2016 Reading Challenge, Part 3

So remember how I mentioned in my last book post that I was venturing into X-Files fanfic? Well, I kinda dove in and have been mainlining it for the past several weeks... This explains why it's taken me so long to read my next five books for the reading challenge - not because I wasn't reading, but because I wasn't reading in the appropriate categories. I do not regret this decision in the least.

Anyway, here are the next five books that actually counted towards the challenge. For those keeping track, that's fifteen down and thirty-seven yet to be read. Yes, I know I need to pick up the pace. Someone please come take away my access to fanfiction...

11. A trilogy (book one)

     Red Rising, by Pierce Brown

I loved the beginning (for some reason that I can't quite put my finger on, it made me think of The Moon is a Harsh Mistress), and thought the transformation section was interesting. Then I was really worried that it was going to be The Hunger Games all over again, but thankfully it turned out to be something fairly different and a lot more intriguing. I got quite attached to some of the secondary characters, which is always inadvisable since they're not guaranteed survival, but it means they were written well. Definitely looking forward to reading the next two books.   My rating: 8/10

12. A nonfiction book

     A Brief History of Time, by Stephen Hawking

This book is definitely best read a single chapter at a time, to let your mind at least attempt to absorb what you just read. There are a lot of concepts in here that are difficult and confusing to grasp. At times I had to accept that I was not going to be able to fully wrap my mind around a particular concept, glean what I could from the bit I did sort of understand, and just move on. Overall, though, I feel I now have a little bit better understanding of some of the theories about how the universe works, which is pretty cool.   My rating: 8/10

13. A book set in the future
     Do Androids Dream of Electric Sheep? by Philip K. Dick

Written in 1968, and set in the year 2021, this book just barely counts for this category... I love classic science fiction because it raises all sorts of questions about existence and what it means to be human and other such philosophical ideas, and this book does that very well. Don't expect answers to those questions, though (this is another thing I really enjoy about classic sci-fi: that authors seem to assume their readers are intelligent enough to draw conclusions on their own). Overall, I really liked the book. Now I need to go read some more of Philip K. Dick's work.   My rating: 8/10

14. A book that was originally written in a different language
     The Little Prince, by Antoine de Saint-Exupéry

Somehow, I had lived twenty-seven years of my life without ever reading this book before. I'm not sure how to put into words exactly what I loved about this book, but I definitely loved it. In fact, I read it again as soon as I finished it, because it was just that beautiful and true. It was shelved in the children's section of my library, but this is a book with the potential to speak to people of all ages, especially those who can see the elephant inside the boa constrictor.   My rating: 10/10

15. A book with antonyms in the title
     Same Kind of Different as Me, by Ron Hall and Denver Moore

I was originally thinking of reading War and Peace for this category, but I'm glad I went with this book instead. While the style of this book made it engaging and easy to read, it was also a challenging read, because it touched on some pretty big and important things. I'm not sure what else to say about this book, honestly. I liked it, mostly. It made me reevaluate some stuff about life and living. And it was definitely a tale of God at work in people's lives.   My rating: 8/10