Books by Kat

So for this option, I actually read two books. I know, shocker! So I’ll do a short review for each of them, but to be honest, I wasn’t overly impressed with either of them. Sorry for those who really enjoyed them but we are each entitled to our own opinions :]

Book 7

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld

As you probably know from my previous post, Pride and Prejudice is one of my all time favorite books, but I’m not so much of a purist that I don’t enjoy a good retelling or update (see Lizzie Bennet diaries please!). That being said, I start these stories with kinda low expectations and take them all with a grain of salt. 

This retelling is set in Cincinnati, where Jane and Lizzie have traveled from New York City to help their family back home after their father has medical problems. The family structure is still basically the same, everyone is just older. Bingley is a doctor at the hospital Mr Bennet was treated at and so is Darcy, a super successful neurosurgeon. The same basic plot ensues, just modernized with money problems, crossfit references and sex. And a weird Bachelor reality tv show element that Bingely was on called, you guessed it, Eligible.

I’m not gonna lie, I kinda hated this book. There have been a few decent updated and modern retellings of this beloved story but this definitely was NOT it. The characters felt foreign to me, their relationships off and I straight up hated the cliched ending. To be honest, the only reason I wanted to read it was because A)Jane Austen retelling (duh) and B) beautiful cover. I really need to stop falling into the cover trap because in my experience I am ALWAYS let down. So yeah, wasn’t expecting a lot but it kinda sh*t on one of my favorite stories so I ain’t too happy with it. 

Book 8

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child Parts l & ll by JK Rowling, Jack Thorne and John Tiffany

So first things first, I’m not gonna lie, when it was announced months ago that they were publishing the script to the play they opened in London, I wasn’t really intrigued by it. I was quite content with the 7 books how they were and thought a continuation wasn’t really necessary. I was right, but more on that later. As they released cast photos and video interviews, I must admit I got more interested. I think the people they cast are phenomenal and I wanted to see the word they created. So I ordered the script and got it August 1st. Like I said, I wanted to read it, but it was nothing like the excitement of getting a brand new book at the midnight release parties of my childhood. It was more of a “alright lets give this a go” feeling. And I think I did myself a favor by feeling that way because I am in no way let down by what I read since I had already separated it from the other books from the start. 

On to the story, spoiler free, I promise. The play takes place 19 years after Harry and the gang have graduated from Hogwarts. It literally picks up where the epilogue starts in Deathly Hallows. Harry is an overworked dad and isn’t connecting as well with his son Albus as he would like, which is the underlying cause of all the mayhem that happens. To be honest, the whole story seems rather cheesy and trite, with minimal character development and people we know and love acting weirdly out of character. Now I know this is only a script, so there is very little embellishment on the scene and how the characters portray their lines, so I think I would like it much better as a play, even if it still has its main flaws. But I can’t lie and say I loved it. I don’t know if I hated it, but I think that’s only because my mind isn’t accepting it as canon, despite being written and approved by Rowling. To be honest, I’ve always been way more fascinated by the Maurader’s story, James and Lily in school, etc., so maybe if the play had been about that and sucked I would be more upset. All in all I feel kind of ambivalent to the whole thing. I’d like to see the production and review that but seeing as I wont be in London anytime in the near future, I’ll have to be content without it.

So yeah, these were both kind of let downs. Here’s hoping the next few books I read are not such downers!

Hello internet, it’s me, Kat! Sorry to be MIA the past....6 months! Time has not gone by that fast! Crap, it has. Turns out planning a wedding, moving, and prepping for nursing school are SUPER time consuming! WHO KNEW, RIGHT? Anywho, I haven’t been able to stick to my revised plan of one book per month (shocker, I know) SO I am amending my plan for the second, and hopefully last time! New new plan: Read as much as possible in my spare time and blog as soon as I finish the book! Simple I know, and not a reliable time table, but what can you do? LIFE HAPPENS PEOPLE! I also have a problem with starting a book and then finding another book and starting it as well so I have like 5 books only partly read lying around my house right now. No lie. Guys, help me fix this problem....

