***in order of what was read first

★★★★★ 5/5 Rating
★★★★ 4/5 Rating 
★★★ 3/5 Rating 
★★ 2/5 Rating 
★ 1/5 Rating

 

 

February 

1. Outliers – Malcolm Gladwell (309pg.) ★★
2. The 100-Year-Old Man Who Climbed Out the Window and Disappeared -Jonas Jonasson (511pg.) ★★★
3. Night – Elie Wiesel (120pg.)★★★★★
4. Little Bee – Chris Cleave (98pg.)★★★★★

Total Pages Read: 1037 ( 37pgs per day) 

February was the first month, in a long time, where I was left completely satisfied with my reading rate. First semester was a whirlwind that left me almost no time to read; however, with the start of second semester I find that I’m reading every night. This month’s favorite is a tie between Night and Little Bee. Night was a novel that broadened my perspective on the Holocaust and informed me of what exactly happened to Jewish people during the Nazi regime. Little Bee, on the other hand, also broadened my perspective but now on refugees and what they go through. For next month, I would like to read more challenging novels as I have been reading a lot of “candy” or “just right” novels. See my “Reading Wishlist” for the books that I am hoping to read in the upcoming year; however, I would like to read Memoirs of a Geisha and Anna Karenina in March.

March 

1. Challenger Deep – Neal Shusterman (308pg) ★★★★★
2.  Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Goldman (448pg) ★★★★★

Total Pages Read: 756 (24pgs per day) 

March was an incredibly busy month, but over the first half of spring break, I managed to read one of my “goal novels” from February – Memoirs of a Geisha. Fortunately, there is still a week and a half left on this break, thus giving me more time to read Anna Karenina which was also a goal from February. I am happy with my reading rate this month as it is right around the average of 20-25 pages a day. I can’t pick a favorite for this month because both novels were extremely well written and entertaining – I highly recommend both novels. For April, I would like to read Anna Karenina. My goal for April is quite small because I know that I will be busy with previous commitments.

April

1. Milk and Honey – Rupi Kaur (208pg)★★★★★

2.  Anna Karenina – Leo Tolstoy (98 of 864pg) 

3. The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd (63 of 302 pg)

Total Pages Read: 369 ( 13pgs per day) 

Welp. I previously said that March was an incredibly busy month… April was even busier! However, my commitments have come to a close so I now have plenty of time to read, so no excuses!! I really did try to get through Anna Karenina but I was completely confused and lost interest; however, this led me to The Secret Life of Bees which is a novel I already adore! My goals for May includes finishing The Secret Life of Bees and getting a jump on my AP summer reading 🙂

May 

1. The Secret Life of Bees – Sue Monk Kidd (302pg)★★★
2. Where the Sidewalk Ends – Shel Silverstein (309pg)★★★★★

Total Pages Read: 611 (20pgs per day)

I am glad that for May I had gotten my reading ladder back into the 20-25 pages per day: however, this month I read a collection of poetry for kids, so that offered no challenge other than pure enjoyment. When I was in elementary I had a teacher that would often read Shel Silverstein to my class, and this month was particularily emotionally challenging so I decided to go back and read one of my favourites from childhood. For next month, I hope to get a jump on my AP summer reading; however, I said that last month too haha 🙂

June 

1. Memoirs of a Geisha – Arthur Golden (448pg)★★★★★ 
2. Anthem – Ayn Rand (147pg)★★★★★
3. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime – Mark Haddon (226pg) ★★★★★

Total Pages Read: 821 ( 27pg per day) 

June, I would say, was an extremely successful month of reading! If you noticed, I read Memoirs of a Geisha for the SECOND time this year, it is one of my absolute favorites. Also, if you’re looking for a completely heart-wrenching yet broadening novel I would recommend Curious Incident of the Dog in the Nighttime. Finally, Anthem was also a delight novella to read because it was interesting to read about a completely different society and the impact that has on people. For the summer, I definitely need to get my reading done for AP English – something I have been neglecting, oops. Have a great summer!

July 

1. The Handmaid’s Tale – Margaret Atwood (311pg) ★★★★★
2. The Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (180pg) ★★★★
3. A Thousand Splendid Suns – Khaled Hosseini (372pg) ★★★★★

Total Pages Read: 863 (28pg per day) 

In between summer school and hanging out with friends I managed to check off some books off of my AP English summer list! Yay!! I am so glad that I read The Handmaid’s Tale first because it was such a hauntingly beautiful read. Also, it was the only novel from this month that wasn’t a re-read. Have a great rest of summer!

