2022: Top notch, engrossing, just plain fun, and zero emotions! A perfect recipe for Andy Weir.

Thank goodness this book lived up to the hype! I loved [b:The Martian|18007564|The Martian|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1413706054l/18007564._SY75_.jpg|21825181] so much, but I was really disappointed by [b:Artemis|34928122|Artemis|Andy Weir|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1494273579l/34928122._SY75_.jpg|56402016], so I was a little nervous going into it. Don't fear; this book was SO GOOD! Who knew I would love a book about being alone in space? (my literal worst nightmare) I think this book mostly works because Weir moved away from the emotions he tried (and failed) to engage with in Artemis, but that's kind of okay here.

That being said, I absolutely refuse to believe that the ending would have even been possible (and yes, I understand this is how science fiction works) but like NO WAY. Good thing Grace was an introvert who didn't have any friends or family left on Earth because otherwise that never would have been believable. Weir totally just ignored the possibility that Grace might have a mother or a cousin who loved him, because it's easier to ignore than to dive into the messiness of human relationships. I just highly doubt Grace would have been able to survive these years without at least an AI therapist.

I will say, if I knew more about science and space travel, there would probably be more plot holes for me to discover. I thoroughly enjoyed this book mostly because I know *just enough* to follow what was going on. I have never been a space kid, and this was a lovely level of math and science for my brain that took AP Calculus ~10 years ago.

2022: Missed the mark, but enjoyed the ride.

You might pick up this book thinking that it's going to cover what it's like being a surrogate, or the ethics behind having other people be paid to carry your child. You might think it's going to be a thriller about people being stuck in a place they don't want to be, or being observed 24/7. You might think it's about the journey of motherhood and pregnancy. But it's not! Not really...

This book is actually spends a lot more time on race relations, immigration issues, and income inequality. When it actually focused on these topics, it was really good! However, Ramos spent a lot of time playing with the tone, which made it feel like it was a more sinister thriller and SOMETHING was going to happen. Spoiler alert: nothing does. At least, nothing to match the level of intensity that Ramos was suggesting. Also, I felt like the main storyline was getting in the way of the better subplots, where the detailed discussions were happening.

Ramos did an incredible job of giving the reader ZERO indication of whose side she was on. I would recommend this book to fans of [b:Such a Fun Age|43923951|Such a Fun Age|Kiley Reid|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1557181911l/43923951._SY75_.jpg|63995465], but I definitely think that Reid's book was way better than this one. She at least lets you have a clear villain by the end of it. Ramos lets everything stay nice and sticky and questionable. I hate that!

2022: I was so medium on this book the whole time I was reading it.

I was VERY pumped for book, and it had been recommended to me, so I was so excited to get my hands on it. I also hold [b:Little Fires Everywhere|34273236|Little Fires Everywhere|Celeste Ng|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1522684533l/34273236._SY75_.jpg|94930152] in such high esteem that when I heard there was going to be a new Celeste Ng book out this year, I immediately added it to my TBR list. Ultimately, this novel did not live up to the hype I had in my head. True, there is still a lot of discussion of being a "good" mother and motherhood in general. But the plot was chaotic and I did not feel like I knew any of the characters by the end of it.

I think it was much more of a dystopian novel than I was expecting or ready to read. It took me a while to understand what time period we were in or what was really going on. Again, similar to my experience with [b:This is How You Lose the Time War|43352954|This is How You Lose the Time War|Amal El-Mohtar|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1653185078l/43352954._SX50_.jpg|58237743], it was not a fun journey for me. Sometimes the excitement of discovery and piecing everything together in the end is what makes a book great. For me, this novel was muddy and messy and the ending was not revelatory. I honestly am still not sure what Margaret actually accomplished by her stunt at the end.

I also think it's very funny how recently I read [b:Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow|58784475|Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow|Gabrielle Zevin|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1636978687l/58784475._SY75_.jpg|89167797] and how many similar elements these books have! I kept being surprised, from taking place in Cambridge to a sidekick named Sadie!

+1 for the librarians being the epicenter of information and saving the children, because of course they would be. But -1 for no quotation marks. Why do authors think this is a good idea or a fun way for us to read??

2022: J'étudie le français, alors j'ai écouté ce livre. Je comprends le livre audio quand il est à une vitesse de 90%. Je ris à chaque fois qu'ils appellent une "wand" << une baguette magique >>. Personne ne m'a dit que "Snape" s'appelle << Rogue >> en français! Et "Hogwarts" est << Poudlard >>. J'ai appris beaucoup de nouveaux mots quoique écoutant ce livre.

2022: C'est le deuxième livre que j'écoute en français cette année. Pour le premier, je l'ai écouté à 90% de vitesse. Pour celui-ci, je l'ai écouté à 95% de vitesse. Progrès!

J'ai tout oublié du Filch et le cours "Kwikspell". J'ai beaucoup ri quand en français c'est << VITMAGIC >> (c'est un bien meilleur nom). Il y avait beaucoup de traductions amusantes dans ce livre: "Moaning Myrtle" est << Mimi Geignarde >> (Whining Mimi

2022: a short and sweet retelling of a Māori myth

I'll be honest–if not for a reading challenge prompting me to select a book by a Māori author this year, I don't think I ever would have picked up this book. It's very short, coming in at 122 pages, and it barely scrapes the surface when it comes to how the Māori people have been treated by white New Zealanders throughout the years. But that's not really the goal of the book and that's okay too.

I do strongly remember the film, mostly from Keisha Castle-Hughes's strong performance in it. And that's mostly what this book was lacking. The narration wasn't from Kahu's perspective, and it would have been so much stronger if it had been. So instead of feeling her struggles alongside her, it's her cousin just observing and musing on how she must be feeling.

