Hi everyone. I'm rincey and this is rincey reads. Today i'm going to be doing
my October wrap up. Before I get into that, I just want to show off my shirt.
It's Halloween and I have a book affiliated shirt on. Hold on.
Anyways. So yes, that's the first thing I wanted to do. The second thing I wanted to do is talk
about how I'm going to be taking a break in November. I put that in the subject line?
The title of this video. Oh my gosh. I think this shows how exhausted I am.
So yes, I put it in the title of the video so that way people are aware. But I'm
gonna take November off from making videos. I've talked about on this channel
multiple times about how I'm exhausted. I'm feeling a little bit of burnout.
I'm also just noticing little things about me and the way that I've been interacting
with the internet and I've been like making some adjustments. I've been
spending less time on social media in general. No one probably would have
noticed this but I really like reined in how much I've been posting. I haven't
been looking at like anyone's Instagram stories lately. I've been like barely
checking Twitter. I've removed the apps from my phone to like give my brain a
break and to like break some of the habits. And so I think I'm going to kind
of continue that through November. I'll still be like posting a little bit on
Twitter and Instagram but definitely not at the frequency that I used to. I won't
be like looking at that many feeds like I used to. So if you post things on your
Instagram stories and you know I follow you, I probably won't see it in the month
of November. If you tag me in things I probably will see it. But that's probably
the only way I will know if I need to see something. Like I said, I'm still
gonna be on it but just like not as much. I've really like pulled back and I think
that it helped me a lot with my own just sort of like concentration and
energy levels and just all of these different things. I'm definitely gonna be
back. I'm not like making this a permanent break or anything like that. I
plan on like taking November off and then doing vlogmas in December. Is that a
terrible way to do these things? I don't know. Maybe. And then in December I'll
probably like adjust again how I'm doing social media because I don't plan on
like leaving forever because I still enjoy it somewhat. But I can tell
that I'm a little bit burnt out from just everything going on. So yes, that's
just sort of an FYI. So if you see me like posting things on like especially
Instagram but not like replying to things, that's why. Because like November
is my birthday month and I do a lot of things to celebrate myself cause that's
just how I roll, or to celebrate my birthday. And so I like to use Instagram
as a way to like commemorate and to remember those things. So you're gonna
see me posting quite a bit in the month of November, especially the first couple
of weeks of November. But yeah, I won't be making videos. I'm gonna give myself a
little bit of a break. Making videos is actually like the thing that brings me
the most happiness right now but it's also the thing that I have the most
control over in terms of like my output. So I'm just going to turn that back a
little bit. I'll still be making videos over on book riot because, you know,
that's my job. But this channel will be on a one month hiatus. I'll be back on
December 1st for vlogmas. So I will see you guys then. So yes, if you have
questions about that at all, leave a comment down below. Feel free to follow
me on like, like I said, on the social media if you feel like seeing what I'm
up to over the course of the month. Or follow me on Goodreads if you want to
see what I'm reading because I definitely will continue updating that
with the books that I'm reading. Alright so now that I have that spiel out of the
way, let's get into the books I read this month. So I'm definitely getting back
into the swing of a reading like I used to. Which makes me so happy because there
was a little part of me that was slightly concerned that my brain was
gonna be broken forever. I have started getting back into the swing of reading.
So the first book I finished in October was the cruel prince by Holly Black. This
is a young adult fantasy series and I've heard a lot of people talking about this
one on booktube and really enjoying it. And so I decided to give it a read
myself. So in this story you are following this character named Jude who
her parents get killed by a fairy. And her and her two sisters were taken away
to this like fairyland. And it turns out that like one of her sisters is actually
only her half-sister and she's like part Fae or something along those lines.
But Jude and her younger sister are like 100% human. But they are like forced to
live in this land. However Jude actually wants to like live
in this land and be a part of her stepfather, whatever, the
person who killed her parents, like his court and things like that. But the Fae
don't really like humans very much and there are some specific people who
particularly don't like Jude. And so Jude gets involved in sort of like this
bigger thing going on. And then stuff happens. I don't want to give too much
away of the plot. So yes, I give this a 3 out of 5 stars. This book was really good
because it was like fast-paced enough that when I was going through like this
weird reading mood, it like kept my attention and it made me want to keep going.
But there were a lot of elements of this book that I didn't really enjoy.
