Category: Books

When it comes to reading books that are popular on Tik Tok, I am shameless in every sense of the word. Having a finger on the pulse of literary culture for my generation proves endlessly beneficial (and not to mention super fun) because it introduces me to books I might have never picked up otherwise and serves as an easy conversation starter. Especially while I’m in the phase of college orientations and ice breakers, commonalities are invaluable! 
Romances, classics, horrors, fictions– I’ve been recommended all those and more thanks to the endless accounts I trust and follow; however, those recommendations haven’t always proven accurate. These are my personal recommendations and though they may not be accurate, I’ll try my best!

GREAT

• These Violent Delights – Chloe Gong

As this blog can tell you, I love Shakespeare. When I found out this book I kept seeing everywhere was a SHAKESPEARE ADAPTATION? It was instant. I went to Barnes and Noble and bought it.
I love seeing the creative ways writers can weave a classic plot into something original, though these adaptations can often walk the line between laziness and homage; however, I loved everything about the way Romeo and Juliet was woven throughout the plot of the book with a focus on their respective families and geopolitical roles within Shanghai. I can honestly say I’ve never read anything quite like the wonderful politics that are constantly in play throughout the book that only heighten the romantic and sci-fi aspects. The cast is fleshed out expertly and each character is distinct. 
Also, completely separate from the quality of the book and more a testament to my own complete lack of memory, I could actually remember everyone’s names which was wonderful and rare in a YA novel.

• Normal People – Sally Rooney

I know this book is extremely stylized and not for everyone, but I was more than pleasantly surprised with this book. I expected to like nothing about it based on the hot and cold reviews I kept watching on Tik Tok, but lo and behold, this might end up being one of my favorite books I read this year (and possibly ever). The characters are just simply real, normal people that I know. I just know them. They’re my best friends. I hate them. If you like no plot but all vibes, or a storytelling method more reminiscent of reading years of love letters than one streamlined narrative, this book is for you; however, I recommend that everyone give it a shot at least once. If you don’t want to buy it, Normal People has deeply infiltrated the public library system and it never hurts to have a library card!

• Leave the World Behind – Rumaan Alam

This book made me incredibly paranoid and disturbed to the point where I had to watch only Love Island for the next week in order to purge my paranoia. I loved it. I expected it to be a ‘cabin at the end of the world’ horror or psych thriller, but in reality, it’s much more layered and interesting than that. It’s heartwarming at times, it’s realistic, it’s poignant, it’s terrifying. Its portrayal of people in times of crisis as they become more and more desperate feels completely real, and with the masterful restraint Alam takes to avoid outright terror, this book was an instant classic for me.

OKAY

• The Love Hypothesis – Ali Hazelwood

As my first foray into Tik Tok books, this one holds a special place in my heart as an accessible dive into romance. It was light, fun, and airy, like a good angel food cake. The main character actually has hopes and dreams that extend beyond her love interest while also not losing sight of who she is to please him. I know romance isn’t for everyone, but I think this is one of the least offensive corny romances possible from the Tik Tok batch.

• Red, White, And Royal Blue – Casey McQuiston

I had so much fun reading this book despite its brief lapses of millennial humor. The characters are distinctive, the romance is complex, and the plot evolves in tandem with their relationship. Aside from interspersed millennial humor, my only problem with this book is that I felt it was a little too long and was hard to sprint to the finish line. 

• What Happens After Midnight – K. L. Walther

I had no hope for this book because it was an impulse BOGO buy at Barnes and Noble, but it surprised me! I enjoyed the plot, the intensity of pranking under the cover of night, and the shared secrecy that comes with a group of ragtag jesters. The romance was cute, the plot easy to follow, and the ending satisfying.

BAD

• Kafka on the Shore – Haruki Murakami

I don’t mind Murakami’s more sci-fi-centered books like The Wind-Up Bird Chronicle, but this book was too much for me. When it comes to his more absurdist pieces, I feel like he writes to be as ridiculous as possible so that when people read it, they fill in the blanks with their own personal projections and then laud the book for being absolutely incredible when they’re mostly impressed with themselves for reading it. The plot was convoluted and disturbing in a way that didn’t make me ponder the mysteries of life, but rather if Murakami has a good relationship with his mother.

• The Fountainhead – Ayn Rand

I was excited to try this book but after 3 separate attempts, I never made it past the first chapter. My eyes physically couldn’t stay open the second they hit the page. It felt too dense to be a novel, more like a tome of public record. I’m not sure if I’ll try anymore Ayn Rand in the future, but this book had an interesting concept that felt drawn out to the point of boredom. If you put a gallon of water in a cup of Kool-Aid, it’s going to be bland.

