It’s another beautiful (albeit cool) day here on the west coast. I’m a little down in the spirit because a) I have a cold that won’t go away b) we finished watching Jujutsu Kaisen season one c) I’m more or less stagnated in my writing lately.
Well, I’ve discovered a fun tag off from Paperfury’s website that I’m snagging, so as to hoping it will also lift my spirits. 🙂
Let’s jump right into it, shall we?
1. HOW MUCH HAVE YOU READ?
I’m almost at my 100 book mark, so that’s always exciting.
2. WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN READING?
I’ve been keeping track of my reading diet ever since I decided I needed to read a more balanced load (you can read a bit about it in this post), and I’m glad to see I’ve been able to keep it up (sort of). It’s become a bit more lax, but I’m still happy with my current reading life, and that’s what counts. 😉
3. BEST BOOK YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2020
I guess it boils down to these three for now…
4. BEST SEQUEL YOU’VE READ SO FAR IN 2020
Um, obviously Crooked Kingdom and (not a sequel) but Blessed Monsters and my all time favourite by Astrid Lindgren. Seriously, everyone should read Detektive Kalle Blomkvist.
5. NEW RELEASE YOU HAVEN’T READ YET, BUT WANT TO
These three. I’ve begun both SL and TCatB, but haven’t finished them yet!! (And their covers are all very gorgeous!!)
6. MOST ANTICIPATED RELEASE FOR THE SECOND HALF OF THE YEAR
I’m not really good at keeping up with new releases, but from what I’ve seen, I’m excited for them! (Wait, a few of them are already released…oh well. I did say I’m not good with dates.)
7. OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE
Right, out of my comfort zone… Joyce’s Ulysses by far gets the prize (and it was another whopping 1,000 page long tome), a collection of essays (which I’m enjoying lieu slow progress) and a short story collection by Anthony Doerr (whose style I adore profusely).
8. BIGGEST SURPRISE
These two. I mean, you can read my review on the Ninth House on Goodreads if you’re interested, but it was just so hard to get into NH until everything I could think of was that. And I usually don’t read horror stories, but I thoroughly enjoyed this one. 😉
9. NEW FAVOURITE AUTHOR (DEBUT OR NEW TO YOU)
I’m currently raving (and still kind of hung over) from these authors. Seriously, everyone should read Democracy in America, even if they’re not American.
10. UNDERRATED GEMS YOU’VE DISCOVERED RECENTLY
It’s kind of summed up here…Badon is a manga, but it reads like a literary fiction, and DO I NEED TO MENTION THE SONG OF ROLAND AGAIN OR ARE WE AGREED THAT YOU SHOULD BE READING IT NOW???
11. REREADS THIS YEAR
Also, just finished reading Fangirl for the nth time again. #comfortread
12. BOOK THAT MADE YOU CRY
I think I cried WAAAY more than I usually do when I read, which is kind of funny when I consider it, or maybe I hadn’t met the kind of books that makes me cry until this year.
13. BOOK THAT MADE YOU HAPPY
I mean, I love these books from the cover to the story itself to just everything. Looking at them makes me smile.
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14. MOST BEAUTIFUL BOOK YOU’VE BOUGHT SO FAR THIS YEAR (OR RECEIVED)
Definitely these books.
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15. GOALS FOR THE REST OF THE YEAR
Don’t think too much about the amount of books read (or unread). Keep my focus on the quality of books! (That being said, my goal is still 120 books.)
Continue reading books I love and tougher books. Esp. with my uni syllabus, I’m thinking I’ll get to meet books I otherwise won’t meet.
Have fun with my reading life. I get too intense with everything I do…
Get back on bookstagramme around the beginning of August. Find a more sustainable rhythm to it.
Support my local bookstore when I buy books.
And that’s about it!
Thank you for reading! How about you? What are some of the books you’ve met this year? Books you’re excited meeting for the first time? Let me know in the comments below; I’d love to chat with you!
