The Art of Reading: A Personal Review of Recent Graphic Novels and Books

As I sit here reflecting on my recent reading experiences, I am reminded of the joy and excitement that comes with discovering new stories and worlds. My journey through these books has been a thrilling one, filled with adventure, fantasy, and self-discovery. In this article, I will share my thoughts on some of the graphic novels and books I've recently read, from Whimsical tales to dystopian series.

One of the first graphic novels that caught my eye was "Amulet" book two or "The Stonekeeper's Curse" by Kazu Kushi. This stunning artwork and engaging storyline had me hooked from the very beginning. The narrative follows a young protagonist on an exciting adventure, exploring alternate worlds and battling formidable foes. What I loved most about this series is its unique art style, which draws inspiration from various cultures and mythologies. The illustrations are simply breathtaking, making each page turn feel like a journey through a fantastical realm.

I also had the pleasure of reading "The Giver Quartet" by Lois Lowry. This beloved dystopian series has been a favorite among readers for years, and I can see why. Each book in this quartet is a self-contained story, yet they are all connected by a common thread – the struggle for individuality and freedom in a society that values conformity above all else. The Giver, Gathering Blue, Messenger, and Sun are all must-reads for anyone who loves science fiction or has been touched by the themes of identity and humanity. While I had read the first three books before, re-reading them was like experiencing them anew. Lois Lowry's writing is timeless, and her characters are so well-developed that it's easy to become invested in their stories.

In contrast, "The Falconer" by Elizabeth May offers a completely different reading experience. This young adult fantasy novel has all the makings of a classic – beautiful prose, intricate world-building, and a compelling protagonist on a quest to uncover the truth about her past. With its atmospheric setting and engaging storyline, this book had me hooked from the very beginning.

As I look back on my recent reading experiences, it's clear that each of these books has left an indelible mark on my heart and mind. Whether it was the whimsical world-building in "Amulet," the thought-provoking themes of "The Giver Quartet," or the atmospheric fantasy of "The Falconer," I am reminded of why reading is so essential to our lives. It allows us to escape, to explore new worlds, and to discover new aspects of ourselves.

If you're a fellow book lover, I encourage you to pick up one (or all) of these titles and experience the magic for yourself. Whether you prefer graphic novels or prose, there's something on this list that's sure to resonate with you. As I close out this article, I am already looking forward to my next reading adventure – and I hope that you will join me along the way.

In a separate project, I'm planning on sharing an over view of The Giver Quartet on my Instagram post

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: enhey guys it's Reagan and yes I'm wearing my pajamas because changing in this sling is really timec consuming and hurts and all I plan on doing today is sitting in bed and reading anyway so I figured you guys wouldn't mind if I wore my PJs in this video okay so today I'm filming my July wrap-up one I cannot believe July is over that's kind of blowing my mind right now and two July was a really weird reading month for me I felt like I didn't read anything but I read 14 going to be 15 te books by the end time July ends which is a lot I know but it was just strange because the very beginning of the month I was really into reading but I only read two books in the first half of the month because one was super long and you'll see and then I had a mini bit of like a reading slump and then I just wrote a whole bunch of short books which kind of made my book count go up but whatever let's get started this intro is way too long so yeah the very first book I read this month was code name Verity by Elizabeth Vine I don't have it with me because I lent it to a friend because I loved it that much this is a World War II novel that centers around two female Le protagonists and it's all about One the relationship and their um relationships and their jobs within World War II cuz they're both participating in the war in two very different ways but um and also their friendship and it was so fantastic I gave it a five out of five stars on Goodreads I don't want to say much because I went into it really blind and I actually found it much more interesting that way as I read and found out what was going on to these two women but I thought it was beautifully written I thought it was really unique in terms of writing and storytelling I was in trance I cried like a baby 4 days after I read it I was really sad when I read it but then it all hit me while I was like driving home from work and then I just started crying driving home from work so basically everyone probably thought I was crazy but it was wonderful and I'm really excited to hopefully read the companion novel soon Rose Under Fire and yes the next book I read cuz I was really feeling historical fiction was the Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simons this is a epic historical fiction Love Story set in World War II during Russia and the Soviet Union I absolutely love this book this book is really long it's over 800 pages long and the