Tag Archives: books

WWW Wednesday

WWW Wednesday & September TBR

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WWW Wednesday is a weekly book feature hosted by Taking on a World of Words

What did you recently finish reading?

It’s been awhile since I’ve finished a book. My reading in August was pretty mediocre, unfortunately, but I’m really hoping that will change this month.

What are you currently reading?

The answer is everything, basically. See picture below.

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The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante – I feel like I’ve been reading this book for years, but it’s only been 2 months or so. Since this is the last book of Ferrante’s Neapolitan Novels, I expected to be blown away and for this to be a solid 5-star read; the fact that it hasn’t seemed that way is what’s causing me to read so slowly and start other books in the meantime.

Luckiest Girl Alive by Jessica Knoll – I’ve been listening to this audiobook for awhile and liking it, but this weekend I went on a road trip for a friend’s bachelorette weekend and listened to this on the way down. Without giving away any spoilers, I reached a point in the book where this big twist comes out and I got completely hooked on the story; I’m still reeling whenever I think of certain scenes. The only problem was that I got to my destination about 3/4 done with the book, and my library checkout expired before my return trip home! I was super disappointed because all of the copies were checked out and I had to put another hold on it.

The Circle by Dave Eggers – faced with the prospect of a 5-hour drive back home after my weekend away and no audiobook, I sort of randomly decided to give The Circle a try. I wanted something really absorbing and I definitely got that, and then some. I really, really like this book; it’s sort of very near-future scifi, focusing on a twentysomething who starts work at the world’s most famous tech company and gets sucked into company life, which seems like it aims to absorb you fully through social media. A big part of why I like this book so much is due to the narrator, Dion Graham, who is absolutely fantastic. He has a great voice and does a wonderful job with each new character, and his enthusiasm keeps you listening. He’s the first audiobook narrator that I looked up thinking that I’d listen to other books just because of his narration; I found out that he also narrates (among others) A Heartbreaking Work of Staggering Genius (one of Dave Eggers’s other books) as well as Octavia Butler’s Wild Seed (and he’s won several awards for his narration).

Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey – I haven’t picked this book up in awhile, but I think it’s really well-written and I just need to jump back on board. It’s about a woman who runs away from her life in the U.S. and hitchhikes across New Zealand, all in sort of this dreamlike haze of narration.

Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link – I’ve read a few of the short stories in this collection, and I may end up putting the rest on pause until October–not because it’s not great, but because Kelly Link’s mix of fantasy/scifi/horror would work well for that month. I do like to do some Halloween-themed reading in October, and my plate for September is pretty darn full right now.

The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin – I couldn’t resist the temptation to start this book even though I have so many others going! I’ve been waiting for this book for a year now, and after reading the first few chapters I realized that I really need to go back and re-read some of The Fifth Season (the first book in this series) so that I’m not forgetting any of the events that the characters are referring to. It’s been a full year since I’ve read it, so some refreshing is definitely necessary.

 

What are you planning to read next?

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As I mentioned before, my main goal in September is to finish the plethora of books I’m currently reading. Once that happens (or once I finish a few of them, at least) I’m planning on starting Furthermore by Tahereh Mafi. I love Tahereh Mafi; her Shatter Me series got me through the intense stress of studying for/taking/recovering from my grad school exams, and I’m really interested in this book despite the fact that it’s middle grade, which I never read.

 

What are you guys reading right now? Feel free to link me to your WWW Wednesday!

Book Challenges, reading challenges

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI Sign-Up and TBR

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RIP XI

R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril XI takes place from September 1st, 2016 through October 31st, 2016. It’s a low-key reading challenge hosted by Stainless Steel Droppings focused on completing different tasks (called “perils”) all focused on reading within the following genres:

Mystery
Suspense
Thriller
Gothic
Horror
Dark Fantasy

For more info, check out the link above!