It’s a new day, and a very exciting one at that. Vancouver saw its first over 35 °C (and even over 40°C in some places!) which is not the exciting thing that happened, in case you’re wondering, but noteworthy natheless…
I FINALLY GOT TO SEE THE KIMETSU NO YAIBA MUGEN RESSHA MOVIE!!!
(Sorry, I had to do that.) The theatres finally opened toward the end of last month, and I finally caught up with the rest of my Japanese friends who have cried buckets which I also did. (And I don’t think I’ll ever recover from this movie…)
Just looking at this makes me cry😭
AND, JENNA TERESE’S IGNITE IS NOW OUT!!!
(I know, I should probably stop with all the caps.😂 ) I got to ARC-read it, so TBH it feels like some time has already past and people should know about this book, and that’s not the case, so let me present to you Ignite by Jenna Terese…
Ignite
Rating: 4/5 stars
Contents: Thematic elements, deaths
Reminds me of: MHA, TPN, Marvel
What if superhumans weren’t considered heroes?
When Scarlett Marley is attacked by an illegal super with fire powers, she doesn’t get burned, but now she has a fire-like glow flickering in her eyes.
With superpowers criminalized, she has no choice but to turn herself over to the Superhuman Containment Facility, or risk hurting everyone she loves.
Her normal life seems lost forever, until she is selected to be one of the first to receive the experimental cure to destroy her powers. In exchange, she must first complete one mission:
Infiltrate and capture one of the largest gangs of supers in the remains of once-great Rapid City.
With the cure and all her future at stake, Scarlett is prepared to do whatever it takes to bring these criminals to justice so she can return to her family. But this gang and their leader, Rez, aren’t what everyone says, and Scarlett begins to question everything she was ever told about the SCF and the fire flowing in her veins.
The cure is her only hope for returning her life to what it was before, but is that life worth returning to after all?
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My Review
Note: I received an eARC copy of this book in exchange for an honest review
1. Theme–I loved how the story focused on home and family, which I think is lacking in YA sci-fi/dystopia. Jenna streamlined the themes with the story, the characters, and everything else it felt natural. I loved how faith was part of this theme and was pleasantly surprised it was just as conversational as the rest of the themes, yet at the same time digging deeper into the issue. I’m excited to see how it develops in book 2!
2. Prose–Jenna’s prose is smooth and comfortably fits into the rest of the story. As prose is usually a big factor for me, I’m glad to say I didn’t feel conscious of reading or got startled out of the world.
3. Characters–This is where the story shines. All the characters of the story come alive, off the page, and I was invested with their stories. I actually wasn’t as into Scarlett’s story as I would have liked (even though she’s the MC). I won’t have to mention it, but I will–I’m so going to adopt Ares. #aresfanclub And being slightly unpopular, I would say Dr Bailey was done well! (Esp. as someone who keeps on getting him for the character quizzes, lol.) And Seth. I really, really want to get to know Seth more. Also, I initially disliked Nadia, but she grew into her character quite well. Overall, the cast is well developed, and it made me want to know more about each of them!!
4. Plot–There’s a major turning point in the middle and I honestly wasn’t expecting the story to take the direction it took until then. It definitely kept me turning the pages, although I think the ending was a little predictable.
Jenna Terese believes stories are powerful. That’s why she’s dedicated to creating fiction that will impact the world. You can find this INFP dreaming about the future, fangirling over her favorite books, geeking out about Marvel, playing piano, or sipping a chai tea latte as she writes sci-fi novels.
WIP Update
So, I think the last time I did this was back in March? Since now that half of 2021 is past, I thought it’ll be a good time to recap the last three months + overall WIP progress this year so far. 🙂
Recap of Months 4, 5, 6
April–Camp NaNoWriMo month. I got 30K into Woodstone, which I was very happy about.
May–I had a major writing crisis where I thought I’d give up on Juliet permanently and wrote 25K in Osthauptstadt with lots of tears.
