June Reading Wrap Up 2017

June was a really great reading month! I gave 3* and above to every book, I found 3 new favorites, and I pushed all of these bad boys off of my TBR. That is definitely the best part. I am adding only a couple of books each month to my TBR and always knocking more off.

Here are the 9 things I read this month in the order I finished them (starting from the bottom in the above photo):

1. Ship of Destiny (Liveship Traders #3) by Robin Hobb - 5 stars.
This is by far the best fantasy book I've ever read. I didn't love the first two books in the series but they progressively got better and this book just surpassed everything. From page one, I was pulled into this story and didn't let go for the next 900 pages. I never thought such a long book could keep me that engrossed all the way through, but I've never read something quite like this. 

2. The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini - 3 stars.
This book began my dive into my TBR shelves where I'm picking books randomly using random.org and my husband is picking them randomly for me as well. I have had this book for a few years and have wanted to read it for longer than that. This was a bit of a disappointment though. It was so predictable and I wasn't a fan of how the plot progressed. Good writing but at this point I can't really remember any solid details about it. His other books sound more interesting to me though, so I would give him another try.

3. The Sixteenth of June by Maya Lang - 4 stars.
How excited was I when this book popped up as the random choice on random.org IN THE MONTH OF JUNE?! I mean, it was obviously fate that I had to read it. This was an enjoyable read following three main characters in the span of one day. It was also related to Dubliners by James Joyce which I've never read, but this actually made me want to at least try to read it. A short book that delved into the past in order to make sense of the present, I thoroughly enjoyed this read.

4. Revival, Vol. 1: You're Among Friends by Tim Seeley (author), Mike Norton (illustrator) - 4 stars.
Oooo, this was creepy. I can't do scary movies but I definitely can enjoy a book or graphic novel that has that scary/creepy feel. I picked this up on a whim off my shelf and I really enjoyed it. I'm getting a bit pickier with the graphic novels that I continue on with after reading the first volume, and this one definitely intrigued me enough to continue on in the series.

5. Well-Read Women: Portraits of Fiction's Most Beloved Heroines by Samantha Hahn - 5 stars.
A coffee table type of book, Hahn incorporates quotes and illustrations to create a "portrait" of many different heroines from fiction. The illustrations have a watercolor feel and are beautiful. I will look through this again and again.

6. The Last Days of Night by Graham Moore - 3 stars.
A novel from my Mom's pile of books that she has read and one that I remember her enjoying. We follow the lawyer involved in the Edison/Westinghouse light bulb suit and what I enjoyed most about this book was the setting. New York, 1888. It felt like a character in itself. The actual story took me way longer to get through then I expected. I thought there would me more urgency to the plot, but for me, I didn't feel that at all. I am definitely looking forward to the movie with Eddie Redmayne, though.

7. Spinster: Making a Life of One's Own by Kate Bolick - 5 stars.
The fact that I'm happily married, have been in a relationship with the same man for 9 years, and absolutely loved this book goes to show how phenomenal Bolick's writing and ideas are in this piece of non-fiction. She uses her own experiences and 5 pioneering women from the last century and a half to discuss being single and all that that lifestyle can bring. She's so intelligent and intertwines her experiences so effortlessly throughout this somewhat "academic" collection. If I had the talent, I would want to write something just like this.

8. Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie - 5 stars. Read my review here.
Loved this. Haven't stopped thinking about. Go read it, please.

9. Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer - 4 stars. Read my review here.
Young adult science fiction retelling of Cinderella. She's a cyborg. Enough said.

Such a solid month of reading. Here's to July being just as great! 

Audiobook Review: Cinder (The Lunar Chronicles #1) by Marissa Meyer

I don't read very much young adult and I usually only pick up titles that a wide range of readers have enjoyed. Cinder is the first book in The Lunar Chronicles series and since the final book came out last year, I have been looking forward to giving the series a try. I listened to this first book on audio from Overdrive and it was definitely a good choice. I had similar good luck with listening to The Hunger Games trilogy by Suzanne Collins on audio. Young adult novels as audiobooks seem to be the best way for me to ingest the stories.

Each book in this series is a sci-fi retelling of a fairytale. Cinder is a retelling of Cinderella where the princess is a cyborg. Meyer did a fantastic job of incorporating elements of the original fairytale into a very unique world. There were hints to other fairytales as well which made me eager to read the other books in the series. The writing was fast-paced and engaging and although I did figure out the major twist pretty early on, that didn't deter me from enjoying the book as a whole. If you don't read very much young adult, I think it is best to go in to these books looking for a good time and not to overanalyze every element.

As an audiobook, I thought this was great. Rebecca Soler narrates the book (and, I believe, the entire series) and she did an incredible job with all of the different voices. She was both female and male characters, droids, characters with accents and I was shocked at how effortlessly she flowed between them all. I will no doubt be reading all of the books in the series on audio if she is the narrator.