In general, I always like to do some Halloween-themed reading during the fall, which to me usually means horror or dark SFF (last October I read Stephen King’s Doctor Sleep, Doomsday Book by Connie Willis, and The Winter Long by Seanan McGuire), so this challenge feels perfect for me. I also have a bunch of books on my TBR that seem like they would fit really well into these categories. I’m planning on participating in two of the perils, but I hope to read even more books in these genres if possible–it’s just more fun to read this type of book in the fall 🙂 This will be my first time participating in the challenge.

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For this peril, you need to read four books from any of the six suggested categories (Mystery, Suspense, Thriller, Gothic, Horror, or Dark Fantasy). There are so many awesome-sounding books on my TBR that would work for this peril; the only problem will be picking which ones! Some of these are on my physical TBR shelf and some I might try to get from my library, depending on how things go. I’m probably most excited about finally reading The Vegetarian by Han Kang, which I’ve heard so much talk about, and Deathless by Catherynne M. Valente, an author I’ve yet to try but think I’ll love.

The Daylight GateThe VegetarianIn a Dark, Dark WoodLet the Right One InBird BoxCrooked Kingdom (Six of Crows, #2)OutWhite is for WitchingMiserere: An Autumn TaleCold HillsideDeathless (Leningrad Diptych, #1)Dreams of Shreds and Tatters

 

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For this peril, all you need to do is read a short story that fits one of the above categories. I love short stories, so this peril is perfect for me; Kelly Link’s blend of horror and fantasy in particular fits in really nicely, and I also have Margaret Atwood’s short story collection on my TBR. I also think that Alyssa Wong’s Hungry Daughters of Starving Mothers sounds really intriguing after hearing about it on Bina’s blog post about horror and women of color. Sharlene at Real Life Reading also posted a lot of great diverse suggestions for the RIP challenge.

Pretty Monsters: StoriesStone Mattress: Nine Wicked TalesHungry Daughters of Starving Mothers

 

Who else is participating in this challenge? Let me know and feel free to link me to your post!

Reading Recaps

August Reading Wrap-Up

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So August was…not great. I spent a lot of the month reading a book that I didn’t end up finishing (The Story of the Lost Child by Elena Ferrante) and although I did end up with a respectable-sized wrap-up stack, the majority of those were library books and I’d really wanted to #readmyowndamnbooks this month. Also, my August reads overall were a bit disappointing, although all in different ways. I haven’t had a really lackluster reading month in awhile, and I’d started out with such a great TBR that I wasn’t expecting it. Highlights of the month include Bout of Books, a really good audiobook, and the bad guy love interest from Everneath; low points included, oddly, Harry Potter and Pablo Neruda.

Here are my stats for August:

Number of books read: 7

#readmyowndamnbooks: 3 (eek, not so good)

Audiobooks: 1

Read Harder Challenge tasks completed: 2

✓ 13. Read a book set in the Middle East
The Underground Girls of Kabul In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg

✓ 23. Read a play
Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. RowlingHarry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling

Also, an update on the 20 books of summer challenge that I signed up for at the beginning of the summer: I ended up reading 29 (!) books this summer, exceeding my goal of 20! I wonder if I’ll be able to read 20 books this fall as well–it seems to be a good seasonal goal number for me.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child - Parts One and Two (Harry Potter, #8)Vicious (Vicious, #1)Everything Is TeethThe Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in AfghanistanEverneath (Everneath, #1)Everbound (Everneath, #2)Love Poems

So, here’s what I read in August, ranked (as usual) from most awesome to least:

The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg (4 stars) – this was an extremely powerful nonfiction book about the lives of women in Afghanistan, focusing on the intriguing tradition of some young girls dressing as boys. It’s well-researched and detailed, and highlights the lives of several different women that the author interviewed.

Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld (4 stars) – I thought this was fantastic, although maybe I’m biased because I’ve always been a shark person. This was the first graphic memoir I’ve read, and I thought that Wyld’s story and the illustrations really conveyed both her literal fascination with sharks and her metaphor of sharks as the constant dangers in life lurking beneath the surface.

Vicious by V.E. Schwab (3.5 stars) – I thought the characters were great, and V.E. Schwab does a wonderful job building tension throughout the book; it just wasn’t as original as I had expected. This book gets a ton of hype; for me, I didn’t fully get why.

