Gaston Library discussion

Hello and welcome to another reading wrap up! As a reminder, this year I’ve decided to partake in the PopSugar Reading Challenge, which is a set of 50 prompts which you read a book to match, so I’ll be including those prompts and my progress in these wrap ups. For more info check this website: https://www.popsugar.com/entertainmen....
I’m currently at 28/50 for the PopSugar Challenge.
Now onto the Wrap Up!

This month I read…

Piranesi by Susanna Clarke- I liked this one a lot more than I expected. I thought it would go right over my head and that I would have to slog through it, but wanted to give it a try anyway. I’m glad I did. While I’m sure there are still lots of things that went over my head, as a lot typically does, I was still engrossed in the descriptions of the parallel world and invested in the story. There could have been a whole other half of a book about the main character returning to our world. I'm glad there wasn’t though. It was a nice touch for the ending to have him recognize he is both people and that he can see the beauty in both worlds.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book featuring a parallel reality

The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray- Ugh. I’m a librarian and when I first heard about Belle de Costa Greene, aka Belle Marion Grenier, I was intrigued. I even read about the first 30 or so pages of this book a few months ago as a sample I got in my email and was excited to read it. This book did start off strong, but after about 70 or so pages it lost me. It got so boring, and how the authors managed to make such an intriguing person so boring I will never understand. The book just jumped around way too much too, sometimes mere days or weeks would pass between chapters but then other times it would skip over years, and none of the scenes seemed consequential enough to warrant this. I will give the authors the benefit of the doubt that not much is known about Belle’s actual life and she destroyed many of the records of herself before her death so they didn’t have much fact to go on, but still it felt they just patched together (and not well) random pieces of what might have happened.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book about a secret

A Stolen Life by Jaycee Lee Dugard- I liked this one more than I thought I would. The writing was very juvenile, but Jaycee was only a year out from being freed and before she was taken she had only made it to 5th grade, so it fits. Fascinating story, but also rough to read since Jaycee went through a lot at the hands of her captors. I really think she did a good job of putting you in her headspace and showing how her captors were able to manipulate her thoughts and feelings. I also really got into how much animals were a big part of her story, both in captivity and in her recovery process.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book with the name of a board game in the title

Instant Karma by Marissa Meyer- I listened to this one on Audio. Ok, so the story was cute and I enjoyed most of this book for the most part. However, Meyer just needed to have this be a contemporary YA romance and be done with it. The concept of Pru’s “karmic powers from the universe” is a good one but it absolutely ruined the main character in the way it was done. Pru was AWFUL with her superiority complex, especially when executing her karmic abilities. It was really hard to get past and made you just want to see her fall right off her high horse. Literally took stars off my rating just because of how awful she was. Definitely my least favorite Marissa Meyer title.

Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury- This wasn’t bad, but it just didn’t do it for me. As a librarian I thought this would really pique my interest since it revolves around book burning, but it just didn’t. I didn’t not enjoy it, it just seemed meh and forgettable to me and I was hoping for something more. Maybe my expectations were too high.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A Hugo Award winner

The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner- I really liked this one. I think I would have rather seen a more fleshed out story just focused on the two characters from the past, as I found myself trying to rush through the modern day portions to get back to parts set in the past. There were definitely lots of things left unexplored in that part of the book.
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book with a recipe in it

Cinder's Adventure: Get Me To the Wedding! by Marissa Meyer- This was a fun little choose your adventure style read. It’s no secret I LOVE Marissa Meyer and the Lunar Chronicles especially so I had to dive into this one. It felt fan fiction-y but it was still fun to see characters from some of my favorite books come together. While Cinder is the main character and it’s technically her adventure you're going out most of the chapters seemed to take place in the realm of Meyer’s novel Heartless. I think she used this as an excuse to play in that world some more since it was her only fairy tale retelling that was a stand alone. I thought all of the different endings you could make it too were fun too (yes, I made sure I read through EVERY possible outcome of the adventure, haha).
This was for the Popsugar Prompt: A book you can read in one sitting

What did you read this month? Be sure to share down below!

Happy Reading!