August Midpoint Wrap Up

 I was a bit bummed that this was the last N.E.W.T.s and that there wasn't any participation on twitter. However, I joined the Discord group and felt encouraged by others' participation and joined in the 24 hour in 48 hour mini readathon which helped me finish a lot of prompts. Here's what I've finished so far:

For my career as Trader of Magical Tomes:

Ancient Runes

A:  Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers. It fulfilled the prompt "author whose name starts with "B." This was a re-read that I thoroughly enjoyed. I'm bummed there is only going to be one more companion novel set in this world as I love how the world-building expands with each book. I gave it 5 stars.

E: Passing by Nella Larsen. This was a classic about light-skinned black women who tried to "pass" as white. One passed so well for white that she was able to marry a racist white man who was none the wiser. The story is so short to say much more would give it away. I gave it 4 stars.

Charms

A: How to be a Normal Person by TJ Klune. This was the book I read for the "humorous prompt" and it definitely lived up to that. After reading another book by Klune earlier this year, I was keen to pick up another. This tells the story of Gus who lives a very rigid life and how it is shook up by a new man moving to town. I will definitely be picking up another of his books soon. I gave it 4 stars.

History of Magic

A: Ashes of Roses by Mary Jane Auch. This was a historical fiction set in 1911 focusing on a family of Irish immigrants trying to make their way in NYC. I loved this story as it reminded me of my favorite book of all time; A Tree Grows in Brooklyn by Betty Smith. I do wish it had been a bit longer or at least had an epilogue but enjoyed it so much I finished it in one sitting. I gave it 5 stars.

E:The Shadows by Alex North which fulfilled the black cover prompt. This is a spooky thriller about a man who goes back to his hometown where a murder occurred during his teenage years. Now in a nearby town, similar murders are happening and how are they linked? I don't want to tell anything more because there are so many good twists and turns that I'd hate to spoil it for someone. I gave it 4 stars. 

For the Extracurriculars-

Locomotive Operator:

Muggle Studies

A:

E: Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert. This is the companion novel to Get a Life, Chloe Brown which I read earlier in the year. This book focuses on the second sister Dani, who gets into a fake relationship after a video goes viral of the security guard rescuing her. This book had some situations that felt a little bit contrived, but overall a realistic and lovely story. I gave it 4 stars.

Magical Shop Management

Arithmancy-

A: Spilled Milk by K.L. Randis. This is based on a true story of the author's experience with domestic and sexual violence by her father. It was hard to read because the scenes were graphic but also because the first 5-6 chapters, it was unclear how much time had passed. In one chapter she's 6 but by the next chapter, she's in third grade. Once she was older, the timeline became much clearer. I'm so sorry she had to go through anything like that. I gave the book 4 stars.

Merpeople Linguistics-

Herbology

A:

E: My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell. Ooh boy. Another one about sexual abuse. This book has two timelines, the current day in which her former teacher is being accused by many former pupils of sexual abuse and the past when young Vanessa was in a sexual relationship with this teacher. In the "past" chapters, she is incredibly naive and thinks that they're in love and this is a romantic relationship but in the current chapters, she starts to realize she was just one of many whom this teacher groomed and abused. My only complaint is the author really did make it seem like Vanessa's fault in the beginning by having her actively pursuing this relationship which felt really icky. Of course he definitely groomed her for it and let her think she was in control but it quickly spiraled. I gave the book 4 stars and will pick up another book by this author whenever she publishes something new. 

Defense for Magical Animals-

Care of Magical Creatures

A: Firefly: The Big Damn Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel. So I apparently didn't have any books with "fire" in the title so I picked up this cookbook from the library.  I loved Firefly the show and this cookbook is written mostly from Kaylee's perspective, although the recipes are contributed by every member of the team. It really had a plausible reasoning why they would put forth certain ideas. The thing that made me angry though was each recipe was marked as gluten free, vegetarian, and/or vegan. As someone who has been gluten free nearly 8 years, I was shocked that many of the recipes that were marked gluten free were in fact, NOT gluten free. Just for the record, soy sauce, barley malt syrup, and cous cous- all contain gluten. I was angered that the author didn't do even a little bit of research before marking the recipes. I gave the book 2 stars (mostly for the great pictures)

E: Stranger Planet by Nathan Pyle. This was a cute compilation of comics featuring aliens doing typical human things and pointing out the humor in those situations. It was cute and enjoyable so I gave it 3.5 stars.