June–I recovered from said writing crisis ™ and got 15K of rewrite into Juliet and 6K into an experimental secret project no. 2. (I know, I really should stop wandering off in the middle of bigger projects to pursue dust bunnies…)
So far…
That brings the total word count of the year 2021 so far to 123, 822 out of 300,000 words planned. In the bigger sphere of things, that makes it 593, 566 words written so far in mostly fiction writing.
Now, some of you may be thinking, Gahh, I loathe numbers! It’s giving me a headache!! In which case, thank you for bearing with me.
Personally, I find numbers to be comforting because it gives me a clearer picture of where I’ve been and how far I’ve come. Although I couldn’t make it to the halfway mark of 150K by June, I’m really glad of what I have so far. It’s roughly 40% of my word count goal, and knowing I’m almost there makes it easier for me to plan out my next stage–I’ve come this far, I can make it to the end.
And if you feel discouraged for whatever reason today, remember this: You’ll always move forward one step at a time, one word at a moment.
Courage, dear heart. We’ve got this.
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Thank you for reading! Are you excited for Ignite? (And if you’ve already read it, are you on the #aresfanclub?) How is your writing going so far? Let me know in the comments below; I’d love to chat with you!
Yesterday, we went on an impromptu hike. I wasn’t expecting us to go to a 600+ metres peak, and the snow (apparently Vancouver is also Canada) and the clouds and basically everything. Well, it was gorgeous up there (albeit freezing), so I’m glad I went. I’m even more glad I’m back home typing this at my favourite desk.
Anyhow.
A lot of things happened this week, but one thing in particular reminded me how much I loved sci-fi, of all things. I know, weirdness. But sometimes there’s this thought that might pop up–Hey, I really love having bath and listening to podcasts or Mozart’s Requiem–and you kind of go on dreaming about it. So I’ve come up with a 12 Sci-Fi Books & Movies List!
Without further ado, let us dive into the speculative and scientific…
1. Illuminae Files
Contents: Language, Violence, Thematic Elements, &c. (sorry, I don’t recall everything…just be reminded it’s kind of intense)
This morning, Kady thought breaking up with Ezra was the hardest thing she’d have to do. This afternoon, her planet was invaded.
The year is 2575, and two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that’s little more than a speck at the edge of the universe. Now with enemy fire raining down on them, Kady and Ezra — who are barely even talking to each other—are forced to evacuate with a hostile warship in hot pursuit.
But their problems are just getting started. A plague has broken out and is mutating with terrifying results; the fleet’s AI may actually be their enemy; and nobody in charge will say what’s really going on. As Kady hacks into a web of data to find the truth, it’s clear the only person who can help her is the ex-boyfriend she swore she’d never speak to again.
Told through a fascinating dossier of hacked documents — including emails, maps, files, IMs, medical reports, interviews, and more — Illuminae is the first book in a heart-stopping trilogy about lives interrupted, the price of truth, and the courage of everyday heroes.
Okay, if you haven’t read this series yet, THEN WHAT HAVE YOU BEEN DOING WITH YOUR LIFE???
Jokes aside, it’s probably my fav. sci-fi books, like, ever. There are some content warnings (i. e. language, although it’s crossed out) so I wouldn’t recommend it if you’re under fifteen, but this book’s for you even if you might normally not like space operas. I loathe space operas, and this is my fav. sci-fi book. Go figure. Plus, AIDAN. (Legit got me hooked on Mozart’s Requiem, which is what I’m listening to right now.)
The earth is in the middle of WWIII in Insignia, the first entry in S. J. Kincaid’s fast-paced sci-fi adventure trilogy is perfect for fans of Ender’s Game.
The planet’s natural resources are almost gone, and war is being fought to control the assets of the solar system. The enemy is winning. The salvation may be Tom Raines. Tom doesn’t seem like a hero. He’s a short fourteen-year-old with bad skin. But he has the virtual-reality gaming skills that make him a phenom behind the controls of the battle drones.