Specifically all of the romance I had no interest in. All of the like political
intrigue and all of that stuff, I was super, super into. But every time like the
romantic storyline would like to take prominence, I got really bored. And I
think I mentioned this and one of my Friday reads videos this month, but like
the romantic storyline has a very like Pride and Prejudice template to it. Which
to me made it seem like it was so obvious what the story was doing and
where the story was going to go. So I think that also took some of the
enjoyment out of it as well. So yeah, like I said 3 out of 5 stars. It's not
terrible and I think I am gonna keep reading the series just because I'm
really intrigued again by like the whole like political intrigue part of the
storyline. And I think that this will also just be like another one of those
books that's really good for when I'm feeling kind of slumpy or I want
something more fast-paced. Generally I don't love young adult fantasy. But there
are a handful of series that I do really enjoy. So I think that again I'm gonna
keep going with the series. But I don't love it quite as much as everyone else does.
Alright the next book that I read was
the satapur moonstone by Sujata Massey. Now Sujata Massey wrote the widows of
Malabar Hill which came out I want to say in January of this year. I really
enjoyed that book. And when I saw that there was a digital ARC of the second
book in the series available on Edelweiss I immediately requested it and I
got approved. And this came at the perfect time because this is basically
the book that took me out of my reading slump. So if you aren't aware, this is a
historical mystery series. It takes place in 1920s Bombay and you are following
this woman named Preveen who is basically like the first female lawyer
in Bombay. And she works at her father's firm and she specifically works on cases
like with women and dealing with women since she can interact with
women in a way that most men can't, especially during this time period. So in
this book she gets asked by the government to work on this dispute
that's happening in this one specific area called Satapur. And it's the
royal family seems to have gotten into some very bad luck. The maharaja died of
an illness suddenly and then soon after his teenage son died during a hunting trip.
And so now the two people in charge are the two maharani's, the Maharajah's
mother and then his wife. And they have very different ideas of what they want
the next son, the next in line, to do. The older Maharani wants the boy to be
raised in the palace and to just be taught by tutors and things like that.
The boy's mother wants him to go off to like to an English school in England so
that way he can learn proper English and be able to have a broader understanding
of the world and be a better ruler and things like that. And so Perveen is sent
there to try to figure out what exactly is going on in this palace as well as to
give her sort of thoughts about what the palace should do with this young boy and
like give her recommendations and things like that. But then while she's there, she
notices that suspicious things are up. So yeah, I really enjoyed this book. I think
I gave it four out of five stars on Goodreads but it's probably closer to
like a three, three and a half stars. I think I bumped it up because it got me
out of my reading slump. But this one is significantly slower paced than the
first book in this series. It feels like I would say 60 to 70 percent of this
book is spent just like learning about the royal family. And a lot of it is
spent even just having Perveen travel to the royal family. Like that takes up a
significant portion of the book. And it isn't until like the last third or so
when everything starts to pick up. And that last third is really, really strong.
I think that if you enjoy historical mysteries, you'll enjoy this series
because in general historical mysteries tend to be slightly slower paced. But
yeah, there's something about this series that just feels so like comforting. Like
it feels like a blanket being wrapped around you in mystery form. Like despite the
fact that people are dying, you still feel really comforted by these books.
I made a whole video over on Book Riot talking about historical
mysteries and things like that. So I will link to that up above in case you are
interested. But yeah, I really enjoyed it. I, again, I'm going to continue on with
this series. Unfortunately for you guys this book doesn't come out until
sometime next year. I think right now the pub date is like January or February but
who knows if that's gonna stay the same. So yes, if you haven't checked out the
Widows of Malabar Hill, I highly recommend it, again, if you enjoy
historical mysteries. And then you can get ready for the second book in the
series for next year. Alright the next book I finished was locking up our own:
crime and punishment in black America by James Forman Jr. This won the Pulitzer
Prize for nonfiction this year. And as many of you are aware, one of my new
year's resolutions was to read through the Pulitzer Prize nonfiction winners.
So yes, I picked this one up partially because my library ebook hold came in on
this one. And this was also me sort of doing a
primer to see if I could get into nonfiction. I talked about this a little
bit in my nonfiction November TBR, but I wasn't sure if I was going to
participate in nonfiction November because I was in such a weird reading
mood and I didn't know how well I was going to fare with nonfiction. But this
book just reminded me of how much I love nonfiction. And that yeah, I could do
nonfiction November. So yes, I really enjoyed this book. I gave it a 4 out of 5 stars.