Just two more reads to finish my extras! I've read a ton this month and I'm pleased that most of the books have been really great.

August TBR (last N.E.W.T.s readathon)

This August is going to be the last round of N.E.W.T.s before G changes the readathon. 

I've decided to aim for the career of Trader of Magical Tomes which has 5 books required. I'm also going to take the extracurricular options of Locomotive Operator, Magical Shop Management, Defense for magical animals, and merpeople linguistics. In total, I will need to read 12 books.

Trader of Magical Tomes:

E in Ancient Runes-

Book by an author whose name starts with "B"- The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett

A Classic- Passing by Nella Larsen  

A in Charms-

A humorous book- How to be a Normal Person by TJ Klune

E in History of Magic-

Historical Fiction-Crippen by John Boyne

A book with a mostly black cover- The Shadows by Alex North

Locomotive Operator:

E in Muggle Studies

A comic- American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang

An author of a different race- Take a Hint, Dani Brown by Talia Hibbert

Magical Shop Management:

A in Arithmancy- 

Read a nonfiction- Spilled Milk by K.L. Randis

Merpeople Linguistics:

E in Herbology

Flowers on the cover- A People's History of Heaven by Mathangi Subramanian

An impactful book- My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell

Defense for Magical Animals:

E in Care of Magical Creatures

Fire on the cover or in the title- Firefly the Big Damn Cookbook by Chelsea Monroe-Cassel

Something Short- Notes of a Crocodile by Miaojin Qiu

I may sub out a few of these because they have long wait lines at my library and I may not get them in time. Or it could be a matter of mood. Either way, this is what I want to read.

July Wrap Up #2

In the latter half of July, I have read 8 books.

I was in the mood for a fast paced thriller and found it on Hoopla. I decided to read The One by John Marrs. This was a slightly futuristic thriller about an app that can match you to your soul-mate using DNA. The story followed five people/couples and how the app affected their lives. The plotlines weren't always realistic but very compelling to keep reading. I gave the book 3 stars.

Then I read the graphic memoir about a young Korean woman who was forced into sexual slavery during World War 2. It was called Grass by Keum Suk Gendry-Kim and was a devastating story. I gave it 4 stars.

I wanted something a bit lighter after that so I picked up Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal. A light story about a young Indian woman living in England teaching a community of Punjabi women how to write, which turns into writing erotica. I gave the book 3.5 stars because it started kind of slowly.

Next I listened to the audiobook of The Test by Sylvain Neuvel. It is a novella so I will only say that it is a sci-fi story about a man taking a citizenship test. It was very compelling and I gave it 4 stars.

Completely on a whim, I picked up ...And Then You Die of Dysentery by Lauren Reeves. I thought this would be a collection of essays about the early computer game called The Oregon Trail but it was literally a picture book with some short memes and pictures pixelated to look like they came from the game. It was a waste of time and I don't know why anyone would publish it. I gave it 1.5 stars.

I was recommended Where We Go From Here by Lucas Rocha translated by Larissa Helena. It's a YA contemporary story of three young men living in Brazil and dealing with HIV. I think it is an important topic that still has a lot of stigma and misinformation and I pleased to learn Brazil has a good healthcare system in place to treated those affected. I gave it 3.5 stars.

Next I picked up Quackery: A Brief History of the Worst Ways to Cure Everything by Lydia Kang and Nate Pedersen. This was such a fun book to read and helped me understand that people literally has "snake oil salesmen" at one point in history. It was well written and each chapter focused on a different "cure." I did think it ran a tiny bit long at the end, which had less interesting content and the authors' sarcasm and snarkiness become a bit much sometimes. I gave it 4 stars.

Lastly, I finished the short story collection Exhalation by Ted Chiang. I absolutely loved the first short story and a few others included but others were only "okay." I now understand which it is often referred to as "literary science fiction" as some stories has very little science fiction elements and focused more on universal truths. I really enjoyed his writing and feel confident I will pick up his other short story collection. I gave this one 4 stars.