Everneath and Everbound by Brodi Ashton (2.5 stars each) – I read the first two books of this YA trilogy during Bout of Books; it’s about a girl who has just returned to the real world after living for 100 years in a sort of underworld where her emotions were used to feed an immortal (who happens to be a snarky and very attractive guitar player who used to be a Viking back in the day). She then is allowed to return to her former life for 6 months before being sucked back into the underworld and used as a living battery to feed the immortals there for eternity. It’s a very dark story; the main character’s mother was killed by a drunk driver, and when she returns from the underworld everyone she loves believes she was missing for 6 months and was a drug addict during that time. I liked the dark tone and the concept; I really, really did not like her other love interest (meathead high school quarterback) and didn’t end up wanting to read the last book in the series, although the first two were dramatic and fun.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany, and Jack Thorne (2.5 stars) – this book has already been discussed so much; personally, I found it really disappointing. I’d love to see it as a play; I’m sure it’s better in that format. In general, though, it didn’t feel like a “real” continuation of the story to me.

Love Poems by Pablo Neruda (2 stars) – I actually feel very weird rating this so low; I know that Pablo Neruda is such a highly regarded poet, and there were a few lines in this short volume that I thought were strikingly beautiful. But the majority of it, for me, just did not feel like anything special. It could have been that my expectations were too high and I expected every poem to be brilliant, but I really didn’t end up enjoying this.

 

I hope everyone’s reading month for August went better than mine did!

Book Challenges, bout of books, reading challenges

Bout of Books Days 5, 6, and 7 Updates and Wrap-Up

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Bout of Books is complete, and I am super late with this wrap-up post! Overall, this was such a fun week of reading for me; I always love the bookish community aspects of readathons, and having more of a motivation to devote myself to books really helped with the craziness I’ve been having at work. Here’s how the last 3 days of the challenge went for me:

Day 5

  • Audiobook time: 40 minutes
  • Pages read: 249
  • Books started: none
  • Books finished: Everbound

Day 6

  • Audiobook time:  228 minutes
  • Pages read: 23
  • Books started: none
  • Books finished: none

Day 7

  • Audiobook time: none
  • Pages read: 57
  • Books started: Love Poems
  • Books finished: Love Poems

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And here are my overall totals for Bout of Books!

  • Books read: 5
  • Audiobook time: 586 minutes (about 9.8 hours)
  • Pages read: 958

I’m honestly super impressed with the amount of reading I got done; I’m already looking forward to the next Bout of Books from Jan 2-8. For more info, check out the Bout of Books site: http://boutofbooks.blogspot.com/

book haul

August Book Haul, Part 2: Library Book Sale(s) Haul!

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I actually went to 3 library book sales in August, and I wouldn’t have gotten nearly as many books if one of those sales hadn’t been having a “bag sale,” which is when you can fill an entire bag with books for only $1. Here’s what I picked up:

The Stranger by Albert Camus – this is the first book that I ever added to my TBR shelf on both Shelfari (miss you, Shelfari) and Goodreads, and I haven’t read it yet. I’ve been looking for an inexpensive copy for awhile and finally found it for $1 🙂

Mrs. Dalloway by Virginia Woolf – Apparently I’ve confused my goal of reading more classics with buying more classics; I have yet to pick up a single classic this year, but yet I keep hauling them. I read Woolf’s To the Lighthouse in high school and didn’t feel like I was mature enough to fully understand it; I’m ready to give her another chance and this book sounds like something I could get really immersed in.

The Paying Guests by Sarah Waters – I’ve been hearing a lot of great things about Sarah Waters on BookTube but never had been inclined to add her to my TBR. However,  I found this gorgeous hardcover book for only $2 and couldn’t resist! I like a good historical fiction book every now and then, and hopefully I’ll enjoy this one set in 1920s London.

