I FINALLY DID IT | November Reading Wrap-Up

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog!

Happy December, everybody! Wow, can you believe 2019 is almost over? That feels completely crazy to me. In a month, we'll be going into a new decade, a new era! I'm not going to lie, I really want the '20s to be good. I know a lot of people want to get back to how the 1920s were, and yes some of that I definitely wouldn't mind see resurface (particularly the music and the style; I am a little obsessed with flappers), I'm so excited to make this coming year and the years that follow all our own.

Okay, enough sapping and reminiscing, I'll do that later in the month! I've got my November wrap-up to talk about with you guys. Overall, not my greatest month page-count wise, but rating wise I think this might be the best month of the year. I only read seven books, but six of them ended up being 5 star reads! I guess technically all of them could have been 5 stars, but you'll see why that is in a minute. Let's get on with it, shall we?

*Italics in my thoughts are my Goodreads reviews/posts on the book in question*

1. Tokyo Ghoul vol. 1 by Sui Ishida (ONE DAY READ)

Star rating: 5/5 stars

Read: Nov. 3

Page count: 224 pages 

Thoughts: I love the art style, first and foremost. I find manga a little hard to actually review, so I'm going to do that exactly. I've watched the anime so I know (vaguely, they took a lot of liberties) what happens in the story, but I'm excited to read it nonetheless, actually a little more than I was about watching the anime. Side note, but this is the first manga I ever bought!

2. Aphrodite Made Me Do It by Trista Mateer (ONE DAY READ)

Star rating: 5/5 stars

Read: Nov. 3

Page count: 224 pages (no, I swear)

Thoughts: I thought this poetry collection was absolutely gorgeous, full of ethereal phrases and feminine power and uplifting messages. The art on nearly every page had me honestly tearing up a little at times. Again, I find it hard to review poetry collections, just because they're typically so personal to the author, it feels a bit like reviewing their life. Normally I don't give them 5 stars on principle, but this collection just spoke to me in a way I didn't think it would. I'm not gonna lie, I really want Aphrodite to appear to me now and lead me through a journey of self love and romantic understanding. That'd be great. 

3. Call Down the Hawk by Maggie Stiefvater (Dreamer Trilogy #1)

Star rating: what else but 5/5 stars for this beauty

Read from: Nov. 4 to Nov. 6

Page count: 472 pages

Thoughts: Okay, I still don't have a proper review for this book, shame on me, but I don't think here is the place to do it. Honestly I really want to reread and take my time with it, and then sit down and talk about it because I flew through this and then couldn't form any coherent thoughts about it for the next three days. If you want to see my flailing about this book, I have an entire reading vlog dedicated to it both on here and my YouTube (AllyEmReads - selfish plug time!) but be warned, there is a lot of squealing and a fair amount of crying. My most basic thoughts that I have are: I loved it, I loved it, I LOVED IT. Okay but seriously, it really was amazing. The new characters that were introduced are extremely interesting and I can't wait to see where their stories go. Also, Declan might just be my favorite Lynch brother?? How???

4. Tunnel of Bones by Victoria (V.E.) Schwab (Cassidy Blake #2)

Star rating: 5/5 stars, though I think I'm going to bump it down to 4.5

Read from: Nov. 6 to Nov. 7

Page count: 304 pages

Thoughts: Yet another excellent Schwab story. I loved diving back into Cassidy’s world, always having been fascinated by ghosts myself. And like in the first book, the atmosphere was perfect. I felt like I was in Paris alongside our spunky protagonist. And the creep factor definitely leveled up as well. But also the sadness was extremely prominent, embedded in every page. Learning about Thomas as well as Jacob, it definitely hit a little too hard for my liking. I’m not good with dead children, though I suppose no one really is.

I can’t wait to see where Cass ends up next.

Truly a great sequel to Schwab's first middle grade, City of Ghosts. Like I said, the atmosphere and the spooks were on point, though that has never been something that Schwab has struggled with in the past. She remains to be my favorite author of all time. 

