Well, this has been a fairly chill month in terms of book events (since there was none). However, the first half of the month was stressful because of NaNoWriMo. I was intent on writing and that forced a major reading slump, but the second half was better!
FAMILY
My relatives came to visit a few weeks ago. My aunt and uncle from England came as well as my aunt and uncle from LA. My mom was really excited about having her brother (from England) over. (They’re each other’s favorites.) I was a bit anxious because I am super awkward around them, but it turned out to be fine? I only hung out with them on a Saturday. We went to Pier 39 in SF and walked around. Once I got over the awkwardness, they were all adorable to be around.
NANOWRIMO
I beat it! I got to 50k! *dances in a circle around my room* (There will be a detailed post tomorrow about it.)
BOOKS
Like I said earlier, I hadn’t been reading as much in the beginning of the month because NaNoWriMo got in the way. I wasn’t able to juggle the two at first, but I eventually did. The bad thing was that the books I picked turned out to be books I ended up disliking. :( I was angry at the characters because they were annoying as fuck and annoying. BUT I was pulled out of it!
I read All Our Yesterdays by Cristin Terrill because everybody told me to do it AND GUYS, IT WAS THE BEST. (I even had a twitter conversation with Cristin. :D It totally made my day.) It really pulled me out of the whole “grrrr” phase I seemed to have got into. Then I read The Archived and wow. I liked it. A lot. I don’t know how to describe how I feel about that book or AOY. I’m just struck in awe.
On Twitter, I got awesome book suggestions from Nikki (of There Were Books Involved), who is super awesome and knows how to describe books in a way that totally convinces me to want to read it. Because of her, I will be reading:
- Angelfall and World After by Susan Ee
- She said “it was absolutely necessary for YA readers, a more sci-fi lean, very few angel-cliches, post-apocalyptic alien invasion than sparkly angel book.”
- Steelheart by Brandon Sanderson
- There are supervillains! AND Nikki described it as “Badass nerd uses brains to find, impress, and join elite supervillain hunters — his last hope for revenge.”
- The Mistborn Trilogy by Brandon Sanderson
- “Epic fantasy meets Ocean’s 11 + a kickass YA MC, it does the Firefly-esque thieving-crew-meets-family dynamic PERFECTLY. Perfect OTP, epic heists, high stakes, REAL characters.”
Doesn’t those description sound so awesome? IT ALL SPEAKS TO ME. Nikki, let’s hope I love them because if I do, I owe you all the hugs and cookies in the world!
I had a bit of anxiety because I didn’t post as much this month, but I remembered I didn’t really participate in memes, so that made me feel better. Original content, ya’ll! A few things to note –
- I changed my blog header to reflect my love for narwhals! (I’m sure that by now, it’s no longer my blog’s name with a little cloud on each side.) Isn’t it just beautiful? NARWHALLLLSSSSSS. <3
- I also changed the background. It’s not white anymore. It’s a very subtle cream-ish paper color. (Also, fun tidbit: Nikki (of The Paper Sea) and I are blog background twins! :DDD) Tell me what you think!
- I tweaked my “about me” page a bit to be more playful and “me” (if that makes any sense). The previous one felt stilted to me.
- IMPORTANT NOTE: Since my “Annoying Meme Comments” discussion post, I have banned the usage of the word “great” on my blog. The reasons are pretty obvious if you read the post. Use a different adjective when you want to describe something as “great.”
REVIEWS
DISCUSSIONS | CANDID CONVERSATIONS WITH CEE
Annoying Meme Comments
Reading the Ending First
LETTERS TO
Rachel Hawkins (because it was her birthday!)
You! (Because of Thanksgiving!)
JUDGING A BOOK BY ITS COVER | COVER CHANGES
WAITING ON WEDNESDAY
To All The Boys I’ve Loved Before by Jenny Han
Uninvited by Sophie Jordan
How was your November? Was it frickin’ amazing? (I hope so!)
Congrats on the NanoWrimo!!!! I knew you could do it! I hope I get to read your book one day ;0)
And yay for your family!! I’m glad you were able to enjoy the company of your family after all. I know the feeling of being awkward even with family members, so it’s nice to see that you got along with them well.
Lol I’m getting annoyed of the word ‘great’ too. It’s always like ‘great’ meme or ‘great’ post or ‘great review’. I only say ‘great’ or anything when I mean it not for the sake of saying something on a comment. I only read 3 books this month, too, but I didn’t do any Nanowrimo stuff. I guess I was in a bit of a reading slump. Hope you had a spectacular Thanksgiving!
Congratulations on winning NaNoWriMo, Cee! I participated in the first few days and got to 12,000 words but I didn’t feel like writing any more after that, so I didn’t. I wasn’t exactly trying to reach the 50,000 words so I’m still really pleased with myself. You must be a writing machine. :D
I absolutely ADORE your header – it’s so huggable! I love narwhals, too. I’m so jealous of those people who can design blogs perfectly because I’m useless at design and am never happy with my own.
Best of luck for December! :D :D
Congrats on completing NaNoWriMo this year! I skipped out this year since I knew I wouldn’t have time to participate in it. Pier 39 is so much fun, though I went on a particularly windy day this summer. Missed out on the seals, too. D:
Happy that you ended up spending your Thanksgiving with your faraway relatives! Thanksgiving with extended family is the best.
The fact that you loved The Archived makes me so happy ’cause I LOVED Vicious and want more VE Schwab books in my life. And gaaah, I LOVE All Our Yesterdays to death.
Congrats on completing NaNoWriMo, Cee! So happy for you =D