Middlesex by Jeffrey Eugenides – this is the only book on the list that I’ve read already; I initially had borrowed it and wanted my own copy, especially one with this gorgeous cover:

Middlesex

It’s a fascinating book, very detailed, which I liked, and if you haven’t read it you should definitely pick it up.

Greywalker by Kat Richardson – this is a UF book where the protagonist can move between the world of the ordinary and that of the supernatural that I’d added to my TBR awhile ago.

A Moveable Feast by Ernest Hemingway – From Goodreads, “A Moveable Feast is at once an elegy to the remarkable group for expatriates that gathered in Paris during the twenties and a testament to the risks and rewards of the writerly life.” I’ve wanted to read this ever since I watched Midnight in Paris, which is a wonderfully bookish movie.

Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison – Beloved is one of my favorite books of all time, and it was so emotionally devastating I have yet to pick up another book by Toni Morrison. I really need to, though. I’ve also heard that this is President Obama’s favorite book.

The Name of the Rose

The Name of the Rose by Umberto Eco – from what I know, this is a complex historical mystery set in Italy in 1327; it sounds fascinating.

Trespass by Rose Tremain – this was a total impulse buy purchased on the last day of a book sale where you could fill a bag of books for only $1. Here’s the summary from Goodreads:

“In a silent valley in southern France stands an isolated stone farmhouse, the Mas Lunel. Aramon, the owner, is so haunted by his violent past that he’s become incapable of all meaningful action, letting his hunting dogs starve and his land go to ruin. Meanwhile, his sister Audrun, alone in her modern bungalow within sight of the Mas Lunel, dreams of exacting retribution for the unspoken betrayals that have blighted her life. Into this closed world comes Anthony Verey, a wealthy but disillusioned antiques dealer from London. When he sets his sights on the Mas, a frightening and unstoppable series of consequences is set in motion.”

The Player of Games by Iain M. Banks – I’ve never read anything by Banks, but this science fiction read involving high-stakes, complex game-playing between aliens sounds super intriguing.

The Uncertain Places

The Uncertain Places by Lisa Goldstein – I’ve had this on my TBR for so long that I can’t remember who recommended it to me. It’s a fairy tale retelling focused on a mysterious family of sisters, and it won the Mythopoeic Fantasy Award in 2012.

Miserere: An Autumn Tale

Miserere: An Autumn Tale by Teresa Frohock – this is a high fantasy book about a man who abandoned his love to save his sister, who it turns out didn’t want to be saved. Ilona Andrews, one of my favorite authors, recommended it on her blog.

The Family Fang by Kevin Wilson – another impulse buy at the library bag sale. There’s a movie coming out soon (I think?) based on this book, which is about the children of dysfunctional performance artists.

Prep by Curtis Sittenfeld – another impulse buy! This has been on my radar for awhile–it’s the coming-of-age story about an outsider at a prep school in Massachusetts.

Shades of Grey by Jasper Fforde – I’ve actually read one other book by Fforde (The Eyre Affair) which I liked in some ways; I thought it was really interesting and creative, but never felt really interested in the characters or story itself. I’m definitely willing to give him another shot, though, and this book comes highly recommended by a friend–it’s set in a society where status is determined by the colors you are able to perceive.

The Islanders

The Islanders by Christopher Priest – THIS BOOK SOUNDS AMAZING. Not only is it recommended to fans of Haruki Murakami and David Mitchell, but seriously, read this Goodreads description:

“A tale of murder, artistic rivalry, and literary trickery; a Chinese puzzle of a novel where nothing is quite what it seems; a narrator whose agenda is artful and subtle; a narrative that pulls you in and plays an elegant game with you. The Dream Archipelago is a vast network of islands. The names of the islands are different depending on who you talk to, their very locations seem to twist and shift. Some islands have been sculpted into vast musical instruments, others are home to lethal creatures, others the playground for high society. Hot winds blow across the archipelago and a war fought between two distant continents is played out across its waters. The Islanders serves both as an untrustworthy but enticing guide to the islands; an intriguing, multi-layered tale of a murder; and the suspect legacy of its appealing but definitely untrustworthy narrator.”

