MWAHAHAH!!! I'VE DONE IT!

I have been reading the Harry Potter Series since I was a Junior in high school. I am currently a Junior in college. I wasn't able to read the books when I was younger because for a long time I was told that they were demonic. As I got older, I realized that I felt like I was missing out on a big part of our culture. So, I decided to read them.

In the end, I'm glad that I did so. I will now understand what people are talking about when the make Harry Potter references. Was this series the best thing that I have ever read? No. I think that I may have missed the train for that. Maybe, if I had read it when I was younger, I would have thought differently. Don't get me wrong, these books are beautifully written and they have a great story. I just think that, with where I am at this point in my life, this story doesn't speak to me as much as it would have when I was younger.

3.5/5 stars.

As a college junior, I don’t get a lot of free time to read. However, recently I have realized just how much not reading affects my mental health. So, this book was the first book in my getting back into regular reading. Also, this book is the first installment of my book club with my sister and my cousin, so I was pretty excited going in.

I have heard SO much about this book in the past couple of years. I knew it was big, but I didn’t realize that it was getting a movie until I started seeing previews everywhere. Amandla Stenberg is one of my absolute favorite people in the popular scene right now, so when I saw that she was going to be staring in this movie, I knew that I wanted to read this book.

Going in, I tried not to let the hype effect me. It’s really difficult to read a book after so much hype has been thrust upon it because you never know if it will live up to that or not. In this case, I do think that the hype got to me a little bit, but that is not the reason why this book didn’t get a higher rating.

The more I read Young Adult, the more I realize that I am no longer the audience for Young Adult. I find it harder and harder to relate to the characters because I no longer think in the ways that they do. I really loved this book when I picked it up. I loved the characters and I loved everywhere that the story was going. And I believe that I still do love them, but not as much as I would have loved them when I was in high school.

This book was definitely a Young Adult novel. There was instalove. There was melodrama. There were a few times where I rolled my eyes because these characters are DEFINITELY teenagers. A part of me wasn’t sure if the characters were being dramatic or if I wasn’t taking into account the characters situation. I mean, if I was sick and had been cooped up in my house my whole life, I would be a little dramatic when I made a friend as well. But, I feel like the same story would have been possible without all of the teenager-y angst. However, if it omitted all of these things, it wouldn’t have been a YA novel.

The first half of this book was gold. I loved it! If it would have kept going along at that pace, I would have absolutely adored it. However, the second half of the book just moved way too quickly. I wanted to basque in the story and I was left feeling like I was rushed.

Overall, I liked this book. It definitely was a great book to get me out of my funk. It was cute and fun. Was it the best book that I’ve ever read? No. Am I mad about it? Not in the slightest.

3.5/5 stars

I picked up this book in high school and couldn't get through it. I said "I don't think that I'm going to enjoy this story very much. It's kind of slow and I will read it at some time, but I just can't get into it right now. I'm going to let myself pick it up at a different time". Now, in college, I picked it up hoping that I would find it more amusing. Well, I did!

I found this story to be really cute. It wasn't the best thing that I've ever read, but I found myself really interested in seeing what was going to happen to Lincoln as a character. I cared about the characters more than I did when I was younger. The end of the book felt a little bit rushed to me, but I was not upset with the outcome.

I'm realizing that the time in which you read a book is super important. I could not get through the first twenty pages of this book in high school, but now I found it pretty intriguing. This had me thinking, what would have happened if I picked up a book I hate at a different time in my life? I suppose we'll never know. Anyways, I enjoyed reading this book. It was a great one to help get my out of my reading hiatus.

3.5/5 stars.

This is one play that I think I need to see live because I really enjoyed reading it. For my script analysis class we had the wonderful opportunity to talk to the playwright. I loved what he talked about, so I thought that I should look into what he writes. And look at this: I like his writing. I don't think that I've ever read or seen a play that bridges generations like this. It was really amazing. I hope that I get the privilege to see this play in the near future because it was beautiful.

I picked up this book on a whim. Well, kinda. I picked it up because I couldn't get over the cover. And, because it was popular. It wasn't on my TBR list and I didn't really have a huge passion to read this book. I picked it up anyways because it was getting pretty good reviews.

This book illustrates perfectly what happens when I read a book that I'm not that excited about. It was an okay book. Nothing about it made me feel overwhelmingly wonderful or super upset. It was just okay. A super easy read for me to read over spring break. This is my first Nina LaCour book and I have to say that I'm not overwhelmingly impressed. I guess I'll just have to move on to the next.

Halfway through this book I felt like I wasn't going to like it that much. I kept going because I felt like I was going to find something really amazing in this book. Unfortunately, I think it all went over my head. I mean, I got what the book was trying to say...maybe I just didn't understand "so what?" about this book. Aw well, I'm done.

Sometimes, not very often, I read a book that says things that need to be sung from the mountaintops. This book has be in awe. I believe that everyone should read it. I cried. I laughed. I felt. And I still feel. This book was beautiful because it illustrated the black struggle. It humanized a struggle that is so often dehumanized by the media and our wider culture. I am feeling so much right now, I'm having the hardest time articulating all of it. Everyone needs to read this one. It's so so so very important. <3

I thought that I read my least favorite play when I read The Foreigner by Larry Shue. But, BOY was I wrong. This. This play gets it. I have NEVER hated a play as much as I have hated this one. My poor roommates had to be three while I screamed into the distance about how AWFUL this play is.

Will someone please tell me why this play has so much frivolous talk of rape? Please, like I don't understand at all. Is it supposed to be funny? Because it's not. AT ALL. Characters in this play were asked if they enjoyed being raped. WHAT THE HECK IS THAT? I'm honestly so mad. There is the very smallest (EXTREMELY SMALL) possibility that I just read this play wrong and I'll return from my script analysis class tomorrow seeing it in a whole new light. But, I'm not planning on it because I HATED IT.

I read The Bald Soprano for my class because I was assigned a scene from it. I am so confused about what I just read. I mean, what happened?

3.5/5 stars. This was really cute! I loved Cornelia, I feel like I would be her friend if she were real. I know that I would have liked this book a lot more if the ending wasn't ruined for me :(

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