IN OTHER NEWS! I guess its kind of late and irrelevant for anyone NOT living in London since you can’t see it anywhere but the Garrick Theater, BUT I saw the Live Cinema streaming event for Kenneth Branagh’s Romeo and Juliet with Richard Madden and Lilly James and IT WAS EVERYTHING I EVER WANTED IN MY ENTIRE LIFE! Seriously, so amazing and such a beautiful production and interpretation of the Bard’s famous play. Still thinking about it days later and all I want is a DVD release so I can own it forever. So yeah, if you live in London, LIVE FOR ME AND GO SEE IT! <3

Also, as any HAMILTON fan knows, tonight is Lin, Leslie, and Phillipa’s last night and I’m having second hand feels about that. I mean they are first hand feels, but slightly removed since I have never been to NYC to see them in the show.... but yeah still sad to see those geniuses leaving the awesomeness that is Hamilton! (If you don’t know what I’m talking about, where have you been? Seriously, WHERE?) So yeah, that’s also happening...

To wrap up! I am SO CLOSE to finishing my next book, I hope to have a post about it in the next couple of weeks! Stay tuned and until then, keep reading, listening to Hamilton, and being awesome!

Book 6: A classic romance

Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen

I swear I finished this in January, I just haven’t had time to blog about it till now! Story of my life. Anyways, I love this book and Jane Austen in general! Literary queen right there. I try to reread this book once a year, that’s how much I love the story; I swear, it never gets old <3 

I’m sure you are familiar with the plot line (if you aren’t, seriously, what planet have you been living on?) but I’ll give a brief outline. Elizabeth Bennet, our main protagonist, meets Mr. Darcy at a country ball when his friend takes an estate in the neighborhood. Neither has a favorable good impression of the other. Misunderstandings ensue, due to, what else, pride and prejudice. Characters mature and feelings change along the way in a lovely story that has captured readers and audiences alike for years and years. I personally love the Kiera Knightly movie version the best (sorry book purists who love the BBC miniseries but the scenery in the movie is STUNNING) and the newest rendition in the form of a video blog is a modern day telling I really got behind. If you havent seen either, I highly encourage you to check them out. After reading the novel first, of course :]

Happy reading!

Yours,

So, its been 2016 for almost a month now and I’m still nowhere near finishing the list of books I wanted to finish in 2015.... Classic Kat. But worry not! I still plan to finish the list, just at a slightly slower pace. I’m going for a book a month, which is a better pace for the craziness that is my life right now: I have stuck to it for the past 2 months! Yay me! This bodes well for my other New Years resolutions :p That being said, lets get to it! Que my December read:

Book 5: A book based on a true story

Into Thin Air by Jon Krakauer

This book is about the Mt. Everest disaster in 1996, the deadliest climbing season the mountain has ever seen, where 12 climbers died in a single storm. I’ve had this one on my “to-read” list ever since I finished Krakauer’s book Into the Wild a few years ago (Yeah, I know, he’s real creative when it comes to the titles). I actually didn’t even know until I bought it that the author was actually on the mountain when the storm occurred. I was under the impression he wrote it like he had his previous novel, by interviewing people who were part of it. Which he did, but this time it was as a supplement to his personal account (which is very controversial, but more on that later).

TANGENT: Did you ever have phases as a kid where you were obsessed with learning everything you could about that one topic? No? Only me? Ok, well I had phases like that. In second grade, it was horses, fifth grade was the Titanic sinking, and in middle school, it was Mt. Everest. Much to my mom’s horror, I was convinced I would climb Mt Everest one day, never mind the fact I had never hiked any higher than 7,000 feet above sea level, nor climbed a rock-wall let alone a mountain. Fast forward to today, I have absolutely no plans to climb Mt. Everest, though traveling to Nepal to see it in person would be awesome. Anyways, the point of this tangent was to say that this book took me back to that time in my life. I had forgotten how much Everest fascinated fascinates me. It was a nice throwback.

