Gurlaffe Reads

     Hello friends! It's me!      It has been a hot minute  (and a half). But alas, I am making my return! Life has been all over the place these past few months. I've been meaning to get back into reading and blogging and Instagram-ing, but it seems like something always came up. Now that I've finally had a minute to catch my breath and sit down at a computer, I'm excited to get re-started.      Unfortunately, between school and *actually sleeping* there is only so much time for my little hobbies, so I'm not going to be as active as usual. My goal is to get in about a book a week, with a couple of ARCs on top of that when I can fit them in.      So, without further adieu, let's get into what I'm hoping to read in the upcoming weeks! Mere Christianity  by CS Lewis I'm usually not much of a theology books girlie, but I feel like this book kept getting brought up around me (irl and on the internet) and it was time for m...

"The things that go unsaid are often the things that eat at you—whether because you didn't get to have your say, or because the other person never got to hear you and really wanted to."      This book was incredible! It's exciting in a sort of morbid way that makes you want to keep reading until you finish. The way it attacks social issues and moral dilemmas with such grace is truly a testament to a great author. What an amazing read!      Everything I Never Told You tells the story of a Chinese American family living in 1970s small-town Ohio. When the oldest daughter, Lydia, is found drowned, the family crumbles to pieces. The story switches seamlessly between the present and the past. As it moves along, you begin to discover the reasons for each family member's choice, but you also see them find healing. Marilyn, mother to Lydia, Hannah, and Nath, married their father, James, when she was pursuing a future as a doctor in college. She dropped out when she...

     Hey everyone! Happy Independence Day for all of my friends here in the US! It's Monday, I know, but the weekend was packed, and I'm just now having some down time before more fireworks and festivities later. It's actually rainy outside right now, which is definitely not ideal, so hopefully that will all clear up before it gets dark out.      Reading went okay this past week! I had less time that I bargained for when I was out-of-state and ended up only finishing one book, but I'm kind of learning to be content with what I can do, you know? That book was, of course, Rachel Khong's Goodbye, Vitamin , and you can check out my full review  here , or find it on my Goodreads page. I gave it four stars!      Let's talk about some upcoming reads for the upcoming week! Everything I Never Told You  by Celeste Ng My final remaining AAPI month pick! I started reading this yesterday, and it definitely began with a bit of a shocking line... ...

     Hello friends! It's July 4th, and it just struck me that I never actually wrapped up my June reads. *awkward smile with teeth*      It was a little bit of a rough month considering how busy I was, but I managed to get in two of the books I wanted to read for the month. (They were originally supposed to be read during May, but you win some you lose some. *shrug*) The Buddha in the Attic  by Julie Otsuka This book was absolutely amazing! It's written beautifully, and I learned a ton from it. It's based on the lives of Japanese "picture brides" that came from Japan to America in order to marry men they had been matched with. Here's my full review . Rating: 5/5  Goodbye, Vitamin  by Rachel Khong I just wrote my review for this yesterday, but I finished it a while ago. This book was a super sweet, but not sugarcoated, story about a main character's father's struggle with Alzheimer's. I really enjoyed it! Here's my full  review . Rating: ...

     Rachel Khong's Goodbye, Vitamin is a bittersweet glimpse into the life of the main character, Ruth, as her father's Alzheimer's disease progresses. The novel deals with the disease with grace and shows how Ruth was able to make peace with the people that surrounded her.      Told in short glimpses from Ruth's point of view, Goodbye, Vitamin , begins the day after Christmas. Ruth is at her parents' house for the first Christmas in a while since she just broke up with her fiance, Joel, after he cheated on her. Ruth's mother convinces her to stay with her parents for a year so that she can look after her father, Howard, who's suffering from Alzheimer's. She tries to convince her brother, Linus, to join them, but he refuses. Linus' view of his father is pretty negative because of Howard's alcoholism and the affair he had after Ruth went off to college. "It's a terminal disease, all the literature keeps saying. 'But isn't everyth...

