N.E.W.T.s TBR for August 2019

It's that time of year again when I can sit my NEWTs for Hogwarts. I finished all 12 prompts of the O.W.L.s so I can choose any career I want. I've decided to go for Hogwarts Professor of Charms.
That requires me to read 7 books.

I need an O in Charms, an E in Defense Against the Dark Arts, and 2 A's in other subjects.

The books I'm reading for Charms are:
A: Read a book with a gorgeous cover- Boy Swallows Universe by Trent Dalton
E: Read a comic/graphic novel/ or manga- Monster Vol 2 by Naoki Urasawa
O: Read a paperback book- Nomadland by Jessica Bruder

The books I'm reading for D.A.D.A. are:
A: Read a book that is black under the dust jacket- All Among the Barley by Melissa Harrison
E: Memory charm-read the first book you think of- Lirael by Garth Nix

I have a few choices for A's. Here are the ones I'm considering. I need to read at least two of these.

Herbology: Listen to an audiobook- Becoming by Michelle Obama
Ancient Runes: Read a recommended book- The Binding by Bridget Collins
Arithmancy: Read a book that ends on an even number- Murmur of Bees by Sofia Segovia
History of Magic: Read a fantasy- Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine

July Reading Wrap Up #2

I feel like I'm finally getting out of my reading slump. For the latter half of July, I have read 4 more books.

The first was Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix by J.K. Rowling. This is my favorite of the series. I think re-reading a favorite book is a good way to break up a slump. I gave it 5 stars.

Then I picked up The One Hundred Year Old Man who Climbed out of His Window and Disappeared by Jonas Jonasson. This was a contemporary adventure story originally written in Swedish. The old man decides he wants an alcoholic drink but the nursing home won't allow it. So he decides to run away. The chapters alternate between his adventure and his past which was also quite exciting. It felt a bit like Forrest Gump because he was involved in a number of huge historical events spanning the world and met a number of political leaders. I had heard it was funny but I was disappointed by the lack of humor. Things got absurd, but not really funny. I gave the book 3 stars.

Afterwards, my library let me know the graphic novel Sugar Town by Hazel Newlevant was available. This was about a young bisexual woman who traveled to her parents' house for the holidays. She then meets a polyamorous queer woman named Argent at a club and the rest of the story is about navigating a polyamorous relationship. At only 56 pages, it felt too short with very little plot or character development. I'm hoping for a sequel but as it stands, it only garnered 3 stars.

Lastly, I finished listening to What If? Serious Scientific Answers to Absurd Hypothetical Questions by Randal Munroe. This was a great audiobook narrated by Wil Wheaton. The author Munroe used to work at NASA, but then he quit and formed his own comic website. This mixed science and math with lots of humor. Additionally, because each chapter is based on a different questions, it was easy to pick up and read just a little bit more. I gave it 4 stars and would highly recommend it. (But make sure to follow along with the actual book because of the comics included)

ARC Review of Hollow Kingdom

I received an ARC of Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton.

Unfortunately I did not like this book. Had it not been an ARC, I would've DNF'd it.

The premise is a zombie apocalypse has wiped out humanity and we see the events through the eyes of several animals, most living in Seattle. Our main protagonist is a crow named Shit Turd. While I do not mind some vulgarity, this book reads as if an immature boy wrote it. There were many fart and poop jokes, lots of profanity, and a general a juvenile sense of humor. I'll give you some examples:

"as awkward as an elevator fart."
"Thanks, dick-wad"
calling humans "Mofos"
"douche canoe"
"yarfed"
"F*** off, you douche flute!"
"You could have heard a dust mite queef in there."

The crow would often describe other birds in extremely negative and immature ways. Some things he said included:
"turd waffle"
"...a bunch of poop terrorists"
"a giant troupe of swamp donkeys...elitist toot cabbages"
"...their faces, those dildo-nosed potatoes."
"And I definitely wouldn't tell those a** trumpets."
"F***ing newspaper-colored, ice-balled dick goblins, yeah, that's who you want as your brand ambassador."
"I hated these inky fools, these lentil-brained a** noodles."

