As 2019 draws to a close it seems ripe to share the books, YouTube and Netflix channels I enjoyed throughout the year.
Books
The Rook by Daniel O’Malley 5 stars
I can’t even begin to explain how good this book was. I was also even more excited about this book when I discovered that its an Australian author from Canberra who I met! My first ever author meeting and he was a great guy. Apparently, this book is also going to be turned into a film by Lionsgate productions.
It is a supernatural thriller about a woman named Myfanwy (Miff-un-ee) who wakes up in a different body with no memory. Slowly, she discovers the strange and terrifying life of the former occupant of her body. Myfanwy now must find answers to why and who tried to murder her former occupant.
The creativity never failed to surprise me at every turn. I could not put this book down, I just had to keep absorbing the strangeness of the Checquy, a secret British organisation. I no doubt need to pick up the sequel Stiletto.
The Poppy War by R.F. Kuang 5 stars [Warning: graphic violence and drugs]
I think this is one of the most underrated books this year. A dark fantasy story rooted in a mixture of Chinese, Korean and Japanese cultures. It is inspired by a fusion of real events in China’s history, The Opium Wars, the Sino-Japanese war and especially the 1937 Rape of Nanking.
I managed to read this book to the end only because I spent the whole time being shocked by the harsh life of Rin the protagonist. She manages to get accepted into the most prestigious and toughest school in the land for training to become a soldier, like Harvard and West Point rolled into one. It follows Rin as she goes from student to soldier to defend her country from an invasion.
I loved the Asian mix which holds key lessons about the depths of our inhumanity throughout history and how we should avoid repeating history by confronting the past and reflecting on ourselves.
Mistborn: The Final Empire by Brandon Sanderson 5 stars
The world building was phenomenal it blew my mind. This is a very popular book recommended to me by several people, I was regretfully late to the party. The brilliance of the author needs no further praise. His writing seems deceptively simple and gives a very clear image in my mind about how the world looks and functions. Very few authors can give me a ‘3D experience’ in my mind with the full immersive experience.
The story follows the protagonist Vin, she is from the oppressed peasantry class known as the skaa. Vin is a mistborn, a rare few who has the control of all kinds of metals known as allomancy. The more common allomancers are ones who have control of only one metal. Vin and another half-skaa who is also misborn, Kelsier help to overthrow the brutally oppressive emperor known as the Lord Ruler.
I’m so happy the story doesn’t end there as its part of a trilogy. I’m very curious to learn more about the world and how it functions after the events in book 1.
Netflix Shows
The Dragon Prince 5 stars
For those who loved Avatar the last Airbender and the Legend of Korra this is perfect for you. The show’s writer Aaron Ehasz was also the writer for Avatar the last airbender, so you can trust its quality.
This show holds a very special place in my heart for its diversity and representation. For the first time on a kid’s show I saw a character named Amaya, a female military general who uses sign language. In fact, I recognised the sign language to be ASL (American sign language). It shows LGBTQ representation and many different heritages; the diversity blew me away.
The show is set in a fantastical world known as Katolis, a human kingdom which has a border with Xadia, a place of Elves, magic and most importantly talking dragons. Two brothers from Katolis, Callum and Ezran must travel to Xadia with their new-found ally, Rayla an Elf to return the egg of the dragon prince to restore peace. There is lots of fun and adventure along the way.
Carmen Sandiego 5 stars
Another cartoon show, with a truly globalised audience, however in a different manner to the Dragon Prince. It has a more educational angel about different countries and cultures of the real world.
Carman Sandiego was a former V.I.L.E operative, a secrete organisation in the business of stealing, now works against V.I.L.E to restore priceless artifacts and paintings and returning stolen wealth to its victims and the community.
I binged watched this and then was depressed to find that its uncertain if there is going to be season 3. Therefore, my advice is to take your time, if you can help it.