• The Summer of Broken Rules – K. L. Walther

I found the premise and the start of the book to be cute, but by the middle and certainly by the end, I could not stand the main character. I know that the point of the book is that she handles her grief poorly, but even when she’s said to be handling it well, she’s doing almost the exact same things she was doing previously except she kind of has boundaries. I thought the plot was way too dragged out– it could have ended fifty pages earlier and still have been okay. I crawled exhaustedly to the end of the book feeling significantly more tired than I began. 
***

There’s no shame in the Tik Tok book game! If you see a book floating around on social media and it’s calling your name, give in! Check your local library or used book store for copies if you don’t want to commit to the book and give it a shot. It might be your next favorite book!

I can’t stop the Shakespeare grind. It’s consumed my mind. I’ve signed up for a Shakespeare class next semester, I’ve amassed trillions of Folger editions, I’ve started a collection of memes… I’m beyond saving. I think Vonnegut once said that writing with no obstacles was like playing tennis without a net, and the magic of iambic pentameter requires a precision of language (or a lack thereof) that keeps me coming back for more. Thoughts are terrible, abstract things until you force them into 10 syllables with alternating stresses.

Plus, I feel so academia-university-classics when I read them that I’ve started to read more and more romances and thrillers in order to balance the out-of-character smart reading I’ve been doing. I’m trying to stick to the tragedies, though I veered off a little; however, I read these plays faster than I can write these articles, so I’m almost done with the tragedies and will soon move onto the histories. Until then, may the sadness reign and tragedies be written about!

• Macbeth

Other than Poor Tom from King Lear, the three weirding witches are the funniest Shakespeare characters so far. I wish I was a weird old lady that hangs out with my other weird sisters and sees the future on command and causes the collapse of Macbeth’s short-lived empire. 
Thematically, I found this show to be rich in ambition and treachery but at the behest of antagonizing women and creating a one-dimensional female character.

Lady Macbeth was relegated to being a glorified enabler or conspirator simply for the sake of her own ambitions for her husband rather than his own desires. I felt that towards the beginning, Macbeth feels that he’s in too deep to stop their plot rather than pushing it along intentionally and eventually takes control while Shakespeare employs Lady Macbeth as a greasing agent. Part of the tragedy is Macbeth’s fall from grace into insanity, and yet I lack that pity because it implies that Lady Macbeth forced her husband into a ploy that would benefit solely her when that is simply not the case. Lady Macbeth is far from innocent, but Macbeth himself is no deceived Othello.

As far as the plot goes, the reveal of the little C-section bit was slightly lack-luster to me. Maybe it was like when people found out that Vader was Luke’s father, but at this point, it felt too deus ex machina to be an ‘aha’ moment. Despite my criticisms, I did really enjoy reading this play. It’s atmospheric, spooky, and action-packed, ultimately one of my favorites so far.

• A Winter’s Tale

I was told that this was a tragicomedy which is the dumbest thing I’ve ever heard. That is just a dark comedy. I won’t get into my problems with categorization just yet, don’t worry. 

This show was hard for me to get through, partly because I snuck the book in my luggage when on a mandatory religious retreat for my high school that banned phones and anything that could provide alternate entertainment. The other part was the (in my opinion) choppy plot that relied too much on tumult and oddity to make a real point.

Though I am a victim of seasonal depression and relish in the idea of the dangers of erratic decisions in the hands of paranoid, powerful men, I was just kind of bored. Concept can only take you so far, and his wife coming back to life in the end sealed the deal for me.

• Antony and Cleopatra

This show had everything I love about Shakespeare– love, desire, power, politics, betrayal! I was fed for weeks off of this play. When two heavenly bodies collide, the aftermath is a cosmic mess that leaves two besieged empires headless. Antony and Cleopatra’s characters felt tangible and I audibly gasped in anticipation of seeing their reactions to the current scene, turning into the target audience of Shakespeare’s trademark dramatic irony.

The couple’s love directly influenced both of their political behavior and therefore prevented the inherent patronization of a woman in power such as Cleopatra by insinuating that masculinity and conquest can also maintain symptoms as universal as jealousy and longing. With Caesar and Octavia as middle men in their burning romance and war raging around and between them, Antony can’t decide between love and duty while Cleopatra sees the two as not mutually exclusive leaving their subjects at the mercy of their incendiary relationship.

***

Shakespeare represents an entire era of drama where the ultimate power of a playwright was restraint in structure with utter indulgence in theme, plot, and cast. Much to my continual surprise as a teenage girl right now in this given moment of 2023, I am surprised that Shakespeare is actually good.

