It’s been just under two months since I first posted about my reading goal for 2016 so I thought it was time for an update. Since that post, I have read seven books (the five shown above and two ebooks) which actually puts me back on track to reaching my goal. Shout out to me. While I won’t go into too much detail about any of the books, I thought I’d hair give a quick review of them.

1. Girls & Sex: Navigating the complicated new landscape. I go through phases when it comes to non-fictions novels but I heard about this one on NPR and wanted to check it out. I think what the author talks about in this one is important, however, it was just somewhat obvious to me. It covers the way we view sex today and how it is affecting young women. I thought I would enjoy that the writing was mostly interviews and discussions the author had with girls but I didn’t at all. Overall, it had some good information that did make me stop and consider things but I was still a bit disappointed.

2. Scary Old Sex. This is another one I first heard about NPR and I’m so happy I did. It’s a collection of short stories about relationships, family, growing old, dying, and yes, sex. Each story was amazing. The author’s writing is so raw, like she doesn’t sugar coat anything even if something may make the reader uncomfortable, and I appreciated it. I definitely recommend this book.

3. My Sunshine Away. I had never heard of this book before randomly picking it off the shelf and after reading it I would say it’s one of the best books I’ve ever read. Instant favorite. It wasn’t at all what I was expecting it to be. I was thinking it would be more of a dark mystery/thriller because it starts out with a horrible act committed against a teenage girl, but it turned out to be this amazing story about a young boy growing up in a tight-knit neighborhood and his relationships and happenings with the people living there. Absolutely loved it.

4.  Brooklyn. I wanted to read this book because I wanted to watch the movie and I always try to read the book first. It was good, but not great. The reviews I read said that the main character, a girl who emigrates from Ireland to Brooklyn, would be one of the most memorable characters of any novel but I disagree. I think the story was memorable but the character herself fell short for me. It was hard not to feel for her situation seeing as how she left home to start a life by herself in a new world but I was expecting to feel more from this story.

5. Barbara the Slut and Other People. I really did NOT enjoy this book. I decided to buy it mostly because of its name. It seemed interesting. I was wrong. It’s another collection of short stories and I disliked every one of them. It felt like nothing happened in any of the stories. I couldn’t relate to any character. The whole thing was a big disappointment.

6. The Martian. This was one of the ebooks. I wanted to read this one before it was being made into a movie but I just never got around to doing it and I figured since the movie was such a success, I should finally read it. I enjoyed it for the most part. Sometimes it felt a little hard to follow with all of the science/chemisty/botany/engineering talk but I really just needed to know if he got off that damn planet or not so I pushed through.

7. Me Before You. Another ebook. I have mixed feelings about this one. I remembered it being a big deal when the book first came out and I know they’re making it into a movie, too, so I at least wanted to see what all the fuss was about. It covered somewhat of a controversial topic, which isn’t where my mixed feelings come from. I’m actually ok with the controversy, but something about the way the author wrote about the topic made me a little upset. Overall, I don’t think it was a bad book, I just don’t think I’d recommend it.