The Sunday Snuggle Week 45 2018

Hello readers!

I had a week-long vacation and spend a few days in Berlin. I went to English bookstores and basically threw a party there, as you will see from the list of books I bought… and I have no regrets! I knew I was going to get a lot of new books, so I put extra effort on my OWNtober challenge. I was very much in a poetry mood, it seems.

From Edelweiss:

I’m so excited for this one! I have only liked one Pride and Prejudice retelling from those I’ve read, but I have high hopes for this one.

From Netgalley:

 

Books I bought:

          

Interesting Reads Around the Web

Drizzle and Hurricane Books – 10 BOOKS THAT DESERVE MORE HYPE

Vicky Who Reads – Girls of Paper and Fire by Natasha Ngan (ARC): A Lush and Rich Fanatasy You’ll Fall in Love With

Never Not Reading – Sorting Hat Sunday: Literary Monsters

The YA Room – 5 YA Books with Asexual Representation

Pages Unbound Reviews – WHAT DO BOOK BLOGGERS ACTUALLY DO?

Pages Unbound Reviews – HOW CAN YOU GET NON-BLOGGER FOLLOWERS FOR YOUR BOOK BLOG?

Vicky Who Reads – The Many Ways YA Books & The Community Isolate Teens

Books and Munches – Wrap-up & Book Haul: [OWN]tober

Kristin Kraves Books – Non-Fiction November Book Recommendations

Buzzfeed – We Know Your Harry Potter Hogwarts House Based On Your Book Choices

Buzzfeed – Writer Kaitlyn Greenidge On Books Every Black Woman Should Read

Bookish Videos

My Readings These Last Two Weeks

I did read An Unkindness of Ghosts a bit more, but I just can’t connect with the book. I have it in Audible, and will keep it there for a while, because I want to re-read it and give it a fair chance. The story is so cool, but I don’t quite connect with it… so maybe if I just listen to it on a couple sittings, instead of going little by little like I’m doing. So I’m DNF-ing it… for now.

I picked up The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society as an audiobook! My gosh, this was so charming and delightful to read! I am addicted to it, its wonderful story, its touching letters. I loved this and I want a physical copy. Thanks, mom, for yet another wonderful book recommendation!

I finally read Catwoman! This was on my Summer TBR, but I had so much to read back then that I didn’t feel like buying this book and adding yet another to my pile of unread books… but now that I had it anyway, I was attracted to the grey anti-heroine that I’ve always liked so much as a teen. This was super fun, but I have a few reservations, which I discuss a bit more (with no spoilers) on my Goodreads review. 4 stars!

I then picked up Hunting Prince Dracula, which was such a perfect read for October 31st! This book is gothic, dark and really good! It’s a bit slow paced, but nothing to its detriment – it’s nice to pick it up and enjoy a few chapters, then continue reading later.

The Poet X was a book I wanted to read for a while, and after seeing a review (I don’t remember in whose blog), I decided to go for an Audiobook. And I think it was the right decision! This is quite a wonderful read, and about 3h30 on 1x speed, so it made me company during a trip and made it so much better. I liked this book a LOT, it’s emotional, poetic, touching. 4 stars!

I also picked up Women Who Run with the Wolves, which is a bit different from what I expected. It tells and psychologically analyzes myths with the “wild woman” archetype, but sometimes it feels almost… a bit esoteric. I’m not sure how to explain. This was a great read, but definitely one you need to go to with an open mind.

I also read One Flew Over the Cuckoo’s Nest as an audiobook, which I think didn’t particularly add to the story, but it was fine. This has lots of racism and misogyny, so I am considering writing a post of books I recommend instead of this one. What do you guys think?

After my disappointment with the book above, I read Salt to the Sea! It tells the story of the tragedy that took the lives of over 9 thousand people that were in the Wilhelm Gustloff ship during WWII. Most of them refugees. This book broke my heart and I couldn’t sleep much because I kept thinking and replaying some scenes in my head. This is a solid 5 stars for me.

I got Matchmaking for Beginners on Amazon Unlimited as an audiobook. It’s a nice romance and quite a contrast to Salt to the Sea, so it was lovely to listen to and make me feel light and happy.

I am CRAZY about this series, so I was super excited to pick up Dragons of Nova. So good!! Also I love the covers and I decidedly spend too much time staring at them lovingly in between chapters. Although having a bit of a slow pace (sophomores tend to be, I think), it builds up to such intense chapters in the end. This goddamn BROKE MY HEART. 5 stars.

I also listened to After I do, which was a terrible idea. I was listening to this in the bus, at the gym, on my way to work and then the book got really emotional and I was getting emotional. But by now my co-workers aren’t all that surprised about my bookish emotional roller coasters anymore. In fact, they suggest me sad movies to watch so that I become a total hot mess. But joke’s on them, I don’t have time to watch movies because my TBR overwhelms my free time. #sendhelp ANYWAY, this book is great; I do prefer Evelyn Hugo a lot more, but this was a powerful story about love and marriage, and if you like watching people suffer, this is it! 4 emotional stars.

I finally picked Worlds of You, which is a collections of poems and short prose. I loved some of these poems so much. Poetry has a way to touch the heart that fiction doesn’t always do so easily. It feel like a universal language to me. Although a lot of them poems didn’t quite resonate with me, and most of the prose neither, I did enjoy the book a lot and have a couple new favorite poems, so I gave it 4 stars!

 How was your week? What did you read? Did you read any cool bookish news?