Now that I’ve been able to reenter the world of reading for fun and writing for a purpose other than final projects, my high school diploma has given me the time to fully read and analyze my personally most-anticipated book of this year: the third poetry collection of Nico Demers, Belly. Split into three sections of present, past, and that which lingers, Demers’ newest book is (in my opinion) his best and most well-developed collection yet with endless content to analyze and excessively mine for projected personalized meaning. Hilariously and without coincidence, that is all I do with any piece of media ever.

Section 1 entitled “Mirror” features language similar to that of his previous collections in the sense that it heavily features short, bulleted statements of joy that are exclamatory but controlled. Unique to this new collection, Demers describes a shared reverence for love and life that has evolved beyond being animalistic or mammalian; instead, the love that Demers describes is expressed as serenely natural and part of the earthly order of things. Now submitted to the natural cycle of the world around him, he is in sync with the exact higher order of things that he previously longed to melt into in his previous collections of poetry. As a returning reader of Demers’, I perceive this shift in content (whether it was conscious or not) as a sign of restraint that comes with maturing as a writer and as a person with more and more experiences under his belt.

Demers conversely explores the other side of maturing as a writer by intentionally implementing extended verse throughout the second section, titled “Tree.” As a reader and fellow annoying poet, I’m a massive fan of his shift into a lack of syntactic restraint as he moves abruptly into talking about his personal experiences throughout the second part because it demonstrates less reverence toward the subject, which is his childhood in this case. It creates a clear contrast between the previous topic and the theme of the second section as he is less perfunctory when describing his own past rather than his experiences with a person that exists separately from his childhood and is therefore untouched by what he considers to be commonplace because of its familiar foundations. The length of the prose surrounding his parents and younger days communicates a lack of awe that persists because it’s nearly impossible as a person to be in consistent and poetic awe of something you feel that you know everything about such as your own past. Longer poems can be a trap for run-on rambles with words that fail to serve a purpose but Demers skillfully escapes this with his endlessly effective and breathtaking diction. With this section being less punctual with its endings and more honest with more room to openly express, it presents the impression that its author thinks and has thought about this subject endlessly and sheds the characteristically excited remarks that seem to burst out of Demers, an encouraging sign that Demers always has a few tricks up his sleeves when it comes to his poetry.

As I read the more miscellaneously curated third section, “Cut,” I couldn’t help but be enraptured by experiencing physical dysmorphia through masculine words that are blunt and stem from separate standards that are somewhat unfamiliar to me. For femininely presenting individuals, bodily shortcomings are often developed as a result of externally defined, rigid standards that change often but somewhat unanimously; however, through Demers’ eyes and in his own personal case, it feels heavily defined by an internal sense of responsibility for masculine individuals to find immediate solutions to their problems that are implied to be self-imposed (whether that is true or not) rather than dictated by an abstract agreement that encourages one body type. In Belly’s finale, Demers succeeds in exposing the universally exhausting experience of young people everywhere that there is a general lack of confidence among modern teens and twenty-somethings as to what exactly we are supposed to look like as young gods in the “prime of our lives.”

Without waste and dripping with individuality, Belly is another promising ‘Bucknife’ foray into poetry that leaves me anticipating his future collections. Trust and believe that the next time he drops a book, there’ll be an article on here somewhere.

I didn’t really understand classics until November of 2022 when I read Shakespeare’s Hamlet for AP Lit. I’ve been addicted since, like a film bro to Tarantino, to the Bard and his famous and possibly overrated words. Thanks to my local library and used bookstore, I’ve been tearing through his plays starting with the tragedies and dramas (I’m saving the comedies for last), and I wanted to review my journey so far so I don’t get too confused when trying to remember which show is which. As dumb as that sounds, every show is about usurpations, daddy issues, and ambition, so consider this a Shakespeare diary as I try to discern my faves from my throw-aways.

• Hamlet

The old adage is that you always remember your first, and like the stone cold virgin that I am, I remember Hamlet the most. 

Hamlet as a character brings so much drama that no other titular character has ever brought to any literary work ever. He just sucks and is wonderful. I believe that Hamlet is Shakespeare at his best with the pure complex drama occurring left, right, and center: Familial drama? BOOM! Dead dad comes back as a ghost and mom remarries a guy that’s the worst. Romantic drama? BOOM! Get thee to a nunnery, and Ophelia has been asked to leave the Bachelor mansion. Spiritual drama? BOOM! To be or not to be– that’s barely a question, and yet Hamlet stares into the eyes of a skull longer than he thinks about the consequences of his actions. It’s utter chaos and so it is utter perfection. 