As a new member of the Intrasolar Forces, Tom’s life completely changes. Suddenly, he’s someone important. He has new opportunities, friends, and a shot at having a girlfriend. But there’s a price to pay. . . .
This is the other sci-fi book I’ve read more than once. It’s been about two years since I last re-read it, so my memory’s a bit foggy, but I loved the vibes of the story–hacking, check, corporate espionage and wars, check, weird teenagers, check–so I’d heartily recommend it if that’s the kind of thing you like. I mean, lots of weirdness and tech and military-esque-stuff.
Humans and androids crowd the raucous streets of New Beijing. A deadly plague ravages the population. From space, a ruthless Lunar people watch, waiting to make their move. No one knows that Earth’s fate hinges on one girl. . . . Cinder, a gifted mechanic, is a cyborg.
She’s a second-class citizen with a mysterious past, reviled by her stepmother and blamed for her stepsister’s illness. But when her life becomes intertwined with the handsome Prince Kai’s, she suddenly finds herself at the center of an intergalactic struggle, and a forbidden attraction. Caught between duty and freedom, loyalty and betrayal, she must uncover secrets about her past in order to protect her world’s future.
I recently read the first book of the Lunar Chronicles and absolutely fell in love with it. It’s mostly clean, I love all things cyborg–I mean, come on, it’s a sci-fi fairytale retelling! And it’s Marissa Meyer. Nothing can go wrong with this setting.
It’s just another day on the Scrap: lose the last of your credits at the WarDome, dodge the gangs and religious fanatics, discover you can destroy electronics with your mind, stumble upon the deadliest robot ever built When Eve finds the ruins of an android boy named Ezekiel in the scrap pile she calls home, her entire world comes crashing down. With her best friend and her robotic sidekick in tow, she and Ezekiel will trek across deserts of irradiated glass, battle cyborg assassins, and scour abandoned megacities to save the ones she loves and learn the dark secrets of her past.
Fans of Jay Kristoff, the Romanov family, androids and nuclear-scarred landscape, unite! I got to read this book as an ARC and I just devoured it in one sitting. What I love about this book is that it doesn’t read like a normal sci-fi, despite the setting. Obviously I’m kind of obsessed with Russian history, so I loved the undertone vibe to it. Plus, there’s a girl named Lemon Fresh. Why wouldn’t I love this book?
5. Warcross
Contents: Some violence, Thematic Elements, LGBTQ2+, romance, &c.
Rating: PG13
For the millions who log in every day, Warcross isn’t just a game—it’s a way of life.
The obsession started ten years ago and its fan base now spans the globe, some eager to escape from reality and others hoping to make a profit. Struggling to make ends meet, teenage hacker Emika Chen works as a bounty hunter, tracking down Warcross players who bet on the game illegally. But the bounty hunting world is a competitive one, and survival has not been easy. To make some quick cash, Emika takes a risk and hacks into the opening game of the international Warcross Championships—only to accidentally glitch herself into the action and become an overnight sensation.
Convinced she’s going to be arrested, Emika is shocked when instead she gets a call from the game’s creator, the elusive young billionaire Hideo Tanaka, with an irresistible offer. He needs a spy on the inside of this year’s tournament in order to uncover a security problem . . . and he wants Emika for the job. With no time to lose, Emika’s whisked off to Tokyo and thrust into a world of fame and fortune that she’s only dreamed of. But soon her investigation uncovers a sinister plot, with major consequences for the entire Warcross empire.
Marie Lu’s a boss when it comes to YA sci-fi, but I’m really picky about books. Especially books set in Tokyo. *stares* Either a book captures Japan and its culture or it doesn’t. End of story.
