Haveli, by Suzanne Fisher Staples | mini review

Published on by Aria2 Comments

Hello there! Today was an insane day at school; I had a social studies test on the independence of India and the creation of Pakistan in my French immersion class, a language arts quiz on the book that we just read, and my chapter five math test. However, that’s all over, and right now I’m going to try something new; a mini review. I hope that having a smaller expectation for my review is going to make it easier to write them, and I really wanted to write at least one review in January, so without further ado, Haveli, by Suzanne Fisher Staples!

Goodreads synopsis:

The world of Newbery Honor book “Shabanu” is vividly re-created in this novel of a young Pakistani woman’s heartbreaking struggle against the tyranny of custom and ancient law. Shabanu, now a mother at 18, faces daily challenges to her position in her husband’s household, even as she plans for her young daughter’s education and uncertain future. Then, during a visit to the “haveli, ” their home in the city of Lahore, Shabanu falls in love with Omar, in spite of traditions that forbid their union. 

My rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

It was good, but there were some flaws.

I read Shabanu for school, and kind of enjoyed it, but I really wanted to see what would happen next, so I read the sequel, Haveli.

It was pretty good. There was a lot of sad stuff (actually, barely any of the content was happy), and only some of the issues that were apparent in Shabanu were resolved in Haveli. I was a little disappointed actually. The plot was good, but the writing was not fantastic.

I really liked how the author built Shabanu’s character, and that was really interesting. However, Shabanu was the only character featured that way, and there are actually quite a few fairly prominent characters in the book.

The series does however really make you aware of child marriages and marriages for convenience. Shabanu, the main character of the book is 18 when the book takes place, and was married to a much much older man when she was 13 as pretty much a peace offering.

So, overall, I enjoyed this sequel, but there were a few flaws. I would recommend reading Shabanu, the book that came before it, and if you like it, reading Haveli. I am definitely going to reading the next book in the trilogy!

Have you read Shabanu or Haveli? What do you think about this review? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Amazing book covers

Published on by Aria5 Comments

I don’t know if this has been a past TTT topic, but it seems like a really fun one to do. Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl, and how it works is each week there is a topic and you make a list of your top 5, 10 or whatever number of books that fit that topic. This week’s topic is a book cover freebie, so I’m doing amazing book covers!

1 Wolf Hollow, by Lauren Wolk

2 The War I Finally Won, by Kimberly Brubaker Bradley.

3 The Gilded Wolves, by Roshani Chokshi

The cover of The War I Finally Won really represents what the book is about, and even though I haven’t read The Gilded Wolves yet, the cover is so beautiful! And with Wolf Hollow, I love how the writing is built into the design of the cover and is part of the tree.

4The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill

5The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon

6Everything, Everything, by Nicola Yoon

7Five Feet Apart, by Rachael Lippincott

Both of Nicola Yoon’s books have such amazing covers that are just really pretty, and the same is with Five Feet Apart. I love on the cover of The Girl Who Drank the Moon how the title is on the moon. It is so pretty!

8 The Wolf Wilder, by Katherine Rundell

9 The Penderwicks at Point Mouette, by Jeanne Birdsall

x Becoming Naomi León, by Pam Muñoz Ryan

The Wolf Wilders is incredible; how the title is built into the trees, and how the light is streaming out of the windows of the cabin. Becoming Naomi León is really interesting as well; how her hair is moving with the wind, the lion next to her with its mouth open. I guess I just love all of the Penderwicks covers; it so simple, yet represents and shows so much of the book!

What are some books that you think have amazing book covers? What makes a book cover amazing for you? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy reading!

Let’s Talk Bookish: Anxiety and Book Blogging

Published on by Aria4 Comments

Happy Friday, everybody! I’ve had a lot with school this week, but I’m very excited for this week’s Let’s Talk Bookish! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly discussion post created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books, and this week’s topic is anxiety and book blogging!

Has there been a topic that you were afraid to discuss?

No. This might be because I haven’t actually done any discussion posts that I’ve come up with, only LTBs like this one. But when I’m writing my opinion about books or anything, I’ve never felt like I’m going to be criticized for my opinion.

Do you censor yourself because you are afraid of backlash?

No. I know that there are people with different opinions than me on literally every topic, but I don’t censor myself and my writing, because I’m fine with having a different opinion than someone as long as they’re respectful of other people’s opinions.