font is not big like it's it's a Hunker but it didn't feel like one I flew through this and to be quite honest with you I was obsessed with it while I was reading it I ended up giving it a 4 75 out of five stars which I realize is a really strange rating but I absolutely love loved it but there was one area of the book for about 200 Pages there was basically like copious amounts of sex which I don't mind cuz sex is a part of life and it's not a big deal but to me this the delivery of it I found there was this Trope like this pure Maiden Trope was kind of overused and in general I just found it repetitive and I wanted more I wanted that time I wanted more than just the physical aspect of their relationship I wanted like some more Dimensions so because of that I took off 0.25 off the rating of the story because I literally couldn't do anymore because this was absolutely fantastic and probably one of my favorite books I've ever read um that being said I have a review film for this I just need to edit and upload it so I'm going to stop talking about it now and check out that review when I upload it which hopefully will be soon the next book I read after that was ready player one by Ernest Klein I absolutely loved this book I loved this book it was like everything my nerd Soul wanted in life oh my God it was so good this book is set in the near future I guess would be the best way to describe it and the world has gone to like like Po like it's like the climate's all messed up basically the environmental disaster has occurred fossil fuels are no longer there and the world was not prepared so everything's just kind of gone to Hell however um there was this video game designer um who created this thing called The Oasis and it's like this virtual reality game and it's not a bad thing like people go to it it's like an escape and it sounds freaking awesome but this man obviously accumulated a vast amount of wealth and then he died and he basically entrusted his entire like wealth and estate to the person who can find this thing this an Easter egg that he left in the game Easter egg is like sort of like a programmer's like treat to the video gamer if they can find it you know what I mean they're normally really hard to find this book was so much fun it was literally like my one true love like it was just a whole bunch of nerd culture video game culture just like 80 pop culture just wrapped into this and it was like everything I love in life and it was just so much fun to read about and I freaking want Oasis to be real because that would be so much fun I can't even handle it so I think I gave this a 4.5 out of five stars it again it was just so much fun and Ernest Klein lives in my city so I'm going to stalk him and find him and make him be my best friend the next four books were the books I read during the book tubeathon which was unfortunately interrupted by my shoulder surgery but I actually ended up doing better than I thought I would in the end um but all the books I read were pretty sure that being said the first book I read is every is everyone hanging out without me and other concerns by Mindy kaing this is Mindy King's like Memoir of sorts telling about her life and how she became where she was with the office and writing and stuff like that I absolutely love Mindy kaen I think she's a fantastic role model I think she's hilarious I will love just everything she does the mini project is fantastic so I would say if you love Mindy kaing give this a read I ended up giving it like a four star I want to say I wish to listen to the audio book but I know she's coming out with a new book so I will not make that mistake again and I'm very much looking forward to that as well so yes the next book I read was midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedwick this book was super interesting and just a fantastic piece of Storytelling that's how I describe Marcus saided well I've only read one book so that's how I would describe this book is just a wonderful piece of Storytelling Marcus edwick takes us on this journey of this super weird strange story that doesn't make any sense until the end but the whole time you're just enthralled and curious and want and you want to know what the hell is going on this novel is seted around this island and basically there it's separated into eight parts each part is set on this island or in some way connected to this island and takes place in eight distinct time periods that are completely unrelated but they somehow thread together at the end it was super cool I think I ended up giving this a five out of five stars on Goodreads I really like his writing style and his type of storytelling so I'm definitely going to be reading more of his books in the future the next book I read was how's Moving Castle by Diana Vine Jones I loved this if you didn't know about me already I love house boing castle that's my favorite Miyazaki film probably one of my favorite movies of all time so when I found out it was a book I almost started crying cuz I was so excited the book was also amazing slightly different than the movie slightly more logical than the movie like I felt like the plot overall made more sense so but it was it was fantastic I gave this five out of five stars if you're not familiar with the plot of house Moving Castle basically it's set in this like magical world where magic exists and it follows a young girl named Sophie and she's the oldest um child of three children so basically that means she's supposed to live a life of like boringness