June TBR

 I seem to read about 4 books a month so I'm going to keep this short.

June is Pride Month so I'm hoping to squeeze in some queer reads!

1. The Betrayals by Bridget Collins

2. The Yield by Tara June Winch (I don't think it's queer but it's my book club book.)

3. All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks

4. Rubyfruit Jungle by Rita Mae Brown

5. (if time permits) a re-read of The House in the Cerulean Sea by T.J. Klune

May Wrap Up

 So while I didn't read many books this month, I read two amazing ones. I also DNF'd one that will be added to my DNF list that I hope to publish in late June.

Four Winds by Kristin Hannah. I was excited for a Depression-era book that focused on the Dust Bowl and the fate of farmers in the Midwest. The story is about a young woman who is unloved and shunned by her family. When a guy gives her some attention, she sleeps with him and she becomes pregnant. She moves in with his family and works the farm until the Dust Bowl hits. The rest is her trying to survive and keep her family alive too. I liked it but felt the author purposely made an ending that was emotionally manipulative. This has happened in all three books of hers that I've read and it ruins it. I gave it 3 stars but won't read her again.

Love and Pajamas by Catana Chetwynd. I found this cute graphic novel on my library app and decided to read it. The art is simple and focuses on a woman and her boyfriend. It felt very relatable but also fragmented; more like a series of comic strips than a story. Because there wasn't a cohesive narrative, I gave it 3.5 stars.

Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston. Wow! I love magical school settings and this fantastic. I'm glad it will be a series because I need MORE! It focuses on a young girl whose brother disappeared 6 months prior. She gets a secret message from him and an initiation into a secret magical school. There she learns new skills, makes friends and enemies, and tries to find her brother. 5 stars.

Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir. I felt so lucky to get another 5 star book after the previous one. This is Weir's third novel and by far his best! A man named Ryland Grace wakes up with amnesia on a space ship and tries to work out why he's there and once he remembers that, he tries to find a solution to the problem that put him in space. The book made me laugh out loud multiple times, gave me a new favorite character "Rocky" and literally made me tear up at the end. The world-building is wonderful, the science and math are a lot, but easy enough to get the gist. This damn well may be a new favorite book...I'll have to sit with it to be sure but Wow!

May TBR

I recognize this is a bit more ambitious than normal but I've really been enjoying reading again and I'm hoping to read a bit more this month.

1.  The Coffin Ship: Life and Death at Sea During the Great Irish Famine by Cian T. McMahon  (This is a nonfiction ARC)

2.  Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir

3. American Gods by Neil Gaiman

4. All the Young Men by Ruth Coker Burks

5. Amari and the Night Brothers by B.B. Alston

6. The Four Winds by Kristin Hannah

7.  Abaddon's Gate by James S.A. Corey

8.  How to be a Movie Star by T.J. Klune

April Wrap Up

 This month I read 4 books and DNF'd 1. I'll include my DNF'd books in a separate post.

I read Broken (in the best way) by Jenny Lawson. This is her third book I've read and I found it just as funny and poignant on the topic of mental health as her previous two. There were moments where I related so hard to her struggles and other times where I literally laughed out loud at her absurd situations. Definitely recommend and I gave it 5 stars.

Next I picked up Magic Misfits by Neil Patrick Harris. A middle-grade mystery to do with circus folk, magicians, and con men. I really enjoyed this story and loved the author-narrated audiobook. I gave it 4 stars and intend to read the rest of the quartet.

My hold from the library came in so I read the graphic memoir The Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna. The book details his rocky birth in war-torn Cambodia and his family's survival of the Khmer Rouge. This was illuminating and horrifying. I gave the book 4 stars.

The last book I finished was The Ground, and the Galaxy Within by Becky Chambers. I enjoyed this so much. The premise is that four aliens are stuck on a "truck stop" planet and learn more about each other's culture and history. While this was not my favorite in the companion series, it was heart warming, sweet, and engaging. I gave it 5 stars.

So, I'm reading less but my ratings have been very high. Quality over quantity.

Life Update

 My mental and physical health have been tanking recently. I've been diagnosed with another ailment that basically can only be treated, but ineffectively so I'm a great deal of pain and/or discomfort. This has been it increasingly difficult to focus on reading. Because of this, I've decided that in order to try to reach my goals, I really should limit reading books from the library because I'm not making a dent on my owned TBR. It also doesn't help matters when I keep buying more books. However, sometimes a bit of retail therapy can boost my mood so I'm not going to put myself on a book-buying ban.

I do have 2 ARCs coming up that I will make efforts to read early and review but many of my goals this year will likely not be reached and I will just have to make peace with myself. I seem to be able to read 4-5 books a month and I have to remind myself, that's pretty good.  Sure, compared to 10-12, it's a bit meager but quality, not quantity is something to keep as my mantra.

It's weird how this pandemic has really changed my reading. I used to love dreary sad literary books and now I primarily want escapism through science fiction and fantasy. I'm especially enjoying children's books because they always contain some hope, even if they focus on sad subjects. I'm curious if my reading tastes will change back, or if this will be more permanent. 

April TBR

 Well, my slump continues so I'm going to curate a very small list of books I hope to get to in April.

1.  The Galaxy and the Ground Within by Becky Chambers

2. Broken (In the Best Possible Way) by Jenny Lawson

3.  The Familiars by Stacey Halls

4. Kent State by Derf Backderf

5. Year of the Rabbit by Tian Veasna

March Wrap Up

I usually wrap up my reading in at least two parts, but this month I only read 5 books. 

I started off March reading my ARC The Lost Apothecary by Sarah Penner. I've written a separate review so to sum up, I gave it 4 stars.

Eagerly, I read The Push by Ashley Audrain. It has been compared to We Need to Talk About Kevin by Lionel Shriver and I loved that book. It is very similar, but unfortunately it didn't do much new with it and there weren't any twists I didn't see coming. It was enjoyable during the time but ultimately forgettable. I gave it 3 stars.

Since I was participating in Middle Grade March, I then read A Song for a Whale by Lynne Kelly. This was a sweet story of a Deaf child wanting to help out a whale that sings in his own pitch and cannot communicate with other whales. While the story was good, I found part of the plot very implausible. I gave it 3 stars. I think children would like this better than I did.

I was in the mood for funny when I choose I Want to be Where the Normal People Are by Rachel Bloom. I have seen her t.v. show and thought she was fun and wacky and I would enjoy her essays. While the writing is standard, some of her stories were just so hilarious. I listened to this on audiobook that she narrates herself, and I highly recommend it. 4 stars.

Lastly, I finished Act Your Age, Eve Brown by Talia Hibbert. This is the third book following the Brown sisters and focuses on the youngest of the three, Eve. She is a hot-mess and impulsively decides to interview for a cook job at a B&B. She and the owner do not like each other at first, but the quickly warm to each other. This is my least favorite of the three, but I still found it compulsively readable. I award it 3 stars.