August 2016 Wrap Up

Jen

August turned out to be a pretty good reading month for me. I was definitely a bit too ambitious and hopeful when I made my TBR and I didn’t read as many novels as I wanted to. However I did get to a lot of the books that I really wanted to read, which I think is an accomplishment in itself! I’m also pretty proud of the fact that I managed to read the entire Death Note manga series and watch almost the entire anime series all within one month.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by Jack Thorne, John Tiffany & J.K. Rowling → 4/5

Fruits Basket Volume 1 by Natsuki Takaya → 4/5

Tik-Tok of Oz (Oz, #8) by L. Frank Baum → 4/5

The Scarecrow of Oz (Oz, #9) by L. Frank Baum → 3/5

Matilda by Roald Dahl (Audiobook narrated by Kate Winslet) → 5/5

Ignite Me by Tahereh Mafi → 1/5

Library Wars: Love & War, Volumes 14 & 15 by Kiiro Yumi, Hiro Arikawa & Kinami Watabe → both 5/5

It Ends With Us by Colleen Hoover → 4/5

Charlie and the Chocolate Factory by Roald Dahl (Audiobook narrated by Douglas Hodge) → 5/5

The Son of Neptune by Rick Riordan → 4.5/5

The Cabin by Natasha Preston → 3/5

Heir of Fire by Sarah J. Maas → 5/5

Death Note: Black Edition, Volumes 1 - 6 by Tsugumi Ohba & Takeshi Obata → all 5/5 except volume 6 which I gave 4/5

Challenges completed:

Finish a series - Ignite Me: I ended up hating this book (and the series overall) but I am super happy that I finally got it read and can just unhaul these books and move on to better books.

Read a standalone - The Cabin: this book didn’t quite meet my expectations but it was still a good read and one that I’m glad I finally got to since I needed to review it!  

Read a favourite children's book - Matilda & Charlie and the Chocolate Factory: I had originally only planned on reading Matilda for this challenge but after finishing that book, I was just in the mood for another childhood favourite of mine.  

Challenges not completed: 

Read a middle grade book - The Son of Neptune: while I did read and ended up loving this book, it was kind of a fail on my part since I subsequently found out that Goodreads lists this as a young adult book and not middle grade like I originally thought it was. Oops. 

Read a book by an author who writes under more than one name - The Problem with Forever: this one didn’t happen since I failed to even pick up this book once. I ended up prioritising other books and this one just kept getting pushed back. But I am determined to read it, and soon, since I’ve been wanting to read it since it was released!

Mel
I'm a bit annoyed that I only completed two of the challenges set for the month, but I did read a few other books in the month, so I'm not too disappointed.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by JK Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne  4/5
Black and Blue by James Patterson and Candice Fox  3/5
Cross Kill by James Patterson  5/5
Mind = Blown by Matthew Santoro  5/5
Nerve by Jeanne Ryan  3.75/5
Fruits Basket Collector's Edition Vol 1 by Natsuki Takaya  5/5
Clockwork Princess by Cassandra Clare  5/5

Challenges completed:
Finish a series - Clockwork Princess
A Stand Alone - Nerve: This was actually a substitute for The Messenger by Markus Zusak, because I just didn't feel like reading that genre.

July 2016 Wrap Up

Jen

I am very happy with what I managed to accomplish with my reading this month. I was successful in completing all the reading challenges that Mel and I set for the month, discovered a new obsession of mine, and actually read some of the books that I had been wanting to for a while. However, there were quite a few disappointing reads this month. I have linked my Goodreads page if you want to see more of my thoughts for any of the books.

