Mini-Reviews: The 5 Best Novels I’ve Read This Year (So Far!)

Do you ever have so many books that you want to talk about that you can’t figure out which one to write a post on? Enter the mini-review, my favorite cop-out that I actually find more enjoyable to read and write than full-length reviews!

I was planning to list my favorite books I’d read since January 2019, but I couldn’t narrow it down. So after excluding non-fiction and kid lit because I felt as if I were comparing apples to oranges, I came up with a list of the 5 best novels I’ve stumbled across this year.

Surprised by Loss: Three Atypical Modern Epics

Hey, everyone! Long time no see. Sorry for the long break. My last year of high school has been crazy! But now that I’ve been accepted to college, my thesis has been written and defended, and I GRADUATED HIGH SCHOOL (!)—I can get back to blogging.

Today, I’d like to talk about the genre of the epic. No, I’m not going to talk about the Aeneid or The Divine Comedy or Paradise Lost (though you can bring those up in the comments if you want). I’m going to tell you about three of my favorite books (of which there are many), all of which were written in or after the 20th century.

20 Questions Book Tag

Remember last Wednesday, when–uninvited and unannounced–I did the How I Choose My Books Tag? Well, I’m back this week with another book tag and a little more propriety, since Holly at Nut Free Nerd actually did tag me for this one. I love Holly’s blog–she reviews a wide variety of books, including classics (my favorite!) and talks about her adventures studying abroad at Oxford–so you should definitely give her a follow if you haven’t already!

Now then, to business.

How I Choose my Books Tag

Morning, all! Last week I saw the How I Choose My Books Tag on Nut Free Nerd (which is one of my favorite book blogs), and even though Holly didn’t tag me, I wanted to do it, so I did. Shameless, I know. Let’s get started.

Mini-Reviews: All the Books I Read for Literature Class This Year (Part I)

Remember back in August when I posted a list anticipating the 7 books I was reading for literature class this year? A few of you wanted to know what I thought of them once I was done. Well, I took my literature final yesterday, so I’m officially done with this year’s literature class, and I can tell you about all the books I read this year! I’ll talk about both the content of the books and the edition/ translation I read.

7 Books I’m Reading for This Year’s Literature Class + An Announcement

I love reading, but I am terrible about getting off my bum and reading important, weighty books. You know, hard books. Books that are over a thousand years old. Or books that wrestle with tough questions. Or books that delve into the darkness of the human soul.

If left to my own devices, I’d just read Shakespeare comedies and C.S. Lewis (whose writings, although complex, are quite readable) all the time. That’s why I appreciate literature classes: they push me into books that I’d never read otherwise.

The Ultimate Harry Potter Tag

Today is July 31, and every Harry Potter fan knows that what means: it’s Harry’s birthday, and J.K. Rowling’s too! In honor of their special day, I’m going to do the Ultimate Harry Potter Tag. Steph over at Lost: Purple Quill did this tag a while ago, and that’s where I found it. Give her blog a read–her book reviews and tags are always great fun!