Review: ALL THINGS NEW by Lauren Miller

Rating: 5/5 stars

All Things New begins in the middle of one of Jessa's panic attacks: chaos abounds through short sentences and fragmented thoughts. I was overwhelmed and confused, but this is exactly how an anxiety attack feels. Lauren Miller wasted no time getting to the point with her strong opening scene.

Jessa is a relatable high school girl, especially to someone like me who also suffers from anxiety and panic attacks. Her internal thoughts have often been my exact thoughts before. I understand why she gets anxiety about certain situations, even when it may seem illogical and irrational to others. I've been in her shoes.

After she gets into a car accident that leaves her scarred in more ways than one, Jessa begins seeing scars, burns, bruises, and cuts on others' faces. After realizing she is the only person who can see these marks, Jessa begins to wonder if there's a purpose behind their existence and if she's getting better or worse in the months post-accident.

This novel does a really good job at communicating the idea that everyone experiences pain, whether physical or emotional or mental, and that everyone has a "dragon" to fight. Just because one cannot see the hurt does not mean that it doesn't exist. Most pain we bury away anyway, putting on a facade of being happy and okay, but what if others could see what we are actually struggling with on the inside?

All Things New's diversity in mental health conditions brings awareness to the many diseases that exist. This book features characters with an array of afflictions: autism, Aspergers, panic attacks, OCD, anxiety, addiction, and anorexia, among others. Although some conditions may have been portrayed stereotypically at times, none of it was in a negative light.

This is a beautiful story of acceptance, both of yourself and of others, and the differences and trials that make us human. It is witty and heartfelt, emotional and encouraging. But most of all it is about the hope of overcoming your "dragons" and how that can revive your soul.

I've been letting fear win. . . . Generalized anxiety disorder is no small dragon. But I'm the one who gave that dragon the throne. Not because I didn't know how to fight it, even though that's what I would've said. But because I was afraid of what fighting it would cost me.

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Review: THE HOUR WASP by Jay Sheets

Rating: 5/5 stars

This poetry book features an eccentric style of writing that was perfect for my taste: free verse poetry that requires you to think below surface-level words and dig out layers of meaning and imagery embedded in the sentences. It is poetry that doesn't always make sense at first but still exudes an ethereal quality, poetry that has a life-altering impact once it's read four times and the words connect and sink in. This kind of poetry isn't for everyone, but it is for me. 

Even the presentation of the poems add to the quality of the collection: every word is in lower case font without punctuation. The visual style changes from poem to poem, cutting phrases in pieces between lines and ending so abruptly that it slices you like a razor blade. But it's beautiful. 

The Hour Wasp is a literary collection of poems not meant for the uneducated, the non-dreamers, or the faint of heart. It is raw, it is dark, it is honest. This collection is made of otherworldly imagery that will transport you to another time and place, one you only wish you could reside in forever. And when you come back to your suddenly sullen reality after the last page, you'll be tempted to leap back into that dream state of chaos created by the elegantly occult poems.

Also included in this book are absolutely stunningly beautiful black ink watercolor paintings of earthly creations. The only improvement I would make to this book would be to add more artwork like that which already exists inside. 

I struggled to pick only one quotation to include, but here is my favourite part, lines from a poem titled [my fingers damp in a ruined dream]: 

her fingers / exhume vellum word-coffins / from pockets no hands should find . . . & the rude beauty whispers: plant the bones / know they'll grow to become the flowers / ours will never be

This is a book that I will read time and time again because it had that much of an impact on me. 

Thank you to NetGalley for providing me with this ebook in exchange for an honest review.

Decluttering and Organizing My Books

I have been looking forward to this day for so long. We just moved into our own place after six months of living with family (since we moved across the country on a whim), and two years prior of living in student housing while I was in college. This is the first time in about eight years that all my books are in the same room since my bookcases were split between two rooms while I was in high school. And it's also the first time that all my books and all my husband's books will be combined into our shared shelves. I first set up the shelves, which I know for a fact fit only about 1/2 to 2/3 of these books, and then I brought in all the boxes from storage. This is what I'm working with:

all our boxes of books

This is already looking overwhelming. There are 45 boxes here! I unpacked all my boxes, putting all the books into piles on the floor.

