February 2015 Wrap Up

Dang, but work slows my reading down!

February was apparently a lot longer than my calendar says it was. I thought I had read a lot less than I had. It turns out, Goodreads says that I read 7 books! Seven books! How did that happen?

First off, I finished The Millenium Series (otherwise known as The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series). I really enjoyed this series and would love to read the 4th book, if it is published in August this year. I hope I don't end up feeling disappointed.

Then I completed the Alex Rider series by reading the 10th installment. I know I am closer to 40 than 30, but I have loved this series since I stumbled upon it (I was given the first book as a freebie when I bought Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows in Borders in Charing Cross Street at the midnight launch. Ahhh! For a person who grew up in Africa, where books are not revered like that, it was an experience, I tell you. And sooooo many books!!!!!). It is not Cody Banks or any other teen spy movie that comes to mind. This series is dark. Russian Roulette was no exception. Although it did not follow Alex, it told the story of how the assassin, Yassin Gregorovich, came to be an assassin. It was awesome. I highly recommend this series to teen boys. I got an entire class to love reading by starting them off on this!

 After that, I read an ebook that was written by a women I knew when I lived in South Korea, teaching English. It was interesting, but I feel as though I can't give an honest review on it, because I am too happy for her for publishing a book to even want to read it critically. So. If you are finding yourself trapped in a dark place and would like to read how someone got out of it, with her advice and research etc. maybe try giving The Engineer: Calibrating the Human System a shot.

Then I hit my first 3-star book for the year - The Maze Runner by James Dashner. Is the book to blame, or all the hype? I don't know. I must admit that I was expecting more. While there were things that I did enjoy, I found the plot rather straight forward. And considering that the kids had been stuck there for more than 2 years, it sure didn't say much about them for it to be solved in just a few days... I might have been a bit unfair on this one, as I was not in the mood for YA when I read it though. Also, if you are taking notes here, just remember the "closer to 40 than 30" comment above.

Because I enjoyed The Girl with the Dragon Tattoo series, the lady in my favourite bookshop recommended that I tried Big Bad Wolf by Nele Neuhaus. I enjoyed that too. It was not as graphic as The Millenium Series even though the topic was similar. The Millenium Series dealt with violence towards women (obviously hitting on sexual assault too), whereas Big Bad Wolf covered the topic of sexual violence and abuse of children. Once again, a disturbing topic, but one that should not be brushed under the carpet and ignored.

Finally, the cheery on the cake was The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency by Alexander McCall Smith. I loved absolutely everything about this book, and it is nice to read about something that is close to home. I don't get to do that often. You can read my quick review about this one here.

Not completed books in February

*le sigh* I am still wading through The Great Train Robbery by Michael Crichton. I really need to hurry up on this one, because I am going to forget who is who in that zoo very quickly. But... although it is fine while I am reading it, I just never find myself wanting to pick it up. I am also not enjoying all the long exposition in it. It feels like reading a wikipedia entry.

Then, I started World War Z last night. That is looking pretty interesting! For school I am also in the middle of The Outsiders by SE Hinton, Animal Farm by George Orwell (for the gazillionth time. AHHH!!!! Don't get me wrong. It was great the first few times. As this is close to my twentieth reading of it since 2008, I am feeling slightly less enthusiastic.), and Romeo and Juliet (Ahhh!! The fourth year in a row!!!)

Totals for February

Total completed: 7 books
Started: 5 books (Shew! Really! I suppose the one's for school do add a lot! But as I read every single darned work out loud, they count. They really, really count!)
Books cleared from TBR pile: 6 (This is for the 2015 TBR Pile Reading challenge.)

Plans for March

I am running a readathon at school during the first week of March. The kids are to be sponsored per page they read (I want to raise money for a cool, fun, MODERN YA library) and I am up as a teacher that can be sponsored too (I said I wanted to make money right.). Anyway, for that, I bought The Infernal Devices series by Cassandra Clare. I figure that should go quickly as I read the Mortal Instruments Series in a under a week. I was supposed to read The No. 1 Ladies' Detective Agency too, but well, so much for that idea. I need to find some other quick reads to go in here instead.

Other than that, I need to finish that blasted Great Train Robbery or DNF it. Beyond that, I don't have any definite plans. The kids are doing a lot of testing this month, being the end of the 1st term, and I have both my brother coming to visit and then, at the end of the month, my aunt and cousin. Visitors and reading do not go well together. One tends to get labelled anti-social...