Back to the book. This novel follows the guided expedition Jon Krakauer was a part of in 1996 to the summit of Everest and back down again. It takes the reader up the mountain with the team, from base to peak, leaving out no detail of how unglamorous high altitude climbing is, as well as how commercialized it has become. I liked how realistic and honest it was, but I bet more squeamish readers wouldn’t appreciate it as much. Hand in hand with the realistic portrait of Death Zone climbing, is the grim reality of death when tackling Mt. Everest. Many of Krakauer’s companions and teammates died in a storm he himself barely escaped. (Spoilers?) The book grapples with the unknown: why were certain decisions made? would different decisions have led to different results and maybe saved more lives? can anyone person be blamed for certain events that exacerbated the problems climbers faced once the storm struck? The world will never know. 

I enjoyed the book. It was a fast read, especially once the storm hit. You were desperate to know if people would make it out, suspense building as Krakauer jumped from one person’s story to another and back again. The book itself has been criticized as Krakauer doesn’t paint some people in a very good light, in addition to having different accounts on certain events than other people who were on the mountain with him. Despite that, a very entertaining read with a healthy dose of realism (mortality of humans, the follies of humans, to err is human, etc, etc). I highly recommend for outdoorsy types to pick up a copy and give it a go!

Till next time,

Book 4: Recommended by a friend

The Martian by Andy Weir

I can’t even tell you how much I enjoyed this book! Its been months since I’ve finished it but even now, typing this, I’m getting excited about it all over again. I’ve recommended it to pretty much anyone I talk to. It is THAT good. 

My friend first mentioned it at the beginning of the summer. Her aerospace engineer husband had read it and convinced her to check out the movie trailer (its coming out in October) to convince her to read it. She loved it and proceeded to recommend it to me as well! After watching the trailer, I was sold on checking it out myself. I should insert here that I LOVE the movie Apollo 13; the teamwork and problem solving of everyone involved to get those men back to Earth amazes me and is even more goose-bump inducing since it is a true story. Seriously, if you haven’t seen it, watch it. I’ll wait! .......... Ok, now that you are back, this book is basically Apollo 13 on steroids. Astronaut Mark Watney is on a manned mission to Mars that needs to abort early due to complications. In the evacuation, he is separated from his crew, mistaken for dead and left on Mars. Alone. And that’s just the first chapter. Everything that can go wrong, will go wrong, and you are just along for the ride, hoping he can “science the sh*t out of it” as he so eloquently says, to get back home. You get not only his point of view, but NASA’s Mission Control back on Earth, and his crew on their way back to Earth, which only adds to the story.

This book was technical, but not in an overbearing way. It has Astronaut Mark talking through his problems and his proposed solutions to said problems. I personally think it made the story more realistic, especially since the author did a great job making sure all the calculations were correct! The main character’s self deprecating sense of humor really make you laugh out loud at times, which I loved. I can’t tell you the last time I was so torn between wanting to know how a book ended but also wishing it would never end. OK thats a lie, it was probably Harry Potter. But that aside, I recommend this book to the world. Go read it, watch the trailer, and wait anxiously with me for October 2nd!

Seriously, read it.

Book 3: Book based on it cover

Beautiful Ruins by Jess Walter

I’m not gonna lie, I was disappointed by this one. I mean, that’s what I get. The age old saying warns us to not judge books by their covers, but it was just so pretty! It drew me in. Plus the setting: Cinque Terre is beautiful (look up pictures if you don’t believe me) aaaaand I might have been influenced by the fact my boyfriend had just visited there and painted such an amazing picture in my head that I literally read the words “Cinque Terre” in the back blurb and was already walking to the cash register. I should also mention that I’ve had this book for 2 summers now and had only just now gotten around to it. I know, I have a problem. Anyways, it had been on my to-read list for a long enough, so I gave it a go!

It started off interestingly enough. Set in the past, a movie star visits a small town on the coast of Italy, all very hush hush. But it bounces around and follows all these other plot lines of different characters in different times, which all connect, but it never really seemed to catch its stride. Hotel owner from long ago goes to LA trying to find the mystery actress, big movie producer in LAtrying to save his name, his assistant tired of her job, a failed author trying to pitch his screenplay, etc. Maybe that’s my fault, I read it pretty sporadically, only a few chapters at a time. But I felt that was mostly because it didn’t keep my attention for any long period. When I finally got to the end, I was left feeling very disappointed. The resolution I was hoping for when all the questions were answered was simply not there. 