I felt like maybe the author was trying to go for a South Park type humor; but unfortunately it was just vulgar with very little humor. I will admit a few entries did make me laugh.

Sometimes the tone of the book changed and the author used several big words, some I had to look up the definition. But with two, she repetitively used the same phrases "glaucous-winged gulls" and "nictitating membranes." The inconsistency between vulgar language and more sophisticated wording was distracting.


While my largest problem with the book was the writing, I also had problems with the lack of an  overarching plot. Most of the time, I didn't know what the characters were supposed to be doing. It seemed more a series of random adventures. The concept was inventive, but the author had too many ideas and was not able to pull them together. Overall, I found the book to be disorganized, crude, and ultimately, a big waste of time. I gave it 1 star.

The book will be released August 6, 2019.

July Wrap Up Part 1

The slump is getting a little better. I have read 4 books for the first half of July. This isn't really close to my average but it is a slight improvement over the last two months.

First I picked up The Missing of Clairedelune by Christelle Dabos. This is the second book in The Mirror Visitor Quartet. I loved being back in the world, finding out more about the people, the magic, and the gods. There is an overarching mystery of people disappearing which kept me turning the pages. The book ends on a cliffhanger and I'm eagerly waiting for the third book to be translated into English. I gave the book 4 stars.

Then I found out my library hold of Recursion by Blake Crouch had come in. Having previously enjoyed his book Dark Matter (which was a sci-fi thriller) I was eagerly awaiting another one. The book is about a disease called False Memory Syndrome which is happening to some filling their heads with lives they have not lead and people are responding by killing themselves. The story is told from two perspectives, a cop named Barry who responds to a suicide and a scientist named Helena who knows what is causing it. The book was compelling and I read a good chunk of it in one sitting, but over time the story becomes repetitive and dragging. The ending was very unsatisfactory, muddled, and not following the rules the book had set out. I gave it three stars but now thinking about it, I've downgraded it to a 2.5 stars.

I wanted something funny and lighthearted so I picked up The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams which is the sequel to The Hitchhiker's Guide to the Galaxy. I listened to the audiobook which was narrated by Martin Freeman. He was a great narrator and there were a few moments where I laughed out loud (like the motivation for Earth's destruction), but for most of it I was bored. I gave the book 2 stars and I won't be continuing on.

Lastly, I picked up The Silent Patient by Alex Michaelides. This book has been getting a lot of hype and I was in the mood for a page-turner. This book is about a woman named Alicia who murders her husband and then stops speaking. She says nothing in her defense and is remanded to a psychiatric ward. A man named Theo gets a job as her psychotherapist and tries to understand her motivation for killing her husband and determine why she has gone silent. I enjoyed unraveling more about Alicia and I liked the twist at the end. I gave the book 4 stars.

June Wrap up #2

For the second half of June, I completed 3 books.

I read Rabbit-Proof Fence by Doris Pilkington. This is based on a true story set in Australia about three girls who are half white and half Aboriginal who are sent to a settlement to learn to assimilate. They are not allowed to speak in their native language and so they decide to walk all the way back to their hometown. This journey which was over 1,000 miles was harrowing and intriguing but the pacing of this journey was plodding and boring. The author includes lots of historical documents, proving parts of the story but all in all, it didn't capture my attention. The writing was very stilted and very little time was actually focused on the running away. I gave it 2 stars.



Then I decided to pick up a classic gay novel for Pride Month so I chose A Single Man by Christopher Isherwood. This story is a day in the life of a middle-age gay professor who is still dealing with grief of losing his partner to an unexpected death. The writing was spectacular, profound, and heart-wrenching. Even little things that most people do without thinking caused a rushing of thoughts of his partner. The ending nearly made me cry. I gave the book 4 stars.

Lastly, I picked up A Winter's Promise by Christelle Dabos. This was a book I chose to re-read in preparation for picking up the sequel. I enjoyed it nearly as much as I did the first time but noticed more problems than my first read through. I ended up giving it 3.5 stars. (down from my original 4)