ROMANTASY WAS FOR ME, UNTIL IT WASN'T

From: Hemingway Bookstore

I haven't read YA or Fantasy in a while because I am in my pretentious literati era—I say this as my compendium of Clarice Lispector stories, Pablo Neruda poems, and Anna Karenina lay unfinished on the side. I had just finished Beware of Pity before reading Fourth Wing. The sudden change is definitely whiplash-inducing, but Fourth Wing was necessary to reawaken me after being put to sleep. 

YA, Fantasy, and Romantasy are fun. It's indulgent and nostalgic. It makes me giddy reading the same tropes and lusting over the cookie-cutter male lead with the female protagonist. It brings me back, and it's a great escape from life and the "serious" books I try to read.

A LITTLE LIFE MIDWAY CHECK IN

I started reading A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara on February 4th; it's April 15th as I type this post. Of the 814 pages, I am on 387, which isn't significant progress considering I've been "reading" this book for almost two months. 

Firstly, why am I reading this book? Frankly, I'm not sure either. It's probably because of all the Jack Edwards videos: celebs' favorite books, most depressing books, this book broke me, and other videos in the same vein. 

Either way, I am late, as usual, to the bandwagon. This book was popular when it came out, and I remember two bookstagram accounts raving about it. Other than the fact that this book has a long list of triggers and isn't for the faint of heart, I knew virtually nothing about the book. 

2021 WRAP UP IN 2022

I sought out to read 20 books in 2021, and I sorta accomplished this goal.

RELEASE: A SEQUEL TO MY FAVORITE BOOK

Hi, it's been a while. I'm reading Emma. Well, I've been "reading" it for around 4 months and haven't made any progress. I'm fine; how are you? 

QUARANTINE 2 | WHAT I AM READING & BOOK HAUL

Hello everybody! How are you? I hope you are well. I'm not gonna repeat all the descriptions and instructions people have written and said. I want y'all to know I moved my desk chair somewhere, so I am sitting on top of a trashcan while typing this post on my desk. All about them cold openings here on my blog!

2020 VISION

As someone who relies on corrective lenses and glasses and just recently broke her glasses, that title is hilarious. I doubt I will be getting any reading this year unless it is for school, but I will still be setting a challenge for myself. As someone who overthinks and stresses over menial things, writing out tasks and goals will force me to accomplish them. I will be setting my 2020 reading challenge to 3 books. The following list includes books I want to read in 2020, but might not necessarily get to. They're my options.

2019 WRAP UP

Hello! It has been a long time since I have posted on this blog. College, which I loathe, is kicking my butt! Hopefully, the second semester is better, but I'm not expecting much. I have done a lot of reading this year, most of it for academia, not for pleasure. College has stolen my love for reading. The next time I have to read about rap in China, microaggressions towards Asians, the ethics of humor, Hume, Kant, or Aristotle will be too soon. 

MY BOOK RECOMMENDATIONS

I love it when people ask me for a book recommendation; I love getting to know what genres they like, remembering books I've read they might enjoy, and hearing that they enjoyed the book, it warms my cockles - I could have easily said heart, but this word sounds funnier. This is not a definitive list, and it is short because I only wrote about books I had a lot to say about - I can vividly recall my opinions about the book. 

LIFE UPDATES

Hello, ma dudes. After all those reviews, I needed to write and upload a discussion post. In a couple of days, I will be graduating! I've been ambivalent toward my school during the four years I was there, but now I'm dreading leaving and going to college. Speaking of college, I got into a Chinese program, and I have to complete 10 lessons before the summer courses... yeah, that's right, summer school-plus, it's not accredited. Chinese is hard: a lot of words to remember, my handwriting is terrible, the characters are difficult to write, etc. I've been taking notes and making Quizlet flashcards to help me remember words.

TORTURE DOWN TEEN ROMANCE LANE I

I distinctly remember reading Hush, Hush on PulseIt, now RivetedLit, years ago; I fell in love with the book, and I went to B&N to buy the entire series. As I continued with it, I hated it more and more: it dragged, there was petty drama, and I didn't understand the point of it. In middle school, I met some friends who also loved to read, and they liked this series... Is there something wrong with me? Am I the only outlier? 

GRAB A TISSUE BOX BECAUSE YOU'RE ABOUT TO CRY

I've watched my fair share of animes that made me cry in my life: Mahou Shoujo Madoka Magica, Ano Hana, You Lie in April, Grave of Fireflies, Your Name (not sure about the last one but we'll include it anyway.) Unlike Hotarubi no Mori e, they took more time for me to become invested; it took several episodes or extra minutes for those to tell a story, to develop the plot, and for me to fall in love with the characters. In less than an hour, Hotarubi no Mori e does all that. It had me laughing, uwu-ing, and crying in that timeframe. It delivered so much in so little time, and I'm left hungry for more!

