1st Quater Independent Reading Reflection

From middle of August to the beginning of October, I have read a total of 22 books, 9 in August, 11 in September and 2 so far in October. This number is not unusual to me, although now that I track my reading progress (both on Goodreads and in my notebook), I can see how many books I've read and I really enjoy that. I will admit that a few books out of my 22 are rereads, due to the fact that I haven't seen them in a while (they were all in boxes and I haven't seen them since February!!), such as The Beginning of Everything (Robyn Schneider) and The Infinite Moment of Us (Lauren Myracle). A lot of the books I read in August were on the summer reading list and on the list of my "Want To Reads", so I was able to convince my mom to get them for me. Some of those books include Why We Broke Up (Daniel Handler), Just One Day & Just One Year (Gayle Forman) and Me and Earl and the Dying Girl (Jesse Andrews). One of my favorite books from the list (other than Rainbow Rowell's Fangirl and Huntley Fitzpatrick's My Life Next Door, two of my all time favorites and rereads) was The Heartbreakers (Ali Novak). The entire plot of the book revolved around the fact that this girl chance-meets a boy band, something that I've only dreamed about. I loved all the characters and their personalities. They were so well explained that I felt like I was best friends with these characters and only so many books make their readers feel like that. I would recommend this book to anyone who loves boy bands and, like one of the reviewers said, "Fans of boy bands will be on this like tattoos on Harry Styles' chest." - Kirkus. I certainly was.

I have a list of books I would like to read, including Rainbow Rowell's new book Carry On and The Martian (Andy Weir). I know that both of these books are going to be focused on a different genre that I am used to sticking with, and genre jumping is always fun, no matter how intimidating. If a friend hadn't recommended The Maze Runner (James Dashner) to me, I would have never thought I'd be found reading it. I don't normally read Science Fiction, but I certainly enjoyed The Maze Runner series and most everyone who has read The Martian has a lot of positive feedback.

There are a handful of books I think that I read spiritually, like The Heartbreakers and Fangirl. I think the reason these two stand out to me are the ways that I can relate to almost every single part of the story and really understand the situation as if they were my problems to deal with. Fangirl is about a girl going to college who can't let go of the fandom she's been in since she was a young girl, almost like the dedicated fans of Harry Potter. I related to her in the way that reading and "fangirling" is apart of my life, but also connected me with the author, who, at the end of the book, wrote a note to the readers telling them that the sole idea for this book came out of reading fanfiction in the first place. This book made me realize that a lot of people felt the way I did about books and that makes me really happy and also not alone. The Heartbreakers is about a girl who meets a band she absolutely hates but ends up falling in love with the band member who is the most untrustworthy. It made me think a lot about the bands that I love so much, the way that they're mobbed and followed just like the fictional band in the book is. It gave me more respect than I already had towards management and all the people who try to keep famous bands and celebrities safe. It also made me realize that personal space and free time is sacred to celebrities and that they deserve it. Celebrities are real people with less time to do what they want to do because they're so busy making other people happy. This book impacted me in a way where I've started to back down from my favorite bands and not demand tour dates and release dates in the way that I used to (which is silently and not through social media, but still). Both of these books have connected me to people and impacted me in a way that I would not have thought of by simply picking them off the shelf at Barnes and Noble.

Speaking of which, I can't wait to go to Barnes and Noble and choose some more independent reading books!!