The Classics Club Challenge: Year 4 Update

I completely forgot that I read The Odyssey at the beginning of last year before my year 3 update, so my numbers were off. I never wrote a review and I forgot that I added it to my list as a re-read. 

1. The Odyssey

2. Little Women

3. The Catcher in the Rye

4. Fahrenheit 451

5. The Hobbit

6. Lord of the Flies

7. The Princess Bride

8. The Fellowship of the Ring

9. Catch-22

10. Great Expectations

Favorite read of this year is The Hobbit!!

Least favorite is too many.. Catcher in the Rye, Fahrenheit 451, Lord of the Flies

Review: Catch-22 by Joesph Heller

 

The tagline at the top "The Classic Bestseller" is a lie. This book was straight up awful. I was expecting a solid war book and instead it was about a coward named Yossarian who only joined the military to be a bombadier and make training last till the war was over so he wouldn't have to fly. Also this book should be more targeted toward exotic and snuff reads because of the amount of prostitution and sexual assualt and objectifying every single female character.

There were times when this book made me straight up laugh but then it would say something like "I had to kill her but I only raped her once". Like what the actual fuck???

About 100 pages in, I watched the first episode of the mini series on Hulu and it helped me put faces to names because every character was exactly the same. There was no growth or different attributes. 

Also the gory details about every wound and injury was straight up disgusting. Ground meat was mentioned and then stewed tomatoes falling out of one persons guts as he lay dying from a flak wound.

Review: Five Broken Blades by Mai Corland

 

Reading this right after The Assassin's Blade kept me in the fantasy mood. There were so many comparisons and I thought at first that I would get things confused and mix to two books and that is not the case. There may be similarities but this book holds it own. I gave this 5 stars because I love Asian fantasy. They always have myth and lore involved and it just keeps me engaged to entire time.

This book has 6 main characters, so 6 POV's. I thought I was going to be so confused, but there was only a couple time where I had to flip back to the chapter heading to remember who was talking. 

The first chapter we meet Royo. He is a strongman and he is just coming off a job. He goes into a tavern and he is told by the bar keep a beautiful woman is looking for him. He then finds a calling card in his pocket and he gets spooked because someone got close to him without knowing. 

The second chapter we meet Euyn who is living in poverty and in hiding. It turns out he is an exiled prince with a bounty on his head. His former lover who is also the royal spymaster finds him and tells him that his sister Queen Quilimar wants to reunite with him. Mikhail the spymaster is another main character and throughout the book, he was just a bland character who didn't make much difference until he does. He stays under the radar. 

The third chapter we meet Sora. She is a poison maiden who is a royal courtesan. She and her sister Daysum were sold to the count who ran an illegal poison school where out of 20 girls, only three survived. She is told that there is a plot to kill King Joon who is known throughout the country as a God King because he cannot die. She is being sent with the counts son Tiyung to see that the mission is a success and grant her her freedom by burning her indenture. Little does she know that Tiyung recieved different orders, but he refuses because he has been in love with Sora since she was purchased by the count. 

The 6th POV is Aeri, the beautiful woman who was looking for Royo. She hires Royo to be a guard for her and keep her safe because she has been tasked by Mikhail to help assassinate King Joon. She is known as a thief and pickpocket, but nobody can see her do it because she is that fast.

The quest for these three pairings were so engaging and page turning. There was times where each character felt distrustful of the others and they eventually decided to overcome their doubts to work as a team to try to assassinte the king. 

I need to pick up the second book soon and the third book comes out next month.

Review: The Assassin's Blade by Sarah J Maas

 

I am determined to finish the Throne of Glass series this year. I am so in love with Sarah J Maas writing. It keeps me focused when I do get the chance to pick up a book and I do not want to put them down. My reading has slowed down tremendously this year. I am 10 books behind schedule and I am not mad about it. 

This is the book of short stories following Celaena before the events of Throne of Glass. We get to see her as the number oe assassin in the Keep. We meet Sam who I immediately loved and was heartbroken over his death. 

I thought I would be annoyed with the different stories but they all flowed nicely. I really enjoyed the story when she was in the Red Dessert. I kind of hope that the silent assassins will make an appearance in the rest of the series. Also I want to see if the slaves that Celaena and Sam freed also make a comeback to help with the conclusion.