Like nearly every Shakespearian drama ever, the women of the story have endless potential to come alive, but only in the mind of the reader as they fill in the blanks that Shakespeare and his time left barren in exchange for pages-long rants by conflicted men about problems that could be solved by one conversation. In my imagination, Gertrude is the cat and Ophelia the mouse while Hamlet and his counterparts are squawking birds that cannot come to terms with the fragile relationship between masculinity and power, as a lack thereof on either side may be their tragic undoing over and over again. 

I am a firm believer that Hamlet is an allegory for the dangers of queerness and non-traditional masculinity, though that will be a separate essay and article entirely that will appear within the next few months with some in-depth evidence and analysis. 

Overall, based on the Shakespeare I’ve read so far, Hamlet has yet to be dethroned (ironic, isn’t it) and I thank Sir Kenneth Branaugh everyday for the aberration that is his four-hour film adaptation so that people can have yet another excuse not to even try to enjoy Shakespeare. If you’re on the fence about reading any Shakespeare, start with Hamlet to get the juiciest scoop and above all, avoid Branaugh. 

• King Lear

King Lear wants the drama that Hamlet naturally exudes. 

Though I love the political drama and the ambition that always ruins every Shakespeare play ever, pitting two of the sisters against each other for the approval of a man while depicting the virtuous sister as a martyr in the name of male ego really lost me in the second half.

A struggle for power makes for an excellent stage, but only if the actors are relatable. However, I am a massive fan of Poor Tom. That was, without a doubt, one of the goofiest things that Shakespeare could sneak into one of his tragedies. 

• Othello

Othello is one of my faves so far. The entire cast of characters encapsulates what it is to be an imperfect attempt at fulfilling your given role from stereotypes in society and the dangers of renouncing your individuality. One of the saddest tragedies in Shakespeare’s repertoire in my opinion, I mourn for Othello and Desdemona and their inner turmoil at the question of if everyone else is right. After reading this in class, I couldn’t help but feel dreary at the ending, but that means that it’s not a tragedy for tragedy’s sake. I hate Iago, but I also love the idea of someone that just sucks all the time. It takes the MCU overdone anti-hero villain nonsense nuance that I’m getting sick of because sometimes people just suck and that’s that. He’s ambitious, he’s jealous, and he’s the worst. I respect that.

***

I’ve been reading more and more Shakespeare on my own, so this is part one of many future installments as I continue to discover that the person that most people cite to be the most influential writer of all time is actually good at writing.

The Actual by Saul Bellow is a lyrical novella recounting the decades-long pining of unreadable genius Harry Trellman. Years cannot erode the love he has for his first love, Amy Wustrin, who falls in and out of marriages. After both are brought together by a retired meddling billionaire at the exhumation of Amy’s ex-husband, they leave nothing to be pondered further.

Despite the late-80s-ness of this book’s racial terminology, it’s a beautiful tale about the lingering effects of first love and the isolation of intelligence. The characters are infinitely complex despite the limitations of a hundred pages, and the intimate conversations between characters are breathtaking. Each word is so delicately deliberate that a removed sentence would shake the foundation of the narrative. I highly recommend this book and will pursue more of Saul Bellow’s works and the tiled connection between Amy Wustrin, Jay Wustrin, and Harry Trellman will always live within in me as one of the most effective and seductive employments of imagery and interpersonal character work I have ever read.

Every school year, May trickles in and I picture a summer day where all I do is read the ever-growing stack books I’ve accumulated since sixth grade. These books have various origins… Some from ThriftBooks, some from Barnes and Nobles, some from friends… Who am I kidding? They’re all from the used bookstore where I decimate their inventory multiple times a year while also single handedly paying for their goal to get a real air conditioner. I’ve had to clean out two cabinets meant for my clothes in order to store books and I’m rapidly running out of space. Books litter my floors in the bags they were purchased in because I have nowhere else to store them, they sit in piles next to my desk and my bed and my door. 

And so, I daydream of days dedicated to diluting the dusty tomes that lay destitute in my cabinets. This past summer, I did get through a few books, though I hardly made any noticeable progress in my stacks.

Now that I’m back in school, I’d like to reminisce on my summer of light reading with a quick 1 to 12 rating of my favorite and least favorite reads from the past few summer months.