MY READING RESOLUTIONS UPDATE

After blazing through my 12-book reading challenge, I have slowed down. In my reading resolutions post, I sought to read 11-12 titles that have been sitting idly on my TBR. I am pleased to say that I have read 10/12 books in four months, 9 of which were included in the list; I have also written reviews for some titles, so keep an eye out! Whenever I make reading resolutions, I don't keep to it—no one does, so I don't feel guilty about it. I'm feeling really proud of myself, and I want to toot my own horn. 

Side story: my friend's AB Calc teacher made a packet and included a picture of LOG Lady. He said her name is Ellen, like ln (natural logarithm,) which made my blood boil. Apparently, no one my age has watched Twin Peaks...

THESE BOOKS HAVE GOT TO GO | READING RESOLUTIONS

I'm not putting in the effort to find new books to read, so I'll chop down my TBR pile. I've been pruning the list, but I didn't read those fallen books: I lost interest in them. Look at that unnecessary tree-related diction choice... I wrote this post almost a month in advance, so I've begun reading some of the books on the list already.  

NARCISSISM | REFLECTING ON WRITING

I used to bemoan my writing. What is this ghastly writing? It does not have a point, it's superfluous, and it's incredibly juvenile! I had enough of my whinging, and I'm sure others did too. I deleted the most offensive posts, ones that were not up to par, and took steps to improve my writing.

SPOOKY SEASON | MY FAVORITE HALLOWEEN MOVIES

When I see posts that countdown to Halloween, or excited posts related to Halloween before Halloween, I roll my eyes. It's JUST Halloween, calm down! Once it's around the corner, I get caught up with the festive spirit; that's the thing with any holiday-they're infectious. When I used to watch TV, I loved the movie marathons because they got you into the mood. Here's a list of some of my favorite movies, and hopefully it gets you into festive spirits. 

MANGA RECS

I have a short attention span, which is why I often have trouble reading for prolonged periods; I get bored and take many breaks in-between. I also respond better to visuals (I like art), so it doesn't come as a surprise that I enjoy manga and graphic novels. Lately, I've been reading more manga than actual books: I find random ones and continue ones I enjoy. Because my old post about manga was popular, I have more recommendations. (This list is all Shoujo with recent updates. It's ironic how I bemoan romance in novels, but don't mind it in manga.)

THE GREATEST NEWS EVER

A post shared by Vivien (@vivienc55) on Feb 5, 2018 at 12:11pm PST

Everyone knows that Stolen by Lucy Christopher is my favorite book of all time; it's the book that got me into reading. I tell everyone about it, and it's on my "About Me" section. I have two copies of it, I need to get them signed at some point, and I reread it at least once a year, every year. I remember answering a prompt about what book I'm excited to be released; I said the sequel to Stolen, which I read the author mention in a comment on her blog: that is some next level stalking. 

On the glorious day of Tuesday, July 10, 2018, at 9:56 P.M., Lucy Christopher shared this photo on her author page. I died. I was gagged. I was shooked. My wig was snatched. My edges: gone. I am so ready, and I need to reread the book now-bye Mrs. Dalloway. 

MINOR spoilers and discussions of what I want to see in the sequel. 

MY LIFE AS A ZUCCHINI / MA VIE DE COURGETTE

I'm currently studying French in my free time, and French movies have helped me improve my language acquisition-vocabulary, syntax, and pronunciation-along with providing some cultural insight. When I discovered this movie, I was immediately drawn to the odd title. What's up with the name? The synopsis further piqued my interest.

"A 9-year-old boy finds his life upended when he's sent to live in an orphanage in this stop-motion animated tale of loss, friendship, and young love." 

2017 FAVORITES

I set out to read 100 books this year, and I accomplished this goal, yay. I read a varied selection, found new favorites, and rediscovered the magical library. I also had a book crisis-I own a lot of books that I don't like and wasted excessive money on! I reread some of them, and plan to reread more-2018 book goal. Without further ado, here are my favorite reads of 2017:

THE RAVEN CYCLE DISCUSSION | BOOKS I & II

The Raven Boys (The Raven Cycle #1)

The Dream Thieves (The Raven Cycle #2)

Maggie Stiefvater 

Almost everyone I know loves The Raven Cycle. I tried so hard to get into the series - the first two books. On both occasions, I complained incessantly about the slow plot. When will the action start?! Because I pushed myself to continue, I became bored and unmotivated. Fortunately, the endings redeemed the pain "I suffered" - such a drama queen. By the end of both novels, I found myself liking the characters more. I was very intrigued by their parts in the story and their personality. I know this may be somewhat controversial, but I enjoyed Joseph Kavinsky in The Dream Thieves. He's a terrible individual, but he's so exciting and thrilling to read about. Side note: if you search up his name, there are a lot of Tumblr aesthetics of him portrayed by Ash Stymest, which I find amusing, I don't know why. By the end of the novels, I also wanted more of the overarching plot. The cliffhangers enthused me and drove me to the library, in search of the next book.