The end of the book where Celaena sees the stag and she yells at him to run broke my damn heart because she was already defeated and seeing that piece from her past reminded her of what she lost, but also what is to come and what to fight for. 

Now as for reading order. I think that this should absolutely be read before starting the series especially if you like having context and backstory to things. 

Recent Reads!!

 I have been slacking HARD on my reviews. I have also been reading very slowly. I am only reading 5 books a month because I have so much work and also school work with my kids. I homeschool and I have two high schoolers and a middle schooler. 

I am going to be combining some recent reads in one post because I do not have the time to make separate posts, but with it being summer and having some free days, I am hoping to get back into blogging because I really miss it.

First review: ASAP by Axie Oh

I finished a series this year, even though it is a duology. I had to complete this series because I am obsessed with Kpop thanks to my teenage daughters. The cover screams V from BTS and Jennie from Blackpink. I also really enjoyed the mention of my number one favorite BTS song on page freaking three. Anpanman was playing in the restaurant/ cafe that Sori is going to meet Jenny in.

I really liked this installment more than the first book. This follows Sori who was the roommate of Jenny in the first and the mean girl/best friend. We follow Sori as she is trying to figure out if she really wants to become an idol and she is also navigating alot of family drama. Her mom is trying to keep the company afloat and her dad is screwing other women.

Sori is also trying to keep her feelings for Nathaniel in check because she can't go through another heartbreak and does not want to ruin his career. This book made me cry because the character growth and the intimate and close mother daughter relationship that thrives at the end. 

NEXT REVIEW: I Got Abducted by Aliens and Now I am Trapped in a Rom-Com by Kimberly Lemming

I really enjoyed the Mead Mishaps series by Kimberly Lemming and I have to read everything that she gets published because they are good fun reads. This one was out there and honestly it was grand. I did give it a 4 star because the sex scenes were very unbelievable and the knotting was not it. I am not into that kind of kink in smut. 

We follow our main girl Dorothy who is a scientist studying meercats ans she is in Africa and she is trying to get her mom to get off her case about marrying rich and being taken care of. Suddenly, she gets beamed up into a space ship with a lion and other women who have been abducted. Sshe escapes with the lion and the lion starts talking. Dory names the lion Toto because the wizard of oz and honestly Toto is my absolute favorite character.

We meet the aliens who were also abducted from their home planet and was dumped on this planet that is meant to look similar to Earth. The funny thing is that the Owl creatures who abducted Dory, only studied Earth for three days and they got shit messed up. They put a freaking pink t-rex and other dinosaurs and stores and houses together. 

The whole time Dory is trying to survive, she is trying to gather evidence to take back to the real Earth so she can be credited with a discovery and get her mom off her back. This book definitely had more plot and suspense than the Mead Mishap series, but I don't think this will be a series. 

REVIEW 3: Hum If You Don't Know The Words by Bianca Marais

I have had this book on my TBR shelf for years and I have tried to make it priority for the last three or four years. I finally picked it up and I was so disappointed. I liked it but it did not leave a lasting impression and I felt that my time was wasted because it just ended so abruptly and nothing changed. There was hardly any character growth. 

This is set during apartheid in South Africa and we have two points of view. A yound white girl named Robin, whose parents are brutally murdered by angry black miners that worked under her father and then we follow a black lady named Beauty who is on the search for her daughter who has joined the revolution. The whole plot of this book is Beauty trying to find her daughter and her being told that her daughter has run off to be a soldier when in fact, she has been working as a serving girl for a crime lord who started the revolution. 

Beauty ends up taking care of Robin to be able to stay in Johanesburg and Robin's aunt is just awful. We have Jewish characters and Gay characters who help teach Robin that the world is bigger than the conflict of the white and black races. That the black people are more than just what she has been told and not all of them are horrible or savage or brutal murderers. 

The ending like I said was just underwhelming. It was abrupt and it was just concluded too quickly. I know that there is another book that Bianca Marais has written that is not a sequel but it has a couple characters from this book, and I am not interested. I also feel that this didn't give enough details of the apartheid. The reader is kind of expected to know what it was, and I know bits and pieces but I was confused.

