Monthly Rewind(s): December & January

I AM ALIVE! I went to India for two weeks in December, returned in January and then went to Seattle for four days and have been in California for the past week or so, touring with my choir. Needless to say, I haven't had a chance to blog in a really long time--sorry!--but here's a quick re-cap (with pictures!) of my past two months!

3 Things About My Life These Months

1. I went to India! So I usually go to South India to visit both my sets of grandparents but this time I went to North India essentially as a tourist. I went to Delhi, the capital, Agra, home to the Taj Mahal, and Jaipur. Delhi and Agra are surrounded by Mughal architecture while Jaipur possesses remnants of Hindu kingdoms so the contrast was fascinating, from a historical perspective. It's also so different to live in these cities and see constant reminders of the rich history of India, both its past and its colonial background. These are ruins that don't exist at all in South India so I really, really enjoyed this trip. The weather was beautiful and the food was AMAZING. I easily gained twenty pounds but I don't even care because, let's be real, Indian cuisine is the best.

2. I went to Seattle! Admittedly, I was realllyyyy jet-lagged in Seattle but it wound up being a ton of fun because I was reunited with my friends from this past summer at my internship and we attended the Joint Math Meeting conference together. I presented my research on Saturday, the 9th, so it was just an incredible opportunity.

3. I went to California! Choir Tour is essentially a week where you eat, breathe, sit, and sleep with fifty other girls. You're with them constantly and it's such an incredible bonding experience. Last year we went to South Korea over Spring Break which was amazing because it was a foreign country but California is much more familiar and so the experiences were made incredible by the people. I really became close with so many members of the choir that I didn't know too well before and though we had to re-route our flight to avoid Juno, or Snowzilla, Boston is pristine and snowy but not too bad. :)

Best Book I Read This Month 

I read a looot of amazing novels this month so I'd have to say it's a tie between Gayle Forman's I Was Here, which I know wasn't popular with quite too many people, and a recent romance read that's been all over my newsfeed, Act Like It by Lucy Parker. I also read Fool Me Twice by Meredith Duran and Brown-Eyed Girl by Lisa Kleypas and adored those two as well so look out for these reviews in the immediate future!

3 Things I'm Looking Forward to in February 

This is SO hard because I'm not looking forward to classes, Valentine's Day, or the snow that is usually headed our way in February. But, I'll be positive so...

1. Working Out! I'm finishing up my PE requirement this semester with badminton and I'm excited to get in shape and work out, despite the snow on the ground. I always feel so good when I'm working out and generally being healthy and strong but it can be really hard to motivate myself to go out when it's so cold so I'm looking forward to my class mostly because it means I'll already be at the gym and can do the work outs I want to do after badminton practice.

2. Choir! My choir is performing at ACDA so I'm excited to spend more time with them and really perfect the music we've been performing on tour for this competition. Plus, like I said, we're all so bonded now that spending time together is absolutely ideal! ;)

3. Reading! I genuinely want to spend more time reading this school year and I have a ton of books I'm really excited about so I'm hoping to be able to actually make time for them. I think I'll have a liiiitle more time since my extra-curriculars aren't nearly so time-consuming this semester and I won't be continuing my research from the summer anymore, so that should for sure clear up a few hours of time to really focus on ME. My health, both mentally and physically, because self-care is NOT selfish.

How was your Holiday Season? Any resolutions for the New Year? Did you do any travelling? Do you have exciting plans for the month of February? I want to hear about everything so let me know in the comments!(:

Review: I Was Here by Gayle Forman

Title: I Was Here

Author: Gayle Forman

Rating: 4.5 Stars

I didn't expect to love I Was Here. Not only did it receive little publicity following the social media storm of Just One Day/Just One Year, but it further disappointed many longtime fans of Gayle Forman. Thus, I didn't even bother to pick it up when it released and the pretty hardcover has been resting on my shelves, collecting dust. But, the best part about traveling--especially in a country where you have no cell service and the WiFi is spotty--is that you wind up picking up the many discarded novels thrown into your suitcase.

I Was Here often doesn't feel as if it was written by Gayle Forman. While she has written dark, gritty novels that touch upon serious issues before, they have never been quite in this vein. Cody, our heroine, is bitter, caustic, and deeply confused. Meg, her best friend, has just committed suicide by swallowing poison and she cannot help but feel guilty. While the two were inseparable for much of their lives, Meg's acceptance and scholarship to a prestigious academy took her away from the small town where Cody is still stuck. While Cody is proud of Meg and so, so happy for her, she cannot help but resent her life while she cleans homes and lives with Tricia, the mother who has never wanted her. Cody was more-or-less brought up by Meg's family, the Garcia's, and with Meg away at college, living a life that Cody barely knows about, the distance between them only grows.

So when Meg kills herself, Cody is entirely blindsided. Why would Meg, who is a shining star, a fixer, a ray of sunshine, decide that ending her life was the only way to end her pain? Why was she even in so much pain? Cody, desperately seeking answers, hacks into an encrypted file on Meg's computer and her discovery pushes her to question everything she knew about her friend, about grief, and especially about death. I Was Here is not an easy book to read. It's extremely dark and deeply unsettling in a way only few things are but it's also thought-provoking and beautifully written.

