Month in Review: November

November absolutely flew by and now I am officially in Christmas mode. I am happy the semester is almost over, but it will still be not exactly a holiday for me as I still have to work. *sigh.* Anyways, here's what happened in November!

What I Read: 

Shatter Me by: Tahereh Mafi: 4/5 stars
Lies You Never Told Me by: Jennifer Donaldson: 3/5 stars

Look who got up to a lot of reading in November!!! *sobs.* Hopefully with Christmas rolling around, I will get to buy a lot more books and reading will be more a priority.

Favourite Book: I re-read Shatter Me because I first read it about two years ago and wanted to give it a second shot. It was really good, although I don't think it will be a series that I will obsess over.

What I Blogged: 

My favourite blog post of the month was my Rant About my Creative Writing Course. It felt GREAT to get some things off my chest.

Favourite Blog Posts of the Month:

Cee asks that we Remember Them, Too 

Veronika and Clare try to Beat the Backlist 

Life Stuff: 

Nothing major, just work and school. I have a lot of end of term essays to do, and it is evident that I am not doing as well as I did in first year. But alas, we will persevere and hopefully get through the term with semi-ok marks!

That was my November! How was yours?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Girls by: Emma Cline

Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: June 14, 2016 by: Random House
Pages: 355
Rating: 2/5 stars

In late 1960's California, lonely teenager Evie Boyd is looking to belong somewhere. When she sees a group of girls in the park, she is automatically enthralled by their carefree sense of self, and becomes especially fascinated with Suzanne, a charismatic older girl who takes Evie under her wing. But Evie doesn't know that Suzanne and her crew are apart of a soon to be infamous cult, and when she eventually meets their leader, she is thrown into a world of unspeakable violence, that will haunt her into her adult years.

I needed a cold shower after reading this book. It is about the Manson cult, and was equally disturbing as it was absolutely frustrating. I hate to sound insensitive when writing this review, because at the end of the day, Evie is not to blame for everything that happened to her given the fact that she was just a child, but some of the decisions she made throughout the novel were so unbelievably stupid and I feel like she never really realized how messed up of a situation she was in! For these reasons, I found it hard to root for her.

I think this novel romanticized the cult aspect just a little bit. The way that the author writes is very dream-like and descriptive, and because of this, a lot of serious things seemed glossed over. There is also a lot of sexualization of teenagers in this novel, so I would not go into this if you're looking for a light read.

I do think that looking at this novel from a sociological perspective was its only saving grace. I have learnt about cults in a few sociology classes, and I do think this book could be interesting to those studying that element of belonging, especially in teenagers. There was something interesting in this book, but it didn't make me forget all of the disturbing content.

I don't think a chapter goes by that doesn't include something triggering, so trigger warnings wise, beware of sexual assault of minors, drug use, violence and murder. So in conclusion, it was a delightful novel!!! (sarcasm)

Like I said, if you're a sociology student, this could actually be interesting, but the characters were extremely unlikable and I couldn't get past all the content.

Have you read The Girls? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

A Map for Wrecked Girls by: Jessica Taylor

Genre: Young Adult Fiction, Contemporary
Published: August 15, 2017 by: Dial Books
Pages: 368
Rating: 4.5/5 stars

Emma has always idolized her older sister Henri, but their relationship will never be tested more than when they become castaways. When the girls graduation trip goes wrong, they find themselves stranded on a deserted island with only their boating companion with them, a mysterious boy named Alex who houses a lot of secrets. While trying to survive, Henri falls apart, while Emma begins to take on the role of older sister and tries to keep them afloat. As Henri grows less hopeful that they will be rescued, Emma begins to grow closer to Alex, which begins severing the sister bond that the two always had.

I did not think I would enjoy this book as much as I did. I thought it would be cheesy and predictable, but instead the plot kept me entertained from beginning to end. This was a very thrilling novel, and really had me flying through to try and see if the girls really would make it off the island.