I struggled to finish this novel, plain and simple. But if you are intrigued, go for it! I definitely enjoyed the character of the Italian hotel owner, so that was its redeeming quality for me. 

Happy reading!

Book #2: Set in a Different Country

 Life of Pi by Yann Martel

I took this one with me on my beach trip this summer! Its the perfect summer read in my opinion, that is if you don’t have qualms reading about a shipwreck and subsequent stranding in the ocean while being on a boat yourself :p Luckily, I had no such fear. Now, I normally try and make an effort to read a book before seeing the movie adaptation; I feel there is something to be said about the power of pure imagination. I prefer to read books without someone else’s interpretation already in my head. But in this case, I had already seen the movie. Granted, it had been a year or so between the movie watching and then book reading, but the masterpiece that is the movie version is pretty hard to forget. 

Obviously, as I had seen the movie, I knew the twist that comes at the end ahead of time, which I feel detracted a little from the reading experience, but I was blown away by it in the movie, so at least I experience the wonder of it once! To be honest, I’m not sure which I enjoyed more, the movie or the book. Nine times out of ten, I’m a purist when it comes to adaptations; books offer so much more in their pages than any movie can in the span of two hours. But this pair was different. They each had a little something different to offer, which I loved. I enjoyed the book immensely and will always think of my amazing vacation when I read it again, which is an added plus :] I definitely recommend this novel to anyone and everyone, but especially those ready to be wowed by amazing adventures, a tale of survival, and a religious experience in an unconventional setting.

Keep reading!

Hi there. So it might be September already and I’ve only read 4 books out of 50 in the Book Challenge I optimistically started this spring. Oops? In my defense, lots has happened these past few months, but that’s not a real excuse, is it? Life goes on and you just have to capitalize on the free time you have. Which I obviously have not, in the reading department anyway. But enough about my short comings, at least I finished 3 books this summer! That’s more than can be said of the past few summers I’ve spent while in school... I’ll celebrate the little victories and move on :] If you add in the number of books I’ve bought this summer, I’ve added probably 20 books to my personal hoard in the past 4 months, so I definitely count that as a win! I want to make a post for each of the three I finished but as a heads up, they satisfy the categories of..... (insert drum roll here)

-Setting in a Different Country

-Friend Recommended

-Book Based on a Cover

Sorry for the wait, read on my friends!

Book #1: A book that became a movie

Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn

Still trying to recover my brain from this one....Not sure if that will ever happen. But moving on!

I came across Gone Girl towards the end of last summer. One of my close friends had mentioned a fantastic mystery she had recently finished reading and was so excited to see on screen. Me, being the totally out of the loop and pop-culturally challenged person I am, had no idea what she was talking about. She told me to watch the trailer and then read the book before going to see it because it was crazy good (her words not mine, but an apt description, nonetheless). I watched the trailer, was definitely intrigued, and then went about my daily life, meaning to go pick it up but never having time. Finally, around October, I had planned a weekend trip to San Francisco and needed some in-flight reading material. Da -da-da!! Finally comes the purchase of Gone Girl! But alas, it was not meant to be. It stayed in my bag the entire flight there: I was preoccupied with another book I had already started and was close to finishing. (Yes, I finished it, thanks for asking) Unfortunately, its fate was the same for the return flight as well: I slept the whole time, thanks to completing a half marathon earlier that morning. The struggle is real y'all: never run 13 miles then get on a plane for 4 hours in the same day. No bueno.

And so, I completed 2014 without completing the book. But once school started up for the semester, I stuffed it in my backpack on a whim to have between classes and slowly started working my way through it. 

[I just want to put here that I'm not going to summarize the books I read here on this blog.  And I will try my HARDEST to not put in any spoilers to anything I read. But I WILL put my general reaction to the book and how I felt after completing it. Ok? Cool, lets go.]