like she can't go on adventures or do magic like younger siblings would who would make their Fortune one day she gets cursed by a witch and um because of that she's kind of forced to go on adventure um because she needs to get the curse off and then she runs into a man called Hal or a magician who's supposed to be this evil magician and he has like Moving Castle that she resides in it's so fantastic I loved it so much fantastic I love it I love it I love it I love it the last book I read during the book tubeathon was Mr per num's 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan this is a really really fun book um much different than I was expecting yeah basically it follows a young man who's a graphic designer in San Francisco and he kind of down on luck like he's having a hard time finding a job it happens so he gets his job at Mr Pam's 24-hour bookstore and it turns out to not be what it seems it was like I said really fun really fast-paced I enjoyed the story quite a bit I found it hard to relate to some of the characters I don't know perhaps it just didn't jeel with me there but I ended up giving this a four out of five stars again I thought it was really really fun Mr perum is one of my favorite people in the world so the next book I read I have a book review up for so I'm not going to talk too much about it but it's everything I Never Told You by Celeste n still should probably look up how to say that I ended up giving this book five out of five stars it's fantastic it follows a mixed race family in Ohio and their prized daughter at the beginning of this book dies so it's all about the mystery of finding out how she dies and then basically the aftermath of what that happen what that death did to the family it was fantastic riveting highly recommend it check out my review if you want more information like I said uh at the beginning of the video I kind of went into like a reading slump so I didn't feel like reading anything at all so then I started reading some like graphic novel type things just to kind of ease me back into it and the first one I read was the arrival by Schwan Sean tan this isn't this is purely pictures this is a picture book with no words and it was super super cool this is like a surrealist take on immigration to a new place probably turn of the century it was so interesting you follow this man who is immigrating from a place that's not a good place to live and he you see him slowly making his new life for himself and assimilating and like finding it as his new home and it was just so interesting and the illustrations are absolutely stunning and like I said there's a surrealist take to it and I'll try to show you a picture that shows that meaning there's just like it's very Whimsical like here look like look at that it's it's stunning it's absolutely stunning and it just paints a really great picture and shows the struggles of immigration um and I think it's a really interesting topic to read on about so I really like that I think I gave it a four out of five stars the second graphic novel I read was Amulet book two or uh the stonekeeper curse by Kazu where is it who wrote you Kushi I think that's what it is oh yeah Kazu Kushi um I loved this I Lov this even more than the first book H there's just something about this I just love middle grade Adventure Tales I think the drawings in this are amazing um this is the same guy who illustrates the new Harry Potter covers I ended up giving this a five out of five stars again book two so I can't say much but it's just an adventure alternate world very very interesting really fun I I really love this series so I'm excited to continue on and the illustrations I will say it again are absolutely stunning I love the art style in this next four oh the next four books are all in the same series I ended up marathoning a series and that was The Giver Quartet so I'll show them to you now cuz I can't can't hold them up cuz I only have one hand the first one is the giver it is Gathering Blue and then messenger and then Sun all by Lois Lowry the first three books are in this quartet are very very short and I actually had read the first three books already a long long time ago and I just really felt like rereading it especially with The Giver movie coming out and I wasn't too sure on the trailer so then I wanted to reread it to see the direction that the movie was deciding to go which actually makes a lot of sense so I understand the trailer now and I actually am quite EXC EX for this movie anyway it's a whole another video but um the books were amazing and I'm so happy I decided to reread them I rated them as following the giver I gave five out of five stars um Gathering glue I gave four out of five stars messenger I gave 4.5 out of five stars and I gave sun which I hadn't read before and it's the concluding novel to the series five out of five stars all amazing um if you're not familiar with The Giver Quartet I feel like a lot of people are really familiar with the giver so I'm going to kind of give an over you of the quartet Instead The Giver as you know is a dystopian world so the books that come after The Giver follow different characters in each book there's a different main characters not Jonas and they each take place like slightly after the time of The Giver left off however all the characters that are highlighted or become the main characters in all the books are highlighted in each book so you do get to find out here and there Snippets of H how some characters are doing and where they are in life