Well, I survived my first semester as a full-time college student. And I earned all As in my classes, so I can definitely say things are going well.
A few things have changed in the last few months. I've changed my minor from Humanities to Political Science (specifically Public Administration) and I'm now a sophomore, finally. Next semester starts in a little under 2 weeks and I am feeling a lot more ready and a lot less nervous than I was this time 20 weeks ago.
I've been getting more reading done than I expected to, but haven't been in the right headspace to check in and give reviews. Now that I'm a few weeks out of the semester though, I think I finally am.
My most recent reads have been Blue Moon, by Lee Child. It's another solid addition to the long-running Jack Reacher series and fans of the series will enjoy it. One thing I really love about these books (despite Jack Reacher being a massive Mary Sue) is that they're something my dad and I have in common. Every time a new one comes out we race to see who can get their hands on it and read it first. The last few years, I've been fortunate enough to snag an advance copy for review from the publisher (which dad calls cheating, by the way) but this fall I didn't put in any requests for pre-release copies of any books so I found myself waiting with everyone else for a copy from the library. When I was whining a few weeks ago to a friend about being #116 in line (after nearly 6 weeks on the list and with 60 copies in circulation), she surprised me with the ebook for my Nook. People - find friends who understand the power of books as gifts. It came from nowhere and totally made my day.
I also finally got around to reading The Secret History, by Donna Tartt. I've been hearing about this book for years but just never got around to it. It was good. Not epically life-changing as it had kind of been built up to be, but good. I enjoyed it and think Tartt is a fantastic writer. I plan to check out The Goldfinch in 2020 for sure.
My final read of 2019 is The Institute by Stephen King. This one is one of my favorites of the year. It's about a mysterious institute (of course) housing a number of kids with special abilities. It's got some serious "The Ones Who Walk Away From Omelas vibes, so beware if you're sensitive to stories with child abuse, etc. As always, King proves with this one that he is so much more than just a horror writer. The book provides great social commentary and is probably going to be a re-read for me at some point down the road.
You wouldn't know it from this bare-bones, sparse on details review list, but several of my classes last semester have been in literature and I feel like the biggest thing I've come away from school with so far is an ability to read a little deeper into book meanings. I'm looking forward to continuing my educational journey in 2020 and getting better at this blogging/reviewing thing. Updates will continue to be few and far between (see you at Spring Break?) but I'm going to keep trying!