Cody is the type of unlikeable protagonist I adore--one whose flaws and fears hit close to home but in a believable manner. In the Cody/Meg dynamic, I'm the one who got away--the one who left my best friends in my small town to attend a prestigious academy near a sprawling city. So the distance that Cody experiences and the new adventures that Meg has which Cody doesn't know about--I can relate. I think all college students can. In some ways, that makes this story even harder to read but I loved Cody more for her resentment and love, mixed together into a ball of emotion that only Meg could unravel. But Meg wasn't there.

Cody's emotional arc is so well-written, both in terms of her acceptance of Meg's suicide and her relationships with Tricia, her mother who seems not to care for her, and Meg's family, Sue and Joe and their ten-year-old son. I further loved the smaller arcs--the relationship between Cody and her local librarian, the way we learn about Cody through Meg's eyes, Cody's odd relationship with Meg's roommates--and especially the way all of these small interactions come together to help Cody on her path to healing. Like I said, it's a hard book to read and was slow-going for me, as a result. Even with the mystery aspect, there's an underlying sense of dread throughout the story, simply because it's so difficult to talk about suicide and suicidal thoughts. Going into that dark place is terrifying. But I have so much respect for Gayle Forman for de-stigmatizing not just mental illness, but the thoughts that inspire actions such as suicide.

Of course, there is a romance. I'm in the minority here, I know, but I loved it. It's uncomfortable because Ben and Meg knew each other--well--before Cody even came into the picture but the awkward moments are what I love about this couple. I'll admit that we don't get to see the full arc of "bad boy" Ben's reformation following his encounter with Cody, so the impact they have on one another seems unexpectedly deep, extraordinarily fast. But Gayle Forman is among the few authors who can make me believe in an instant connection between two people--somewhere between love at first sight and attraction--and for me, it worked. It helped that Ben was flawed, that he had a past which was equal parts happy and sad, that he understood Cody and respected her wishes. It also helped, I might add, that he had blue, blue eyes. I'm a sucker for blue eyes.

I Was Here is not my favorite of Forman's novels--that distinction belongs to Where She Went or Just One Year--I haven't quite figured it out--but it's still an excellent addition to the New Adult genre. It is, above all, an introspective read and I'd suggest waiting to read it at the right time. I didn't think I could wait nearly a year to read a new Gayle Forman release but there's something to be said about reading the right book at the exact right time. While I Was Here hasn't received the accolades of Forman's predecessors, I still believe it to be just as worthy of praise, if not at least one thoughtful read.

Top Five Books of 2015

1. The Summer of Chasing Mermaids by Sarah Ockler (Review HERE, Guest Post HERE)

2. Six of Crows by Leigh Bardugo (Review HERE)

3. The Wrath and the Dawn by Renee Ahdieh (Review HERE)

4. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell (Review HERE)

5. Uprooted by Naomi Novik (Review HERE)

I usually struggle to pick five or ten but this year, I had nine favorite novels and it was a no-brainer that these would be my top five. I guess I get pickier and pickier every year but I recommend these whole-heartedly so if you haven't read them, get your hands on them NOW. What are your favorite books of the year? What should I have on this list that I don't? Let me know in the comments below--I'm always looking out for new recommendations!

Review: Winter by Marissa Meyer

By the time you read this I will be in the air, flying over the ocean or an entire continent to meet my family in India. I wanted to post more than just once in December and, having finished Winter in the midst of my finals, this is my last post of the year. I will post copiously about my adventures when I return, not to mention a list of my Top Five Books of 2015 but, for now, I wish you all a wonderful holiday season and a very happy new year. Thanks for sticking with me this year, especially through the past few months of limited posts but I'm hopeful that I'll have a large backlog of posts stored up with all the reading I'll be getting done this holiday break (and especially on the flight). Anyhow, just wanted to say how much I love my readers, your comments, and your encouragement--you're the BEST! :)

Title: Winter (Lunar Chronicles, #4)

Author: Marissa Meyer

Rating: 4 Stars

Color me surprised, I actually enjoyed this final installment of the Lunar Chronicles. I wasn't a fan of Cinder but I loved Scarlet and then I found Cress to be an absolute disappointment. So, naturally, I expected to adore aspects of Winter but I wasn't sure how well this series, one I had such a rocky relationship with, would wrap up. But every wonderful, special aspect of these series truly comes to a head in this installment and the conclusion is bittersweet but worth it.

Admittedly, this is Winter's story but it feels very much like a finale, wrapping up the loose ends of all of these characters' lives. I've grown to love and admire Cinder, her growth steady yet believable. Moreover, her relationship with Kai has been so thoroughly developed over the course of these books that I really enjoyed seeing it simply be in this installment. Much like the relationship between Scarlet and Wolf, Kai and Cinder are a rock solid team. We never feel anxiety about the future of their love and it's a relief to be able to rely on their relationship in the midst of so much turmoil.