1. Ishmael

This book really had me in the first half. I hated it, I thought it was pretentious and Orson-Scott-Card-I-need-to-get-on-a-soap-box-esque, and I hated Ishmael. But I decided to try to see why it had survived the tests of time and captured the interest of my English teacher, and boy, am I glad I did. I now know that hating the book in the first half is only part of the process and that you have to go in with an open mind, and even then, it might not be your cup of tea. If you’re an anthropology nerd like me, or are even remotely interested in human culture and the origin of humanity, this book is perfect. 

I finished this book the night before we went back to school at a Regrettes concert and it couldn’t have been a better finale for a book like that. This book will enrage you, turn you inside out, call you a mooch of nature, kiss you on the head, make you fall in love with the world, and leave you biting your nails while you think about a wise old gorilla as you’re falling asleep and wondering if we could ever fix the world.

2. God Emperor of Dune

This is by far the wackiest sci-fi book I’ve ever read, and it’s certainly (somehow) the craziest installation of the Dune book series I’ve read yet. I know this book is polarizing and I completely understand why some people would despise it, but I have no better word for this book than camp. “Worm and wife” is a real quote from this book. The idea of a mega monster tyrant worm that’s like thousands of years old and a million Duncan Idahos is just fantastic. 

Normally, reading books from this series takes me forever: I once knew someone that called them “summer reads” because it couldn’t be done during the school year, and thank god I read this during the summer so I could truly focus on how batshit Crazy with a capital ‘C’ this novel is. Now that I’m onto the fifth book, it’s tough to continue knowing what I once had: the drama, the grandeur, the je nais se quoi of this novel… It’s unforgettable. I just miss it so much. I wish I could go back to the days where I’d turn a page and find out some new crazy thing that Leto II had done. 

Maybe Heretics of Dune will be crazy since I’m only 100 pages in, but I don’t know if it will ever shock me like God Emperor did. For people interested in trying out the Dune series, book one is great and super eventful. If you don’t make it through the second book, I get it. The first book is a lot and it’s a satisfying read, but book two is pretty fun and crazy and it’s shorter than the rest of the books. I personally found book three somewhat hard to get through, but I would say everything I did was worth it to make it to God Emperor of Dune. Please try to make it, you won’t regret it (though if you do it’s not my fault, you know what you’re getting into with old, white male sci-fi writers)!

3. Sleeping Giants

I had such a blast reading this book! The format was so engaging since the entire thing is told testimonial style through mission logs and recorded interviews. I flew through this book and got so obsessed with the characters. 

It was like a soap opera for me: the Avatar Trudy cocky but talented pilot that doesn’t work well with others, the tortured genius linguist with an arrogance that turns people away but also draws them in, the army man with a heart of gold and a sense of justice that goes too far, the mysteriously rich benefactor that will do anything to see the mission through, the passionate scientist that’s too close to the case and is inches away from proving alien existence– IT’S PERFECT. 

It’s like all of my favorite tropes put into one short and sweet sci-fi package that serves as the perfect beginning to a trilogy of epic proportions. I can’t wait to tear into the next two in the series!

4. Cress

When I say that I enjoyed the Lunar Chronicles, I mean that I enjoyed the first book and Cress. The individual plots for each group of characters made the book fly by and the way Rapuzel’s classic tale is incorporated into the plot of the series is super creative. It’s easily the best installment in the series despite it being a straight-up brick of paper.

5. Crow

Nico Demers’ second poetry collection lived up to expectations with another group of personal and vulnerable odes to life that were the perfect companions for a dewy summer morning. I’ll probably revisit these poems when the leaves start to change and fall off trees (in Southern California, that would be around December) so I can see if it’s an autumnal companion as well, but while it’s at least still hot, this book is perfect.

6. The Cliff House

I am a sucker for grocery store romance novels, and if you’re thinking about getting into this massive and oversaturated market as a consumer, RaeAnn Thayne is my go-to. She’s got endless romances set in coastal towns like The Cliff House, along with some excellent seasonal romances that I look forward to hunting down in Barnes and Noble as the year cycles through. All of her female characters are not vehicles for the ideal version of some man and often have to work through realistic issues while also experiencing some unconventional romance on the side. If you see my best friend RaeAnne at the grocery store or Barnes and Noble, try a book or two out.

7. Tell Me Three Things

I bought this book from a used bookstore five years ago and let it collect dust in my massive TBR pile until this summer. I expected it to be terrible, corny, all those things that have anything to do with social media and come from the mid 2010s, and basic. In reality, it was some of those things but in a good way! The main character’s struggle that fuels the story comes across as genuine and compelling, and the jokes got laughs out of me 90% of the time. If you’re looking for an emotional YA romance that revolves around messaging and moving on, check this one out.