If a Cinderella-as-a-cyborg retelling sounds fun to you, I absolutely recommend giving this a read. And if you enjoy audiobooks or are like me and don't listen to a lot of them, I would give this a whirl in that format as well. It is definitely lighter than The Hunger Games but the interesting plot and engaging writing will suck you in in just the same way.

Review: Americanah by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie

Since Americanah was published in 2013, I have been looking forward to the reading experience. I've heard generally positive reviews and had a feeling I would like it, or at least take something from it. I think one of the reasons I waited so long to read it was because of the whole delayed gratification concept us readers like to torture ourselves with; putting off books we know we are going to enjoy. (Also, it's over 500 pages and you know, that can be intimidating). I read Adichie's non-fiction abridged TED Talk We Should All Be Feminists last year and absolutely loved it. It was one of the first feminist things I had read that was intersectional and since then, I've been eagerly awaiting reading more of her work.

I ended up loving Americanah, and, though not perfect, hit me and pushed me and pulled me in ways I did not expect.

We follow Ifemelu, a young Nigerian woman, who emigrates to the United States to attend university and Obinze, a young Nigerian man, who tries to emigrate to London but ends up coming back to Nigeria. They are young lovers who part ways in their early twenties and meet again years later back in Nigeria. Ifemelu's experience in the United States was the majority of the story and the people she meets and the experiences she has really impact her identity as a Nigerian woman, a black woman, and a Non-American Black (NAB). She uses a blog to talk about different issues in the US from an NAB perspective and Adichie interweaves many different types of people into Ifemelu's life to enhance her analytical and curious nature. As Ifemelu looks back on her childhood in Nigeria, and then looks back on her life in the US once she moves back to Nigeria in her 30s, we see this entirely different perspective from someone who has been so many different women depending on where she has lived and the people she has formed relationships with.

Obinze's perspective is very small in comparison throughout the novel, and to be honest, I don't remember as many details of his life except when he is connected to Ifemelu. I think this is the biggest weakness of the book because I never got to connect with him and when we did get the story from his perspective, it felt out of place. I would have liked either a more balanced book between the two or zero chapters from his point of view and anything related to him would have come from Ifemelu's experiences with him.

To get the most of this book, I wouldn't make it a quick read. It's extremely engaging and the writing pulled me in, but taking time to think about what Adichie is saying will showcase the real magic of this novel.

It also reminded me a bit of Zadie Smith and Behold the Dreamers by Imbolo Mbue.

Americanah is extremely relevant today and I would recommend this book to anyone who thinks it sounds interesting and/or wants to open their mind up to looking at the world in a different way.

Review: How to Build a Girl - Caitlin Moran

Before picking up How to Build a Girl, I had never read anything by Caitlin Moran. I have How to Be a Woman on my shelf to be read but I just haven't gotten to it. However, when I heard the premise of this book when it first came out, I knew I had to read it. A girl deciding to rebuild herself, using (almost literally) sex, drugs, and rock n' roll? How cool does that sound?!

I was a patient consumer and waited until I saw it out in paperback to pick it up. I hadn't heard much at all on it, which I loved, because I had no preconceptions on it other than the story sounding bad-ass.

Johanna Morrigan is our main character and we meet her at the age of 14 and follow her through the years until she's about 17. She quite literally decides to rebuild who she is and dabbles in music journalism, drugs, sex, and trying to be everything she thinks she should be. We follow her on this journey and meet her family, her coworkers, musicians she's pissed off, and some of the boys she's acquired during her "Lady Sex Adventures." (My most favorite phrase in the whole book). Things don't go how she expects and she realizes she may have built herself with a major flaw.

I'm happy to say that I enjoyed it quite a bit, but it was different than I thought it would be. I expected there to be a hardness and grittiness surrounding Johanna when really, she was one of the funniest, nicest, most awkward female characters I've met. This is definitely a dark story but not because of who Johanna is as a person. Her humor and the way she looked at and analyzed the world and the people around her was so relatable for me. I definitely didn't expect to relate to the main character as much as I did based on the premise of the book. The whole story had much more heart to it than I would have expected as well. References were also really fun in the book. Books, movies, and a plethora of music references were interspersed all throughout the story and the '90s time period with it's grunge was a really great setting surrounding Johanna's experiences.

Overall, I really liked this book a lot. The writing and ideas behind the characters solidified me picking up anything Caitlin Moran writes. After reading the little interview and summary of the author in the back of the book, I feel like Caitlin and I have a lot of the same ideals and she will create characters that I can personally relate to in a way that most authors can't accomplish.

Review: The Casual Vacancy - J.K. Rowling

I started reading The Casual Vacancy about 2 years ago on my e-reader. It was during this book that I realized I didn't like to read digitally. I love holding a book, seeing how far along I am, and turning the pages. I never wanted to pick up the book I was reading digitally and I never enjoyed my reading experience. So I put down my e-reader as well as this book. (I do read ebooks on my phone if they are only available in that format). The book didn't help the reading experience at the time. I was really thrown off by the horrible characters and I didn't look forward to going into this world.