Does your anxiety (not necessarily an actual diagnosis, but that feeling of nervousness and minor terror/anxiousness) kick in and make you afraid to truly be yourself on your blog? How do you deal with this?

A little bit. I’ve always been nervous about showing other people my writing, and when I’ve written stuff for school, it’s usually not my best work. So when I started this blog, I was truly terrified of the prospect that anyone anywhere could read my blog. Because of that, I guess I kind of censored what I wrote. Now, I think it’s really cool that anyone anywhere can read what I’ve written on this blog, and I want people to read it.

Its also easier that I don’t know the people who are reading my blog. My parents are the only people who read my blog that I know in real life, and everyone else is kind of mysterious.

I do have blogging friends who I’ve chatted with in comments, and whose blogs I follow, but that’s really really different from knowing someone in real life!

I guess Im kind of afraid to be truly myself, because there have been times where I write a sentence, or a paragraph, or even a whole post, and then I delete it, or change it.

However, I’ve definitely started to write a lot more confidently and have started to figure out how I want my posts to be, how the style of my writing is going to look like, and that sort of thing.

Other anxieties:

I do get nervous about getting posts done on time. I sometimes feel like I need to post 4 times a week, and although that would be great and I would love to be able to do that, I have the rest of my life to balance, and it just doesn’t work out.

When I recently took a short break, it was really nice because I was able to catch up on other things, and now I’m back to writing more consistently.

Conclusion:

I do have some anxiety around book blogging, but I do find ways to deal with it, and to work past it. Not feeling guilty about not posting or not reading other blogs is definitely something I need to work on, but over I’m not to stressed about blogging.

What about you? Do you ever have anxiety related to book blogging? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy reading!

WWW Wednesday 16

Published on by Aria2 Comments

Hello, and happy Wednesday. Right now, it’s time for my weekly reading update, WWW Wednesday! WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On a World of Words, and how it works is each week I answer three questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo, Frogkisser, by Garth Nix, and Shabanu, by Suzanne Fisher Staples. I am rereading Frogkisser, and I really like it. And I am FINALLY reading Six of Crows. I have seen and heard so many amazing things about this book, and I’m finally getting to it! I’m not that far into it, but so far I’m really liking it, and I’ll see how it turns out! I’m still reading Shabanu, as it is a book I’m reading for school. I really did not enjoy it at the beginning, and now that I’m farther into it, I’m liking it a little bit more. It is however, very suspenseful now that I’ve finished the section and am not allowed to read past it, but tomorrow after we discuss it in class I’ll be able to finish it, so I’m definitely looking forwards to that.

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished rereading The Teacher’s Funeral, by Richard Peck, The List, by Patricia Forde, and House Arrest, by K. A. Holt.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next, I think I’ll read Black Radishes, by Susan Lynn Meyer, reread It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel, by Firoozeh Dumas, and Ms. Bixby’s Last Day, by John David Anderson

What are you currently reading? What do you plan to read next? Have you read any of the books in this post? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy Reading!

Top Ten Tuesday: Recent additions to my bookshelf

Published on by Aria1 Comment

Hello and happy Tuesday! Right now where I live it is extremely rainy, which is great because I like the rain! Anyways, my first OBOB battle (Oregon battle of the books, a competition where teams battle to answer questions about 16 chosen books) is tomorrow, so I’ve been squeezing in as much reading as I can. Anyways, right now it’s time for this week’s Top Ten Tuesday, hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl, and this week’s topic is the 10 most recent additions to my bookshelf.

This is kind of hard because I have gotten a lot of books in the last few months and I don’t actually remember the order, but I’ll try, so without further ado, my most recent-ish additions to my bookshelf.

1 It Ain’t So Awful, Falafel, by Firoozeh Dumas

2 The Teacher’s Funeral, by Richard Peck

3 Ordinary Girls, by Blair Thornbush

Ok. So I got all three of those over winter break. I’m sure of that.

But before that was my birthday and my bat mitzvah, and because every one I know knows I love to read, I got a lot of books. Which is definitely not a bad thing. It is definitely a very very good thing. However, I don’t know the order in which I received the books, so I’m just going to list some more books that have recently-ish made their way onto my bookshelf.