The Orenda by Joseph Boyden – this is an epic historical fiction work told in multiple perspectives and I’ve heard it’s excellent.

 

Phew! So that’s all of the books I hauled in August. See anything you’ve read? Let me know what you think I should pick up first!

book haul

August Book Haul, Part 1

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I may have hauled a lot of books in August; at the beginning of the months, I entertained hilarious thoughts of a book buying ban, which were quickly destroyed when a few coveted books became available on BookOutlet.com and several library book sales happened within a few weeks. Here are the books I bought during my Book Outlet binge:

Arcadia by Iain Pears – I saw this recommended on BookTube by Erica’s Epilogues and it sounded right up my alley; from what I understand, it’s an adult portal fantasy with several different worlds.

Sorcerer to the Crown by Zen Cho – this fantasy book has gotten awesome reviews and comparisons to Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell, which is one of my favorite books.

The Gracekeepers by Kirsty Logan – Goodreads calls this “a lyrical and moving debut in the tradition of Angela Carter and Margaret Atwood.” Um, yes please. In this world, people are divided between those who live at land and those who lives with see; this one was also recommended on Erica’s Epilogues.

Find Me by Laura van den Berg – this is a near-future science fiction read where an epidemic that causes memory loss and death spreads across the country; the main character is somehow immune and embarks on a journey across the country. I really don’t think I will ever get sick of this type of story.

Brown Girl in the Ring by Nalo Hopkinson – I’ve never read anything by Nalo Hopkinson, and how awesome does this Goodreads description sound: “The rich and privileged have fled the city, barricaded it behind roadblocks, and left it to crumble. The inner city has had to rediscover old ways-farming, barter, herb lore. But now the monied need a harvest of bodies, and so they prey upon the helpless of the streets. With nowhere to turn, a young woman must open herself to ancient truths, eternal powers, and the tragic mystery surrounding her mother and grandmother. She must bargain with gods, and give birth to new legends.”

 

Stay tuned for Part 2 of the book haul–library sales!

Book Challenges, bout of books, reading challenges

Bout of Books Days 3&4 Updates

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And Bout of Books continues! I’m a little late posting this update, but here’s how days 3 and 4 went for me:

Wednesday was my day off from work, so I was able to sleep in and read in bed that morning. Morning reading is such a luxury and is getting to be rare for me, so it felt really nice to just be able to delay responsibilities for a bit and focus on my book. After running some errands (and hitting a library used book sale) I read on the roof for awhile in the sunshine, another thing I haven’t done in awhile but that I absolutely love. I was able to finish both my audiobook, The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg, and Everneath by Brodi Ashton; I ended up liking Everneath so much that I stopped by the library and got both sequels (Everbound and Evertrue). I’m heavily on Team Cole, although I have a bad feeling about how it will all go down in the end. Has anyone else read these books??? I would love to chat about it in the comments 🙂

Anyways, on Thursday I wasn’t in an audiobook mood; I downloaded the Suicide Squad soundtrack and was listening to that during my commute instead. I did start Everbound, the second book in the Everneath trilogy, and am really enjoying it so far, although the beginning was frustrating as I really wanted the action to get going.

So, I always do this thing where I tell myself I’m going to #readmyowndamnbooks during readathons, and then I end up getting hooked on a new series and reading a bunch of library books instead. I tend to get quicker reads (especially YA) from the library rather than buying them because it’s hard to justify spending money if I’m going to read something so quickly and am not planning on re-reading it. I’m trying not to feel guilty about abandoning my goal; I’ll have plenty of time to #readmyowndamnbooks after I finish this trilogy 😉

Here are my stats:

Day 3

  • Audiobook time: 73 minutes
  • Pages read: 314
  • Books started: Luckiest Girl Alive
  • Books finished: The Underground Girls of Kabul, Everneath

Day 4

  • Audiobook time: none
  • Pages read: 109
  • Books started: Everbound
  • Books finished: none

 

I hope everyone’s Bout of Books is going well! I’m hoping to get a bunch of reading done this weekend and finish strong.

bout of books, readathon, reading challenges

Bout of Books Days 1&2 Updates

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Have I mentioned how much I love Bout of Books?

