November 2017 reading wrap-up

What's this? December already?? How?

In November I decided to focus on quality over quantity of my books and in results I've read 6 books. Three of them were very mediocre. One was spectacular. Let's dig in.

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1. The moving finger by Agatha Christie
​4/5 stars
This was actually a re-read for me, although I didn't realize till I was actually reading it.

This was just as good the second time around and I've picked up more on many things. It actually astonished me how many things must have went over my head the first time I was reading it. The sass in conversations, the bright feminist streak and even the sheer meanness of some of the characters. 

“If you’ve been snubbed, or ignored, or frustrated, and your life’s pretty drab and empty, I suppose you get a sense of power from stabbing in the dark at people who are happy and enjoying themselves.”

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2. House of Furies by Madeleine Roux 
2.5/5 stars 
​I picked up this book at a library on a whim - only because the page design and illustrations inside of it caught my eye. I am saddened to tell you that the illustrations remained to be the best thing about this book. Because the book itself was very meh. 

​It is not a bad book per say, it's just - useless? 400 pages of no apparent plot and no satisfactory ending. Apparently it will be a series (which I didn't know) so the book never actually ended, but rather created an opening for the next book. When I was done reading it I felt like I just wasted all of my time for nothing - because nothing really got resolved, or even explained too well.

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3. The Hero of ages by Brandon Sanderson 
All of the stars!
Hello new favorite trilogy of all time.

Hello new favorite author of all time.

Hello book that broke my heart at least 5 times.

“Faith means that it doesn't matter what happens. You can trust that somebody is watching. Trust that somebody will make it all right.”

​I find that the more I love the book the less I have to say because my brain just can't handle how good it was. 

Also I am not on a quest to read all of Brandon Sanderson books. So here is that. 

“Somehow, we'll find it. The balance between whom we wish to be and whom we need to be. But for now, we simply have to be satisfied with who we are.”

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4. The woman in black by Susan Hill 
2/5 stars
​The Woman in Black is said to be a scary ghost story. It's promised to be 'a ratting good yarn' (whatever that means). It's claimed to be 'nerve shredding'. Well, I am here to tell you that it is neither of those things. It's not scary, nor thrilling, nor chilling. Not even a little bit!
And I scare easily. 

Now that I am done reading it I don't think that it's a bad book, I just don't think this is a scary book in any way. I don't know, maybe it's scary to a five year old? The problem is - it had the potential to be scary. Terrifying even. But the way it was written - in past tense, reassuring - killed the scary mood completely.

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5. Five little pigs by Agatha Christie 4.5/5 stars 
I am genuinely surprised that this novel of Christie's is not talked about more. This is one of my personal favorites and this time it was actually a re-read for me.

I've read Five Little Pigs for the first time about 7 years ago, and now that I have picked it up for the second time all I could remember was that I liked it a lot. I didn't remember who the murderer was, or how the book played out - so in a sense, my experience was like reading it for the first time. 

“One does not, you know, employ merely the muscles. I do not need to bend and measure the footprints and pick up the cigarette ends and examine the bent blades of grass. It is enough for me to sit back in my chair and think."

This novel is quite different from all others from Christie. To start of - there's no crime scene and no looking for fresh clues, this is a murder from the past. Poirot takes on a task of uncovering the truth of a murder that happened 16 years ago. Such interesting premise makes for a completely different novel structure - and I think that it was because of this that I enjoyed it so much.

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6. The Renegades by Marissa Meyer
3.5/5 stars
​Renegades have been circulating a lot of hype on Goodreads recently, and once again, silly me bought into the hype. I didn't hate the book but neither did I particularly like it. It wasn't bad, but neither was it good. It was in the essence of the word - very mediocre. 
Also it was 550 pages and I just cannot comprehend WHY did it need to be that long?? 
I generally like Marissa Meyer so maybe I just wasn't into all of the superhero stuff that was going on in this book. I thought it would be more about people breaking the law (more like Six of Crows crew, you know...)
The only character I liked was Adrian (little sweet cinnamon roll). 
I could not connect to Nova at all. Her logic seemed ridiculous and her motives flawed and insubstantial. She was also very inconsistent in her thoughts and action. 

Overall I found Renegades to be like a cheesy Disney super hero movie with many cliches all thought out. I did really enjoy the writing style though - I kept reading because Marissa Meyer writing very fluidly and I like that.
​And once again - it was way too long!

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