it's really fantastic and probably one of my favorite book series ever so I really really recommend it if you haven't continued on past the giver I really would it's good I promise the sun probably up there perhaps with the giver in terms of like my favoriten cuz I really loved the topic of that but I can't go into it obviously cuz spoilers which is unfortunate the last book I am reading currently but July isn't over but I plan on finishing this today is the falconer by Elizabeth May this is a fairy young adult fantasy book I'm not going to tell you my thoughts yet cuz I haven't finished it but I'm mentioning it because um if you don't follow me Instagram you wouldn't know this I'm actually doing round two of my hash I have too many books readathon which again is going to be posted and done purely through my Instagram it is a readathon it started um Wednesday the 30th and is going to last a week from that and then the next Wednesday this is a lowkey read whatever you want readathon there are no challenges no updates nothing like that however if you want to show me your TBR please use the hashtag I have too many books and I really want to see it I want to see if who's participating and etc etc um I do have a TBR posted on my Instagram so if you're not following me there you should man you should and you can see the books I am reading in my progress throughout the week and I'll also mention them in my TBR video which will be up in a couple days but that is all the books I have read in the month of July still can't believe July is over and I will see you guys soon with another video byehey guys it's Reagan and yes I'm wearing my pajamas because changing in this sling is really timec consuming and hurts and all I plan on doing today is sitting in bed and reading anyway so I figured you guys wouldn't mind if I wore my PJs in this video okay so today I'm filming my July wrap-up one I cannot believe July is over that's kind of blowing my mind right now and two July was a really weird reading month for me I felt like I didn't read anything but I read 14 going to be 15 te books by the end time July ends which is a lot I know but it was just strange because the very beginning of the month I was really into reading but I only read two books in the first half of the month because one was super long and you'll see and then I had a mini bit of like a reading slump and then I just wrote a whole bunch of short books which kind of made my book count go up but whatever let's get started this intro is way too long so yeah the very first book I read this month was code name Verity by Elizabeth Vine I don't have it with me because I lent it to a friend because I loved it that much this is a World War II novel that centers around two female Le protagonists and it's all about One the relationship and their um relationships and their jobs within World War II cuz they're both participating in the war in two very different ways but um and also their friendship and it was so fantastic I gave it a five out of five stars on Goodreads I don't want to say much because I went into it really blind and I actually found it much more interesting that way as I read and found out what was going on to these two women but I thought it was beautifully written I thought it was really unique in terms of writing and storytelling I was in trance I cried like a baby 4 days after I read it I was really sad when I read it but then it all hit me while I was like driving home from work and then I just started crying driving home from work so basically everyone probably thought I was crazy but it was wonderful and I'm really excited to hopefully read the companion novel soon Rose Under Fire and yes the next book I read cuz I was really feeling historical fiction was the Bronze Horseman by Paulina Simons this is a epic historical fiction Love Story set in World War II during Russia and the Soviet Union I absolutely love this book this book is really long it's over 800 pages long and the font is not big like it's it's a Hunker but it didn't feel like one I flew through this and to be quite honest with you I was obsessed with it while I was reading it I ended up giving it a 4 75 out of five stars which I realize is a really strange rating but I absolutely love loved it but there was one area of the book for about 200 Pages there was basically like copious amounts of sex which I don't mind cuz sex is a part of life and it's not a big deal but to me this the delivery of it I found there was this Trope like this pure Maiden Trope was kind of overused and in general I just found it repetitive and I wanted more I wanted that time I wanted more than just the physical aspect of their relationship I wanted like some more Dimensions so because of that I took off 0.25 off the rating of the story because I literally couldn't do anymore because this was absolutely fantastic and probably one of my favorite books I've ever read um that being said I have a review film for this I just need to edit and upload it so I'm going to stop talking about it now and check out that review when I upload it which hopefully will be soon the next book I read after that was ready player one by Ernest Klein I absolutely loved this book I loved this book it was like everything my nerd Soul wanted in life oh my God it was so good this book is set in the near future I guess would be the best way to describe it and the world has gone to like like Po like it's like the climate's all messed up basically the environmental disaster has occurred fossil fuels are