Jan 2017 wrap up + Feb TBR 

I am here with my reading wrap up for the month of Jan. I am planning to make these monthly wrap ups a regular feature on this blog. Every month I am going to talk about the books that I finished in the previous month and also give a glimpse of the books that I am planning to read that month. This year I started making tbrs for every month. I realized that some books sat on my shelves forever while I kept picking the new books that I got. So I decided to make sure I read a selection of books every month this year.

I finished reading a total of 5 books in Jan and one book was a DNF. I also have two more books that I started in Jan but have not finished so will be reading them in feb as well.

Books I finished reading or DNFed:

1. The Princess Diarist by Carrie Fisher – 3 stars: I don’t even know what made me pick up this book. I saw it at the airport bookshop on the day she died so just felt like reading about her. I heard this book had some entries from the journal that she maintained during the Star Wars days. She talks about her early career and how she ended up with the princess role in Star Wars. And then she talks about her affair with Harrison Ford as part of the longest chapter in this book. One time read if you are interested in Star Wars.
2. Hamilton: The revolution by Lin-Manuel Miranda and Jeremy McCarter – 5 stars: This is what I did – I played the songs and while listening to them, read the lyrics for the songs from this book. The songs are great and I love them to bits but listening to them while understanding every word is a different experience. Hamilton played an important role in America’s fight for freedom.
3. Cat’s Cradle by Kurt Vonnegut – 2 stars: So parts of this book were funny, especially the first half. Second half was totally nonsense, nothing much made any sense. I have no idea what this author was trying to convey. I had high hopes with this book considering the fact that this author is famous and this book won Hugo award. Not sure I want to try any other book by this author. I remember trying to read Slaughterhouse five and giving up on the book after reading first few pages.
4. Assassin’s apprentice by Robin Hobb – 1 star: I don’t know what it was that made this book so boring for me. I found it extremely boring even after finishing 43% of the book (so it was not the world building) and I tried to skim through the rest of the pages but couldn’t do even that. I had to mark it as a DNF (did not finish). I had such high expectations from this book. I was pretty sure I was going to like it so I am extremely disappointed.
5. Alanna by Tamora Pierce – 4 stars: This book was great. Characters, plot, magic system, medieval setting – everything was perfect. The main protagonist is a kickass female character who dresses up as a boy in order to become a knight. This is almost like a school story as a bunch of kids are getting trained together to become knights. I am planning to continue with this series.
6. The colour of magic by Terry Pratchett – 4 stars: This book does for fantasy what Hitchhikers guide to the galaxy did for science fiction. Wish someone had told this to me earlier. I would have picked it long back. I am so glad to have finally started this series. It is absolutely hilarious. Considering how people say this series gets funnier, I am pretty sure I will love this series. Definitely continuing with this series.

Books I am reading in Feb:

1. The lies of Locke Lamora by Scott Lynch: I started reading this book in Jan and will be continuing in Feb. I have read some 50+ pages and already love all the characters in the book. It is a heist story set in a fantasy world. The author goes back and forth between past and present so it was little confusing in the starting, but now I got the hang of it.
2. Six Wakes by Mur Lafferty: I started this book too in Jan and have again read some 50-60 pages I guess. This is a mystery novel set in a spaceship in a futuristic world where cloning is common. This is a new release and I am really excited to read more.
3. Jane Eyre by Charlotte Bronte: I am buddy reading this book with Shanaya Tales so I am definitely going to finish this book in Feb.
4. Embassytown by China Mieville: This book has been on my tbr for quite sometime now but I am not sure I will get to it in Feb, considering how chunky my other picks for Feb are.
5. The man in the high castle by Philip K. Dick: I am planning to read atleast one sci-fi classic novel every month of this year so this is the one I picked for this month, since a group that I am part of in goodreads is planning to read this in Feb.

So what did you read in Jan? And what are you planning to read in Feb?