5. Death Note: Black Edition vol. 1 by Tsugumi Ohba (ONE DAY READ)

Star rating: 5/5 stars

Read: Nov. 8

Page count: 385 pages

Thoughts: Super disturbing and morally grey, right up my alley! Seriously though this is a very interesting manga and I hope I can get the next volumes soon. I wish I was as smart as Light in high school (minus the whole, ya know, righteous insanity thing)

Again, this was a great manga. The art style, while completely different from previous manga I've read (as is usually the case, I'm not sure why I had to specify that), still managed to grab on and drag me in to the story. Ask my parents, I was glued to this book until I finished it. I love darker stories about morally grey and corrupt characters, and this did not disappoint. I own the second volume now, so hopefully I'll get to it in December.

6. Flying Witch vol. 1 by Chihiro Ishizuka (ONE DAY READ)

Star rating: 3/5 stars

Read: Nov. 9

Page count: 160 pages

Thoughts: A very simple and cute manga about a witch in training. This is one of my favorite animes just because it’s so adorable and actually pretty accurate witchcraft, even if the magic itself isn’t. I mean the lore and the practices are accurate, but spells and whatnot are different. It’s hard to explain. I just really like the illustration style and the simplicity of it all

I'm not sure if I am going to keep buying the series, at least not right away in place of other manga that I'm more invested in, but I still really did enjoy it. I love Chito (the MC's animal companion, an adorable black cat who actually doesn't speak it's great but instead has a mental connection with the MC) and Nao is sassy and takes the stance as both humor relief and the sensible realist, a personality that I myself have been characterized with many a time. 

And then I hit a reading slump that lasted LITERALLY UNTIL THE LAST DAY OF NOVEMBER

7. The Hero of Ages by Brandon Sanderson (Mistborn #3)

Star rating: 5/5 stars

Read from: May 12 to Nov. 30 (I know and I hate it)

Page count: 768 pages, though I only read about 400 pages this month

Thoughts: I FINALLY DID IT I FINALLY FINISHED THIS DAMN BOOK AFTER MONTHS OF HIATUS AND SLUMPY FEELINGS IT'S DONE IT'S OVER IT'S OFF OF MY CURRENT READS SHELF.

Ehem, sorry.

I have...so many emotions?????

First off, I want to say that I CALLED THE ENDING. I HAVE RECEIPTS. I messaged my friend on Twitter with a theory I decided on maybe 2/3 of the way through, and HO BOY DID THAT THEORY PROVE CORRECTLY.

I just...there’s so much to unpack here??? But I know that I’m going to be shook by that ending for a VERY long time. And just like mad props to Sanderson for creating this entire world and ALL THE FORESHADOWING he managed in the first two books. I’m definitely going to have to go and reread them and see if I pick up on everything he did.

There’s so much I still want to say but it’s nearly 3 in the morning and I need to get some form of rest, so I will leave on this parting note:

Faith is a funny thing

I'll have to reread the series again just to be sure, but as of now I think this might be my favorite in the trilogy. There were a lot of twists and turns and a lot of "oh, shit" moments, which are normally not my cup of tea, but Sanderson makes it work. And all of the little things that were in the first two books that you would think "okay that's cool, but why mention it?" were brought together and explained so beautifully. Is it any surprise that this was also a tear-jerker? (Though a percent of that was just because I finally finished it)

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Total page count: 2,537 pages (though not counting the rest of HoA, 2,169 pages)

I'm not going to pick a favorite and least favorite for this month because they were all so good and I'd have no idea how to choose, even Flying Witch was great even if it wasn't a 5 star

Unfinished books in November: The Rage of Dragons by Evan Winter

                                                       Furthermore by Taherah Mafi

No DNF's this month

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Alright, there you go! Like I said, not the best reading month page count wise (I think this might be the lowest amount of pages I've read all year, actually) but oh boy did those pages pack a punch. Even with nearly a month-long slump, I still feel good about the books I read. 

For December, I'm probably not going to be able to finish a single book until the second week, because heyo finals have arrived, and I'm slowly turning into a big ball of nerves and anxiety and coffee. Lots and lots of coffee. So, for obvious reasons, there aren't going to be any videos or blog posts until (hopefully) next Friday, the 13th. Though I might be getting another tattoo then, we'll see. 

I'm not sure when I'll update again, but until then!