#BoutOfBooks

The Bout of Books reading week is over! It has been one week straight of reading, both physical books and audiobooks. It just so happens that I was so fortunate as to have snow this weekend, which was great reading weather (although, admittedly, I ditched the books for a few hours to watch some Netflix and drink some tea). I even passed up a run to the grocery store to hit the library before the storm came in!

Although my reading list was large (and my stack of library books even larger), I had a great time diving into books old and new, and getting ready for the release of Lemony Snicket’s A Series of Unfortunate Events on Netflix! I am on the third book of the series right now, and I plan to keep it up until the premiere date on January 13. These are the books I read for #boutofbooks: Moby Dick by Herman Melville, 720 pages Honolulu by Alan Brennert, 435 pages The Whole30: The 30-Day Guide to Total Health and Food Freedom by Melissa Hartwig and Dallas Hartwig, 432 Pages The Bad Beginning (A Series of Unfortunate Events #1) by Lemony Snicket, 176 pages Everything, Everything by Nicola Yoon, 310 pages Total: About 1,378 pages!!! I finished 5 books, although I was about ⅔ of the way through Moby Dick when I started and halfway through Honolulu...so I subtracted out those pages. This is a great kick start to my yearly reading! My favorite pick from the six above has to be Honolulu by Alan Brennert. The story of a young Korean girl in the early 1900s who longs to be free of the life of a Korean woman and seek an education, this tale brought me to a higher awareness of Korean culture in that time period. As the story progresses, our main character, Jin, travels to Hawaii as a picture bride to gain access to more education and opportunities in America, only to discover what life was like as an immigrant in Hawaii in the early 1900s. The book spans over 60 years, from Jin’s childhood to her retirement, and has so much rich imagery and powerful story. I would recommend it to anyone who wants to learn more about the history of early Hawaii, Korea, or anything from the early 1900s. It was fascinating and captivating!

As you can see from my book list, I’m trucking through the Whole30 this month. In an upcoming post, I’ll share some Whole30 knowledge and recipes, as this is my second time through. Until then, happy winter!