8. Winter

I was really looking forward to witnessing the finale of the Lunar Chronicles after all the build-up from Cress, but Marissa Meyer really makes you work for it in Winter. I understand that endings are delicate things, but it was 800 pages long. It took me forever to get to the end, and while it was a pretty good ending, the sheer length and slow-build of this book frustrated the living daylights out of me. 

9. Antigone

Though it was for summer reading, I actually kind of liked Antigone! It was more of a positive neutral situation, but it was definitely readable and easy to get through. It’s a perfect reference to have for AP Lit or even AP Lang, and it’s also great to have on-hand if you want to sound smart.

10. Scarlet

For me, this was the least entertaining installment of the series simply because I do not care about Scarlet or Wolf at all. If you name a character ‘Wolf,’ I will not care about the plot of the book. I’m sorry, it’s instantaneous. Scarlet was collateral damage.

11. Call of the Wild

This classic wasn’t the worst or most confusing book I’ve ever read, but it was also insanely depressing. I liked the ending, but sort of not really? I can’t make up my mind. I don’t think I’ll ever watch the movie with Harrison Ford, but I’m sure he can survive the hit.

12. The Turnout

I got this book at Target thinking I finally found a Center Stage book replacement, but it was confusing and dark. If you’re into a more Black Swan type of psychological thriller that’s more about sibling-rivalry than competing for a role, this might be the book for you. I’m not the biggest fan of psych thrillers, so don’t take my word for it if that’s your thing.

***

Though this was a somewhat light list for my own personal rate of reading, it was a pretty solid summer of reading that ended abruptly as soon as the school year started. My classes are preventing blog articles, good reads, and 8-hours of sleep at night, but we’ll always have the books of the summer of 2022…

I have read my unfair share of young-adult novels of any genre. The variations in quality are often astounding but always unpredictable, a problem that has recently kept me from branching out. What can I say, sometimes you have to judge the book by its cover! 

Some of my policies when shopping in the young adult section at Barnes and Nobles are refusing to buy any books featuring a photograph of a real person on the cover, movie covers (except I might crack on “Dune”), people making out on the cover, Wattpad books, anything mentioning cosplay competitions, Reese’s Young Adult Book Club, witches, hauntings, wolves, horses– you get the picture. It’s tough because books in that section also tend to have extremely formulaic titles that match equally formulaic synopses on the backs of their books.

Oh, and I forgot to mention, I never read fairy tale retellings. It’s a rule! People get too smug on not building a plot and it gets frustrating when the only thing they might have changed is that they live in California. Hillary Duff already did that, move on!

And yet ever since the beginning of high school, one of my best friends and I always talk about books we love, books we buy, books we hated: naturally, we took charge of the Book Club. For the sci-fi month, I chose a classic, but not my friend. She chose a book she’d been trying to get me to read for 3 years despite my pre-agreed-to rules. She chose “Cinder.”

I cracked. What can I say, it was for Book Club?! 

I ate every page up. The majority of what I read these days is sci-fi of some kind, and this series is full of top-tier young adult tropes with a healthy mix of sci-fi to keep me going. I tore through the entire series!

There’s so much more to these books than meets the eye, though the new covers are pretty. There’s literally something for everyone when it comes to sci-fi fans.

There is space politics, forced diplomacy, futuristic governments, cyborgs, plague, romance, friendship, adventure, growth, a reluctant heroine– what else do you need? Despite my rule, the entire series being an amalgam of four intertwined classic fairy tales genuinely makes the series a million times more fun to read. Whenever the classic tale makes its way into whatever is happening, I always feel like Marissa Meyer tricked me because I completely forgot that the plot is based on old fairy tales! 

The characters are wonderfully written and endearing. I miss them already! Each novel is spearheaded by a young woman determined to do what is right with a slew of likable love interests to keep them human and a band of friends to continue a revolution that culminates steadily throughout the series.

The plot and delivery of these books are so wonderful and well-paced that despite them being on the longer side, I began to plan days where I’d just sit and read the latest book in my room for hours so I could finish it and order the next one. Uncharacteristic of sci-fi, however, is the fact that I guarantee you will not be confused with what is happening. Oftentimes, authors like to throw you in Hondo-style but then never explain what titles or wars or governments mean to the plot of the story. Thankfully, Meyer doesn’t leave you alone to decipher what is happening because she writes with an inviting narration that suits any reader’s interest, sci-fi fan or not. This open style of writing is still not corny or patronizing, often another hallmark of young adult books, but rather addicting and a slippery slope when you only have 200 more pages left at 1:00 am. That’s not that late, is it? 