Speaking of turmoil, the political nature of this series comes to a head in this installment which I adore. Levana's depravity and insanity is clear through the telling of Winter's story as she orders Jacin, Winter's guard, to kill her and then works tirelessly to destroy Winter's image and beauty among the people of Luna. I love how Meyer doesn't hesitate to expose just how terrible Levana's rule has been and as someone who adores a good backstory, the payoff was worth it in Winter. Not to mention, Levana is a worthy villain--one who isn't easy to defeat--so the revolution that Cinder wants to begin isn't always so easy as it seems.

Yet, my favorite aspect of Winter was watching the two remaining love stories--Cress and Thorne and Winter and Jacin--resolve themselves. Cress and Thorne, as we know, have a great deal of leftover tension from the previous novel and their interactions are frought with all the things left unsaid between them. Jacin and Winter, though, have an entirely new dynamic--one I absolutely LOVE. Snow White is by far my least favorite fairy tale but Winter and Jacin I adore. Jacin protects her and cares for her, but he also respects her and admires her bravery. Winter, meanwhile, can trust Jacin in a way she cannot trust others in her life and Jacin, instead of simply seeing her beauty or her crazy sees her potential. Their love story is wrought with hurdles--after all, Jacin in merely a guard while Winter is a princess and, moreover, is tasked with killing her--but I enjoyed it all the more for that.

Winter isn't the conclusion of one of my favorite series but it is a fantastic finale to a series that has its positives and negatives both. I am the first to admit that this isn't a perfect series and while I wouldn't endorse it the way many of its fans do, it's engaging, interesting, and original in a way few YA series are. It doesn't contain love triangles or weak heroines, it features diversity and it elaborates on messages we've all been told as children and applies it to the later stages of our lives as well. Winter was a treat and I wish I had enjoyed the rest of this series as much as I did this finale (and Scarlet) but I still look forward to what Meyer has to write in the future. A worthy ending, indeed.

Monthly Rewind: November

So...November wasn't a great month in terms of posting, or reading for that matter. But, it was a much-needed break type of month. I did a lot of reading for my classes and my final papers and rested over Thanksgiving break and spent the rest of this month really sorting out what I wanted to do next summer, next semester, etc. I booked tickets for a conference I'm attending, organized a huge weekend-long choir concert, and applied to study abroad. So, it's been a really busy month, socially, so forgive my limited online presence. I will definitely be getting a lot of reading done over the holidays so come January, I will actually have reviews to post! For this month, we'll probably be seeing some more mini-reviews, likely, and hopefully another post or two I can wrangle up to end off 2015. Mostly, I just want to say that I'm so grateful to have such a loyal readership despite the fact that my blogging presence has really been diminishing this past year. 

3 Things About My Life This Month

1. Thanksgiving! I spent Thanksgiving with my best friend and I had such a good time! We visited Longwood Gardens, ate some truly fantastic burritos, and made tacos from scratch. It was filling, restful, and most importantly, fun! 

2. Diwali! So I had midterms throughout the month of November (again!) and Diwali was in the middle but, regardless, Diwali was amazing. It's always such a lovely, relaxing few hours and Indian food always makes everything that much better.

3. I cut my hair! So...my hair used to be half-way down my back and now it's just by my ears. I hadn't cut my hair in two and a half years and now it's about 11 inches shorter than before, which is crazy! But, I love it.

Best Book I Read This Month

Power to Choose: Bangladeshi Women and Labor Market Decisions in London and Dhaka by Naila Kabeer. I read an excerpt from this for my class on Gender and Power in South Asia and promptly bought the book to read the entire story. Kabeer is an economist who has done extensive research on microfinance and the impacts of that on gender are powerful and compelling. I loved this book and as an economist and feminist myself, microfinance fascinates me. I've read quite a few other nonfiction books on microfinance this month so if you're interested in the issue, just let me know and I'd love to provide some recommendations. 

Obsession of the Month

Scandal! I started over Thanksgiving break, am already a little over half-way through Season 2, and am 100% obsessed. Needless to say, this will carry me over through to February when HTGAWM is back on TV. ;)

3 Things I'm Looking Forward to in December

1. Last Day of Classes! I love all of my classes SO MUCH this year--like, I cannot even explain how much I love both my classes and my professors--but I'm really excited to just be done. I'll have time to sleep in, study, and then just ace those finals and get a much-needed break. This semester has been so incredibly rewarding, not to mention a ton of fun, but it has also been a LOT of work.

2. I'm going to India! For the first time in five years I am finally going to India and I can't wait! I'll be spending New Years with my cousins and visiting the Taj Mahal, among other historic sites, with my grandparents. I've never been to North India so I'm really looking forward to spending time as a tourist in the country I was born in.

3. Reading! I'm finally going to have time to read! I desperately want to finish up Winter which I just barely started, Cam Girl, and Ilona Andrews's newest novel to say the least. I've missed reading so much so I'm really looking forward to just curling up with a book for a few hours.

How was your November? Any fun Thanksgiving stories? Any plans for December? Christmas? New Years? Vacation? I'd love to hear about it in the comments below! :)