Hello everyone! ♥
Welcome back to another post of me 😀 I’m sooo excited to be back here, but I’m still pretty out of ideas so today, I’m gonna be talking about my bookish life during hiatus. As you probably know, I just got back from a 1-year-and-2-months hiatus which also happened to be a period of long reading slump. But that doesn’t mean I completely cut off my relationship with books—that would be impossible because books are my life. So anyway, here’s a quick recap of what I’ve been up to in terms of books!
Books I read
This is a little hard to track because I stopped using goodreads for a while, but on top of my head here are some books I read during my hiatus :
If you see the pictures above, you’d find out that I mostly only read local books. It’s because they’re easier to find—I don’t have any international bookstore on my current city—and they’re frankly easier to digest. I mean, it’s my mother tongue so I can read faster 😛
- RESIGN by Almira Bastari. A highly amusing NA romance comedy highlighting the relationship between an employee and her supervisor. Quick, comical, witty, and just what I need to read after a hectic day at work.
- AROMA KARSA by Dee Lestari. Dee is my favorite Indonesian writer and I love her Supernova series so much. This one is a stand alone about two people with exceptional sense of smell and an ambitious women “exploiting” the gifts for her own purpose. It’s a little fantasy meet historical fiction meet contemporary but it worked so well. I’m really hoping for a sequel though.
- AUTOBOYOGRAPHY by Christina Lauren. It centers on a m/m relationship between a student with supportive parents and his tutor, who happens to be a mormon. It’s set in a writing class where the students are asked to write a whole book by the end of the semester. There are a lot of things I love, but it was unfortunately a bit slow for me.
- OBSIDIO by Amie Kaufman & Jay Kristoff. The book that got me out of reading slump. Intense, brutal, unpredictable. Not gonna say anything more because I’ve already written an 800 words review, just wait and see 😛
I’m quite sure I read more than ONLY 4 books this year but I just can’t remember anything more 🙈 I did read a little part of Warcross, When Dimple Met Rishi, and Strange the Dreamer but at the moment I couldn’t focus so I put them on hold for now.
Books I Bought
I might not read much lately but I still shopped for books every time I got the chance here are some of the books I bought so far.
Here are some of the others. No photo because they’re at my place and I’m currently at my parents’ house for Eid holiday.
When you’re not in the mood to read, then you’re simply not in the mood. Even if these shiny books keep waving at me. Of all the books I bought, I think Obsidio is the only one I finished. I thought for sure that it’s a contemporary book that would get me out of my slump because that’s what usually happens, but turned out I was wrong. I got completely immersed while reading Obsidio and I stayed up until 2 in the morning to finish the 615 pages book because it was just that great
Anyway, now that I thiiiink I’m finally in the mood to read again, I’m gonna go through all these books slowly. I’m thinking of starting Children of Blood and Bone, Leah and the Offbeat, and picking up Warcross and Strange the Dreamer where I left off before. What do you think? Are there any books from above that you think I should read first?
Books to Movie Adaptation
Surprisingly, I watched quite a lot of movies this past year. A lot more than I usually did. I remember watching several books to movie adaptation, but the only one I remember was Ready Player One 🙈 it wasn’t the best story I’ve ever seen but it was enjoyable! I had so much fun watching the movie and it made me want to read the book—or read Warcross, because I’ve been told Warcross is a much, much better version.
Ohhh I also watched and read Susah Sinyal. Instead of book to movie, it’s a movie to book adaptation. The movie came out on December 2017, directed by my favorite Ernest Prakasa. It’s a family movie about the dynamic between a single mother and her daughter. It’s so heartwarming, so when I heard there would be a book and that my favorite author Ika Natassa will co-write it, I WAS DEFINITELY IN!! It didn’t disappoint because the book brings out much more feelings and depth into the story that the movie lacked of.
Oh well, that;s another book I read during my hiatus but I’m too lazy to go back up and edit, so 😛
Writing
I don’t know if you remember, but I do have a writing project I started at the beginning of last year. You can read it here. I know I made it my resolution to finish the first draft by the end of the year and I still haven’t BUT it’s not like I didn’t make any progress!! I’ve actually written the ending but there are still a lot of plot holes and I couldn’t figure out how to fill them. I also did make a lot of edits. And I, um…. actually started another project
I wrote around 5 chapters and haven’t picked it up anymore hahaha fingers crossed I’ll get back to it soon! ♥
Book Blogs I Read
It’s sad to say that I’ve completely failed at keeping up with book blogs I follow </3 since I announced my hiatus, I’ve probably only opened my wordpress reader a couple of times and my Bloglovin feed none at all. (Speaking of my country BLOCKED access to Bloglovin along with Tumblr what a lame government!!!). Sometimes I did click through the link to posts I found on Twitter, but I never stayed long enough to read until the end. But there is this blog I found through Twitter called Snark Squad—you could tell from the name that the blog basically only snarks at bad books. And boy it was so fun to read!!
I think I spent a month or two reading it every single day. There are a lot of funny ones, even of the books I enjoyed, but my favorites gotta be about Fifty Shades series. The series was SO BAD it’s ridiculous. They snark it chapter by chapter and it’s like I’m reliving the stories through their eyes. Except the snarks are way better and funnier than the original stories 😛
Here are the links in case you’re interested. Or in need of a laugh.
Fifty Shades of Grey ♦ Fifty Shades Darker ♦ Fifty Shades Freed
Well well well, I guess that’s all I can share about my life in terms of books. Do you think there are things I possibly missed? Hmm anywayyy, how’s your reading life so far? Ready any fantastic books lately? I’m in desperate need of recommendations! Oh, and are there any book blogs you’re loving lately? Please link me! I want to follow more bloggers 😀
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You should definitely read Strange the Dreamer, I absolutely loved it! 🙂 ❤️
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I actually have by the time that post went up hahaha and I agree, it was indeed amazing!! Can’t wait to read Muse of Nightmares ❤
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READ!!! CHILDREN OF BLOOD AND BONE!!!! ASAP!!!!
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OKAY I WILL!! Hahahaha
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PLS READ WARCROSS. I STAN THAT BOOK WITH MY ENTIRE HEART, OKAY. (Also, relatable?? When I was on hiatus and for a long time I was HORRIBLE at keeping up with blogs at all??
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Okay I will hahaha but saaaadly I’m currently not in the mood for dystopia…. all I want to read is fantasy BUT I will definitely get to it as soon as I can 😀
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You should read Leah On The Off-Beat next 🙂 I just finished it and really enjoyed it. Obsidio is on my list as I’m reading Illuminae right now!
xoxo
http://gingersnaphattie.blogspot.com
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I have finished it a few days ago and yaaaaassss I really enjoyed it as well!! It makes me miss the bittersweet of high school life all over again hahaha I hope you’re enjoying Illuminae 😀
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So wonderful to have you back ❤ I have to agree with the Children of Blood and Bone rec. It was stellar! I am planning on picking up Autoboyagraphy. So I am curious to see how the pacing is for me. I think it is understandable that you may not blog hop while on hiatus. Sometimes we all just need to step back and recharge 😉
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Thank you so much Danielle 🙂 oooh yeah I heard a lot of good things about it so maybe I have to push it to the top of my TBR 😛 exactly, it’s not that easy to squeeze blogging back into my current routine.
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I plan to read Strange the Dreamer next month; I’ve been saying that for at least a year haha!
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Hahaha but you should!! It was fantastic and I really really REALLY loved it ❤
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