I love when my perspective on a book is shattered by how fun it is to read, and this time, there were four! Being proven wrong was one of the luckiest things that happened to me this year because I got to have an excellent time losing myself in the world of the Eastern Commonwealth vs. the Lunar Monarchy. I read “Cinder” after I read “Dune,” and you know what? Give this series some movies! I’d buy a movie cover just to prove myself wrong yet again. 

I guarantee that you will love these characters as much as I do (though not Carswell Thorne, but you’ll have to get to the second and third books where Harry Styles’ “Satellite” will make you sob disgustingly), and it’s one of the best feelings in the world to feel like you’ve transported through time and space when you’ve only closed the book you’ve just finished. Do me a favor and be open-minded when it comes to reading because I wasn’t and I missed out on a fantastic and unique series for way too long.

Check them out and I hope you enjoy them! 

P.S. To my friend, you were right >:)

The only bad dreams I remember in the mornings are either the ones I die in or the ones where I’m naked. Other than that, I tend to forget the bad ones as soon I wake up, but there’s something about those two types of dreams that always scare me. This whimsical sense of vulnerability often leaves me at loss for words, and yet this doesn’t seem to affect Nico Demers’ (aka Bucknife’s) ability to lay himself out upon a page with a liquid lack of hesitancy. 

His new collection of poems, “Crow,” features three motifs: reverence, restlessness, and reluctance. With his same approach of naïveté and profanity, he lends his typical style in collaboration with these themes in order to show just how vulnerable he is to this life (for better or for worse). Not only that, but each motif feeds into the next, seemingly creating a cycle of every single emotion you could imagine.

It’s hard to get lost in translation when he says exactly what he means! 

Bucknife’s reverence is almost completely directed outwards, only to things beyond his control like nature or life itself. At times, he’s grateful, but the reverence sours into awed fear as he looks deeper into those uncontrollable tempests and finds the passage of time or the actions of others. With poems like “crunch,” “air,” and “Boxing God,” the weight of his reverie for both the grandiosity of nature and his fortune tips him into a sense of longing to subject himself with no reason or sense of timeliness into the foundations of the Earth itself. Though nature’s indifference to human affairs or time often terrifies people, Bucknife longs to be a part of that unceasing tide, to enter a state of being so divine and monumental that he matches the scale of nature itself.

This need to fill the endless atmosphere above him with a seraphic state of vulnerability leaves him with dreams of grandiosity. Nature and life are so much bigger than him, and what is bigger than him can’t intentionally hurt him. It’s easy to love and revere something that you are a fraction of, and yet it’s all the simpler to wish to amount to the whole of your worship, to assume the status of a benevolent deity. What better way to express a wish of enormity than to let the dreams leak out of your ears in a constant state of restlessness?

And so those reveries feed his sense of restlessness, a ruthless cycle of shedding tears and bouncing knees. In “Tick Tock” or “Planted,” there’s a palpable sense that the passage of time often turns impatience to fear that the world might pass him by if he sticks his feet too long into the ground looking around him instead of pursuing the human ambitions he feels drawn to. Caught between two worlds, he feels unable to completely submit himself to human standards of self-acceptance when he holds everything around him in such high regards. With the poem “Mole,” he submits to the fact that for all of his reveries and restlessness, there is something he just doesn’t know yet. That sense of submission bleeds into reverie once more as he feels the most comfortable in spaces he needs to fill with words and joy, and the cycle repeats. 

Humor my interpretations and projections, alright?! I need to prepare for AP Lit!

Analysis aside, I’m such a sucker for the cadence and rhythm with which he writes each poem. His style is earnest and organic, thoughts leaping straight from his head and twisting in imagery as they float onto the page. 

His previous book, “Guts,” heavily featured language surrounding anatomy and organs as everything around him is alive; however, this book dissects all living things into moving gears and bundles of parts rather than a united organism. Hearts dangle off cords for crying out loud! “Crow” feels like a massive description of being subject to constant entropy, to feel like cause and effect is exhaustively mechanical in a way that feels more personal than nature’s indifference. Despite this exhaustion, almost every single one of Demers’ works sings of a faith in this world. He carries a deep and evident respect for life itself, and that despite the terror that living or dying can bring, there is no denying the beauty of that one thing none of us will ever know.

Maybe I’m too neurotic or I have a soft spot for Bucknife’s poetry, but I find solace in vulnerable words. I often feel that everyone around me knows something I don’t, and seeing irrefutable expletive-filled evidence that at least one other person that’s in love with a world that they don’t understand makes me feel a little less hopeless and naive. 