I asked for a physical copy of this book for Christmas and I received it from my lovely aunt. When I heard it was going to be a mini-series on HBO, I figured now would be the best time to read it. I had got about 120 pages in the last time so I did a quick refresh and jumped in that point. It definitely took some time to get into the book and I thought I was going to fall into the group of people who really dislike this book. I had heard so many negative things that I expected to hate it and was only reading it because it was J.K. Rowling. However, I am very happy to say that I am so so glad I picked this one back up.

I realized I needed to read the story in large chunks and not dip in and out. Once I actually sat down to read more than five pages, I became immersed in this world. The book follows a group of people who live in a small town near London and their relationships and interactions with each other. The book begins with Barry Fairbrother, a member of the Parish Council, dying unexpectedly, and the town trying to fill his seat. Politics, family dynamics, small town issues all play a part in the story, but the character development is what shines through. These characters are despicable at times and dislikable all the time and there isn't anyone you can trust to be a truly good person. Rowling is a master at making me care about these characters. I hated them and would never ever want to meet them but I really fell for them. I found myself thinking about them when I wasn't reading the book which, to me, is a sign of something remarkable. The writing is stunning and solidifies me reading everything Rowling produces.

This is definitely not a book for everyone and even if you liked Harry Potter, I wouldn't necessarily recommend this novel. If you enjoy unlikable characters, family issues, fantastic writing, and character-driven stories then give this a go and read through 150 pages or so before making any judgements. I am so happy I picked this one back up and ended up really enjoying it.

****

Review: The Last Lecture by Randy Pausch

This was a very exciting read for me. I listened to this book on audio and I actually enjoyed it! I've tried audio before but felt like it wasn't for me. I decided to give it another try because 1. I have so many books on my physical TBR and 2. I have only 24 hours in a day. I found I was choosing to read instead of doing things I actually needed to do which is a common problem but I really hate days where I can't read at all. But with audiobooks, I read everyday which is the ultimate dream. I don't think I can read just any book on audio but so far memoirs are definitely my thing. I also can't do absolutely anything and listen because I can easily get distracted, visually. But taking my pup for a walk, housework, and driving are perfect places to listen. I use Overdrive because I'm trying to listen to books I already own so I don't want to pay anything else. That means my options are definitely limited and most books I have to put on hold but overall, a lot of books I own I can borrow through there.

The Last Lecture was the best way to start off this audiobook thing. Randy Pausch was a Professor at Carnegie Mellon, who was diagnosed with terminal cancer in August 2007, given 3-6 months to live. He decided to give a Last Lecture, which is quite common for professors who are leaving the profession. His decision to do this was mainly for his three children, as a way of teaching them things even when he wouldn't be there. It turned into quite a phenomenon and Jeffery Zasner contacted Pausch about writing a book based on the lecture.

The theme of the lecture was "Really Achieving Your Childhood Dreams". The book focused on Pausch's life, growing up with his parents and sister, meeting and marrying his wife, and having their three children, as well as all the ways he achieved many of his childhood dreams and a list of things anyone can do to achieve theirs and really live life fully. There was a great balance of humor and emotion and it really kept me interested in all parts of the book. The narrator was fantastic and the book was broken up into small chapters so it was easy to dip in and out of throughout the day.

I've had this book for 7 years and I had a feeling I would enjoy it, which I'm so happy to say that I did. I would recommend this for anyone who enjoys memoirs, quick reads, both humor and emotion in a book and not too much of either, or well-narrated audiobooks.

*****

Review - Going Clear: Scientology, Hollywood, and the Prison of Belief by Lawrence Wright

This book surprised me SO much. I went into Going Clear wanting to read it because it was being made into a documentary on HBO and also because I definitely need to pick up more nonfiction, especially on topics very outside my comfort zone. It was a National Book Award Finalist written by Lawrence Wright who had won a Pulitzer Prize for another book, The Looming Tower. I figured it was  definitely the book to read if I wanted to learn more on this subject but I was really dreading it. I expected it to be very dry and hard to understand and because I knew NOTHING about Scientology, I was going to be super confused. I'm not sure why I thought all this but I can honestly say my expectations were blown out of the water. I seriously can't believe how much I enjoyed this book.

It is written in a way that made me want to continue reading it, but was still able to convey all the information it needed to. And Wright did a great job of trying to put both sides of the story in when it was clear the Scientology side was not cooperating. I learned so much from this book and it was great to see the full evolution of this religion. I was also shocked how, by the end, I found myself starting to understand how followers can get sucked in and how they can whole-heartedly believe that what they are doing is not only important for themselves but for the world. When Wright compares Scientology to other religions, I felt I really grasped what he was trying to emulate when it came to the religion's followers. 

I would absolutely recommend this book if the subject interests you even a little bit. This is a nonfiction that is very readable and I'm looking forward to picking up more of Wright's books.

****