February Book(s) - Reading Challenge 2019

Whoops 4 months late, oh well...

I had a school break on february, so the challenge of reading one book was too easy!

The book that I chose to read was "Wicked: The Life and Times of the Wicked Witch of the West" by Gregory Maguire, a book that I found at a second hand store for less than 2 euros!

I decided to read this one because I haven't been reading a lot of fiction for the past few years, and I feel like that has been taking a toll on my creativity.  I thought this was just a fun and light book about witches in the Wizard of Oz universe, and boy, was I wrong.

The book is about Elphaba, a girl that was born with green skin, and it talks about oppression, power, good and evil. I definitely wasn't expecting this story to be about such radical topics! Even though I knew how it was going to end (we all know what happens to the witch in Wizard of Oz...), I was still surprised, even shocked. I'm not gonna lie, the book is big and some of it isn't exactly exciting, but I'm so glad I stuck with it, because it was definitely a wonderful read. Understanding where the love that the witches' father has for Nessarose comes from was so incredibly beautiful to me, and I wasn't expecting to feel so emotional about it!

This month I also reread one of the stories that I wrote as a teen. I used to write so much, it's actually insane - the story I reread was the longest one, with three volumes and over 200000 words! I'm not counting it as a book, but it was really interesting to see the way I used to think and how much I've grown. Even though I now disagree with a lot of things that I wrote, I must admit that I'm proud that I managed to create a story from start to finish, with a defined story line. I'm currently playing around with another project, and it was helpful to read this one and take note of my mistakes and my successes.

The second (actual!) book I finished this month was "Looking for Alaska" by John Green. A friend of mine lent it to me - thanks Ana! - and I was feeling like reading something lighter. It was an easy read, and I had already read "The Fault in Our Stars" by the same author.

 

I'm not gonna lie, neither of his books had that much impact on me. I like his writing style, it's fun and easy to read, but I just didn't feel... that much... Both handle really hard and emotional themes of loss of a love interest, and I'm usually a very emotional person, I expected to connect with the characters and be heart broken, I wanted to find the stories beautiful, cry a lot and gain a new perspective on things. So I was disappointed when that didn't happen, especially in "Looking for Alaska" ("The Fault in Our Stars" left a tiny bit more impact on me)

It had interesting thoughts, and a few of my friends have read it and loved it. It just didn't click with me, and that's fine. 

Finally, the last book I completed this month was "Strictly Between Us", by Jane Fallon, also borrowed from Ana (I stole quite a few books from her, and I'll be reading all of them in the next couple of months - Thanks Ana!).

I really liked this book! It was such a fun read, and it helped me realize a few things about what I want for my writing! It's about a cheating husband, his mistress, his wife and the wife's best friend. I was quite scared the end would be focused on female rivalry rather than blaming the actual culprit, and I was relieved to see that wasn't the case, and even though there wasn't as much sisterhood as I'd like, it was still a pretty good ending!

I started another book this month, but I only finished reading it in the beginning of March, so I'll be talking more about it next month. It's called "O Encantador de Sonhos" (it would be something like "The Dream Whisperer" in English, but it hasn't been translated yet!) and it was actually written by a friend of my mom! It must be an incredible experience, to write and publish a book. It's certainly a dream of mine, so I'm glad I know someone who made that dream come true for them!

On to the next month...