Last year I read Marie Kondo's The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up, and I will be using that book's method (the Konmari method) for decluttering my books. She recommends to set goals for your personal space, which I have done:

Goals: 

• Own only books that I truly want to read or that I enjoyed so much that I want to reread. 
• Eliminate books that do not bring joy when I look at them. 
• Have all my books displayed vertically in an organized manner on my shelves. Every book should have room without needing to double-stack the shelves. 
• Make my shelves a representation of me--who I am and what I love. 
• Create a relaxing space where my bookshelves bring me peace instead of anxiety. 
• Reduce my TBR. 

With these goals in mind, Marie Kondo says to then put all the books on the floor. This is easy for me since they're coming straight out of boxes instead of off the shelves.

all the books that we own

When they're all in one place, in a pile, it's easy to see that we own too many books. Even though my husband and I both love reading, that doesn't mean I want us owning an endless supply of books. And the surprising thing is that I even donated about 50 of my books before we moved.

The next step in the Konmari method is to pick up each book, one by one, and ask if that book brings you joy. Do not start reading the book; just hold it and look at it. As you can imagine, with 675+ books, it took me quite a long time to sort through them. (My husband recently sorted through his books and got rid of about 70% of his collection, which I was very proud of.)

The problem with marrying a book lover like myself is that we ended up with some duplicate copies of books we both enjoy. I sorted all my duplicate copies into their own pile so I could go through those separately, comparing editions and keeping the best ones.

all duplicate books; left: keep, right: donate

Then I proceeded to sort through my books one by one, as she says. I originally went into this process expecting to get rid of about 100 books. I know that seems like a lot, but I was feeling hopeful. I also had been looking at a list of my books prior to today, and I had made a mental note of about 50 books that I thought could go.

After many hours of sorting through my books, I ended up donating 257 books (plus another stack a few days later) and keeping 415 books (not including my old yearbooks).

I am feeling that I may still get rid of more over the next few months as I hone in my reading tastes, but we shall see. Now all that's left is to put all the books on my shelf and see if they fit (which they didn't). I'll be honest, organizing my bookshelf is one of my very favourite things to do.

halfway done when I realized there were too many books for three bookcases

Unfortunately, there are still too many books for the amount of shelf space we have, but I am reluctant to purchase another shelf. I got them to all fit, but I had to stack some books horizontally to save space. Nevertheless, these are our bookshelves.

our newly culled and organized bookshelves

My ultimate goal is to have less than ten books on my TBR and to read books as I purchase them instead of letting them sit around for a long time first. Hopefully, these new shelves will help me to reach my goal quicker and enjoy my books more.

Thanks for reading!
xo


FAQs

• Where do you get your bookcases? All my cases are the Billy model from IKEA.
• Aren't you wasting money by getting rid of unread books? No, not really. Most of my books (especially the ones I'm donating) were free, either from the youth library program, as gifts, from friends, or from my grandma's attic. Or they were purchased at super bargain prices, so I don't feel too bad about it. I rarely pay full price for books, but those are the ones that I'm very excited for and willing to read, so I actually want to keep all of those. 
• Where did you discard all your books? I sold them all at Half Price Books.  

2017 Reading Goals

I'm very pleased with how much and what I managed to read in 2016. My main goal was to read one hundred books during the year, which I managed to do for the first time ever: I read 111 books in 2016. Although I can see myself reading even more books in 2017, that is not my goal this year. My Goodreads goal is set to forty books for the year for a few different reasons.

First, in reference to one of my previous posts, I want to focus more on the quality not the quantity of books I read. I want to really connect with and enjoy the books I read instead of just trying to read as many books as possible. Forty seems like a reasonable number in that manner.

Second, my main focus for this year is to reduce the number of unread books I own (my TBR). At the beginning of 2016, my TBR was somewhere around 430 books, but I have continued to both acquire many books and read many owned books throughout the year, as well as giving away around forty books (most of them unread). Now at the beginning of 2017, my TBR is 415 books. My goal is to get that number down to under 300 by the end of the year. I don't intend to actually read one hundred books since I know of quite a few that I will be giving away once I unpack all my books from storage (oh, the joys of moving). My TBR has been in the hundreds for as long as I can remember, and I am starting to feel overwhelmed by it. I have the long-term goal to reduce it to under ten books by 2020.