You can find Bucknife’s new book, “Crow,” at his website and you can check out my first article about Nico Demers here. While you’re at it, check out his Tik Tok at bucknife__! Take a lesson from both of us and see where honesty or vulnerability can take you when looking at a world that’s so much more massive than anyone. It can lend a little peace, if just for a moment. 

While getting out of school is exciting, I often find that feeling motivated to read for fun eludes me for most of the summer. Don’t get me wrong, I love reading! It just takes the right book to set the summer reading frenzy in motion.

Every genre has its own gems that enthrall any reader. As an avid reader, I have specifically chosen these novels because they are easy to follow and have inviting narration. If you’re looking for a new way to relax and take your mind off of summer assignments or work, take a look at some of these titles to get started.

Fiction

“My Side of the Mountain” by Jean Craighead George is a wonderful novel aimed at ages 9-15 that details the adventures of 15-year-old Sam Gribley. Growing up, Sam always loved the outdoors and imagined living freely among nature in the beautiful Catskill Mountains of upstate New York. One day, he decides that he will live on his grandfather’s abandoned farm hidden deep in the mountains with a few tools, 40 dollars, and his courage to keep him safe.

This book is exciting and fulfills a strange fantasy almost everyone has experienced: What if I just ran away and lived in the woods? And I know you’ve thought about it, so don’t act like you haven’t.

Fantasy/Adventure

“Percy Jackson & the Olympians” is a massively popular children’s fantasy series by Rick Riordan. The series highlights the adventures of Percy Jackson, the powerful son of Poseidon, and his other demigod friends as they battle mythological enemies. Through quests and battles, Percy and his friends still continue to try to live normal teenage lives, even in the face of Olympus-level threats. Not to mention, THERE’S A SERIES IN DEVELOPMENT!!! WOOOOOOOOOOOH!!! Ahem, anyway.

These novels are sure to keep you reading book after book, and after this series, there are many more like it to check out. He has several series of Egyptian, Norse, and a mix of Greek/Roman myths to keep you going!

Nonfiction

If you’re looking for something more informative yet still easy to read, check out “Reality Is Broken” by Jane McGonigal. The author explores how society can utilize the benefits of gaming online in order to make our lives more productive. She further questions if the same productivity to fix long term issues like poverty and climate change. I personally have started to implement some of the ideas suggested in this book, and it’s made a massive difference for me.

I suffer from depression every day, and the smallest things often feel like a burden; however, I’ve created a spreadsheet of goals and have small rewards that I receive at the end of each week based on if I reached the set quota for each goal. For example, if I go for a walk three out of seven days a week, I might get to order the next book in the series I’d been reading. As difficult as it can be feeling so behind in everyday things like drinking enough water, hygiene, or exercise, making a small game out of positive habits has drastically improved my life.

This book isn’t just for gamers looking to be more productive in everyday life: it’s also for people searching for a new way to solve issues spanning from not having the time for doing laundry to finally going after the job of their dreams. For such an educational book, it reads clearly and will not leave you feeling confused.

Science Fiction

Sci-fi has many influential works and authors to its name; however, Richard Matheson and his novel “I Am Legend” stand out. This thrilling novel features Robert Neville, the last man on Earth. Everyone around him has turned into vampires, leading to a drastic change in his everyday living. And no, I don’t mean that movie with Will Smith where it’s zombies and there’s a German Shepard.

Of course, from time to time there are random things that date the book that make you tug on your collar and chuckle at an older generation. But trust me, this is a great book to have in your references back pocket and will definitely broaden your sci-fi horizons.

With its straightforward narration and non-stop plot, this book is sure to keep you captivated and wanting more.

Historical Fiction

“Pride & Prejudice” is a well known Jane Austen novel highlighting the slow-burning romance between intelligent Elizabeth Bennet and prideful Fitzwilliam Darcy in 19th century England. Austen’s usage of language is easy to follow and makes enjoying classic literature simple, with relatable characters and an enthralling plot. One of my biggest hang-ups on classics is my lack of reading comprehension and consequent ability to focus when reading older-fashioned books, but with any Jane Austen novel in general, I haven’t had a problem so far.

I personally think it’s one of the most beautiful pieces of literature from Austen and the backbone for all modern love stories. It’s impossible not to fall in love with both Darcy and Mr. Bingley, and I think that the evolvement of Mr. Darcy and Elizabeth’s relationship is so interesting and makes it hard to put the book down.

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I hope this quick blurb on reading frenzy-inducing books has left you satisfied! Sorry for the short article, but you’ll have more time to read my blog later when you’re done reading all of these books.