no longer there and the world was not prepared so everything's just kind of gone to Hell however um there was this video game designer um who created this thing called The Oasis and it's like this virtual reality game and it's not a bad thing like people go to it it's like an escape and it sounds freaking awesome but this man obviously accumulated a vast amount of wealth and then he died and he basically entrusted his entire like wealth and estate to the person who can find this thing this an Easter egg that he left in the game Easter egg is like sort of like a programmer's like treat to the video gamer if they can find it you know what I mean they're normally really hard to find this book was so much fun it was literally like my one true love like it was just a whole bunch of nerd culture video game culture just like 80 pop culture just wrapped into this and it was like everything I love in life and it was just so much fun to read about and I freaking want Oasis to be real because that would be so much fun I can't even handle it so I think I gave this a 4.5 out of five stars it again it was just so much fun and Ernest Klein lives in my city so I'm going to stalk him and find him and make him be my best friend the next four books were the books I read during the book tubeathon which was unfortunately interrupted by my shoulder surgery but I actually ended up doing better than I thought I would in the end um but all the books I read were pretty sure that being said the first book I read is every is everyone hanging out without me and other concerns by Mindy kaing this is Mindy King's like Memoir of sorts telling about her life and how she became where she was with the office and writing and stuff like that I absolutely love Mindy kaen I think she's a fantastic role model I think she's hilarious I will love just everything she does the mini project is fantastic so I would say if you love Mindy kaing give this a read I ended up giving it like a four star I want to say I wish to listen to the audio book but I know she's coming out with a new book so I will not make that mistake again and I'm very much looking forward to that as well so yes the next book I read was midwinter Blood by Marcus Sedwick this book was super interesting and just a fantastic piece of Storytelling that's how I describe Marcus saided well I've only read one book so that's how I would describe this book is just a wonderful piece of Storytelling Marcus edwick takes us on this journey of this super weird strange story that doesn't make any sense until the end but the whole time you're just enthralled and curious and want and you want to know what the hell is going on this novel is seted around this island and basically there it's separated into eight parts each part is set on this island or in some way connected to this island and takes place in eight distinct time periods that are completely unrelated but they somehow thread together at the end it was super cool I think I ended up giving this a five out of five stars on Goodreads I really like his writing style and his type of storytelling so I'm definitely going to be reading more of his books in the future the next book I read was how's Moving Castle by Diana Vine Jones I loved this if you didn't know about me already I love house boing castle that's my favorite Miyazaki film probably one of my favorite movies of all time so when I found out it was a book I almost started crying cuz I was so excited the book was also amazing slightly different than the movie slightly more logical than the movie like I felt like the plot overall made more sense so but it was it was fantastic I gave this five out of five stars if you're not familiar with the plot of house Moving Castle basically it's set in this like magical world where magic exists and it follows a young girl named Sophie and she's the oldest um child of three children so basically that means she's supposed to live a life of like boringness like she can't go on adventures or do magic like younger siblings would who would make their Fortune one day she gets cursed by a witch and um because of that she's kind of forced to go on adventure um because she needs to get the curse off and then she runs into a man called Hal or a magician who's supposed to be this evil magician and he has like Moving Castle that she resides in it's so fantastic I loved it so much fantastic I love it I love it I love it I love it the last book I read during the book tubeathon was Mr per num's 24-hour bookstore by Robin Sloan this is a really really fun book um much different than I was expecting yeah basically it follows a young man who's a graphic designer in San Francisco and he kind of down on luck like he's having a hard time finding a job it happens so he gets his job at Mr Pam's 24-hour bookstore and it turns out to not be what it seems it was like I said really fun really fast-paced I enjoyed the story quite a bit I found it hard to relate to some of the characters I don't know perhaps it just didn't jeel with me there but I ended up giving this a four out of five stars again I thought it was really really fun Mr perum is one of my favorite people in the world so the next book I read I have a book review up for so I'm not going to talk too much about it but it's everything I Never Told You by Celeste n still should probably look up how to say that I ended up giving this book five out of five stars it's fantastic it follows a mixed race family in Ohio and their prized daughter at the beginning of this book dies so it's