     Hello hello! Somehow it's the weekend again and here I am posting a day late... It's been a really great week for me, though. I posted my first review in over a month, received a super exciting ARC request, and, more importantly, actually finished a book! I also got mostly caught up on my self-paced summer math course, which, let me tell you, has been much more difficult than anticipated. It's hard to keep yourself accountable with something like that! Stay motivated, friends.      Let's talk about what I read this week! Unfortunately, I ended up DNFing the two sci-fi novels I was going to read. I did, however, get through Julie Otsuka's  The Buddha in the Attic  and gave it a whopping five stars. Check out my full review  here .      Next week I'm going to try and get in everything that I meant to read earlier in the month and didn't. Here's the books that includes: Goodbye, Vitamin  by Rachel Khong I'll be starting ...

     What an incredible read! Julie Otsuka's The Buddha in the Attic presents the story of thousands of Japanese women who came to America in search of a better life. Many of them never found it, but through this novel and others like it, I certainly hope their stories are heard.      This book is written in an almost eerie first person plural perspective. It begins on a boat full of the "picture brides", sometimes called "mail-order brides", exchanging photos of their husbands, looking to the future with bright eyes and excitement of what awaits them in America. The brides are Japanese women who came to America in the early 1900s to marry men whom they'd previously been matched with. They arrive in San Francisco to find that many of their husbands aren't quite as young or attractive as they thought, and many of them aren't as well-off as they were told either. We follow these women through their terrifying first nights as wives, watch them as they v...

     Hello friends! It's been a while, hasn't it? I have to admit that I haven't been reading as much as I'd like to recently. My summer is turning out to be crazier than I anticipated, and I'm trying to rework how blogging and bookstagram will fit into it. I am getting back on track, though, so I should be on here a lot more in the coming weeks.      Speaking of reading and crazy schedules, I was gone all of last week training to volunteer at a summer camp. I thought this would mean I would have reading time without my phone and spontaneous reorganizing as distractions, but boy, was I wrong. I think I read 20 pages the whole week!       Things are calming down, though, and I have about a week before I'm off on another adventure (which will involve 26 hours on a bus round trip, so there should be reading time there???). Let's take a look at my tbr for this week! The Rose  by PD Alleva I've gotten about a quarter to a third of the wa...

     Hello everybody and happy June! Things are getting warm and beautiful outside, and the air conditioning at my house is broken. *screech*      Anywhosies, May was a bit of a disaster when it comes to reading, and the only book that I actually finished was Lord of the Flies . (I blame finals and moving home for the summer.) I didn't write a review on it because by the time I was actually available to write a review, it was a week after I'd finished reading it. I also talked a lot about finishing Anna Karenina,  but, shocker, I still haven't finished reading it. IT'S ALL GOOD THOUGH because June is going to be wonderful.      With all the sad non-reading talk out of the way, let's get into my June hopefuls! (Don't worry, I will be featuring them on Instagram within the next few days.) I decided that this summer I'm going to focus on my physical tbr, or books that I already own but haven't read yet. This comes with the fact that I simpl...

    Before we get into today's post, I want to mention the tragedy that occurred a few days ago in Uvalde, Texas. You may have seen that I posted a little on my Instagram story about it. However, I think it's important to mention it here as well.     I could spend paragraphs writing about how horrible and terrifying the whole thing is, but I know that you could find that on any news article released in the past few days So I just ask that if you're able to, please visit/share/donate to the GoFundMe pages of the families affected or find out if you can participate in a blood drive to help out. Also, please remember to check on your kids, your family, and your friends. If anything at all seems off, address your concerns or find someone who can. *****      Hello again! It's been a whopping 20 days since my last post, and, let me tell you, it was a pretty wild 20 days. I'm really glad to be back in action here and on my Instagram.    ...

     Hello all! In an effort to keep my life together in the upcoming craziness, I will be forgoing my usual weekly updates for the next 2-3 weeks. I will still be posting semi-regularly on Instagram and writing reviews when I can. Thanks for your understanding! Love, Gurlaffe

     I was sent a digital review copy of this book in exchange for my voluntary and honest review. All thoughts and opinions are my own.      Holy cow, is this book ever crazy. In The Sunken City , Emma V. R. Noyes takes readers on a wild adventure across the Caribbean with pirates, royalty, and gray characters galore. The book is adventurous, fast, and admittedly, just a tad cheesy. A great read overall.      The Sunken City  opens with teenage heroine Amare Bellamy and her pirate family on a ship called the Moonshadow . Throughout the first few chapters, Amare spends a lot of time reminiscing over all the things that have occurred during her seventeen years of life- her uncle and captain Omar's protection of her, the harassment and violence she's faced from men on the ship, and the experiences she's had growing up as a girl on a ship full of pirates. The story picks up when Amare discovers a pirate chest that Omar quickly locks away in...