I had such a stressful week last week, and so far the readathon has really been helping me to relax after work. I’ve been listening to an audiobook during my commute, and last night, although I went for a walk with some friends after work (OK, fine, we were hunting Pokemon) I ended up getting a bunch of reading done anyways.

 

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On Day 1, I was able to finish Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld, which I really loved–I’ve always been into sharks, and I loved how her graphic memoir dealt not only with her literal shark obsession but also with sharks as a metaphor for dangers lurking below the surface of things. I also started Everneath by Brodi Ashton, which is a YA book that I had actually started reading a year or two ago and had put down, I can’t remember why. During my recent BookTube binge-watching, I saw that Thoughts on Tomes had mentioned she’d read it, and although she wasn’t a huge fan, I was reminded that I’d liked the plot idea and decided to give it another try.

On Day 2, I spent a lot of time listening to my audiobook (The Underground Girls of Kabul by Jenny Nordberg) and only a little time reading physical books. This book is at times devastating, but I’m also amazed by the strength of the women that Nordberg writes about. I started Pretty Monsters, a short story collection by Kelly Link, that night, but didn’t get very far as I was super sleepy. The fact that I fell asleep was not at all related to the awesomeness of the story, which is about someone digging up the wrong grave.

Here are my stats for the first two days of the readathon:

Day 1

  • Audiobook time: 58 minutes
  • Pages read: 190
  • Books started: Everneath, Everything is Teeth
  • Books finished: Everything is Teeth

Day 2

  • Audiobook time: 187 minutes
  • Pages read: 16
  • Books started: Pretty Monsters
  • Books finished: none

Wednesday is my day off, so hopefully I’ll be able to get a lot of reading done then. How is everyone else’s Bout of Books going so far?

bout of books, readathon, reading challenges

Bout of Books Sign-Up and TBR!

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Bout of Books

The Bout of Books read-a-thon is organized by Amanda @ On a Book Bender and Kelly @ Reading the Paranormal. It is a week long read-a-thon that begins 12:01am Monday, August 22nd and runs through Sunday, August 28th in whatever time zone you are in. Bout of Books is low-pressure. There are challenges, giveaways, and a grand prize, but all of these are completely optional. For all Bout of Books 17 information and updates, be sure to visit the Bout of Books blog. – From the Bout of Books team

I’ve become a big fan of readathons, especially low-pressure ones; it’s a great way for me to devote more time to my TBR and get inspired by all of the wonderful bookish things on social media. This will be my third time doing Bout of Books (here are links to my first  and second times doing the challenge) and I’m excited for a reading-focused week. Work has been super stressful lately, so I think focusing on bookishness will be a perfect antidote.

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Goals for this Bout of Books:

  • Read at least 4  books
  • Finish 1 audiobook
  • Track my audiobook time and number of pages read

Here’s what I’m planning on reading during Bout of Books:

Love PoemsEverything Is TeethThe Bone KnifeThe Story of the Lost Child (The Neapolitan Novels, #4)

I’m in the middle of two books right now; one of them (Nobody is Ever Missing by Catherine Lacey) I don’t think I’ll read during Bout of Books; I’ve been using it as a right-before-bed book and prefer to keep it that way. I might read some of The Story of the Lost Child, my other current read, during the readathon, but I also feel like it might work better to save it for afterwards; I tend to prefer shorter, quicker reads during challenges.

For that reason, I picked out a good variety of books that I’d like to get to this week: a short collection of poetry (Love Poems by Pablo Neruda), a graphic memoir focusing on sharks (Everything is Teeth by Evie Wyld), a fantasy ebook short story (The Bone Knife by Intisar Khanani), a YA fantasy with a love triangle and alleged references to Greek mythology (Everneath by Brodi Ashton), a short dystopian science fiction novel (Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better World by Donald Antrim), a collection of slipstream short stories (Pretty Monsters by Kelly Link), and a long-awaited fantasy sequel novel (The Obelisk Gate by N.K. Jemisin).