4 The Alchemist, by Paulo Coelho

5 The Wolf Wilder, by Katherine Rundell

6 Before We Were Free, by Julia Alvarez

7 Giant Pumpkin Suite, by Melanie Heusier Hill

8 The Sun is Also a Star, by Nicola Yoon

9 Everything, Everything, by Nicola Yoon

X The Book Thief, by Marcus Zusak

Ahhhh… formatting in WordPress is hard sometimes.

What are some of your recent additions to your bookshelf? Have you read any of the books I’ve mentioned? Do you also think that Nicola Yoon’s book covers are really really pretty? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy Reading!

There’s this thing called OBOB

Published on by Aria3 Comments

Oregon Battle of the Books.

You read 16 books.

You read them again.

You infuse every little detail of those books into your brain.

You compete with your amazing team.

You lose.

You watch the teams in the final battle at your school get questions wrong you know you could answer.

The winning team goes to regionals.

The winning team goes to state.

The winning team gets second place.

Your team beat that team.

Your team answered more questions about the books correctly than that team.

Your team should have gone to regionals.

Your team should have gone to state.

Your team should have battled against other kids.

Your team should have gone.

You should have gone.

Instead, your team got third place in the school.

Third place.

Behind the two teams that your team beat.

You lost to the two teams that lost to you.

How is that fair.

It’s not.

It was two years ago.

You were in fifth grade.

You can’t forget it.

You can’t let it go.

You can’t accept it.

Because you worked hard for it.

Because you tried.

And you won.

And winning wasn’t enough to win.

And you know now.

You know that it was the system.

It was the system that messed with everything.

And it was the system that brought down a team.

And it was the system that brought down your dream of winning.

A dream you’d had your whole life.

And so now when you still have that dream.

And maybe even a chance to win.

And another year of middle school to try.

Another year of middle school to do.

Four years of high school to try some more.

Why is it so hard to move past?

Why don’t just forget it?

Because in elementary school.

In third fourth and fifth grade.

OBOB is fun.

Reading is fun.

OBOB is interesting.

Reading is interesting.

OBOB is cool.

Reading is accepted.

And in middle school.

In 7th grade.

OBOB is funny.

Reading is hilarious.

OBOB is school.

Reading is more school.

OBOB isn’t cool.

Reading takes time.

OBOB gets you laughed at.

Reading makes you the only one in the library reading books with words.

So why not?

When you had the chance to do good.

That very chance was ruined.

And now, when you look at your blog and all the other blogs, maybe there are kids, teenagers who read.

Maybe there are people out there who don’t think its crazy to read all 16 of the books.

And maybe there are people out there who read.

So maybe when in 6th grade when no one I knew was doing OBOB, I didn’t do it because I was scared.

And maybe this year, even though things fell apart because of a broken commitment, and not a broken system.

I do still have a team.

And there are other teams to compete with.

So even though things could have gone better.

Much better.

Enormously better.

There’s still hope.

And so maybe I’m not the only 13 year old who reads.

And maybe I’m not the only 13 year old who writes.

And maybe not even the only 13 year old who blogs.

And maybe now I can start to get over it.

Even though I will never accept that I lost.

Because I didn’t.

I know I won.

And maybe this year.

Possibly.

Perhaps.

I can do my best.

And win.

And most importantly.

This year.

I will read.

Because as long as I can read.

As long as I have access to books.

I have the characters.

I have the stories.

I have the books.

So I will read.

But I won’t forget.

So I will read

But I won’t let go.

So I will read.

And I will read more.

Because I will always read.

Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish discoveries I made in 2019

Published on by Aria6 Comments

Hello! I kind of took an unexpected mini hiatus, but now I’m back. Although I didn’t mean to or want to take a short break from blogging, it was good because I’ve been overwhelmed with school, and I haven’t been feeling well.

Hiatus: A pause, break, gap, lacuna, interval, intermission, interlude, interruption, suspension, lull, respite, time out, time off, recess

Ahhh, the thesaurus. Just read that out loud to yourself. It’s so satisfying!

So, I’m back to blogging, and I’ll hopefully be able to blog consistently for now. Anyways, even though it isn’t Tuesday, and although Tuesday was a fairly long time ago, I’m going to make a list of some of my many bookish discoveries in 2019. This is an especially important post for me to do, and shouldn’t be too hard, considering that at the beginning of the year I actually had no idea what a book blog was, or that such wonderful things existed, so before I make this introduction it’s own post, here are my 2019 bookish discoveries.

