A Colloquy on Books

2020. It felt more like a decade at times. I know people would love to forget about 2020, leave the past in the past and just move on but it was an extraordinary year in terms of reading. On January 1st 2020, I set my personal reading goal for the year: 100 books. I thought to myself, “I read 130 books last year but I am going to be much busier this year so 100 books is a totally reasonable and achievable goal.” As it turned out, I went into quarantine in March which led to me reading all the time. I hit my 100 books goal sometime around the end of July. Due to quarantine, I read a total of 153 books in 2020, a little more that 150% of my initial goal. Reading Statistics Books Read: 153 books Pages Read: 51,070 pages Average Pages Per Book: 333 pages Average Pages Read Per Day: 139.54 pages Average Rating: 3.2 out of 5 stars. Out of all the books that I read and reviewed this year ( My 2020 Reviews ), I wanted to share my top ten books of 2020. In order to narrow down the list to ...

For generations, they have lived underground, with only a small view of the outside. They know the outside is a toxic, barren wasteland. Even though they know the dangers of the outside, there are people who dream and hope. These dangerous people infect the others with their optimism. So they must be punished. The punishment is simple, the dreamers are given exactly what they hope for: a chance to go outside. Juliette is unexpectedly promoted to Sheriff, when the previous Sheriff leaves the silo is in terrifying ritual. She has very little regard for the customs that she needs to be following and quite a bit of newfound power. As she begins investigating, she discovers the subtle hints of a disturbing conspiracy. Following the clues may lead to the truth or to the death of every human... I would not have picked this book up if I saw it on a shelf at the library. Based on the cover (which I am not supposed to be judging books by) and the summary of the story, it didn’t really seem like ...

Vee has always been behind the scenes. Whether it be the costume and makeup artist for her school’s plays or the shadow to her best friend, Sydney, Vee is comfortable away from the spotlight. Vee decides to play Nerve, the game of dares, but she isn’t sure if she’s cut out for it. But Nerve knows exactly how to keep her playing, tempting her with amazing prizes, the shoes she wanted, a hot partner, and much much more. Her partner, Ian, gives her the courage that she needs to keep going but the game is slowly getting deadlier and deadlier. How far will Vee go to win those prizes? Is she willing to put her own life at risk to win everything that her heart has desired? Let me start by saying, I watched the movie before I read the book. Actually when I watched the movie I had no idea that there was a book. A couple weeks ago, I was browsing in the library when Nerve caught my eye. So I picked it up and decided to give it a shot. The first thing that you are probably wondering is: was the b...

Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers to  The Throne of Glass  series, if you would like to avoid them please skip Heir of Fire . Narrative of the Life of Fredrick Douglass by: Fredrick Douglass Fredrick Douglass was a slave who educated himself through sheer determination, become a freeman, and managed to become one of the greatest American writers, and orators. 2 stars. Outliers: The Story of Success by: Malcolm Gladwell Malcolm Gladwell explores the world of "outliers:" the most famous, most successful, the brightest. He wonders what makes them different? Most would say it in what they are but Malcolm Gladwell claims its where they are from. He explains what made the Beatles the greatest rock band, why Asians are so good at math, and the secrets of software billionaires. 5 stars. How to Win Friends and Influence People by: Dale Carnegie Dale Carnegie's classic book that teaches you how to get people to like you and how to change a person's mind witho...

A cargo ship sinks in the Pacific and all that remains is one lonely lifeboat. The lifeboat's crew is: a hyena, a zebra with a broken leg, an orangutan, a Bengal tiger by the name of Richard Parker, and Pi, an Indian boy. As the crew members begin to assert their places in the food chain, Pi has to focus on getting to the top and how to deal with a Bengal tiger that grows hungrier by the day. Will Pi survive an impossible journey? At the mention of Life of Pi  most people begin to gush about how amazing the movie was and how much they loved it. Followed by their shock at the fact that I haven't seen it yet. My reason? My general experience has been that reading the book is a more enjoyable experience than watching the movie. The book is usually richer in terms of content, context, and backstories. I didn't want to spoil the experience of reading the book by watching the movie. Life of Pi  sat on my to-read list patiently waiting and I finally go to it when an extra cr...

