Hey, everyone! This is Symone from Symone Books
and today I'm coming to you guys with
a "Recent Reads" video. I think this is
going to be better for me than having to
scramble and put together a wrap-up at
the end of the month, but I am still in
the experimentation phase so I'll let
you guys know later how I feel about it
and if I plan to continue doing it this
way. The first book that I'm going to
talk about today is THE BELL JAR by
Sylvia Plath. when I bought this book I
told myself that I really wanted to read
it in 2017 so I'm glad that I did what I
said I wanted to do, but I'm disappointed
because this book did not live up to
expectations for me. I don't know if I
just read this at the wrong time or if
it just completely flew over my head but
I kept reading and thinking, "Okay, so
everyone really loves this book. It's going to
definitely get better soon so I'm just
going to keep reading," but it never did
get better. I would love to detail
everything about this book I didn't like
for you guys but I honestly can't
remember anything about it which should say
something because I only read this a
couple of weeks ago. This book just
didn't engage me in the way that I
wanted it to and I think this book
relies really heavily on Esther and when
a book relies heavily on a character I
feel like how much you like the book
depends on how well you connect to the
character and I just couldn't connect to
Esther at all. Next up is THE SUN IS
ALSO A STAR by Nicola Yoon. This is a YA
contemporary novel that takes place over
the course of one day and it's about a
Jamaican girl named Natasha whose family is
about to be deported and a Korean-
American boy named Daniel whose parents
want him to be a doctor but his dream is
actually to be a poet. They meet by
chance and Daniel pretty much falls in
love with Natasha at first sight but Natasha
doesn't believe in love at first sight
so Daniel decides that he's going to
make her fall in love with him using
science.
This book is definitely for all the
hopeless romantics out there. If you're
more of a cynical type you'll probably
find yourself rolling your eyes a bit at what
was definitely a case
of insta-love. I'm more of a cynical type
myself but I was still able to
appreciate this book. The story is told
in many perspectives with Natasha and
Daniel's being the main ones. Every so
often a random character that they meet
throughout the day will get a
perspective and it will be a page or two that
sort of gives their backstory and it just
goes to show that you never
know what someone's going through. The
main thing I liked about this book and
what initially drew me in about it is that
both main characters are people of color.
It was really cool to see a different
kind of interracial relationship being
represented in books and I believe that
this story is somewhat based on
Nicola Yoon's relationship with her
husband because Nicola Yoon is Jamaican-
American and her husband is
Korean-American. Overall, I think this
book accomplished what it set out to
accomplish. It was a super cute romance
with some life lessons thrown in.
Personally, I don't see this story
sticking with me but I enjoyed the ride.
Nicola Yoon is definitely one of the
best YA contemporary writers out
there right now so if you're looking for
a cute contemporary to read, this is the one for
you. Next up is FOREVER, INTERRUPTED by
Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is an adult
contemporary romance novel about a
couple, Elsie and Ben who fall in love over
the course of six months and they end up
eloping and after nine days of being
married, Ben is tragically killed in an
accident. Of course this shatters Elsie's
world and on top of that, when she goes
to the hospital she meets his mother,
Susan, who has no idea she even exists.
This story is told in alternating
timeframes, one being in the past showing
how Ben and Elsie got together and one
being in the present showing how Elsie and
Susan are dealing with Ben being gone.
This is my second novel by Taylor Jenkins
Reid and I've found that her books tend
to have just the right amount cute
moments and just the right amount of
depth. From the synopsis it might seem
like this is going to be a very sad
book and of course there are some sad
moments but overall I feel like this
book is very hopeful and there are a lot
of moments that warm your heart, as well.
I enjoyed this book a lot and I think
that I can now safely call Taylor Jenkins
Reid one of my favorite contemporary
authors. Next up is CHRISTODORA by Tim
Murphy. This is a literary fiction novel
about a group of people who are living
in a building called the Christodora
and all the ways that their lives
intertwine. And this book takes place
over the course of 40 years against the
backdrop of the HIV/AIDS epidemic.
I thought this was a really good book
that more people should be reading so
definitely check out my full review for
it. I'll leave it in the eye and also in
the description. So those are all the
books that I've read recently. If you
have thoughts on any of these, leave a
comment below! Thank you so much for
watching, make sure you subscribe and
I'll see you in my next video. BYE~
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