So in this book what James Forman jr. is doing is he's looking at the way that
the criminal justice system discriminates and harms black citizens
in the United States, specifically through things like mass incarceration
and the war on drugs and police brutality. How a lot of those things, back
in the day, the roots of those laws and policies were even supported by black
leadership and black politicians. So what he does is he takes a topic like the war
on drugs, he goes back to like the 1960s and he talks about how those policies
were put in place, why they were put in place, and how different people in
politics, specifically black people in politics and like even pastors and
neighborhood leaders and things like that,
supported some of these policies because they did see things like drugs being a
major epidemic in these communities. However they didn't necessarily realize
the way that those laws would extrapolate
out and the way that black people would be significantly more disenfranchised.
And not even that, but also like the way that class comes into play. One of the
things I really enjoy about this book is the fact that he consistently points out
that there is a class divide within black Americans as well. So some of the
policies that were put in place were supported by middle-class or upper-class
black citizens but they discriminate against lower-class black citizens and
they're the ones who are seeing the most harm from these things. So yeah, each
chapter is basically broken up into like a different policy like the war on drugs
or gun control or mass incarceration, things like that. James Forman jr. is
also a lawyer and so he pulls a little bit from his own experiences and his own
sort of cases that he's dealt with and things like that. I, again, just love this
book a lot. I think it does a really great job of giving an overview of
different policies here in the United States in a way that's really readable
and understandable, even if you're not someone who has a lot of knowledge about
these cases or these laws. But the story is still really gripping. There is a lot
of like policy talk in here. So it's not quite as narrative as something like
just mercy by Bryan Stevenson or anything like that. It's a relatively
short book and a significant portion of this book is just like notes. Like I
think the last 100 pages or so are just like notes and references and things
like that. So this book itself is only like 250 ish pages. So yeah, I highly
recommend this especially if you are someone who enjoys nonfiction and enjoys
books about like social justice issues, things like that. There's a reason why it
won the Pulitzer and I'm really glad that I read it. The next book that I
finished was the broken girls by Simone St. James. This is a book I got it
through Book of the Month and I picked it up again because my ebook hold came
in. But I also felt like it was really appropriate with the end of the month
and Halloween and all of those things cause this is a little bit of a ghost story.
In this book you are following kind of
two story lines. One of them takes place in 1950 and one of them takes place
basically modern-day. I think it's like 2014 or 2013, something along those lines.
And there is this boarding school called Idlewild Hall. And it's basically a
boarding school in Vermont in the 1950s for like girls who either
cause trouble or have like go through something traumatic and their parents
just like want to send them off and away from their previous life, things along
those lines. And so you're following one storyline where you're following these
four girls who were roommates at Idlewild Hall. And then the other story
line that you're following is this woman named Fiona. She is a journalist and she
is kind of obsessed with this place because her sister was found dead either
on the ground or right outside the grounds of Idlewild Hall. And then she
finds out that someone has bought the land and bought the property and plans
on reopening the school. And so she starts looking into it and then things
happen. So yeah, I gave this a four out of five stars.
I was very surprised by how much I enjoyed this book. I don't know why.
I think it's the cover design. I thought it was gonna be kind of cheesy to be
completely honest. And also knowing that it's a ghost story, I was like, hm. You don't
really know like how they're going to walk the line. Like are they gonna go
full-on supernatural fantasy type of thing or is it going to play it more
straight? And I think that this book toes the line really, really well. I think that
the developments that happened with some of the girls are really interesting.
Even though I'm someone who generally doesn't like multiple perspectives books, this
was one where I really enjoyed all the different perspectives. I think that
it talks about a lot of really important topics that women and girls have to deal
with and were forced to like keep silent on for a very long time. Yeah, this
book is like significantly more poignant and deep than you think it's going to be
just because like you know that all of these girls who are at Idlewild Hall
gone through something or are dealing with something or something along those
lines. And so how the book handles all of those issues is really beautiful. And
there's also just sort of this wonderful undercurrent story of like female
friendship and things like that. And even just like the way teenage girls are
treated and not listened to and all of those different things, handled-- it's, it's
handled really well in this book. So I know that Halloween is over by the time
you're watching this. But if you want something a little bit like spooky and
gothic for the fall and winter, this is actually surprisingly really good
book and I actually highly recommend it. And then the final book that I finished
so far this month is one that was on the other end of the spectrum and was a
disappointment for me and that's number one Chinese restaurant by Lillian Li.