Third, I want to read some longer classics this year that will take more time to read than the average length of books that I normally read. My goal is to read these three books in 2017: Anna Karenina, Don Quixote, and Jude the Obscure. I have a few more on the list if I can get to them, although reading long classics is a goal secondary to reducing my TBR.

Fourth, I would like to read five church-related books throughout the year (I own quite a few, so this goal pairs with my second goal). These kinds of nonfiction books generally take more time to read than lighthearted fiction novels because they require in-depth study of and pondering on their concepts.

In 2016 I participated in and completed the Around the World in Fifty-Two Books challenge. Although that challenge is continuing in 2017 with a new list, I will not be taking part this year. I found that last year, I mostly just matched the books I was reading with a goal from the challenge without really going out of my way to read books I wouldn't normally read. I think that is the point of the challenge, though, to read out of your comfort zone a little bit. I love reading challenges with different goals like this one, but I think I will put off participating again until my TBR is low enough that I feel I am at a place to venture outside of my own books.

Overall, I am hoping 2017 brings great books and lots of time to read. I believe that my favourite book is still out there waiting to be discovered, and maybe this will be the year that I discover it.

Around the Year in 52 Books: 2016 Review

1. A book you meant to read in 2015 but didn't

Divergent by Veronica Roth

2. A book set on a different continent
Me Before You by Jojo Moyes (set in Europe)

3. A book from the Goodreads Choice Awards 2015 (winner or nominated)
You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day (nominated for humor)

4. A book by an author you discovered in 2015
The Death Cure by James Dashner

5. A book with a title beginning with the 1st letter of your name
The Kill Order by James Dashner

6. The highest rated on your TBR
The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

7. A book about books
The Storied Life of A. J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin

8. A classic book with less than 200 pages
The Red Pony by John Steinbeck

9. A book that was mentioned in another book
The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan

10. A book by an author you feel you should have read by now
Shiver by Maggie Stiefvater

11. A book from the Rory Gilmore challenge
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald

12. A childhood classic
A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle

13. Reader’s Choice
November 9 by Colleen Hoover

14. A book with one of the five Ws or H in the title (Who/What/Where/When/Why/How)
Why We Broke Up by Daniel Handler

15. A book set in the past (more than 100 years ago)
Ivory and Bone by Julie Eshbaugh

16. A book from the top 100 mystery novels
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier

17. A book with a beautiful cover (in your own opinion)
Every Heart a Doorway by Seanan McGuire

18. A book on a summer reading list
We Were Liars by E. Lockhart

19. A non-fiction book
A Journey into the Deaf-World by Harlan Lane

20. A book with a first name in the title
Because of Winn-Dixie by Kate DiCamillo

21. A book from the Goodreads Recommendations page
The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner

22. The first book in a new-to-you series
Crank by Ellen Hopkins

23. The next book in a series you are reading
Well of Ascension by Brandon Sanderson

24. A "between the numbers" book of a series (0.5, 1,5, 2.5, etc.)
Four by Veronica Roth

25. A book whose main character is in a profession that interests you
Afterworlds by Scott Westerfeld

26. A book everyone is talking about
The Last Star by Rick Yancey

27. A book with a beautiful title (in your own opinion)
Daughter of Deep Silence by Carrie Ryan

28. A biography, autobiography, or memoir
Soul Surfer by Bethany Hamilton

29. A book by an author who writes under more than one name
Monster by Walter Dean Myers

30. A fairytale from a culture other than your own
The Arabian Nights: The Story of the Fisherman and the Genie by Anonymous

31. A work of young adult fiction
The Accident Season by Moira Fowley-Doyle

32. A historical fiction book
A Great and Terrible Beauty by Libba Bray

33. The 16th book on your TBR
Inside Out and Back Again by Thannha Lai

34. A book about mental illness
Finding Audrey by Sophie Kinsella

35. An award-winning book
Sold by Patricia McCormick

36. An identity book—a book about a different culture, religion or sexual orientation
Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe by Benjamin Alire Saenz