     Happy May everyone! I've had a pretty rocky month when it comes to reading, which I mainly attribute to my trying and failing to read the oh-too-gigantic book Dune. Since then, though, I feel like I've been on a roll when it comes to reading. The future is bright though, because next month is when school gets out and I'll have free time again. Without further adieu here is a recap of my April books! Legend by Marie Lu - This book was just okay. I'm still not quite sure what to think of this series, so I'm excited to be starting Prodigy. (3/5) Dune  by Frank Herbert- I DNFed this because I had to return it to the library. Simply too many pages to be allowed. (DNF) Winter  by Marissa Meyer- Thank goodness for this book getting me out of a massive reading slump and back into my flow of reading. It was incredible. (4/5) The Sunken City  by Emma V. R. Noyes- I got this one as an ARC, and although I had some critiques, it was satisfactory overall. (4/5) ...

     What a life! Things have been crazy in my corner of the world, what with spending hours lurking around at theater performances shining spotlights and getting ready for fake ACT exams and real semester exams. Shockingly enough, it is actually freezing here again. We're back to sweatshirt weather, and sitting here typing about it at midnight is making my mood drop considerably.       This week I finally finished Winter  and am ridiculously close to being done with The Sunken City . I'll probably be done with that one by tomorrow. I started Prodigy  as well, and I did spend a good deal of time thinking about reading Fahrenheit 451 . I've realized recently that I'm not particularly skilled at judging my reading speed. It's good to have goals though, I suppose. *shrug*      Anyway, that brings us to the tbr for this upcoming week: The Sunken City  by Emma V. R. Noyes This is such a fast-paced read... I mean I just powered...

     The fourth installment of Marissa Meyer's  The Lunar Chronicles sent me from being an obligatory-it's-too-popular-to-ignore reader to a genuine fan of the series. It turned the series from a lighthearted, happily ever after to a real story of sacrifice, bravery, revolution, and love.      In Winter, we meet the newest and final member of Cinder's teenage revolutionary crew: Queen Levana's stepdaughter, Princess Winter. Winter first meets Cress when the Rampion crew arrives on Luna and she's left behind due to a confrontation. She hides out with Jacin, Winter's best friend and the Queen's guard. When Winter rejects Thaumaturge Aimery's creepy marriage request, Levana asks Jacin to kill her, but instead, he helps her escape the palace.       Meanwhile, the rest of the crew is provoking a rebellion in Lunar sectors RM-9. When the queen's soldiers arrive, Wolf and Cinder are taken as prisoners. Cress and Jacin escape the palace. C...

     Happy Saturday! I am in an extra good mood right now because it's supposed to be 77 outside later today. Perfect outside reading weather!       I'm still behind-as-ever on my reading plans, but hopefully that will start to be reconciled this weekend. My review for Winter should be out today. It definitely took much longer than expected for me to read that one. It looks unsuspecting, but it's actually 823 pages. Crazy. I also got a little farther into The Sunken City, and I have a really good feeling about it. Fahrenheit 451  was finally available for checkout on Thursday as well. I think I'm in good shape for powering through at least Winter  and The Sunken City  this weekend, and I can probably get a good start on Fahrenheit 451 as well.      As far as the blog side of things goes, I posted on Thursday about my must-buy authors. Things are getting chaotic now that it's show week for theater, so I probably won't be ab...

     Although I am a big fan of bookstores, I try not to buy books that I think I'll never reread. Usually I won't even buy books that I've never read before. However, like most readers, there are a couple authors whose names just pop out on a bookstore shelf, and I simply must buy their newest release. In this post, I'll be going over some of my must-buy authors. Sarah J. Maas      I'm definitely not the only person who will give my left pinky to get my hands on an SJM book. Although I'm not a huge fan of the more ~spicy~ scenes in her books, she's insanely talented, and her plots are so-well done that it's almost impossible to put her books down. John Green      I could talk for ages about how much I love John Green. His writing flows so easily that I can power through his books in just a few sittings. There's also the bonus of John Green paperbacks only being around ten bucks at the average bookstore. Rick Riordan      ...