Warcross is the other book I’ll cradle in my arms and cry over. I just loved the neon city vibes–it brought back so many memories!! And I mean, Hideo is super hot. (Okay, I’ve got to admit, this and his family’s backstory that ties into bk2 is just…perfect.) And it’s one of those big corporate settings. I guess I really love slightly sinister organisations, sabotage, and espionage-vibes. 🙂
6. Space Trilogy
Contents: Violence, Some gore, Thematic Elements, (one lesbian person?)
Dr Ransom, a Cambridge academic, is abducted and taken on a spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra, which he knows as Mars. His captors are plotting to plunder the planet’s treasures and offer Ransom as a sacrifice to the creatures who live there…
PERELANDRA
Having escaped from Mars, Dr Ransom is called to the paradise planet of Perelandra, or Venus. When his old enemy also arrives and is taken over by the forces of evil, Ransom finds himself in a desperate struggle to save the innocence of this Eden-like world…
THAT HIDEOUS STRENGTH
Investigating the truth about her prophetic dreams, Anne Studdock encounters the fabled Dr Ransom, who is in great pain after his travels. A sinister society run by his old adversaries intends to harness the ancient powers of a resurrected Merlin in their ambition to subjugate the people of Earth…
Didn’t think I’d pull a Lewis on you? Think again. (Obviously I’ll try to sneak a C. S. Lewis book in a given book list.) I just love the way his Space Trilogy is layered. Out of the Silent Planet is definitely the most old-schooled sci-fi of the three, almost reading like a Wells book, but with a decidedly theological twist that somehow works.
Perelandra is almost Miltonian in a sense, but the action towards the end is pretty break-neck.
That Hideous Strength, without a doubt, is my favourite ST book. I think one can also classify it as a dystopian with an English countryside-dark academia vibe to it. Not quite Orwellian (because obviously it’s Christian in its outlook), but shockingly contemporary in its themes and contents. A must-read.
7. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World
Contents: Violence, Thematic Elements, some graphic contents (I think?)
Rating: R18+
In this hyperkinetic and relentlessly inventive novel, Japan’s most popular (and controversial) fiction writer hurtles into the consciousness of the West. Hard-Boiled Wonderland and the End of the World draws readers into a narrative particle accelerator in which a split-brained data processor, a deranged scientist, his shockingly undemure granddaughter, Lauren Bacall, Bob Dylan, and various thugs, librarians, and subterranean monsters collide to dazzling effect. What emerges is simultaneously cooler than zero and unaffectedly affecting, a hilariously funny and deeply serious meditation on the nature and uses of the mind.
If you haven’t noticed it yet, I love sci-fi books that are philosophical at its heart. And, I’m also a Murakami fan.
This is the second or third book I read, and it’s definitely my fav. Murakami book. I love how vague and otherworldly this story is although I can trace faint outlines of normal Tokyo I know. Except it isn’t. This book isn’t for young audiences, however, so I’d caution that. (But I think it’s milder than other Murakami books, IDK.)
8. The Alex Crow
Contents: Violence, Gore, Thematic Elements, Actual War, some graphic contents, &c.
Once again blending multiple story strands that transcend time and place, Grasshopper Jungle author Andrew Smith tells the story of 15-year-old Ariel, a refugee from the Middle East who is the sole survivor of an attack on his small village. Now living with an adoptive family in Sunday, West Virginia, Ariel’s story of his summer at a boys’ camp for tech detox is juxtaposed against those of a schizophrenic bomber and the diaries of a failed arctic expedition from the late nineteenth century. Oh, and there’s also a depressed bionic reincarnated crow.
I know I mentioned this book in another one of my book lists, but now that I think about it, it does have a decidedly sci-fi vibe to it so I’ve taken it up again! I love the convoluted timelines and Ariel’s story (which is heartbreaking) as well as the bizarreness of the expedition diaries. There’s this invisible scientific corporation undertone that’s also really chilling.
It’s been eighteen months since the Raxter School for Girls was put under quarantine. Since the Tox hit and pulled Hetty’s life out from under her.
