Huge news: I’ve finally finished The Count of Monte Cristo! I challenged myself to read a book over 1000 pages before the end of the year and I’ve done it with a month to spare. I started in late October and finished all 1200+ pages of it a week ago.
As a reminder, here is how I rate my books:
- (★★★★★): Loved it
- (★★★★): Really liked it
- (★★★): Liked it enough
- (★★): Didn’t care for it
Another few notes: I will warn if there are any spoilers with (start spoiler) and (end spoiler) so you know when to stop reading and pick up again if you don’t want to ruin the book for yourself. I no longer go out of my way to watch adaptions, but will continue to mention them and their general critiques (from Rotten Tomatoes) in my reviews. Finally, you can always check out my book review index page if you’re looking for my extremely important opinion on any book in particular.
The Count of Monte Cristo by Alexandre Dumas
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Fiction, classics
GoodReads rating: 4.26 / 5 (750,800 ratings)
Medium used: E-book (public domain)
Warning: This book contains suicide.
Thoughts: I’m so proud of myself for finishing this behemoth. We all love instant gratification and I find mine in finishing a book in a day or two, but there was no way this book was getting done in a timely manner. The first and last 30% are gripping but around the middle I slowed down. The language wasn’t too hard, it was just the constant references to the time period that lost me. I’d recommend the e-book version of this as Kindle allowed me to highlight names to remind me who they are. I’d also recommend checking in every few chapters in SparkNotes to see if anything went over your head especially when you first start reading.
Other adaptations: The 2002 movie is the most popular adaptation and a movie I greatly enjoy for what it is. However, it goes unsaid that a two hour movie leaves some details out of a 1200+ page book. Pretty much everything after he escapes prison is completely different and his revenge plots are more intricate, but you’ll have to read the book to find the differences for yourself.
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Non-fiction, memoir, race
GoodReads rating: 4.39 / 5 (242,000 ratings)
Medium used: E-book and audiobook (borrowed from library via OverDrive)
Warning: This book contains mention of rape and violence.
Thoughts: If you’re looking for answers on how to solve racism, this book is not for you. This book is a deeply personal account of what it’s like to grow up Black in the United States in the form a letter to the author’s young son. It was such a blessing to peer into the life of this man and his relationship with his son. The writing was wonderful and I’d like to read more from Coates.
Similar reads: Hood Feminism by Mikki Kendall is a good feminist and race book that also feel part-memoir.
Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Rating: ★★★★
Genre: Sci-fi, horror
GoodReads rating: 4.26 / 5 (750,800 ratings)
Medium used: E-book (borrowed from library via OverDrive)
Warning: This book contains themes of violence and graphic descriptions of bodily injuries throughout.
Thoughts: I’m not a huge fan of sci-fi, but I like horror books and as somewhat of a marine biologist myself I figured this would be right up my alley. Not a dealbreaker, but early on in the book I hated the cliche that the marine biologist lived by the ocean her whole life, the sea gave her energy and all the fluffy crap that was constantly shoved down our throats. We get it. The pacing was weird, the first half was a good pace but the last half (the exciting part) went by way too quickly and left on a bit of a cliffhanger with no sequel three years on. Ugh.
Other adaptations: Not much news after it being optioned for a film adaption in 2018.
Humans by Brandon Stanton
Rating: ★★★★★
Genre: Non-fiction, photography, culture
GoodReads rating: 4.52 / 5 (1,200 ratings)
Medium used: E-book (borrowed from library via OverDrive)
Warning: This book contains mention of addiction.
Thoughts: I saw this on my grandma’s coffee table and as a big of of Humans of New York for several years, I was excited to see it was also available as an e-reader to borrow from the library. I cried a few times, Brandon is really touching so many lives.
Have you read any of these?
Photo by Radu Marcusu.