The Umbrella Academy 4 stars
Seven powered heroes adopted by an eccentric billionaire Reginald who forms the umbrella academy, they were all born despite their mothers never demonstrating signs of pregnancy. However, there is one odd-ball Vanya who doesn’t demonstrate any powers, and this causes problems in the future when secrets are unveiled after Reginald’s funeral. My favourite character is Klaus, he is one of the seven who becomes a drug addict (DISCLAIMER: I DO NOT SUPPORT DRUGS) and he can talk to the dead which is just cool. The highlight of the show is that it has a great cast of characters.
Lucifer 4 stars
What a great concept! The devil having a vacation in Los Angeles. I mean that is all I needed to hear to watch the show. The first 3 seasons was done by FOX however they cancelled it and Netflix picked it up from season 4. It was notably faster paced when Netflix took over. Sometimes I felt it dragged on a bit under FOX. It got a bit annoying because they just kept skirting around and wouldn’t let the police detective Chloe Decker, the only person to be immune to Lucifer Morningstar’s persuasive powers to learn that he is the Lord of Hell, until the end of season 3. Besides that, it was still cool, especially when the devil visits a psychologist to sort out his daddy issues. The show has very loose inspirations from the biblical stories.
Mindhunter 4 stars [Disclaimer: Dysfunctional people, murder and psychopaths]
I loved it because it was so accurate, it was adapted from the actual transcripts of real-life conversations with America’s most famous serial killers. The characters such as Holden Ford and Bill Tench are also inspired by real-life FBI agents John E. Douglas and Robert Ressler respectively. The show does get the story broadly right when it comes to the serial killers. I learned a lot about psychopathy and surprised myself how fascinating I found it, disturbing myself in the process. My only issue was in season 3 I didn’t like the limited capacity and portrayal of Wendy Carr, I felt that it was too focused on her sexuality.
Youtube channels
Geography Now 5 stars
I love this channel for its bad puns and its general humour. Paul Barbato or Barby for short educates about the different countries of the world, proceeding in alphabetical order with a video for each. I loved the ‘friend-zone’ part of each country’s video about how the country gets along with others, describing what they would be like if it were a person at party or in the school yard.
CaspianReport 4 stars
This one is on History, Politics and Geography of countries, its pretty in informative but sometimes gives distorted information in my opinion. It’s still was quite helpful at university.
Extra Credits 5 stars
This is history told in an entertaining and cartoony manner, that’s engaging in the perspectives of historical figures such as leaders, rulers and emperors. My favourite series’ were of Sun Yat-sen, Odenathus, Suleiman the Magnificent, Hiwatha, Julie d’Aubigny (this was a bit crazy), Khosrau Anushirawan and Admiral Yi. Its very well researched and I loved the narration for all the episodes. I binged watched the episodes and they keep releasing more videos without any signs of stopping, which is just heaven for me. A never-ending stream of fun is my ideal.
My ratings clarified
You probably think I easily give high ratings, that I’m easily impressed. I’m afraid that’s far from the truth. In fact, I’ve picked up more books and shows this year than I could possibly count and tossed them aside as I’m one who easily gets bored. These books and shows have carried me from start to finish and I thoroughly enjoyed every bit of it. Very rarely I have a book that I read from start to finish that ends up being 2 or 3 stars. I just don’t have time for those books, especially since my current occupation as a university student involves endless readings that can be dry and put me to sleep.
However, I can list some noticeable books that are between 2 and a half or 3 stars, however were short reads such as, The Prince by Niccolò Machiavelli, the Art of War by Sun Tzu and one longer read Circe by Madeline Miller. The only reason I finished Circe was because her first book the Song of Achilles was brilliant. I thought to be more patient and merciful but still only gave it 3 stars, it was a bit slow paced for me, however it was an interesting interpretation of women in the Greek myths.
My View on Audiobooks
Every single book I’ve read has been accompanied by an equally amazing audiobook. Now I know some of you don’t count that as reading or just me being lazy. But I honestly love the audio accompanied by a physical book as it gives me a more immersive experience. I know some people can get lost in the world of the book without the audio and I truly envy that. I use audio because I don’t want to miss out on that awesome experience of being lost in a book. After all I think that’s the whole point of a book.