And oh yeah; Top Ten Tuesday is a weekly meme hosted by Jana @ That Artsy Reader Girl, where each week there is a prompt and you pick your top ten (or five or twenty) and yeah!

Discoveries:

1 Book blogs

Let’s just start off with a kind of enormous one. The entire world of book blogging is very new to me! I started this blog with never actually having read another book blog. I know that seems kind of crazy, and it seems crazy to me! I mean, most of the things I write on this blog are tags and memes! Moving on…

2 Reading Nooks

I’ve always just read here and there and whenever and wherever I could. I still do; I read a lot, but I created a little reading nook in my room with a comfy chair, immediate access to my bookshelf, and lots of light. It really makes reading more enjoyable, and now I’ll set aside chunks of time to just read.

3 Blogging in general

Similar enough but also slightly different to the 1st one, blogging on a whole is something that is new to me. There are a lot of blogs. A lot of people blog. More specifically, a lot of teenagers blog. That was something that I was very surprised about!

Blogs:

4 Kat @ Novels and Waffles

5 Rukky @ Eternity Books

Books:

6It Ain’t So Awful Falafel, by Firoozeh Dumas.

I discovered this book in early 2019, and I’ve reread it so many times since! It is an amazing book, and I love practically everything about it!

7 The Wolf Wilder, by Katherine Rundell

I read this book I’m pretty sure on New Years Eve Eve, but this was definitely on of the best books I read in 2019! I actually had read another book by this author in like third grade, but then I got this for my birthday, and I love it so much!

Posts:

8 Printed Books vs, ebooks: game on!

This post, found on the blog Drizzle and Hurricane Books is a really great comparison of two formats of books!

9 How in the World I Make My Graphics

This post, by Kat @ Novels and Waffles is so amazing and extremely helpful. It is basically a tutorial of how the waffle queen herself makes her graphics. If you haven’t seen her blog, you should definitely go check it out.

Well, that’s all for today! I hope you enjoyed reading about some of my 2019 bookish discoveries, and I’ll try to blog more and be back soon!

What are some of your bookish discoveries from 2019? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy Reading!

2020 Bookish Resolutions

Published on by Aria3 Comments

Hello! Right now, in Oregon, it’s really rainy, and so for me, it’s the perfect time the read and write, and curl up with a cup of tea and a book! However, right now, I present to you my (very very late) reading, writing and blogging goals for 2020:

Reading goals:

Number of books: My 2020 reading goal is to read 200 books. I don’t know how realistic this is, because I’ve never counted the books I read for an entire year before. However, I’m really excited to see how many books I end up reading. In June or so, if I haven’t reached 100 books, or if I’m not even close, I might change my goal to 180 books, but I hope that I’ll end up reading 200 books and reach my goal!

Genres: I want to read more fantasy novels, and mystery novels, because those are both genres that I enjoy reading that I almost never get to.

Writing goals:

Posts: I want to write 160 posts this year. Again, I’m not sure how realistic this goal is, but I think that it’s a good number to aim for!

My story: I also want to finish my first very rough draft of the book/story I’m writing. I’m hoping that it will be somewhere between 50 and 75 thousand words. I will also continue to post (hopefully) every two weeks another chapter!

Challenges: I want to try taking part in a writing challenge of some sort. If I do do one, it would probably be in the summer, when I don’t have to worry about managing that and school at the same time.

Consistent writing: I want to try to write a little everyday. Whether its journaling, or blogging, or writing a story, I am going to try to write a little every single day.

Journaling: I want to try to write in my journal 3 or 4 times a week (at least). I have a journal that I’ve been trying to write in everyday, but I know that every single day isn’t going to happen because I have so many other things I have to do, but I will try to write at least 3 times a week in my journal!

Blogging goals:

Posting schedule: I really want to consistently post 3 times a week, and that is what I will try to do.

Varied post topics: I want to also try to vary the posts that I write; discussion posts, top ten lists, reading updates, monthly tbr posts… (you get the point).

Recommendation posts: They seem really fun to do, and I enjoy reading them, so I want to try doing some!

Other goals:

Blog hopping: I want to discover lots of new blogs in 2020!