It started slow. First the teachers died one by one. Then it began to infect the students, turning their bodies strange and foreign. Now, cut off from the rest of the world and left to fend for themselves on their island home, the girls don’t dare wander outside the school’s fence, where the Tox has made the woods wild and dangerous. They wait for the cure they were promised as the Tox seeps into everything.
But when Byatt goes missing, Hetty will do anything to find her, even if it means breaking quarantine and braving the horrors that lie beyond the fence. And when she does, Hetty learns that there’s more to their story, to their life at Raxter, than she could have ever thought true.
I did a review of this book I was going to post on my blog but never did. (I think I posted a short version on Goodreads.) Which, btw, expresses my sentiments well.
But I wanted to include this book on this list because the situation is absolutely delectable. Like, an all-girls school that’s cut off from the rest of the world? An unknown illness that decomposes a person from the inside out (flowers budding from your arm, that kind of thing)? Um, I’d totally read it. And although it could be better, I really do love the setting. So if that kind of thing’s your cup of tea, go for it!
Thalli has fifteen minutes and twenty-three seconds left to live. The toxic gas that will complete her annihilation is invading her bloodstream. But she is not afraid.
Thalli is different than others in The State. She feels things. She asks questions. And in the State, this is not tolerated. The Ten scientists who survived the nuclear war that destroyed the world above believe that emotion was at the core of what went wrong—and they have genetically removed it from the citizens they have since created. Thalli has kept her malformation secret from those who have monitored her for most of her life, but when she receives an ancient piece of music to record as her community’s assigned musician, she can no longer keep her emotions secreted away.
Seen as a threat to the harmony of her Pod, Thalli is taken to the Scientists for immediate annihilation. But before that can happen, Berk—her former Pod mate who is being groomed as a Scientist—steps in and persuades the Scientists to keep Thalli alive as a test subject.
The more time she spends in the Scientist’s Pod, the clearer it becomes that things are not as simple as she was programmed to believe. She hears stories of a Designer—stories that fill her mind with more questions: Who can she trust? What is this emotion called love? And what if she isn’t just an anomaly, but part of a greater design?
I think this is the first Christian YA sci-fi I’ve read that was simply stunning. Like, I’d suffered through the whole Christian-contemporary-fiction-sucks stage, lots of despairing remarks, salvage attempts, tears (“Why can’t Christian books be awesome like non-Christian books??”) &c, and here’s a book that completely disrupts that. I debated a bit whether to put it in dystopian or sci-fi but think at its heart it’s sci-fi. Also, any book with a classical musician/music paired with science will not fail me. At least, I believe so. 😉
11. Inception
Contents: Violence, Thematic Elements, &c.
Rating: PG-13
I know I promised you movies, and this ends up being the first out of twelve mentioned.
But.
I kind of have a love-hate relationship with sci-fi movies in general, and Inception’s about the only movie I’ll recommend without any hesitation. I mean, I read a follow-up book, Inception & Philosophy. I have Inception fanart on my walls. I dream about re-watching Inception every opportunity I get. Yes, I’m obsessed with it.
12. Matrix
Contents: Violence, Some gore, Thematic Elements, Graphic scenes, &c.
Rating: R18
Like the Wilder Girls, I have mixed feelings about this movie. I loved the first one, the second one’s a bit iffy, and it does kind of recover in the third one, but even writing about it makes me pause. I guess it’s one of those movies I have a love-hate relationship with bordering on the negative side.
Yet it is a really interesting conversation with philosophy. science, and cognitive systems (die-hard topic for me), so I obviously wouldn’t miss it. Would not recommend anyone under fifteen the youngest watching it.
So that’s it! Thanks for reading so far.
Are you a fan of sci-fi? What’s your favourite sci-fi book/movie? Do you like any of the sci-fi books/movies in this list? Let me know in the comments below; I’d love to chat with you!