August

1. The Picture of Dorian Gray – Oscar Wilde (254pg) ★★★
2. Antony and Cleopatra – William Shakespeare (336pg) ★★

Total Pages Read: 590 (20pg per day)

I was really looking forward to reading The Picture of Dorian Gray; however, I didn’t enjoy it as much as my peers. I found Dorian to be too annoying because he doesn’t really have a sense of judgment and because he doesn’t have a moral compass. On the bright side, I managed to finish my summer reading!

September 

1. The Nightingale – Kristin Hannah (570pg) ★★★★★
2. “Desiree’s Baby” – Kate Chopin (10pg) ★★
3. All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (150 of 531pg)

Total Pages Read: 730 (24pgs per day)

The Nightingale has solidified my love for historical fiction, especially novels about WWII. Kristin Hannah brilliantly wove actual historical events into the two estranged sisters’ narrative. I personally do not have any sisters but through Hannah’s novel, I was able to understand a little bit more about the sisterly dynamic. I have always found WWII novels to be extremely engaging and this one was no different – pick up a copy and prepare for your mind to be blown or for tears that never stop! Next month, I would like to read Hamlet and Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for my AP English class and book club. 🙂

October 

1. All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr (531pg) ★★★★★
2. Hamlet – William Shakespeare (302pg) ★★★★★
3. Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead – Tom Stoppard (126pg) ★

 Total Pages Read: 959 (31pgs per day)

I think this is the first time I have ever NOT enjoyed a play or novel, and it deeply saddens me. I had to read Rosencrantz and Guildenstern are Dead for book club, and I was very disappointed. The play was humorous, however, it just wasn’t my kind of humor. On the other hand, I thoroughly enjoyed All the Light We Cannot See, which speaks to how I seem to LOVE historical fiction. Also, I am finally happy about my reading rate! 31 pages YAYAYA!!! Anyways, my goals for November are to read A Tree Grows in Brooklyn, and The Winter Garden by Kristin Hannah.

 

November

1. A Tree Grows in Brooklyn – Betty Smith (496pg)★★★★★
2. A Gloss on Our Painted Gods – Eric Barstad (79pg)★★
3. William Butler Yeats Selected Poems and Four Plays (261pg)★★★★
4. Love & Misadventure – Lang Leav (78)★★

Total Pages Read: 887 (30pgs per day) 

As you can probably tell, I read a lot of poetry this month! Some of the poems blew my mind while others … well didn’t. I have always loved Yeats’ poems and I was over the moon that I spent the majority of my fall break pouring over his poetry – and skimming over his plays. Whoops. All in all, November was a pretty successful reading month. For December, my goal is to get my reading rate the highest its ever been this year! I think that would be an excellent start to the new year!

December 

1. Death of a Salesman – Arthur Miller (144pg) ★★★★
2. A Streetcar Named Desire – Tennessee Williams (192pg) ★★★★★
3. The Sun and Her Flowers – Rupi Kaur (256pg) ★★
4. Various Blogs from AP Class – aphunniblog.edublogs.org (approximately 20pg) ★★★★★
5. Great Gatsby – F. Scott Fitzgerald (180pg)★★★★
6. Lullabies – Lang Leav (248) ★★★★

Total Pages Read: 1040 (34pgs per day)

This month’s reading ladder was quite successful! Especially considering that I was extremely busy this month. However, it is incredibly inaccurate, because I had only read Death of a Salesman by December 20th! The rest of this ladder was read during Winter Break – when I finally had time to read! Despite having a relatively high reading rate, most of the novels on this list were re-reads because I was preparing for my diploma exam, so most of these novels offered little challenge.

In terms of last months goal – of having my highest reading rate this year – sadly did not come true. Oh well, ideals and realities! Thankfully, this upcoming semester is much less busy so I will, hopefully, have excelling reading ladders all through the year!

 

 

Dearest Reader,

So, it’s been a year since I started this reading ladder, and it has surely grown into one of my favorite things on my blog! I can’t wait until I’m older and I can look back at my final years of high school and see all that I was reading. I’m sure, it’ll be interesting as I’ll be able to compare my previous reads with the future, current ones. I am incredibly grateful for Ms. Hunni and the creative writing class for forcing me to make this reading ladder – it has been a highlight of the month and has also forced me to keep up with my GoodReads page! If you don’t have a reading ladder, I would recommend that you do, because it makes it easy to see all that you’re reading and the varying difficulties of those novels as well. All in all, my 2017 Reading Ladder is officially done and I couldn’t be any happier with how it turned out. 

All the love,

The girl with the endless daydream.