Disclaimer: This post contains spoilers to The Throne of Glass , if you wish to avoid them please skip The Crown of Midnight . This post also contains spoilers to The False Prince  and The Runaway King , if you wish to avoid them please skip The Shadow Throne .   AsapSCIENCE: Answers to the World's Weirdest Questions, Most Persistent Rumors, and Uneexplained Phenomena by: Mitchell Moffit + Greg Brown A book that answers all the weird questions that you never got to ask in science class. Answers brought to you by the AsapSCIENCE YouTube channel creators, presented in an entertaining format. Your questions will be answered, asap. 5 stars. Chasing Impossible by: Katie McGarry Abby lets only a few people get to know her. It's common sense in her town that she deals drugs, but not even her closest know why. Abby is suddenly in danger as a drug deal goes bad and she has to lean on Logan, a daredevil who's spirit matches hers. Together they will have to make the choice of...

Discliamer: This post contains spoilers to The False Prince  if you would like to avoid these spoilers, don't read the summary for The Runaway King . It is the last summary. The Dangerous World of Butterflies: The Startling Subculture of Criminals, Collectors, and Conservationists by: Peter Laufer Peter Laufer was tired of answering the question, "What will your next book be about?" Without thinking he answered, "Butterflies" as an analogy for peace and contentment. This simple answer led him to discover that the world of butterflies might not be as peaceful as he once thought. 4 stars. Every Day by: David Levithan A wakes up in a different body everyday and he doesn't know how to stop it  but he has resigned himself to his fate. He has his rules, don't interfere in their lives, don't get attached, and live like a guest and leave. But all that change the day he wakes up in Justin's body and meets his girlfriend Rhiannon and all of a sudd...

Disclaimer: This post contains some minor spoilers to the books  Red Rising  and  Die For Me , if you wish to avoid these spoilers please do not read the summaries for  Golden Son  and  Until I Die . Otto is lost and alone in a forbidden forest where he meets three sisters and becomes intertwined in their story through a prophecy, a promise, and a harmonica. Decades later the harmonica lands in the hands of three children with daunting tasks: Friedrich from Germany, Mike from Pennslyvania, and Ivy in Californa. They have to rescue a father, protect a brother, and keep a family together. But the thread of destiny connects them all in ways they do not know... 5 stars. Golden Son, the sequel the Pierce Brown's breathtaking first book, Red Rising, continues Darrow's story and struggle to lead his oppressed people into freedom. He is now fully embedded into Gold Society and is working on destroying the system from within. But the stakes are ...

The world is divided, Red or Silver. It is divided by the color of your blood. The color of your blood controls everything, your status, your lifestyle, everything. The Reds are commoners but the Silvers are the elite ruling class with godlike superpowers. Mare Barrow resents this. She hates being at the bottom, and more than that she hates the Silvers, but when she has the chance to work at the Silver Palace it is an offer she can't refuse. It is there, Mare discovers something about herself, she too possesses an extraordinary power, despite the fact that she bleeds red. The Silvers becoming afraid of what she can do, hide her in the palace itself claiming her to be a long lost Silver princess. They engage her to a prince and put her in the center of a deadly court of Silvers ruled by a devious king. Mare knows that one misstep will lead to her death yet she communicates with the Red Guard, a group of rebels, to help bring down the Silvers. But this is a world of liars, oat...

A story about growing up and losing the innocence of childhood set against the background of World War II. Gene is introverted and lonely. Phineas is handsome and a daredevil. What happens between these two unlikely friends will change their understanding of life. 1 star. Right under Yellowstone is a supervolcano, and it's overdue for an eruption. Alex plans to spend the weekend enjoying his house to himself by playing video games and hanging out. But the eruption disrupts his plans as it plunges his world into darkness and ash. He must trek across the country to find his parents. 4 stars. Piscine Molitor "Pi" Patel must spends 227 days on a life boat trying to beat all odds, including Richard Parker, a Bengal Tiger. 2 stars. My Review When an unexpected rule change forces all students to join a sports team, an even more unexpected group of kids, with Jack Logan as their leader, decide to make a team whose goal is to lose. But soon they've made a nam...

