I hoping this will be a better month but if I find my reading doesn't want to follow a list, then I will stop making them. I'm going to aim for 4 books.
1. Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid
2. The Space Between Worlds by Micaiah Johnson
3. A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
4. Ink and Bone by Rachel Caine
Well, this was by far my worst reading month. I read two books.
The first was a re-read of The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune. This was magical, hopeful, and delightful. I gave it 5 stars yet again!
The last book was The Sun Down Motel by Simone St. James. This was a creepy supernatural mystery about a young woman who disappeared and her niece trying to piece together what happened 35 years later. I really enjoyed the mystery and felt compelled to keep reading. I ended up giving it 4 stars.
I've DNF'd many more books than I normally do. In the first half of 2021, these are the books I stopped reading:
Kent State by Derf Backderf. This is a graphic biography of the Kent State shooting of anti-war protesters in the 1970s. I read about 40 pages but felt I needed more background knowledge to read this. Additionally, the print was really tiny and the artwork did a poor job in making characters look distinctive so I knew who was in the scene. Also, it's a super depressing topic and I found myself not wanting to pick it back up.
The Liar's Dictionary by Eley Williams. This was just an example of a book not being for me. I found it boring, with little to no intrigue. I read about 95 pages before giving up.
Parable of the Sower by Octavia Butler. I didn't read very far into it before giving up. I am not in the mood for dystopian with a dangerous and charismatic leader. I will try again at some point.
Kink: Stories edited by R.O. Kwan and Garth Greenwell. This is a collection of short stories focusing on the BDSM lifestyle. I'm very open-minded and thought I'd enjoy this. However, I read 4 stories which all included something not sexy that took me out of the story. For example, talking about dirty sex and then thinking about gutting a fish, religious ideations, and a woman having sex even when she didn't want to. After loathing picking up the book, I finally decided to quit. This was a difficult decision because this was an ARC and the only ARC I've ever refused to finish and review.
Lost at Sea by Bryan Lee O'Malley. This is a graphic novel about a group of teens making a road trip. I stopped roughly 40% of the way through, mainly due to boredom. I felt the characters weren't well fleshed out, the plot was weak, and the art style was nothing special. It's a bummer because I've read his work before and enjoyed it.
The last one is Sick and Tired: An Intimate History of Fatigue by Emily K. Abel. This is a nonfiction book about the history of fatigue and how it long wasn't considered a medical problem, just a symptom of other illnesses. I read three chapters but it was very dry and I wasn't in the right place to read it. I will likely pick it back up at some point, but wrong timing caused me to DNF.