TOP TEN TUESDAY: Bookish Wishes

 Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana from That Artsy Reader Girl.

I only have three books at the top of my wishlist that I would love to finally get my hands on. I have been on a book buying ban for most of the year and the only ones I have bought have been classics and manga that my library does not have.

WISHLIST

I am obsessed with Bridgerton and these special editions are GORGEOUS!

I am on my Brandon Sanderson journey this year and my library has a massive waitlist for this because they only have 2 copies to share between 8 libraries in my county.

Iron Widow was my number 1 read the year it came out and I have been waiting so long for this one and once again, my library can't buy this one because there is apparently not a big enough interest for it.

Review: Dog Man Series books 1-3

 

Back in December of last year, I was watching tv with my kids and we saw the trailer for the Dog Man movie that came out last month. We all got excited and my kids have got me to start the series. I am going to be combining my reviews of the books in these posts, because there isn't much to say. 

I used to read the Captain Underpants books growing up and I knew that this would be stupid silly humor. The first chapter where Dog Man becomes Dog Man, I was kind of grossed out. Also Dog Man is the same exact color of my pitbull lab mix puppy Pizza. So everytime that the chief yelled at Dog Man and Dog Man was upset, I wanted go hug and cuddle my pup.

The second chapter about the evil Mayor made me chuckle because my town has a really horrible feud going on where half the town hates out mayor and the rest are on the side of the mayor and there was a big argument about the town Christmas tree and it was so stupid but it was relevant in a way. 

Finally reading the second volume in the middle of May. The movie will be coming on Peacock at the end of the month and I also really need to catch up to my goodreads goal. I am 5 books behind, so I will be getting this one and volume three knocked out this week. So far in chapter 1, it is just a recao of how Dogman came to be and of course, once again I need to cuddle my dog Pizza.

I cant handle Dogman being upset and looking sad. Especially when being called obnoxious, which they are. The flip o rama haiku was so cute. The pet store owner asking Dogman what he had to say for himself and Dogman squeeking the ball is so relatable. Flippy the evil fish eating all the brain dots and his brain growing eleven sizes. The cops are truly idiots...lol. Flippy is impersonating Petey and he robbed the pet store. Dogman and the pet store is not a good combo.

I was shooketh reading the part where everyone was chasing Petey after he stunned them with the love ray. It was very creepy, especially the grandma chasing him and saying she wanted "tender vittles". Like what does that mean???

We watched the movie before I got to the third book and the movie is a mix of a good bit of the first 4-5 books according to my kid. This one has me giggling everytime I start a new chapter because A Tale of Two Cities is one of my favorite classics, and seeing spoofs and parodies is hilarious.

There is one section I can't get past and once again, it is Dog Man looking sad and he is being told to look sad. My dog looks sad everynight when I am cooking dinner because I wont share the food. Also Dog Man hiding beind the plant. Why is this so relatable to my dog???

The part where Lil Petey is left in the free kitty box and that whole section of the book being in the movie was not as sad as it actually is in the book. It shows the emotions of Petey being sad that Lil Petey was upset and he didn't pull his box into the road. 

Petey being sad seeing Lil Petey sleeping is so relatable because I look at my kids and pets that way. Petey making the puppet of Dog Man cracked me up. Lil Petey falling asleep with the DogMan puppet is so cute.

The "evil robot" 80-HD being friends with Lil Petey was cute. It is weird that most of the Dogman movie was basically this book more than the first two books. The fact that dental floss and french salad dressing was used to help destroy the living buildings.

I like book Petey more than the movie Petey and that is just because I dislike Pete Davidson with a passion and cannot see him in the father role or hear his nails on a chalkboard voice when I read Petey. I do wish that they kept the motorcycle hang glider scene in the movie, but oh well. 

I LOVE the very end where it talks about reading skills and kids reading outloud to their dogs because it has benefits and dogs don't judge if you mess up. I love reading out loud to my kids and my dogs are always there right in my kids laps and when my kids have independent reading, the dogs are right there with them. I honestly think that reading outloud benefits dogs as well, because when I am the one reading or my kids, my dogs are so calm and cuddly and they sleep so deeply. 

I do think book three is my favorite of the series so far but it may be because of the movie, but the books are kind of better than the movie. I will be reading the rest of the series this year.