37. A book that you've seen the movie of but haven't read
Nim's Island by Wendy Orr

38. A book about an anti-hero
The Alloy of Law by Brandon Sanderson

39. A previous suggestion that did not make it into the list: a book with a blue cover
The Titan's Curse by Rick Riordan

40. A novella from your favorite genre
Stupid Perfect World by Scott Westerfeld

41. A book about a major world event
Unbroken by Laura Hillenbrand

42. A top 100 fantasy novel
Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

43. A book about a thing that goes bump in the night
Anna Dressed in Blood by Kendare Blake

44. A book you're embarrassed to read in public
The Selection by Kiera Cass

45. A book related to a hobby or passion you have
Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

46. A crime story
Night Film by Marisha Pessl

47. A book with a type of food or drink in the title
Water for Elephants by Sara Gruen

48. A dystopia
Allegiant by Veronica Roth

49. A book with a great opening line
Underdogs by Markus Zusak

50. A book originally written in a language other than English
The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

51. A short story from a well-known author
Enthralled: Paranormal Diversions by Various Authors

52. A book published in 2016

The Crown by Kiera Cass

Top 5 Books I Read in 2016

I read a lot of books in 2016, and there were a few that really stood out above the others as being intelligently written and spectacularly plotted. Those are the books that have stayed in my heart throughout the year and that I find myself continually recommending to people. Today I'd like to share those books with you.

1. Ready Player One by Ernest Cline

This book absolutely blew me away. I did not expect it to be as crazy good as it was. This was, by far, the best book I read in 2016. It is about our bleak world in 2045, where nearly everybody escapes into a virtual reality known as OASIS. It is a utopia of wonders, where anybody can become anything they want to be and do anything that they can't achieve in the real world. One day the creator of OASIS dies, leaving a massive fortune in the form of an Easter egg hidden in the game. The novel follows Wade as he makes it his goal to find this egg and obtain the fortune that comes with it. But soon every character in the game is on a hunt for the egg, and rivalries spread into the real world as a corporate monster begins either hiring or killing anyone that gets in their way to the prize.
This book is absolutely breathtaking with every new plot point that gets uncovered. It is full of 1980s pop culture references, as the route to the egg involves solving lots of riddles about '80s music, games, and movies. If you like '80s culture, video games, modern sci-fi stories, or a fast-paced adventure, you will love this book.


2. Mistborn by Brandon Sanderson

I had never read epic fantasy before venturing into Sanderson's Mistborn series, but I don't need to read any more to know that this is one of the best fantasy series out there. You can't just stop at book one; you need to read the entire trilogy.
Mistborn is about Vin, a young thief, who gets recruited by Kelsier, the leader of a crew that sets out to overtake the Lord Ruler, an evil leader that has reigned over the land for a thousand years. He is said to be all-powerful, but Kelsier thinks his team can do the impossible and defeat him. The most exciting part of this book is the magic system: people called Mistings can ingest different metals that give them different abilities, depending on the type of metal. The entire world and plot were so fleshed out, and I honestly didn't see any plot holes, which is rare. And the magic system was so thoroughly explored and well explained, which I loved. What is so spectacular about this series is that concepts and ideas that appear to be insignificant that are introduced in the first book appear again in the second and third books, but they tie back to other concepts in a mind-bending way that makes you realize that Sanderson had every tiny detail of the whole series planned out before he even began to write the first book. It is absolutely mind-bending to look back on the series once you've completed it and see exactly how everything connects together.


3. The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo

This book is what it says it is: life-changing. Of all the books I've read this year, this one has had the biggest long-term impact on me. I have a separate review of this book here if you're interested.
I think a lot of people suffer from the stress of owning too much stuff and not knowing what to do with it. This book will address that issue in a completely new way: keep only what you love. Marie Kondo goes through the steps of organizing your house and personal effects that will bring you the most positive results you've ever seen when it comes to tidying. She asks you to pick up each item individually and ask yourself if it brings you joy. If it does, keep it; if it doesn't, discard it. It's a very simple approach that elicits tremendous results.
I have been following the steps in this book throughout the year and have gotten rid of so much stuff I didn't know that I didn't need. It really is very cathartic and freeing. I highly recommend this book if you want a more organized life.



