2019 Reading Challenge Reviews: Books 61 & 62
Hello readers!
I've decided to participate in two reading challenges this year: the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge and NEWTS. You can find out more info on both challenges in previous Overview posts. I've completed the NEWTS challenge, and you can see which books I chose all in one place on my NEWTS Wrap Up post.
The first book I'm reviewing in this post I read just for fun. The second was part of the Pop Sugar Reading Challenge.
Here are my book reviews for my 61st and 62nd books of 2019:
I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads.
This book didn't have a prompt. I saw it at the airport on my way home from Austin and had to get it.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I picked it up because I absolutely LOVE the show on Netflix, even though I knew the story was totally different.
A scientist, two young women, and the heir to Hill House agree to stay at the house for a period of time, despite knowing that the house is haunted to try and study their experiences and prove or disprove the haunting. Things get intense, and they all handle it differently. This makes the book a really psychological read.
Despite being totally different from the show, this was still an interesting book. It was really thought provoking and psychological, but just didn't terrify me the same way the show did. But that's not to say that it won't be amazingly horrifying to someone else, and I'd still recommend it to my friends (in fact, I already lent it to a coworker. Time will tell what she thinks.)
Book 62: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
I'm not going to lie (and this is purely my fault for just not doing my research), I didn't realize what a classic novel this book was when I grabbed it or just how long ago it was written. This threw me off at first, because some of the language and thought processes/societal norms really bothered me at first before it finally clicked to me just how old the book was and how different society is now.
This book discusses some social issues about how we learn and differences between people of different needs. It can be harsh by today's standards in some aspects (though it was first published in 1959). The main character gets an operation to increase his IQ and through the process learns more about himself, past and present, and how society saw him in both cases. And what happens if the surgery doesn't stick?
I think this book can really make you think. Especially when you compare the time frame it was written in to now, and how society has evolved in regards to people who are different or learn differently or have different life experiences or 'book smarts', etc. than ourselves (and how far we still need to go to understand each other).
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it with a book club or English class.
I wanted to like this book a lot more than I did. I picked it up because I absolutely LOVE the show on Netflix, even though I knew the story was totally different.
A scientist, two young women, and the heir to Hill House agree to stay at the house for a period of time, despite knowing that the house is haunted to try and study their experiences and prove or disprove the haunting. Things get intense, and they all handle it differently. This makes the book a really psychological read.
Despite being totally different from the show, this was still an interesting book. It was really thought provoking and psychological, but just didn't terrify me the same way the show did. But that's not to say that it won't be amazingly horrifying to someone else, and I'd still recommend it to my friends (in fact, I already lent it to a coworker. Time will tell what she thinks.)
Book 62: Flowers for Algernon by Daniel Keyes
I gave this book 3/5 stars on Goodreads.
The prompt I chose for this book was: "A book with no chapters, unconventionally numbered chapters, or unusual chapter headings."
I'm not going to lie (and this is purely my fault for just not doing my research), I didn't realize what a classic novel this book was when I grabbed it or just how long ago it was written. This threw me off at first, because some of the language and thought processes/societal norms really bothered me at first before it finally clicked to me just how old the book was and how different society is now.
This book discusses some social issues about how we learn and differences between people of different needs. It can be harsh by today's standards in some aspects (though it was first published in 1959). The main character gets an operation to increase his IQ and through the process learns more about himself, past and present, and how society saw him in both cases. And what happens if the surgery doesn't stick?
I think this book can really make you think. Especially when you compare the time frame it was written in to now, and how society has evolved in regards to people who are different or learn differently or have different life experiences or 'book smarts', etc. than ourselves (and how far we still need to go to understand each other).
I think I would have enjoyed this book more if I had read it with a book club or English class.
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