Everneath (Everneath, #1)Elect Mr. Robinson for a Better WorldPretty Monsters: StoriesThe Obelisk Gate (The Broken Earth, #2)

I also like to have an audiobook option for readathons, and right now I’m in the middle of The Underground Girls of Kabul (so far it’s so interesting and very well-written). I’m anticipating finishing it this week, in which case I’ll pick up Luckiest Girl Alive, which just became available from my library. I own a physical copy of this book too, but I feel like the fast-paced plot would be good on audio.

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in AfghanistanLuckiest Girl Alive

 

Who else is participating in Bout of Books?? Feel free to link me to your sign-up posts!

Currently Reading

It’s Monday! What are you reading?

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IMG_2096It’s Monday! What are you reading? is a weekly bookish feature hosted by The Book Date (http://bookdate.blogspot.com/).

August feels like it’s off to a slow bookish start; I was in a wedding this past weekend, so that’s where a lot of my time has been going, but I’ve also been reading more slowly than I typically do and it feels sort of strange. Let’s figure out why!

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I decided to kick off August with Harry Potter and the Cursed Child; I bought it on July 31st (I’m not a midnight-release-er) and, although my expectations weren’t sky-high, was intending on binge-reading it that day so that I could experience it before being accidentally spoiled somehow. This…didn’t happen. Instead, I read about 30 pages of the play and it started to make me really sad because I just wasn’t liking it/connecting to it. It took me several days to work up the desire to pick it back up, at which point I sort of forced myself to accept it for what it was and was able to enjoy some aspects of it. I’m not going to do a whole review here (I might do one later, though…) but I think that a lot more thought and detail should have gone into any sequel to the Harry Potter series.

The second thing that’s been slowing my reading down is that I’ve (finally) discovered Booktube! (I know.) (Yes, it really did take me this long.) For some reason I hadn’t thought I’d enjoy watching YouTube videos by fellow bookish people; I thought it wouldn’t hold my attention as much as reading bookish blogs. Turns out, I was very wrong, and BookTube is awesome, and I’ve already added a ton of books to my TBR based on recommendations that I’ve gotten on there. So far, these three are my favorite Booktubers that I’ve found:

Erika’s Epilogues https://www.youtube.com/user/erikaraeable

Under the Radar Books https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCu1Yn5B7KGk3OWT1fcQko_Q

Thoughts on Tomes https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCpnjp7mgeQGdtesz5v6xY_A

If anyone could recommend me more Booktubers to follow, or if you have a channel, please let me know! As I said, I’m a newbie, and I’d love to find more awesome bookish people to get recommendations from.

The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan

I was also having some audiobook issues this week (shocking, I know). The audiobook I intended on listening to this month, Running With Scissors by Augusten Burroughs, was…not great. The writing was pretty good, but I only listened to about half an hour of it before realizing that I really did not like it. I went on Goodreads to check out reviews and see if I should push myself to keep reading, and I actually saw in a bunch of reviews that Burroughs had been sued for misrepresenting the family he talks about in his books, and that large parts of the “memoir” had been fabricated. I did not know this when I picked up the book; if I’d wanted to read fiction, I would have! So I went ahead and DNF’d.

That actually worked out well, since my library had The Underground Girls of Kabul: In Search of a Hidden Resistance in Afghanistan by Jenny Nordberg available. I started it today and it’s fascinating; it focuses on the lives of women in Afghanistan and particularly the custom of disguising and raising some young girls as boys.

I’m also in the middle of Vicious by V.E. Schwab as my main physical book–actually, it’s the only physical book I’m reading right now, which is super weird! I’m typically such a multi-book reader. Anyways, I’m a little more than halfway through, and I sort of thought I’d have finished it already, but like I said, August has been a slow month so far. I really like the characters and how the book jumps back and forth in time to tell the story; however, I’m not absolutely blown away by this book. It’s good, but not amazing. So far.

 

What are you guys reading? Let me know!