4. You're Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day

I had no idea who Felicia Day was before reading this book, but now I'm a huge fan of hers. She is hilarious, as is proven in her book (and even more so if you listen to her read the audiobook, which I did). Felicia's book is a memoir of her life thus far as a homeschooled girl who is addicted to video games. It is full of anecdotes from her childhood as an awkward girl who's just trying to fit in. She talks about her time creating the Guild miniseries and starring in Dr. Horrible's Sing-Along Blog. Her memoir is very relatable to someone like me who is a shy girl who enjoys video games and who often suffers from anxiety. Felicia endured a lot of the same experiences and feelings that I and a lot of others have gone through. Honestly, I think everyone should read You're Never Weird on the Internet; whether or not you know who Felicia Day is, you will most likely laugh and enjoy your time spent reading this book.
I have a separate review of this book here if you want to read that, too.



5. Night Film by Marisha Pessl

It is better to read this book without any prior knowledge of what it is about, but here is a short, vague synopsis anyway. Night Film is a psychological mystery thriller about a girl who dies and the investigative reporter who is trying to figure out the truth about her mysterious family. This book is a dark mind-bending roller coaster. I best heard it described this way: you think you've hit rock bottom when you realize you're standing on another trap door. I've never read a book in this genre before, but this was probably not a good place to start because no book will ever live up to it.
The best part about reading Night Film is that the book is filled with photographs, documents, and other visual elements, many of which have hidden content in them. If you download the Night Film Decoder app, you can scan the pictures to access the bonus content. It's seriously awesome.
I recommend just blindly jumping into this book if you're even remotely interested at this point.

Review: THE PAPER MAGICIAN by Charlie N. Holmberg

Rating: 3.5/5 stars

I enjoyed The Paper Magician quite a bit. The beginning was a little hard to get into because of the unique, descriptive writing style, but I eventually got used to it and started loving it. I also loved the setting of early 1900s London; it just felt so happy.

The entire middle portion of the book, when Ceony is inside the heart, was a little slow for me. It was interesting to see Emery's memories and wishes, but I found myself just wanting Ceony to get out already and get back to Emery.

My favourite parts were when Ceony was learning to Fold with Mg. Thane in his house. I liked learning about the specifics of paper magic. And the ending: the ending was adorable and really made me want to read the next two books.

Overall, I'd recommend this book if you enjoy eccentric historical fantasy stories that involve materials magic.

I cannot read all the books.

I currently own over 400 unread books. Every one of those books I bought because I wanted to read it at one point in my life. I never had much time to read in high school, so almost all the books I bought during that time are still sitting unread on my shelf. Many of them I have no desire to read anymore. For a long time, I have felt that I still will read them, or at least that I should read them, not because I own them or because I want to read what was popular six years ago, but because I feel I will be depriving my former self if I don't read them. I wanted to read those books at one point in time, and I want to satisfy my high school self by reading now what I wanted to read then.

I understand that that sounds rather weird, but that is how I feel about the situation. I feel like a part of me will be missing out if I don't read those books. I wanted to read them back when I purchased them but didn't have the time. I kept telling myself, I'll read them next year when I have time; I'll read them eventually. But now that I have time, my reading tastes have changed quite a bit, and I'm not so sure I want to read all those books anymore.

It is a hard realization to accept, but I know that I cannot read all the things I want to in my lifetime. I see books all the time and think to myself, I'll read that eventually when I've read everything else I want to read, but I have come to accept that there will always be books that I won't have time to read or won't ever choose to pick up.

Similarly, I hear people say all time how they've been meaning to read a certain book for a few months or a few years but they haven't gotten to it yet. The simple fact of the matter is that if you keep putting off that book, you probably don't actually want to read it anymore. That's not to say you've been putting it off because you don't have time, but if you have been choosing to read other books rather than "the one you've been meaning to read for quite some time," then it's probably time to reevaluate whether or not you are actually still interested in reading that book or finishing that series.

I have been doing a lot of reevaluating of the books that have sat unread on my shelves for many years, and I've realized that it's time that a lot of those books and I part ways. I bought them for a purpose but the time has passed for that purpose to be fulfilled, and I shouldn't feel bad about that. What I've learned is that I need to read books within a year or so of acquiring the book or I will most likely lose interest in ever reading it. Ideally, I'd like to read books within a month of purchasing them, but that's not currently possible for me.

A good question to ask yourself when looking at all the unread books on your shelf is this: If I went out to the store today, would I still choose to purchase that book? If you find yourself saying definitely not, then it may be time to donate that book instead of stressing out if and when you'll ever find time to read it. Don't feel bad about getting rid of books; feel relieved instead that you have fewer books that you "need" to read.