Cody and Meg were inseparable, best friends, always together, and as close as you can get without actually being sisters. So when Meg drinks a bottle of industrial strength cleaner in a motel room alone, Cody is shocked. She doesn't understand how Meg, her best friend who used to tell her everything, did this without warning Cody. Cody is still dealing with the loss of her best friend when she heads to Meg's college town to pack up her belongings. When Cody gets there she is thrown straight into Meg's other life, a life she had with her roommates and the music scene of her town. A life with boys like Ben McAllister who break your heart. A life that Cody never knew about. As Cody is finding out about Meg's other life, she discovered an encrypted file, that she can't open and when she does everything she know will spin out of control. I Was Here  by: Gayle Forman made it on to my to-read list because of Gayle Forman's other two series, both of which by the ...

Clay Jensen comes home one day to find a mysterious box with his name on it, lying on his porch. It has no return address, and Clay Jensen has no way of knowing who sent it. Inside the box are thirteen cassette tapes that have been recorded by his classmate Hannah Baker, the girl he had a crush on, and the girl who killed herself two weeks. Hannah tells Clay that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, she'll tell him how he made the list.  Thirteen Reasons Why  was on my to-read list for awhile and I never got around to reading it (probably because my to-read list is 400 books long). Recently I decided to start clearing my to-read list. Thirteen Reasons Why  was one of the thirty books I read. My favorite thing about Thirteen Reasons Why  was the way it was written. It is the only book I have ever read which is written with the main character having a back and forth with a recording. Hannah talks, tell...

Melody is different from most people. She can't walk, nor can she talk, but she has a photographic memory and can remember every detail of everything she has ever experienced. Melody has also been diagnosed with cerebral palsy, but she is smarter than most of the adults who try to diagnose her. She is smarter than her classmates in her integrated classroom, the same classmates who put her off as mentally disabled. Melody is not ready to let that stop her, and she's going to find a way to tell everyone that Melody is not cerebral palsy, she is a person. There were two main reasons to me liking Out of My Mind . The first being Melody herself. I really liked the way Sharon M. Draper has created her main character. Melody expresses herself like a child while also expressing herself like an old soul. I found it very interesting and it made me love her so much more because of it. I feel like this combination of very clear of opposites coming out of the character made her feel...

Darcy has put her whole life on hold to go to New York to publish her teen novel. Lizze accidentally slips into the "Afterworld" in order to survive a terrorist attack. Darcy has a lot to learn about the writing world. Lizzie discovers that there are many stories that need solving in the "Afterworld," the world between life and death. She constantly wonders if she's made the right decision until she falls into a crowd of seasoned and fledgling writers. All of sudden Lizzie is faced with new threats she might not be able to overcome. One writes the words, the other lives them. I enjoyed reading Afterworlds  for two main reasons. One, I liked the fact that it took me into the publishing world through the perspective of a writer. I learned a lot about how books get published and also got "to see" how hard authors have to work before their book actually goes into print. The second reason I enjoyed reading Afterworlds . Before we to my reason, you ne...

Saba has always followed in her twin brother Lugh's footsteps, so when four cloaked men kidnap Lugh, she follows trying to save him. Soon she is forced to team up with Jack and the Free Hawks a group of revolutionaries. As she does she realizes she has the power to take down a corrupt society from the inside. 4 stars. When Brontë starts dating Bruiser, her twin Tennyson isn't surprised but unnatural thing start happening, bruises disappear, scrapes heal too fast, and it seems like their good fortune but it may be more than they bargained for. 4 stars.  Princess Sylvi is bound to her pegasus Ebon on her twelfth birthday, for a thousand years before them the pegasi and humans have lived safely because of their inability to communicate without the help of magicians and shamans. Ebon and Sylvi can  talk. Will their friendship destroy the peace between the nations? 2 stars. Grace moves and starts seeing monsters and a girl who looks exactly like her...