The Patchwork Girl of Oz (Oz #7) by L. Frank Baum → 4/5

The Leaving by Tara Altebrando → 4/5

The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave #2) by Rick Yancey → 3/5

The Last Star (The 5th Wave #3) by Rick Yancey → 1/5

The Hobbit by J.R.R. Tolkien → 3/5

Black by Fleur Ferris → 4.5/5

The Worst Witch by Jill Murphy (Audiobook narrated by Miriam Margoyles) → 5/5

The World of Ice and Fire by George R.R. Martin → 2/5

Unravel Me (Shatter Me #2) by Tahereh Mafi → 2/5

Unite Me (Shatter Me #1.5 & #2.5 novellas) by Tahereh Mafi → 3/5

Saga, Volume 6 by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples → 5/5

A Little Princess by Frances Hodgson Burnett → 5/5

Library Wars: Love & War, Volumes 1 - 13 by Kiiro Yumi, Hiro Arikawa & Kinami Watabe → all 5/5 with the occasional 4/5

One Was Lost by Natalie D. Richards → 4/5

The Assassin’s Blade (Throne of Glass #0.1 - #0.5 novellas) by Sarah J. Maas → 5/5

And here’s my wrap up for our reading challenge:

Challenge #1: The Hobbit - I did manage to complete this as our buddy read book.

Challenge #2: A Little Princess - since I managed to squeeze this book in, I counted this as the classic instead of The Hobbit. I am so glad I read this as it turned out to be my favourite book of the month!

Challenge #3: The Worst Witch - I loved listening to this audiobook and I wish I could find all the other books in this series.

Challenge #4: Black - this was my book under 300 pages.

Challenge #5: Not only did I make progress in the Oz series, the Shatter Me series and the Throne of Glass series, I actually managed to FINISH The 5th Wave trilogy!

Challenge #6: This challenge to read a graphic novel or manga was what started me off on my new manga craze. I picked up the first volume of quite a few different series intending to try them all out, but it was the one series I found while randomly browsing through my library shelves that ended up being my surprise find of the month. I read Volume 1 of Library Wars, liked it enough to continue and somewhere along the way I was completely hooked and neglected everything else to binge read the series. I’m still annoyed that I couldn’t finish the last two volumes because someone checked those out of the library right before I wanted them. 

Mel
I managed to finish 5 books in July, which I'm really happy about. I'm still behind on my Goodreads challenge, but I should be able to catch up between now and the end of the year.

Bleach #3 Volumes 7, 8 & 9 by Tite Kubo  5/5
Clockwork Angel by Cassandra Clare  5/5
Clockwork Prince by Cassandra Clare  5/5
The Lord of the Rings Book 2 - The Ring Goes South by JRR Tolkien  5/5
Snow White with the Red Hair Volume 1 by Sorata Akizuki  5/5

Reading Challenge
Challenge #1: Incomplete. Buddy Read: The Hobbit - I didn't quite get around to finishing this, but I did make a start and will be finishing it in August.
Challenge #2: Complete. A classic - Whilst I did choose The Hobbit for this challenge, I can equally count The Ring Goes South by JRR Tolkien, which I originally intended to finish in June, but didn't manage.
Challenge #3: Complete. Audiobook: Clockwork Angel - I have read this book as a physical copy, but I recently purchased the audiobooks and had not listened to them yet, so I chose this and loved it! I thoroughly enjoyed the commentary, and it's probably one of the more enjoyable commentaries that I've come across.
Challenge #4: Complete. A book under 300 pages - I originally chose a Tolkien novel to fill this challenge too, but instead, I'll go with Snow White with the Red Hair Volume 1. This manga series is quickly becoming a favourite, after watching the first two seasons of the anime and I can't wait to continue the series!
Challenge #5: Complete. A sequel - Clockwork Prince - Again, not the book I originally set for the challenge, but I was on a roll and wanted to continue with the audiobooks!
Challenge #6: Complete. Manga/graphic novel - Bleach Volumes 7, 8 & 9 omnibus - I think i originally set the edition after this for the challenge, but I didn't get around to starting that one, so since I did finish this in July, it counts.

So, despite not finishing one of the challenges, this went a whole lot better than June's challenge, so I'm really happy with how this turned out!