October Wrap Up & Roadtrip Pictures

Hello! I feel like I haven’t posted as much and that I’ve been rather distant on here, and it’s not because I want to be. October has been BUSY. Not necessarily in a bad way, though. I did go to on a roadtrip to Alaska, and I did meet Rachel and Chelsea in the mysterious city of Hartford to see a production of Les Mis, and then Boston for Merrily We Roll Along (which was FANTASTIC btw- read Rachel’s perfect review). Life in general has been busy, but again, not in a bad way, except for the fact that it’s cutting down on my reading and blogging time!! I was only able to complete 4 books this month, and every one of them I read with eyes itching for sleep. BUT sometimes sleep must be sacrificed for books. In November I’m going to GET MY ACT TOGETHER and not go on any more spontaneous roadtrips, and sleep more, I promise. After I get back from a business trip in Chicago on Friday D:

What I Read

The Missing by Jerico Lenk ★★★☆☆
This book was a case of “really enjoyed the characters, did not care for the plot.” It’s about a gender fluid character, Will, who joins a ghost hunting society in in 19th century London. While I really liked the setting and was highly intrigued by the characters, I felt that the plot got a away from me, and I started skimming plot that didn’t involve character development. Still, it had great writing and really worked it with the atmosphere.

Before She Ignites by Jodi Meadows ★★★★☆
I enjoyed this book a lot more than I expected I would. It was a slow-paced fantasy about an imprisoned girl who isn’t the cleverest, but she does want to do the right thing, which I found to be quite refreshing. Full review.

The Ship of the Dead by Rick Riordan ★★★★★
I thoroughly enjoyed this last book in the Magnus Chase trilogy. These are my favorite books of Rick Riordan’s because I love the characters, and I’m so satisfied with how everything turned out. This book was a lot of fun and I was a SUCKER for that ending. I love Magnus. Full review.

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng ★★★★★
This was without a doubt my favorite book I read this month. The plot revolved around a family who lost their favorite daughter, but its the characters that lead the story more so than the plot itself. The story unravels in such an artful, easy way that made me cry.. Highly recommend if you’re in the mood for a good sad time. Full review.

Currently Reading

The Power by Naomi Alderman
Teenage girls now have immense physical power – they can cause agonising pain and even death. And, with this small twist of nature, the world changes utterly.

I’m about 2/3 of the way through this one, and I gotta say…it’s just not doing it for me. It’s an extremely intriguing concept, but I’m finding it’s execution a bit outlandish. It’s focus on religion should be interesting, but I’m just not feeling it. Most of all, I just don’t care about any of the characters. And when you don’t get me with your characters, everything else gets really bland really fast.

The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
It happens at the start of every November: the Scorpio Races. Riders attempt to keep hold of their water horses long enough to make it to the finish line. Some riders live. Others die.

I’m buddy reading this one with Rachel and I’m really enjoying it so far. It’s so atmospheric and the world and plot are so unique, and I’m loving the sibling relationships in this book. Classic Maggie Stiefvater. We should be finishing it today….and appropriate book to finish on the first of November, no?

Out of the Silent Planet by C.S. Lewis
Out of the Silent Planet begins the adventures of the remarkable Dr. Ransom. Here, that estimable man is abducted by a megalomaniacal physicist and his accomplice and taken via spaceship to the red planet of Malacandra. The two men are in need of a human sacrifice, and Dr. Ransom would seem to fit the bill.

I’ve been slugging through this for like…a month, and it’s only like a 160 page book or something, OOPS. But my friend recommended it to me and I must finish. It’s not bad, just dense and not something I find easy to read for large chunks of time. Something C.S. Lewis is great at though is hitting me with those QUOTES of his, though. Even if his story is a bit boring he’ll whip one out of no where and hit me straight in the heart.

Canada and Alaska Roadtrip!

My friend and I drove from Seattle, through British Columbia and Yukon, all the way to Anchorage, Alaska. I could probably write twenty blog posts about it, but for now here are some photos.

My friend spotted a bear and her cubs with her eagle-eye as we were driving and we pulled over to look.

Me driving in the snow. Driving in the snow is one of my LEAST favorite things ever, I’m amazed we survived.

A veerrrry frosty morning.

We had to camp out inside this electric fence so the bears wouldn’t get us. IT WAS NERVE-WRACKING. But we lived.

This was WITHOUT A DOUBT one of the most beautiful places I’ve ever seen with my own two eyes.

We stopped at a wildlife conservatory and this moose was the friendliest.

Whitehorse! Capital of Yukon. Civilization after so long of just road and gas stations.

I went inside, gave the young guy at the counter my card for gas, then stood outside trying to make the gas work while my hands got so insanely, painfully cold I feared I had gotten frost bite in like, the 5 minutes I was out there. I went inside feeling like an idiot for not knowing how to make the gas work, but it turned out I had to flip some lever, and the guy inside was so apologetic and nice about forgetting to tell me. “I should never assume what people know, we’re all from different places, we all know different things,” he told me, and I don’t know, I loved that he said that. I think it’s because when you’re traveling, people native to a certain place can make you feel dumb about not knowing certain things about that place, and I always feel dumb with unfamiliar things, and he was so kind and sweet about it. And then he gave me 10% off because he felt so bad about keeping me standing out there in the cold.

We saw SO MANY OTTERS in this harbor, I loved them. And seals and sea lions. Too late to see the whales, though 😦

It was like 20 degrees out that night and my legs almost fell off.

This picture doesn’t do it justice at all, but this was the most beautiful sunset I think I’ve ever seen. We were like, 80 miles from our destination. 80 miles is like 2 feet after 2,000 miles, let me tell you.

So YEAH, October was pretty wild. I LOVED IT. I really hope to read more this month, and blog more! How was your October?? What do you plan to read next month?