Tuesday, September 30, 2014

September Wrap-Up // October TBR | 2014

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image source: here. edited by me.
I can't believe it's almost October already, we're nearing the end of the year! A lot of things happened to me this month - including my college graduation which was on the 27th. As for my reading this month, it wasn't as productive as I hoped it would be - because I spent a lot of time playing games ㅋㅋㅋ I read a balanced amount of Indonesian and English books, but the number of books I finished this month is pretty similar with last month. I read a total of 6 books this month, and finally finished my super long review on A Game of Thrones. So here are the books I've read and reviewed this month, non-review posts in September, and a list of books I'm planning to read in October.

Perfect Mess by Rina Suryakusuma
I wanted to read this book since the day it was released, but only now did I get to read it. It was a really nice story about discovering oneself, overcoming past mistakes, and also second chances. Since the genre of this book is Christian Romance, there are some religious elements added to the characters and story. I enjoyed it especially because I love Rina Suryakusuma's writing, and I gave this book 4/5 stars. ✮✮✮✮
A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin (read in August, reviewed in September)
I'm really proud because I managed to finish my review on this amazingly grand book; because I even thought of giving up on writing the review. A Game of Thrones is an excellent start for the series - there are lots of complex characters and plots that can be explored to no end. I absolutely love how everything feels so realistic in this book, and I certainly can't wait to continue reading the rest of this series. Definitely 5/5. ✮✮✮✮✮
The Chronicles of Audy: 21 by Orizuka
Been waiting for this sequel since I finished the first book (which I totally adored), and there's a pleasant surprise in this book which I didn't expect! It was as fun and enjoyable as the first one, mostly because of the silly main character. Even though the plot wasn't perfect, Orizuka still entertained me with this one. So I also gave this book a 5/5. ✮✮✮✮✮
Simple Thinking About Blood Type 2 by Park Dong Sun
This one is a light read, because it's a non-fiction illustrated book; that almost feels like a comic book - but with far more writing in it. Although the first-half of the book was kind of just okay, I enjoyed the second-half of the book better and found out a lot of similarities with myself. At the end I rated this book 3/5 stars. ✮✮✮
Where Things Come Back by John Corey Whaley
I had a really high expectation before I started reading this book; just because there's so much positive hype around it. Unfortunately I wasn't able to recognize what was so good about this book. As much as I'm disappointed with this book, it doesn't really mean that I didn't enjoy it. The best part about this book is the shocking plot twist/revelation towards the end of the story - that pushed me to give this book 3.5/5 rating. ✮✮✮½
The Best of Me by Nicholas Sparks
I started reading this book because the movie adaptation is coming out soon, and I need to be prepared if I'm planning to watch it. It's been a while since I've read a Nicholas Sparks' book, and I finally get to feel again the bittersweet emotion after reading his book. The characters in this book are deep and real, it made me relate with the story emotionally. I admire how Nicholas Sparks was able to intertwine several conflicts into one beautiful story. 5/5 rating for this one, can't wait for the movie. ✮✮✮✮✮
I also finished And the Mountains Echoed by Khaled Hosseini recently, and I think my review will be up soon in early October. I read some pretty good books this month, so even though the number of books I read this month is not that much, I feel quite accomplished. And I am currently reading the #7DeadlySins books that I mentioned in my September book haul. For the non-review posts, I still haven't got back to doing Top 5 Wednesday, but I might next month - because the topics are quite interesting :)) Thankfully, I managed to post some non-review posts including Clearance Sale to celebrate this blog's anniversary. I also watched The Maze Runner movie adaptation, which was awesome, and wrote a review for that as well. As usual, I also listed the books I'm planning to read next month.

Non-Review Posts in September:
October TBR:
(I might have more books coming in next month, so this list can change and is quite flexible) 
Beautiful Liar by Dyah Rinni
Best Rival by Naima Knisa
Dangerously Perfect by Shita Hapsari
Hannibal (Hannibal Lecter, #3) by Thomas Harris
Four: A Divergent Story Collection by Veronica Roth
Gone Girl by Gillian Flynn
I've Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Earlier in this post, I mentioned that I wasn't really productive this month because I spent a lot of time playing games. Well it's because The Sims 4 just came out this month, and The Sims is like my all-time favorite computer game ever! I remember back when I was still in school, I would spend the whole night playing The Sims and slept when the sun rise. So I definitely had to try this game out when I discovered the cracked version (I can't afford purchasing the game, really). Compared to The Sims 3 that I played several years ago, there's definitely a lot of positive changes - especially in the Create A Sim. They also made the Sim a lot smarter; they can multitask now, and they have various moods - get bored, feeling playful, confident, etc. I played for about 2 weeks, I think, before I realized how this game seriously took away too much of my precious time. Then I even played while setting a timer on my phone, so I will only play for 30 min-1 hour. But in the end I finally deleted the game for my own sake; I think it's for the greater good. ㅋㅋㅋ


Another huge thing that happened this month was my graduation day! Oh gosh, it almost feels unreal that I finally reached this stage of life. The day before my graduation, I feel slightly nervous and thought about many things. Even though I didn't graduate as a cum laude, I was given one of the Best Students Awards for my Oppajjang business along with my friend; which made me feel accomplished. It has been 4 years full of ups and downs, I learned and also experienced many new things. I think I've mentioned this several times already, but I'm still unsure about what I'm going to do next. I do have a plan on going to South Korea with my friend next month though; kind of to celebrate our glorious graduation (?). Which is very exciting, and I will definitely post something about our trip on this blog ;)) (although it might not be book related).

So I guess that's it for this month's wrap-up! Thank you so much to everyone who congratulate me on my graduation, I'm very grateful for that :)) And I'm pretty sure I won't be able to read even more books next month because I'm going to South Korea for about a week. Maybe next month's wrap-up will be filled with pictures from my holiday trip, who knows ;)) Okay, I wish you all had a wonderful day and an even greater one next month. Cheers!

 
by.stefaniesugia♥ 
 

4 comments:

  1. daaamn so jealous about Sims 4...... I want to install it but am really afraid my laptop won't be able to run it because I put a LOT of custom content (it runs Sims 3 just fine, but I expect TS4 to be much, MUCH heavier). But Sims being able to multitask... now you've convinced me.

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    1. If you can run Sims 3 just fine, I'm pretty sure you can run TS4 just fine :)) because unlike TS3, TS4 doesn't have an open world and have to go through loading screen when you travel :D I think TS4 runs a lot smoother too. You should try it out ! ;D

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  2. congrats for your graduation! and for finishing that thick book a.k.a GoT, I am still in chapter 5 since forever.

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    1. thank you so much! :D you should try to read it again ;))

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