Third Week Wrap Up

This week I finished 5 books.

The first was Midnight for Charlie Bone by Jenny Nimmo. This fulfilled my last challenge of reading an award-winning book. I picked this book up because its often compared to Harry Potter. Young boy finds out he has magical ability and goes to a magical school where he has to fight evil/bad situations. However, this is definitely geared toward a younger audience. I enjoyed it but I'm not sure I'm going to continue on with the series. There is definitely some loose ends because the dad is still missing or dead. I presume we find out what happened to him later on. I gave it 3 stars.

Then I read We Are the Ants by Shaun David Hutchinson. This has been highly praised on booktube by several different people. I thought it was pretty good but nothing mind-blowing. The premise is that a teenage boy is abducted by aliens who know the world is going to end but give him a chance to stop it by pressing a big red button. To most people that decision would be a no-brainer because we all have an innate survival instinct. However, he has several problems in his life (grandma has dementia, father left him, boyfriend killed himself, etc.) and decides he would just rather die and let humanity be wiped out. Things happen throughout time that cause him to waver on this decision. The book was funny at parts and incredibly sad at other times. The portrayal of grief seemed very accurate. However, it was just a little bit redundant and too angsty for my taste. I gave it 3.5 stars.

Next I read The Heart's Invisible Furies by John Boyne. This was one of the best books I read in quite a while. The book is a slice-of-life look into a gay man growing up in the 50s and 60s in largely homophobic Ireland. The book starts out with a teen girl being condemned by the Catholic church for becoming pregnant and is then kicked out of her home. She travels to the big city and finds friends, and job, and a family for her baby. The story is then about her baby Cyril as he grows up in a strange house and the relationships he forms. Each section jumps seven years. The relationships felt so authentic that when he loses certain loved ones, the pain he endures was palpable. I finished this just a few days ago but I already want to read it again. I will definitely seek out John Boyne's other books because I found his writing to be so enjoyable. I gave it 5 stars.

Then I picked up A River in Darkness by Masaji Ishikawa. This was an incredibly depressing memoir of a half Korean half Japanese man escaping from North Korea in the 1990s. I have read a few books on North Korea so I was aware of the songbun (which is the caste system which identifies citizens and what jobs they're allowed or whether they can attend University) but I wasn't aware that citizens from Japan (called returnees) were at the lowest level of the caste. This book was really short, which I felt left out some important points. However, he illuminated once again how desperate things are in North Korea and unfortunately, how poorly they are received in other countries. I gave the book 4 stars.

Lastly, I read Pippi Longstocking by Astrid Lindgren. I picked this up for two reasons: the first was because I wanted to read more children's classics and the second was because I wanted to read more translated books. Ugh... This wasn't good. I didn't read this as a child so I didn't have the nostalgia factor. Pippi is ridiculous and attention-seeking. She is a chronic liar and consistently is getting into messes. The fact that she doesn't have any adults looking over her is something that just wasn't realistic to me. Her super strength is never explained. I might've enjoyed this as a child but as C.S. Lewis said, “A children's story that can only be enjoyed by children is not a good children's story in the slightest.” Additionally, this wasn't a story with a plot but rather a series of unrelated vignettes. Overall, it was incredibly disappointing. I would've quit it if it hadn't been so short. I gave it 1 star.

Since then, I've been in a bit of a slump...just not wanting to pick anything up. I have several good choices though so I'm hoping to turn it around. I'm thinking a graphic novel might be the way to go.