Overall, any book where they can talk to whales earns a thumbs up from me!

2022: A fun romp that did not stick the landing.

This is another novel that I probably never would have picked up if not for this year's reading challenge. I'm glad I did for a couple of reasons: first, the characters in this book ACTUALLY paid attention to logistics. There were several times where I said out loud, "yes, thank you, that IS how that would have to happen" or "that's how I would react to this, too" and that was extremely refreshing. A lot of things get swept under the rug in fiction and especially in romance novels, and so I have to say, the practicality of this story was top notch. Such appropriate reactions!

Second, this book was actually a really good blend of plot and romance. There was a lot going on in Naledi's life! She was an extremely well rounded character who was smart and her backstory actually made sense in the context of the drama. Sure, Thabiso had a couple of moments that were veering on the line of "too" coincidental, but the story made SENSE and was actually plausible (never mind the fact that Thesolo is a made-up country). I felt like I was learning things about Black culture, and that the author really understood life in New York City.

Unfortunately, the final climax of the book (pun intended) just lost everything that was appealing about this story. Let's just say that I think a couple more logistics should have been paid attention to in regards to a steamy sex scene in a cave (?!) in the middle of a snowstorm (??!) Also, a final plot point is that Naledi is being (somewhat accidentally) poisoned. But she's literally a public health grad student!? And she didn't notice this before she ended up in the hospital? Suspicious. It almost felt like the author was running out of time on her deadline and just needed to very quickly wrap everything up. Still overall good tho!

2022: An amazing and unflinching memoir about some DIFFICULT topics

This was SO GOOD. It's immediately jumped to the top of my celebrity memoir recommendation list (which, admittedly, isn't very long, but this is definitely at the top!) I don't think you need to be super familiar with iCarly in order to enjoy this book (as opposed to [b:Confessions of a Prairie Bitch: How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated|7284508|Confessions of a Prairie Bitch How I Survived Nellie Oleson and Learned to Love Being Hated|Alison Arngrim|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1280695574l/7284508._SX50_.jpg|8507071], which I read last year and was completely lost because I've never watched Little House on the Prairie.

One of the most shocking reveals is in the last third of the book, and it hit me completely out of left field (much like it did to McCurdy as well). I thought I knew everything that was going to be covered in the book; I WAS WRONG! It was an impressive feat to make me totally gasp out loud at the sheer shock of the surprises still left to come.

I would definitely take a peek at the trigger warnings before jumping into this book. McCurdy goes into graphic detail about her eating disorder, and it's not often presented with perspective and insight. McCurdy writes as she's experiencing it, and is convinced at her young age that what she is doing is correct and beneficial to her body. It's terrifying how misconstrued her mother made her relationship with Jennette's own body.

Similar to how I feel about [a:Chanel Miller|19527332|Chanel Miller|https://images.gr-assets.com/authors/1576107716p2/19527332.jpg], I am absolutely outraged that McCurdy had to go through everything that she suffered and how her childhood was deprived from her. However, I am thrilled that she has been afforded the opportunity to share her genius with her, and I simply cannot wait to see what she writes next. She is extremely talented, and I am so glad I got to experience a side of her that I did not even know existed!

2022: Heavy, heavy, heavy, heavy....

There's a line in the book about the main characters having won the "shit luck" lottery and by God, they did. This novel covers so many different issues that it was hard to imagine that any teenager could handle all of them. I was having a hard enough time, and I was just casually reading. There was also no escape; every time I tried to lose myself in the story, Tahir would throw in another "real life" element, such as rent being due, or needing to study for the SATs, or waiting to hear back from colleges, which just made it impossible to forget that she meant for these characters to live in the real world.

This is another book where you should really check the trigger warnings before jumping in. Overall, it's obviously a lovely choice when the author decides to add hotlines at the end of her novel, to make sure her readers can find support if they need it. But when I tell you that there is a CHAPTER of hotlines at the end of this book because there are SO MANY difficult topics that are covered in it! TOO MANY HOTLINES

Overall, the vibes were just overwhelmingly dismal. Like I know that I like sad books, but this one gets -1 for being just too much going on in one book. And I think there's a lot of privilege in that being my takeaway, the idea that this all would just be too much for some teens to handle. There's the fact of it being too much to handle while simultaneously being very similar to real life for a lot of first generation students in high schools nowadays. That being said, I think that [b:Firekeeper's Daughter|52346471|Firekeeper's Daughter|Angeline Boulley|https://i.gr-assets.com/images/S/compressed.photo.goodreads.com/books/1595093218l/52346471._SY75_.jpg|73690020] did a much better job of presenting difficult topics that are overwhelming teenagers.

Also I felt very old when the characters were looking for a song from "before they were born" and they picked SHIVER BY COLDPLAY :( otherwise, great references haha

2022: A beautiful convergence of prose and poetry

I thought this was a well-crafted look at the Black experience, especially through the eyes of British women. There are twelve interwoven stories, with each narrator getting their own time to tell their story. The book covers a lot of ground, traveling through time and space to a variety of places and eras.

The only thing holding me back from a full five stars here was that I felt myself getting bored and/or rushing through several of them. Maybe that was my own white privilege getting in the way here, some blindspots preventing me from enjoying this book fully.

Be warned: if you are a stickler for exact punctuation, this book will annoy you! I usually put myself in that category, but I must say, it didn't bother me here. The prose was written to fit in a poetic style; it matched the punctuation that was there. I usually only get annoyed when the quotation marks are left off for no actual good reason!