I can keep reading later.
I'm around page 180, and the way this book is written feels like an action movie.
Like you're watching something like Mission Impossible or Die Hard. Something with that style.
And it jumps between several timelines. From past to present until they unite to the same point.
Or at least that's what I gather so far at 20-30% of the book.
In this story we follow a group of people who created a brotherhood called: Imamba
In search of a common goal in that may be getting out of hand.
But it's pretty interesting.
And since it involves several different cities. Now and then it has quotes in different languages.
And a while ago…. well earlier today in one of the chapter
I read some phrases in Spanish but they were in Morocco.
And on the foot note said that in the 15th and 17th centuries,
many Spanish people migrated to take refugee in Morocco.
And because of this in that city, and many others from Morocco, they speak Spanish.
And that's something I didn't know and now learned and I found it really interesting.
While my iPad recharges I'm going to make a logo while listening to Severance.
I'm on chapter 25 from 29. Though regularly the last chapter is to say thanks for listening to the audiobook.
So I guess I have only 4 chapters left.
With that reading I complete this whole vertical line.
I don't know if they count in Bingo, or only the horizontals count…
But if they do, I've completed another line.
Ok, Severance by Ling Ma is a dystopia full of metaphors.
Which doesn't focus on the apocalypse nor the dystopia.
But on making analogies regarding our current life.
In this book we follow a daughter from a Chinese marriage who migrated to the United States.
And honestly, her character is not nice at all. I never empathized with her.
So that made it difficult for me to follow her story.
She is a 20 something millennial entirely focused on her job.
And once the epidemy that causes this story's apocalypse attacks
her reaction is not what I expected from a main character in these type of books.
Because she keeps acting within her routine.
Though probably that's on purpose because the virus affecting the world
empties people's minds and they start following routines until they can't anymore.
Without attacking anyone.
And here's where the comparison with The Office and The Walking Dead comes in place.
For The Office part it means that she works in an office, not much about the comedy.
And for The Walking Dead part it means the end of the world.
And not precisely the zombies we're used to see.
I feel I never connected with this book.
I don't know if it's because I was expecting comedy or because I didn't like the character
or because it missed the dystopia element.
I mean those elements that make you feel the world is really ending.
One of my favourite books from all time is Station Eleven.
Which is also a dystopia and is also told through past and present timelines.
But Station Eleven made me think more and appreciate more the things I have.
And this one didn't do that for me. However it has a lot of reviews of people with whom it did.
So maybe you could give it a go and maybe it is your thing.
I used it for the prompt of Dionysus: a 2018 release. It came out in September.
It was less than I expected but I know I'll keep remembering several scenes from this book
because they're a bit grotesque and some are quite unique.
And I know they'll stay in my mind even though I didn't enjoy it as much as I hoped.
I'll give it 3 stars on Goodreads, barely.
It's the last day of the readathon and I just finished Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson.
I broke my chalk!
Oh God, it lasted so long!
Well I used it for the prompt of Poseidon, a book about pirates or something related to sea.
This is a classic that redefined the way we currently see pirates.
From their physical aspect, their personalities, mutinies, intrigues, legends,
miscellanea, like the maps and the x's that marked treasures, etc.
I enjoyed so much this book. All its characters, the plot, the pace and the plot twist.
I think the only movie I've seen based on this book has been Treasure Planet, from Disney.
And I didn't remember the plot twist, so it surprised me once more.
I also could't help remembering several scenes and themes taken for Pirates of the Caribbean.
Because, obviously, this book has been taken as reference for many adaptations.
So not everything felt new because it has been reused by others.
But I love that when it came out it was something super original.
And I can perfectly imagine the excitement and adventure they felt while reading it in 1880 something.
I gave this book 4 stars.
And I'm also a bit in love with the tune I gave the song of: Yo-Ho-Ho and a bottle of rum.
I don't know why, maybe I'd listened to it somewhere else.
But I really loved the tune.
I won't be able to finish Eteka: Rise of the Imamba for this readathon.
Because I'm at page 236 from 556.
So I would have to read more than 300 pages today and it's Friday, so it's not happening.
And now I'll share my results.
For Tome Topple I ended up reading Vengeful, The Raven King, My Plain Jane, My Lady Jane and that's it.
And for Mythothon I read 15 books. And in the end the rows I managed were...
Can you see it?
The second horizontal row
and the first vertical line.
As soon as I finish Eteka: Rise of the Imamba I'm going to do a full video talking about it
so I can give it closure.
And that's it!
Thanks for joining me during this journey of 4 videos for Mythothon and 2 for Tome Topple.
And I'll see you in the next video. Bye!
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