This book was crazy! Crazy smart, crazy intense, crazy good, crazy as in psycho crazy, you name it, its got it. It was a little slow going at first; it starts written from his and hers perspective, but his is in the present and hers is in the past. This is to fill you in on their relationship, seeing how the story starts the day Amy goes missing. As the book went on, I found it hard to actually like any of the characters. You get such mixed messages from Nick and Amy's perspectives its hard to pick a side, for lack of a better word. Things happened that would constantly be swaying my opinion of them. But oh boy, the twist is a kicker! The only downside is that it takes you so long to get there. Its literally halfway through the book. Once you hit it though, its hard to put the book down! It is still alternating perspectives, but now Amy's side has caught up and starts when she first goes missing. I still didn't like the characters but I HAD to know what happened next; Would the guilty party be caught? Would an innocent person be blamed and punished? So much suspense!! To me, the book had a really unsatisfying ending, but I think that's kind of the point. 

Overall, I enjoyed reading the book, but I don't really think I liked it. I mean, I liked the plot, Gillian Flynn is seriously a genius to come up with all of that, so props to her. But since I didn't like the characters, I didn't like the book. Does that make sense? Maybe I'm crazy to think like that but what can you do. I would definitely recommend it to a friend, it was a great read, but I probably wont be reading this again anytime soon. Upside is, now that I finished it, I can finally watch the movie! Everyone says the endings were different, so maybe I'll like the movie ending better. Here's hoping!

One done, on to the next!

Until next time,

Behold! Let it be known that I have solved my dilemma: I know what I'm gonna read this year!

So I was scrolling through Pinterest, a favorite pastime in between classes, when I stumbled upon this little gem. Drumroll please.... A reading challenge!! Yay! Just what I need to light a fire under me. I mean, who can resist a challenge like this? 50 books in one year! I know, a daunting thought, but definitely do-able.... I think. 

I'll post a link to the website I found the list on so you can check it out yourself and maybe start this journey with me. The best thing about this list is that its totally customizable (Is that a word? Tumblr says no.... If not, lets pretend it is and move on) to your own interests, while still making you branch out of your comfort zone! For example, some items on the list include: A book published the year you were born, A book of short stories, A book you can read in a day, etc. I also love that it doesn't tell you which books to read. Freedom to choose my own books, praise the book gods above! I'm not a fan of lists that tell you which books to read in your 20's or which books to read if you are a female college student, and so on. You get the idea. 

Anyways, I better get started! I'll leave you to start your own book journey!

Till next time!

Kat

Nice to meet you

I am online, starting this blog, for the sole purpose of holding myself accountable. Accountable to what, you ask? Well good people of the interweb, I will tell you. 

It started out during the first few days of the year. You know, that time where you delude yourself into thinking this year will be different. Yes self, you actually WILL change all of your bad habits and character flaws that you've been telling yourself you'd change for the past 10 years. And then a week later all of those good intentions are shot to hell by something or another. You know the story.

But this year, this year things will be different! I shall not let 2015 come out on top. Which brings me back to why I am starting this blog. 

I am about to graduate with an undergraduate degree and I find that I have not had much time to read over the last few years. But Kat, you say, you're in college, all you DO is read! Well yes, yes I do. But I don't READ read. You know, curl up with a good book just because I can. So that's why I'm here.  

I told myself I'd read more this semester for fun. While I love to read, I need something to help keep me on track. Hence this blog. While I realize its basically March and that I've missed 2 good months of blogging potential, I HAVE been reading in that time so it'll all even out in the end. Probably. At least, that's what I'm telling myself. Do you see a trend here? THIS IS WHY I NEED A BLOG! 

I don't know how often I'll be posting, as I don't know how fast I'll be finishing books. I don't have a goal as to how many books I want to read by the end of the semester. As you can see, I need some sort of countable goal to keep me on track. So that's my project: find a goal. In my next post, hopefully next week, I will have a goal and a plan to put it in action!

And so good people of the world (or you know, no one, since I have no idea how to tell if anyone actually reads this thing), I will bid you farewell.

Until next time!