I loved the themes explored in this novel. Of course the main is the bond between the two sisters, and how that can fall apart when all hope is lost. I can't even begin to imagine what would happen if my sister and I were trapped on a deserted island, we would probably tear each others hair out! This book really did well at not glossing over their relationship and really showing the detrimental affects that survival can do to a person.

There was one issue I had with this book, and that is Henri. This girl was so.damn.annoying. I totally understand that this is the point of her character. She is stubborn and rebellious, but the choices she made and the way she spoke to her sister just made me want to smack her straight across the face. There were times where I literally cringed at the stuff she was saying. This didn't completely affect how I thought about the book, but just be warned, this character is so damn easy to hate.

Overall, the relationship themes, shadowed by the element of survival on a deserted island, really made me quite interested in this novel. It was easy to get through, but please be aware of how annoying Henri is.

Have you read A Map for Wrecked Girls? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Month in Review: October

I am so excited that Halloween is over so that the Christmas commercials can officially begin! (Yes, I am a Halloween hater, we do exist). But in all seriousness, some really great things did happen in October!

What I Read:

All the Crooked Saints by: Maggie Stiefvater: 2/5 stars
House of Names by: Colm Toibin: 4/5 stars
Exercises in Style by: Raymond Queneau: 4/5 stars

Favourite Book: So as you can see, I didn't get up to a ton of reading in October, mainly because I had a lot on my plate. But I did complete my Goodreads goal three months early, so that takes some of the pressure off! My favourite book of the month was House of Names by: Colm Toibin. It was great to pick up a Greek mythology book after a while.

What I Blogged:

Blogging was kinda few and far between this month, but my favourite post was my review of Maus by: Art Spiegelman. I loved this graphic novel so much and will never stop talking about it to be honest.

Favourite Blog Posts:

Veronika talks Badass Female Heroines

Cee discusses Why Labelling Emotions is Healthy

Anna talks about Representation in Harry Potter

Life Stuff:

Like I said before, I had a lot on my plate this month, mainly the fact that I was retaking my road test on the 24th. I practiced for hours every single day and barely thought about anything else. And guess what? I finally passed! It was a huge relief and I definitely celebrated a bit more than the average person probably does lol. I still have one more road test to complete (Ontario's driving system is very brutal) but this was a huge hurdle to cross.

So that was my month! Very busy, but definitely paid off in the end :) How was your October? Are you as excited for Christmas as I am?

Emily @ Paperback Princess

Exercises in Style by: Raymond Queneau + Serendipty Agency's YA Discovery Contest

Genre: Fiction, Writing
Published: February 17, 1981 by: New Directions
Pages: 204
Rating: 4/5 stars

Exercises in Style is a fiction-like book that I had to read for my creative writing class. I say fiction-like because the story within is essentially fiction, but the book itself is actually an instructional book on writing. In this book, the same short story about a confrontation on a bus is told over 70 times repeatedly, using different writing styles. One story is written entirely in metaphors, another formatted like an opera. The premise is to show that the possibilities to a writer's voice are endless.

I was very excited to start this book because I thought it would be very cool. I can barely think of 10 ways to write a story, and here, the author has written countless versions of the exact same thing, in formats that I didn't even know existed. It was quite fascinating.

The whole reason I had to read this book in class was for our study on a writer's voice. I myself find it hard as a writer to stick to a distinctive voice, and I don't think that I have truly found mine yet. But this book gave me plenty of ideas, and, while some formats were quite ridiculous, this book also gave me quite a laugh.

Obviously this book tells the same story over and over again, and so it did get repetitive after a while and especially frustrating when I couldn't even understand the format that he chose. But I do recommend this book for any aspiring writers who need help finding a voice.

And speaking of aspiring writers, if you are a new writer of YA, I am proud to feature a contest that may be for you:

Serendipity Literary Agency is hosting their 9th annual YA discovery contest, in which amateur YA writers submit the first 250 words of their novel for a chance to win an entire novel critique from literary agent Regina Brooks. There are also plenty of other opportunities to submit query letters and get discovered by agents. The contest begins November 1st, and you can find out more information on Serendipity Lit's website: http://serendipitylit.com/contest

Overall I hope you guys are interested in the contest and best of luck if you do enter! Also, I hope you enjoyed my book review. I rarely ever read writing novels and so I was happy to give this one a feature.

