Following is a list of all the books that I have read, in no particular order, over the course of this hectic first semester. (I’m assuming textbooks do not count here, unfortunately)

Books: (Title – Author (Number of Pages)

1. Frankenstein – Mary Shelly (280 pages)
2. Heart of Darkness – Joseph Conrad (188 pages)
3. Things Fall apart – Chinua Achebe (209 pages)
4. Pride and Predjudice – Jane Austen (386 pages)
5. Macbeth – William Shakespeare (257 pages)
6. Solitare – Alice Oseman (368 pages)

Poems:

1. There is a Bondage Worse, Far Worse to Bear – William Wordsworth
2. I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud – William Wordsworth
3. Still I Rise – Maya Angelou
4. Invictus – William Ernest Henley

Total pages read: 1688, at an average pace of 15.19 pages per day.

This number is rather low due to simply, my inability to fit it in with the course load that I have been managing this semester. Now, this is no excuse to not read, but with so much content flying by, I’m certain that I read more notes than I did books this semester. I really wish to change that, as reading is something that I love to do, and not having much time for it a day makes me rather sad. For the next semester, I want to get more books done, as I will certainly have more time to complete books, not being weighted down by science.

Now, for my top three reads:

#1 was, without a doubt, Things fall Apart. Something about this book just clicked for me and I loved every word of it. There are very few reads that really and truly make sense to me, the first time I read them, but this was one of them. Of course, I will never have a connection as close or dear of the one Maryam has with this novel, but I can rest assured that it really did make sense to me.

#2 was Macbeth. Shakespeare is that one, inescapable truth of any English class after grade 6, one that you have to train yourself to understand it. Macbeth was that other book where something finally clicked for me, and suddenly I was able to see why English enthusiasts everywhere loved this man, because everything had a trigger, and everything led from one thing to another, and everything was foreshadowed – but said in such a way that you really need to be paying attention to catch it.

#3 likely ends up as my only candy read here – Solitare. It is a book about a high school girl (Who is minorly sociopatic), who has never taken interest in the general, everyday practices of people her age. She notes this herself, saying: “Sometimes I hate people. This is probably bad for my mental health”. It’s a good book if you’re looking for something lighter to read, I highly recommend it.