2019 Reading Challenge Reviews - Books 13 & 14

This year, I'm participating in the 2019 Pop Sugar Reading Challenge. (For more information check out my 2019 Reading Challenge Overview post, or look up the challenge on popsugar.com.) 

Here are my thoughts on the 13th and 14th books that I read.

Book 13: Eat Pray Love by Elizabeth Gilbert

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads.

The prompt I chose for this was "A Book With at least 1 million ratings on Goodreads." 

This book was an incredibly easy read in my opinion. I felt like her writing style flowed well, and it kept me interested enough to keep reading for the most part. There were some areas where I wanted to skip ahead, but overall, I felt it had a good flow.

However, there were some things that rubbed me the wrong way a bit. Disclaimer: slight spoilers ahead. 

Particularly, her view on her mental state, and how she did not want to continue taking her medication threw me off. Although I hope it worked out for her long term, I do think, to be frank, it's a dangerous decision to make without discussing with your doctor. Everyone is different, and each person has their own beliefs and struggles, but regardless of the type of illness, if you are prescribed medication you may want to discuss with a doctor the potential consequences of stopping the medication before you decide to stop taking it.

I did feel that her descriptions of all three countries she visited were interesting. I understand that she only saw a tiny, tiny bit of each country, and that if someone else had visited the same areas they would have seen things in their own different way, but I think it's important to try to understand how other people see different situations. 

I particularly found her description of the ashram in India enlightening. Someone I knew for a brief period of time decided to live on an ashram, and although she tried to describe it at the time, I think that this book made me understand the lifestyle a bit better. It sounds incredibly peaceful, and made me want to get back into yoga to calm my own mind some.

Book 14: To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han

I gave this book 4/5 stars on Goodreads, though I wasn't entirely sure what rating I really wanted to give it. It could have gone anywhere from a 3 to a 4.5.

The prompt I chose for this was "A Book With Love in the Title" 

I thought this book was adorable. It was one of the few books that I read after having already seen the movie, but I still really enjoyed it. (The movie was also really cute.)

The characters were the perfect amount of awkward to resonate with my past teenage self. There are still some things that are a bit far fetched, but overall I related to Lara Jean. 

Many years ago, someone advised me to write letters to people in my life if I had something I needed to get off my chest, even if I was never going to mail them. When I was Lara Jean's age, that was a really handy tool for me to understand myself. Thankfully, mine never made it to the people they were addressed to. Occasionally, I'll find one tucked away in storage, and reread it. They're nice to see what I was thinking and feeling at that point in time towards that particular person.

Lara Jean's relationships with boys in the book also didn't feel that far off to me. There were definitely elements that were not as relatable, but generally the book was enjoyable and did remind me somewhat of my high school years.