This copy was sent to me by Henry Holt. Yeah I gave this book a 2 out of 5 stars.
I didn't really enjoy it. I was gonna do the disclaimer of like ,my opinions are
my own. Blah blah blah. But I think the fact they gave it 2 out of 5 stars speaks for
itself. This is one of those books where there are multiple perspectives and I
did not enjoy it. You are following basically of this like crew of people
who all work or owned this one Chinese restaurant called the Beijing duck house.
And so I feel like I can't even give you like a really good summary because there
are so many characters and so many plot lines happening here. There are the
owners, Jimmy and Johnny. I think Jimmy wants to sell the place and open up his
own restaurant that's more like an upscale Chinese restaurant.
However Jimmy's older brother, Johnny, isn't really down for that. And Johnny
has a daughter named Anne or Annie who I think works at the restaurant or
something along those lines but is like caught in the closet with one of the
waitress' sons who recently started working at the restaurant. That
waitress' name is Nan. Her son's name is Pat. So Pat and Annie are sort of like
hooking up, doing this thing. Pat has gone into a lot of trouble. I think he's only
in high school. Like he's 17 or something like that and he's gotten into trouble
for I think setting garbage cans on fire. And so they like pulled him out of
school and now he's working at the restaurant. And then nan has this friend
named like Ah-Jack who is older who used to work at the restaurant and got fired I
think and then for some reason he got hired back. And Ah-Jack and Nan have like
this really long history together, things like that. I think you could tell by the
way that I'm doing a terrible job of summarizing this book that my main
problem with the story is that there's too much going on and this is a
relatively short book. It jumps chapters a lot, or really quickly and it feels
like you never get settled into any one storyline. I feel like if any of these
storylines had been a book unto themselves, I would have really enjoyed it.
The characters in here are really, fall into that "unlikable character" sort
of trope, which I'm not someone who generally points that out or has a
problem with it. But I think the is that there are so many storylines in
here you don't get any sort of connection with any of these characters.
Or it's very hard to get a connection with these characters. Or if you get a
connection then immediately the chapter changes and then like you lose the
connection for like three or four more chapters. So yeah, I think this book
just needed to be pared down to one or two of these storylines. There are some
really good and interesting things happening in here. Lillian Li can
write and she explores some really great things about the immigrant experience,
about the relationships between these different generations of people,
specifically like immigrants and their children, about having like hopes and
dreams and ambitions for your life and seeing how things actually turn out.
But again, it's just too much in too little of a space. There was too much
happening and I couldn't get into it. So yes, unfortunately I didn't really enjoy
this experience very much so I gave it a 2 out of 5 stars.
All right those are all the books I finished in the month of October. I'm
currently in the middle of the Witch Elm by Tana French. I'm adoring it. I talked
about it in one of my Friday reads where I was talking about how I was in a
reading slump and I knew I was in the reading slump because I couldn't get
into the new Tana French book. So now that I know I'm not in a reading slump
anymore, I am in it and I am really enjoying it so far. I'm only like 40% of
the way through the book so far. So it feels like the story is just getting
started. But I started reading that like yesterday and I was like, oh it's
Halloween this feels like a good time to be reading the witch elm by Tana French.
It's also been kind of dark and stormy in Chicago a little bit. So it's been
real good. So yes, that's what I'm currently reading. I also just started
reading blood in the water which I talked about in my nonfiction November
TBR. I was just in the mood to start reading the nonfiction even though
technically not November yet. Although by the time you're watching this it is
November. So yes, that is everything that I have. Feel free to leave a comment down
below letting me know how your October reading went or are like what your
favorite book was that you read this past month. Or if you have any questions
or comments about any of the books I mentioned in this video, feel free to
leave that down below as well. Again, just a reminder, I'll be taking November off.
So I will see you guys on December 1st when I started vlogmas.
If you desperately need to get a hold of me for some reason, you can still like
tag me on Twitter and Instagram and I will see
those. But I just might not be as quick to respond as I usually am. Otherwise you
can check me out on the book riot youtube channel. Also my read or dead
podcast will also be coming out. There are links to those in the description as
usual. So feel free to go over there if you are desperate to see me or hear me.
That seems really weird to say. But yeah, that's there. So I'm gonna wrap it up now.
So yeah that's all I have for now and thanks for watching.
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