July TBR

Well, this is going to be short because my July is super busy. I'm going on vacation, buying a house, and moving all in 30 days. I'm hoping to mostly listen to audiobooks while I'm packing or traveling.


1. The Seven Seasons of Buffy by Glenn Yeffeth
2. When I Hit You by Meena Kandasamy
3. Dead Wake by Erik Larson
4. I Let You Go by Clare Mackintosh
5. The Secret History by Donna Tartt
6. The Broken Girls by Simone St. James
7. Final Girls by Riley Sager
8. Blitzed by Normal Ohler

I know realistically I probably won't get to all of these but these are some options I plan on choosing from. I hoping August will be better since I'm planning on participating in the N.E.W.T.s readathon which will be challenging.

Last week Wrap Up

This week I only read 1 book but it was a 5 star read. I read Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates and I absolutely connected with this book.

This book is about a crumbling toxic marriage and the delusions of the American Dream. Neither of the main characters were very likable but they were incredibly real. The book is set in the 1950's. The husband Frank has taken a dull job, has a wife and two kids that he didn't really want, and is a deeply selfish and flawed character. The wife April is stuck as a housewife with two children and she leads a very unfulfilling life. The author masterfully weaves this story in which the ideas of conformity and the American Dream are dismantled. This is a character study (which I'm finding is what I really like) of losing your identity. It is hard to read but so worth it.

Third week Wrap Up

This week I read 3 books. June is Pride Month so I'm trying to read books by or about LGBT+ people. The Trauma Cleaner last week featured a trans woman. This week I read a book written by a bi man, a lesbian coming of age story, and a gay love story.

The first was an audiobook I listened to while on a long drive: Not my Father's Son by Alan Cumming. He details his account of growing up with an abusive father. His story is about coping with the trauma and then finding out his father might not actually be his biological father. Alan goes on a British t.v. show to learn more about his family history. It was really fascinating and I loved that he narrated it himself. It was a short but enjoyable audiobook. I gave the book 3 stars.

The second book I read was Oranges are Not the Only Fruit by Jeanette Winterson. This was not a cohesive narrative, but rather a collection of random memories about coming out as lesbian in a religious family. I wished it focused more on that but she also included random parables and fairy tale stories which seemed to only loosely fit into her message. Additionally, the pacing was off. She would focus on some inane detail for far too long, only to end it with a fascinating sentence that she should've spent more time on. I feel that this story could've been written so much better but unfortunately it really fell flat for me. I gave it 2 stars.

The last book I finished this week was Tin Man by Sarah Winman. Ever since I've seen British Booktubers rave about this book, I've wanted to get my hands on it. I'll be honest. It wasn't what I expected. The first 100 pages are incredibly slow. I had heard it was an amazing love story between two men, but in the beginning, it is about a man grieving the loss of his wife. We see the story from two perspectives, and I really enjoyed the second perspective. His voice was beautiful, more artistic, and flowed better.  This might be the author showing the difference between the two people or it might just showcase that her writing improved as she wrote the story. The ending is incredibly tragic and lovely. I did end up really enjoying this book, but it took a while to get into. I gave it 3.5 stars.

Second Week Wrap Up

This week I read two books. The first was The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein. I wrote a full review but overall gave it 3 stars.

Then I picked up A Death in the Family by James Agee. This was a classic I hadn't even heard of before BookTube. In short, a man dies and the family is left to deal with the aftermath. There is not much of a plot, but rather this is a character study on grief. How each person deals with the loss. The writing is incredibly poetic and descriptive. It's unfortunate that this was an unfinished manuscript that was published posthumously after the author's sudden death. It could have been really amazing. I still however, loved it and gave it 4 stars. I would definitely recommend the audiobook as the narrator really helps the listener immerse themselves in the Southern way of speaking.

Review of The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein

So a couple months ago, I received my very first ARC from Netgalley. I was incredibly excited to read The Trauma Cleaner by Sarah Krasnostein but because of my slump, it took me awhile to get to it. I read it this past week and these are my unbiased thoughts.

The Trauma Cleaner starts the first chapter with the author meeting Sandra, a woman who specializes in cleaning up after deaths, hoarders, meth labs, and other types of squalor. We then move to a scene where Sandra and her team are cleaning up at a mentally ill woman's house. The descriptions are nearly palpable and quite disgusting. The chapters alternate between Sandra's life story (being born a boy, growing up in an abusive environment, transitioning, etc.) and a different type of job that Sandra and her cleaners take on. This book is part biography and part case studies. I found both to be very intriguing. However, towards the last two chapters, the author starts to psychoanalyze Sandra's decisions and motives given what she knows about her upbringing. Additionally, she includes conversations that do not seem important to the story. These were written very poorly and I found myself skimming over those parts. Overall, I gave the book a rating of a 3 out of 5. I enjoyed most of it but felt that it could've been written and edited better.

I'd definitely recommend but if you're at all squeamish, it may not be for you.

Mid Year Goals Check-In

I know I should do this at the end of June so it will really be at the half-way point, but I have a vacation planned and I'm also in the process of buying a house so it's likely I won't have time.

Goals:

1. Popsugar  Reading Challenge- There are 40 "regular" tasks and 10 "advanced" tasks. I had a goal to complete 40 with whatever combination of those I wanted. I have completed 32 regular tasks and 7 advanced tasks. I've almost met my goal. However I've decided to try to complete all 50 of these so I have 11 more to go.

2. Total book goal of 90- I've read 79 books thus far. I'm ahead of schedule and will probably blow this one out of the water.

3. I made a goal to re-read favorites. Thus far I've only re-read Harry Potter 5,6, and 7 and A Tree Grows in Brooklyn. I should definitely try to pick out a few more faves to re-read.

4. I want to read at least 2 books off my shelf to reduce my physical TBR. This goal is going terribly. I tried a TBR jar and it just didn't work for me. I have read a few off my shelves but nowhere near 10.

5. (I added a goal in February.) Complete the Read Harder Challenge. There are 24 tasks. I have completed 18. These goals have definitely pushed me out of my comfort zone. One of the goals led to me read Evicted by Matthew Desmond which I absolutely adored and rated 5 stars. (A book on social science.)

First Week Wrap Up

This week I read The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clementine Wamariya. This was a memoir of Clementine's experiences during the Rwandan genocide and her eventual emigration to the United States. I went into this book knowing very little about the Rwandan genocide of 1994 and after finishing the book, I felt I hadn't learned much. She gives no background as to how the war started, what is was about, or anything like that. She alternated chapters between her moving from refugee camp to refugee camp and her life in the U.S. I found this jarring and was much more interested in her story in Africa. The chapters in the U.S. contain a lot of bad moods and lashing out at the people helping her. (obviously PTSD) In addition, these chapters seem unorganized and without purpose. I gave her book 3 stars because I enjoyed her style of writing and because she held my interest for some of the chapters.


I am reading two books now but I am only about 40% of the through so I'll include them next week.