Emily @ Paperback Princess

The Silver Star by: Jeannette Walls

Genre: Historical Fiction
Published: June 11, 2013 by: Scribner
Pages: 267
Rating: 4/5 stars

Bean Holladay is living in 1970's California when her mother abandons her and her older sister Liz to go "find herself." The sisters get along fine for a while, but when the money runs out they decide to leave California and go live with their patient Uncle Tinsley in Virginia. While there, Bean learns more about her father's past in the war, and while she becomes fascinated with family history, her once bright sister begins to slip deeper into a depression, and is soon abused by the town bully, a wealthy man named Jerry Maddox. Soon Bean will have to take on the role of big sister, as well as learn more about the complicated race and class relations in 1970's Virginia.

Last summer I seemed to be on a mission to read whatever Jeanette Walls book I could get my hands on. I love her writing and I always seem to be fully captivated in all of her books. The worlds she creates are just incredible. While this book did keep me fully engrossed, it wasn't necessarily my favourite of hers, and this is mostly because of I think when a white writer is writing about race, there are always some issues needing to be brought up.

First off on a positive note, I did love the concept of this book. I think Walls did a great job at capturing the atmosphere of the South during the 70's, and the characters were also very well written. Bean was courageous and optimistic, and I really felt for Liz. Walls wrote amazing characters and made me feel a lot of emotion for them.

I was kept engaged through the entire book, however I did find some issues with some of the terms that Walls used. While I totally understand that she is writing a very harsh depiction of racial issues in Virginia during the time, frequent use of the n-word really shocked me because at the end of the day, she is a white author. Her white characters really do speak negatively and stereotypically of the black characters, and again, while this definitely did happen during the time, I wonder if Walls consulted black men and women living during the time period to draw upon their experiences. I cannot speak to whether or not the use of the n-word is ok in this context because I am not a black blogger, but I would love to read black reviewers thoughts on the subject. It just didn't sit well with me.

Overall, this book definitely had some great aspects to it, but like I said, I need to read some reviews from POC bloggers to see their opinions. It definitely did get me thinking.

Have you read The Silver Star? What did you think?

Maus: A Survivor's Tale by: Art Spiegelman

Genre: Graphic Novel, Historical Fiction
Published: November 1, 1991 by: Pantheon Books
Pages: 159
Rating: 5/5 stars

In an attempt to reconnect with his cantankerous and ailing father, Art Spiegelman begins writing and illustrating a story about his father's experiences as a prisoner in Auschwitz. As his father recounts the blurry details of a horrific past, Art splits between writing about the war, and about how he wishes his father was less stubborn and a bit more compassionate to his patient wife. This graphic novel is a story about the gruesome details of the Holocaust, but it is also about the long-term affects that the war had on the elderly, and the relationships severed because of it.

This book was flawless. The illustrations were poignant, heartbreaking, and so incredibly real, and the story of Art's father was heartbreaking. What's unique about this book is that Art uses the metaphor of the cat and mouse in his illustrations. All Jews in the book are drawn as mice, and all Nazi's are drawn as cats. These details really show the harsh authority that took over the war, and the innocence of the victims.

I loved how this graphic novel didn't really read like one. I do not like graphic novels that have too many pictures and not enough text, but this one was overflowing with rich dialogue that felt like I was reading just a regular book. You can tell that Art is as talented a writer as he is an illustrator.

This book is special because it flips between Art's father in the 1940's, and how he is now. You can really see the affect that the Holocaust had on his mental health, and that has made the relationship with his son difficult. This is a brilliant novel that explores much more than you ever thought you knew about the Holocaust.

Have you read Maus? What did you think?

Emily @ Paperback Princess