     Hello everyone! I am painfully aware that it is Monday and weekly updates come out on Saturdays. However, I was home for Easter break, and it completely slipped my mind until the ride back to school. So here I am typing away on my phone, the essence of panic, trying to form a coherent thought about what I read in the past week. But if you've been sitting on your couch the past two days, tears running down your face, refreshing my blog every five minutes to see if my post came out, then take heart, because despite temporarily abandoning my blog, I made a sheep cake this weekend (as pictured above). Take it as a sort of peace offering. (This recipe is literally fire though, so here's a link in case you, too, want to make a sheep cake:  very tasty sheep cake .)      Before we get into my books read (or left unread) in the last week and my tbr, here's a quick update on spring: it's not here yet. Yesterday I was going to post a spring stack on Instagra...

     About 130 million books have been written ever  in the history of people writing books. Hence, certain aspects or occurrences have been used and reused to the point that they've even been given their own names, such as the enemies-to-lovers trope. In this honest and unabridged post, I'll be tackling my top five personal favorites. 1. The Forced Proximity Enemies-to-Lovers      I think it's safe to say that everyone has a soft spot for the classic enemies-to-lovers trope. However, my particular favorite is a subcategory of this trope with the addition of forced proximity. Think Katniss and Peeta or Annabeth and Percy. Biting insults turning into a ~relationship~ is just the kind of story arc that gets readers interested. 2. The On-Again-Off-Again Love Triangle      Love triangles are also wildly popular among readers, but I'm a fan of the particular type where it's not 100% clear who the main character is going to end up with. Think ...

     Hello hello! This week has been quite hectic, so I am ages behind on reading. I'm still plugging away at Dune ... Hopefully I'll be done with that one soon, because I'm really looking forward to moving on with my life (and my tbr). I also need to finish reading it so I can get to Anna Karenina  and Winter  before they're due at the library. Feeling rushed to read books because of library due dates is hands down the worst feeling.      But on a happier note, I went on a lovely trip to Barnes and Noble today. This store was like a bookish paradise. There were two floors!!! and an escalator. I ended up leaving with The Love Hypothesis  by Ali Hazelwood (bookstagram made me do it) and You'll Be the Death of Me  by Karen M. McManus. I'm really looking forward to The Love Hypothesis . I've heard nothing but good things about it, and it seems like the kind of fluffy romance that I can power through in a couple sittings. All things co...

     *sigh of relief*      I am so highly pleased with this movie. As occurs with anyone who has been horribly scarred by the Divergent or Percy Jackson  film adaptations, I was a tad nervous to see how Hazel and Gus' epic love story would translate to the screen. But have no fear, because it was excellent! 1. The Characters      I have to admit that even though I knew prior to reading the book that Shailene Woodley and Ansel Elgort play Hazel and Gus in the movie version, my brain still didn't know quite what to do when the actors didn't look like my own mental image of them. I guess I'd been picturing Hazel as sort of looking like me with darker brown hair and Gus as... like a really buff blond guy??? *insert the laughing emoji*      On a deeper level, though, I did find Gus coming off arrogant in certain scenes of the movie whereas I didn't see that at all when I read the book. The prefuneral scene especially seemed off...

     Hello all! Unfortunately (and as you are probably already aware of thanks to my incessant complaining), it is still rather frigid in my neck of the woods, and I am absolutely itching to get outside and into warmer weather. I even tried wearing shorts today when I went on a walk (a lovely 38 degrees fahrenheit). It was probably a tad too cold for that.       In other, more relevant news, hopefully I'll be starting some new ARCs soon! The current plan is read those towards the end of the month, but I am so stoked about them that I couldn't help mentioning it already.      And s peaking of mentioning things earlier than is probably necessary, I also have a very exciting bookish plan in the works for May, but I can't quite delve into the details with that yet.      Without further adieu, here is the official TBR (and respective commentary) for this week: Dune by Frank Herbert Yes, I am aware that this was on last week's ...