Books I Read in January 2020 (short reviews)

Since one of my resolutions for 2020 is to read 100 books until December, I also decided to get more consistent with keeping record of the books I read and what I thought of them.

If you have been around since April last year, you'll know that I already did one of these posts and kinda forgot to ever do one again, so please excuse that. But my guess is that if you have been around for this long, then you are familiar with my lack of consistency.
If you don't want to stick around to find out how consistent I am, come by my goodreads account and keep track of my reading progress in real time https://www.goodreads.com/user/show/95108873-lena-fiala

Anyway. Enough of that, let's get on with this month's reads and recommendations (Huh, maybe that should be the title of this series instead). 

Into The Water- Paula Hawkins 3/5

After I read Girl On The Train, I was so excited to read more of Paula Hawkin's writing and when I picked up Into The Water I hoped it would be as good as Girl On The Train. Sadly that wasn't the case. This wasn't a bad novel. It was well written and maybe the lenghtyness and the fact none of the characters were likable, was an artistic choice, but it still made it very hard for me as a reader to enjoy this novel. It wasn't as thrilling and the ending was very anticlimactic. That's all I can say without spoiling it for anyone else. 

Crazy Rich Asians- Kevin Kwan 5/5

It took me a while to get around to this novel, but I am so glad that I did. It is a brilliant story, I loved the characters and especially the colourful and amazing world that Kevin Kwan painted for the reader. I can't wait to watch the film and see it all put on screen. A little warning though, it is very much a romcom and if you are not into drama or clichés, then you might not enjoy it as much as I did. But aside from that it is still a very well crafted story and I can't wait to read the rest of the series.

The Mind-Changing Habit of Journaling- Zoey McKey 4/5

The first non fiction read of this year and it was a great one for the beginning of the year. I won't say that it was revolutionary or anything that you haven't heard somewhere before, but it was very well put together and the mix of workbook prompts and personal anecdotes was very nice. 

It opened my eyes on a couple of things and for that I have to recommend this book to anyone who journals and likes to look inside themselves, but sometimes don't know how exactly to do that. 

The Runaway Jury- John Grisham 4/5

This was a very, very lenghty novel, I have to say that. There is a lot of explanation and talk about the law, the economy, tobacco firms and how a trial works. For someone who had no idea about these things, this was nice for an overview, but it slowed down the action. I still rate this novel so high because the ending was absolutely not expected on my end and the writing made me not want to put this book down until I finally finished it and found out what happened. It is also a little outdated, but that is obviously not the novels fault, that is simply time. 

The Little Italian Bakery- Valentina Cebeni 3.5/5

A little strange to read, quite emotional, but for some reason still a little disconnected. A little old fashioned and yet the love story was very modern and lovely to read. It was really cute to have the recipes that the main character talked about printed into the novel, but I'm not sure if every edition has that. A little strange side note is, that I couldn't really figure out, how old the main character was, because sometimes she seemed like a young women, whose mother died at a very young age, but sometimes it seemed like the main character was already in her mid forties. Not sure if that was my own mistake though. 

Still Alice- Lisa Genova 5/5

The first book in 2020 that I really cried about. So brilliantly written, very emotional and I have the highest respect for Lisa Genova who managed to put together this work that is so well researched and detailed, as well as heartbreaking emotional. 

Alice's Adventures in Wonderland

Through the Looking Glass- Lewis Carroll 4/5

I read this as a double edition for a research paper for university and I enjoyed it. The world is as colourful and lovely as I expected it to be. The mix of poems, songs and illustrations was nice and helped the overall vibe of a children friendly fictional world that has so much more to offer under the surface. It is a classic that I would definitely recommend, for both people interested in the literature and the crazy world of Alice.

Things I Want My Daughters To Know- Elizabeth Noble 4/5

I was very touched by the story that Elizabeth Noble told with this novel. It had so many different angles and perspectives and yet, the overall conflicts were relatable. The characters were flawed and not always reasonable, but for me that was the beauty of the story. Especially with those flaws, the characters were lovable, some of their struggles I understood on such a deep level that I had to rate this book even higher than I would have, if it had just been a regular adult romance/fiction novel. 

Girl Online- Zoe Sugg 3/5

I am not going to tap into the controversy around Zoe Sugg and this book, I am only here for the novel. On that front, I have to say that this was clearly a YA novel written by an adult who is not too familiar with teens. I'd love to give you some of the quotes that were used, but I don't want to seem like I'm dragging this story through the mud. Because beside the stereotypes and clichés, I still enjoyed reading this story, especially for its honesty and transparency regarding mental health and anxiety. It is not a work of high literary value, but I'm sure it can be inspiring to a lot of young people and maybe even help some of them understand how important it is to talk to someone about your struggles, especially mental ones. And for that I'm grateful for this novel. 

Amelia Anne Is Dead And Gone- Kat Rosenfield 2.5/5

This was slightly creepy and a little dark to read. I enjoyed the idea of the novel, but I'm still not sure if I like the style of writing and how it turned out. All of the characters were unlikeable, a lot of the scenes that were meant to be intimate were made creepy and the motivation for some of the actions seemed very far fetched. Maybe it was meant to be more of an artistic read, what ever it was, it was definitely out of my comfort zone. 

A Wrinkle In Time- Madeleine L'Engle 4/5

This was a cute story, a little out there and with some controversial ways of interpreting the topics, but still an enjoyable read. I liked the way it was written and I might read the rest of the series. The world that Madeleine L'Engle created was very impressive and her characters were very unique, at least in my opinion. This is yet another classic that I would recommend to everyone. It is definitely your choice what you do with the role Christianity plays in this novel and how you want to interprete it. 

Wait, What?: And Life's Other Essential Questions- James E. Ryan 4/5

Once again a non fiction book that had the right mix between personal stories and inspiring questions. This was based on a speech and I think sometimes it could've easily be even shorter than it was, but it was still a nice read and some of the questions still follow me in my every day life and that is all I ask of a non fiction book that is meant to inspire me. 

Elysia- C.C. Francis 3/5

Now with this one I struggled a lot. During IndieApril on Twitter I found this book and at first I was pulled in by the fantastic world, but soon I realised that there were a couple of things that I hardly got around. It took me nine months to finish reading this novel, which says a lot. 

The last part was great, so it wasn't all bad, but it was very very long, a lot of information that sometimes didn't add up and the characters were all a little hard to grasp for me. The world building was lovely and I do see the hard work that went into such a fantasy novel, but there were a lot of wholes and a lot of unanswered questions left in the end, so I can't give it a higher rating.

So these were the books that I was reading this month, I'm sorry that there are no photos, my camera is broken and I don't know how risky it is to just use photos from the internet, so until I can figure that issue out, I will have to go without photos.
Also, how do I include photos from E-Books without violating any copyrights?
Anyway, not actually relevant for this post. I hope you enjoyed it, I hope you found some inspiration in this list and I hope that I will be back with this series same time next month.

Take care and read on.
Lena

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