all about the mystery of finding out how she dies and then basically the aftermath of what that happen what that death did to the family it was fantastic riveting highly recommend it check out my review if you want more information like I said uh at the beginning of the video I kind of went into like a reading slump so I didn't feel like reading anything at all so then I started reading some like graphic novel type things just to kind of ease me back into it and the first one I read was the arrival by Schwan Sean tan this isn't this is purely pictures this is a picture book with no words and it was super super cool this is like a surrealist take on immigration to a new place probably turn of the century it was so interesting you follow this man who is immigrating from a place that's not a good place to live and he you see him slowly making his new life for himself and assimilating and like finding it as his new home and it was just so interesting and the illustrations are absolutely stunning and like I said there's a surrealist take to it and I'll try to show you a picture that shows that meaning there's just like it's very Whimsical like here look like look at that it's it's stunning it's absolutely stunning and it just paints a really great picture and shows the struggles of immigration um and I think it's a really interesting topic to read on about so I really like that I think I gave it a four out of five stars the second graphic novel I read was Amulet book two or uh the stonekeeper curse by Kazu where is it who wrote you Kushi I think that's what it is oh yeah Kazu Kushi um I loved this I Lov this even more than the first book H there's just something about this I just love middle grade Adventure Tales I think the drawings in this are amazing um this is the same guy who illustrates the new Harry Potter covers I ended up giving this a five out of five stars again book two so I can't say much but it's just an adventure alternate world very very interesting really fun I I really love this series so I'm excited to continue on and the illustrations I will say it again are absolutely stunning I love the art style in this next four oh the next four books are all in the same series I ended up marathoning a series and that was The Giver Quartet so I'll show them to you now cuz I can't can't hold them up cuz I only have one hand the first one is the giver it is Gathering Blue and then messenger and then Sun all by Lois Lowry the first three books are in this quartet are very very short and I actually had read the first three books already a long long time ago and I just really felt like rereading it especially with The Giver movie coming out and I wasn't too sure on the trailer so then I wanted to reread it to see the direction that the movie was deciding to go which actually makes a lot of sense so I understand the trailer now and I actually am quite EXC EX for this movie anyway it's a whole another video but um the books were amazing and I'm so happy I decided to reread them I rated them as following the giver I gave five out of five stars um Gathering glue I gave four out of five stars messenger I gave 4.5 out of five stars and I gave sun which I hadn't read before and it's the concluding novel to the series five out of five stars all amazing um if you're not familiar with The Giver Quartet I feel like a lot of people are really familiar with the giver so I'm going to kind of give an over you of the quartet Instead The Giver as you know is a dystopian world so the books that come after The Giver follow different characters in each book there's a different main characters not Jonas and they each take place like slightly after the time of The Giver left off however all the characters that are highlighted or become the main characters in all the books are highlighted in each book so you do get to find out here and there Snippets of H how some characters are doing and where they are in life it's really fantastic and probably one of my favorite book series ever so I really really recommend it if you haven't continued on past the giver I really would it's good I promise the sun probably up there perhaps with the giver in terms of like my favoriten cuz I really loved the topic of that but I can't go into it obviously cuz spoilers which is unfortunate the last book I am reading currently but July isn't over but I plan on finishing this today is the falconer by Elizabeth May this is a fairy young adult fantasy book I'm not going to tell you my thoughts yet cuz I haven't finished it but I'm mentioning it because um if you don't follow me Instagram you wouldn't know this I'm actually doing round two of my hash I have too many books readathon which again is going to be posted and done purely through my Instagram it is a readathon it started um Wednesday the 30th and is going to last a week from that and then the next Wednesday this is a lowkey read whatever you want readathon there are no challenges no updates nothing like that however if you want to show me your TBR please use the hashtag I have too many books and I really want to see it I want to see if who's participating and etc etc um I do have a TBR posted on my Instagram so if you're not following me there you should man you should and you can see the books I am reading in my progress throughout the week and I'll also mention them in my TBR video which will be up in a couple days but that is all the books I have read in the month of July still can't believe July is over and I will see you guys soon with another video bye\n"