ARCs: (advanced reader’s copy) I don’t yet know exactly how ARCs work, but I really want to figure that out, and get ARCs from publishers in exchange for an honest review, as I’ve seen on so many other blogs!

Music: This isn’t really a book-related topic, but I play piano and trumpet, and I want to make more time to practice these instruments!

What are your 2020 resolutions? Are any of them similar to mine? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy Reading!

Let’s Talk Bookish: Does your love for an author make you biased towards their book and vice versa?

Published on by Aria3 Comments

Hello and welcome back to another Let’s Talk Bookish! Let’s Talk Bookish is a weekly meme created and hosted by Rukky @ Eternity Books, and this weeks question is: Does your love for an author make you biased towards their book and vice versa?

Yes. It does. Especially the vise versa part.

I guess, well, kind of! I’ve read a few books that I wouldn’t normally read because I recognize the author, but that doesn’t happen very often. I will most of the time continue to read a series IF I like the first book. However, if an author has written two books that aren’t part of a series, then I may or may not read both. I may or not even realize that those books exist! And, if I do, it’s very likely that that book will get lost in the depths of books I want to read but haven’t even bothered to put on my TBR (to be read).

If I do not like a book, though, I may or may not read another book by the same author. If I thought the writing was good, but didn’t really enjoy the plot, I would give another of the authors books a chance. The writing is what would definitely carry into the next book, but if it’s not part of a series, the plot would most likely be completely different, and I might like it better.

If I thought that the plot was good, and I enjoyed that, but I really didn’t like or understand the writing style, I will probably not read another of the authors books. That is what happened to me with The Pox Party, by M. T. Anderson. I got almost three hundred pages in, but I just couldn’t finish the book. The plot was ok, and has a few aspects that I actually found quite interesting, however not only did I extremely dislike the writing style, for the first hundred or so pages, I barely even understood what was happening. I wasn’t enjoying it very much from the start, but I really wanted to finish it. I couldn’t. I tried, and I just wasn’t able to understand or enjoy the writing style! I do not think that I will be reading another book by M. T. Anderson anytime soon. I was really disappointed by this book, and I guess it just wasn’t for me.

Anyways, of course, if I don’t enjoy the plot OR the writing style, then I will not want to read another book by the same author!

(also, I’m grouping the characters of a book in with plot in this post!)

Conclusion:

Well, I guess my love (or dislike) for an author does make me biased towards their other books. I think that before I wrote this post, it was kind of a subconscious part of my decision making process on how I pick what books to read, but just thinking about it, I was able to find quite a few examples!

What about you? Does your love for an author make you biased towards their book? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy Reading!

WWW Wednesday 15

Published on by Aria1 Comment

Hello! I just started reading a book called Shabanu in school, and I don’t know if I’m going to like it or not, so here is my weekly reading update, WWW Wednesday. WWW Wednesday is a weekly meme hosted by Sam @ Taking On a World of Words, and how it works is each week I answer three questions:

  • What are you currently reading?
  • What did you recently finish reading?
  • What do you think you’ll read next?

What are you currently reading?

I am currently reading The Astonishing Life of Octavian Nothing: Volume 1, The Pox Party, by M. T. Anderson, which is taking a while to get through, but I am enjoying it more as I am getting through it. I am also currently rereading House Arrest, by K. A. Holt. In school, I started reading Shabanu, Daughter of the Wind, by Suzanne Fisher Staples. It will most likely take me a while to get through this book, as usually reading books in school goes painfully slowly, but it looks like a pretty good book, so I’ll see how that turns out! I am also listening to The School for Good and Evil, by Soman Chainani, and the woman who is the reader for this audiobooks is fantastic, so I’m enjoying that as well.

What did you recently finish reading?

I recently finished reading Port Chicago 50, by Steve Sheinkin, and The Girl Who Drank the Moon, by Kelly Barnhill.

What do you think you’ll read next?

Next, I think I’ll read The Blackthorn Key, by Kevin Sands, and Six of Crows, by Leigh Bardugo. I will be rereading The Blackthorn Key, so I know I’ll enjoy that one! I am very excited to read Six of Crows, because I have seen and heard amazing things about that book. I also want to reread The Teacher’s Funeral, by Richard Peck.

What’s your WWW Wednesday? Have you read any of the books in this post? Chat with me in the comments below!

Happy Reading!