books i’ve read in 2021
I didn’t read many books in 2021, could probably count how many books on one hand, but I’m hoping that will change, and 2022 will be full of more moments of reading and reviewing. Let’s talk about the few books I did read, though.
Some of these books I’ve left reviews for (others I either just enjoyed, or completely forgot about.) These books were:
the witch doesn’t burn in this one by Amanda Lovelace
The long review can be found here, but in short, I tried to give Lovelace’s books another go, as I was disappointed with their first one, the princess saves herself in this one. I, unfortunately, remained disappointed.
While I very much enjoyed the thought of the ideas and themes in the book, reading them through her poetry made me lose that enjoyment. They felt heavily cliche and lacking in metaphorical language. This isn’t to say I didn’t enjoy any poems in the collection, I loved her more personal and longer pieces, but I think it is safe to say that Lovelace’s work just isn’t for me.
I gave it three out of five stars.
Chameleon Skin by Breanne Weber
First off, the synopsis of this book was wonderfully written and pulled me in almost immediately. This was the first book by Breanne that I read, so I didn’t have an idea of what to expect, and had some high expectations that sort of mellowed down towards completing the collection.
I loved the imagery in her poems, the language she used not only painted a picture, but let me live in that scene for a brief moment. Yet, I still found myself a bit bored flipping through the pages. To me, it felt as though Breannes theme had her limited with the same idea and message, and while I was okay with it at first, it began to feel like I was reading the same poem again five pages past.
But I did enjoy the book enough and gave it four out of five stars.
Em(body)ment of Wonder by Tanya S.
Another very short, but relaxing read, was Em(body)ment of Wonder. The cover alone was beautiful and set the mood for the poems inside: dainty, elegant, and inward. The poems in this collection read very much like affirmations, or just stanzas of positivity, towards oneself through the struggles of mental health and body image. It was an enjoyable read, my only con was it felt lacking in poem diversity. The poems, with similar message and style format, in a way all blended together. I think it would’ve been nice to see different formats and poetic language used to go more in depth with the authors story and message.
All in all, I gave it four out of five stars.
As mentioned, I read books and did not write an extensive review on them. Those books were:
The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath
This book was my introduction to Sylvia Plath. A friend of mine absolutely adored Plath’s work, and especially adored The Bell Jar, so I did go in with pretty high expectations. And, surprisingly? Maybe? They were met. I loved this book. I loved how the story moved and the language, my god, the language. I unfortunately was reading it digitally, but I no doubt would have highlighted a million of Plath’s line throughout the book. I couldn’t tear my eyes away from the page (which is great, but I was secretly reading at work, so..)
If I were to rate this book, I’d give it five out of five stars.
The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins
This is the book I was most excited to read. I was, and honestly still am, obsessed with The Hunger Games. It remains one of my favorite and beloved series that I’ve ever read, so to have this prequel was amazing news. TBoSaS was a great read. I loved being immersed back into the same world, learning about the characters, and getting excited over connections and answers to questions from the trilogy. My only problem was that it felt too fast paced. It could have been because I read it in one to two sittings and didn’t give it a moment to breathe, though.
Overall, I’d rate it four and a half stars out of five.
