Mid October Wrap Up

 In the first half of October, I've finished/DNF'd 8 books.

I'll start first with the DNF. After 117 pages of Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemme, I put the book down. The writing was nice but the story was incredibly slow and I just wasn't in the right mood. I may pick it up again in the future but felt forcing myself to continue might put me in a slump so I decided not to finish it.

I read The Vela and wrote its own review in a previous post.

I re-read Nevermoor and Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend in preparation for the release of the third book in the series which comes out later this month. These re-reads were both 5 stars. I loved re-visiting the worlds and picked up more this second time around.

Eagerly I picked up A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. This is a fantasy set at a magical school. However, there are no adults and the school is constantly being infiltrated with harmful magical creatures/demons. Our protagonist is incredibly powerful but not well liked and she works hard to find alliances who will watch her back. I loved almost everything about this story, except the shoe-horned romance and occasional YA whininess. I gave it 4.5 stars and am excited for the sequel.

Another new library hold came in so I read The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. The story focuses on a woman who is unhappy with her life so she attempts suicide. While in limbo between life and death, she visits a library which allows her to pick books that contain parallel lives she could've had by making different choices. I was wishing for a bit more sci-fi elements that it actually contained. This read like contemporary and was reasonably entertaining, but didn't leave much of an impression on me. The ending is sweet and the book definitely was uplifting and contained some good messages. I gave it 3 stars.

I finally picked up the poetry collection Perseverance by Raymond Antrobus. He is a mixed race Deaf poet who writes about his experiences feeling like he's on the outside. A few of the poems really impacted me and I will likely pick up future collections. His style reminded me of Danez Smith but with less grim themes. I gave it 4 stars.

Lastly, I read Allie Brosh's new graphic novel Solutions and Other Problems. This was for the most part, hilarious. There were chapters where I was literally gasping for breath. Some chapters are more serious too as she includes some of the difficult things that have happened in the 6-7 years since her last book. My only complaint is that it was a tad too long. Some chapters were just not necessary. I gave the book 4 stars.

ARC Review of The Vela by Yoon Ha Lee, Becky Chambers, Rivers Solomon, and S.L. Huang

 This was a very unusual ARC for me to receive. Instead of being a traditionally published book that I could buy as a physical or ebook source, this book is available via the website and app called Serial Box. I received an ebook copy to read. The book is published as a season and chapters are called "episodes." 

The story is a political science fiction focusing on a sniper called Asala who is called upon to look for a missing refugee ship. She is accompanied by the leader's adult nonbinary offspring named Niko. The solar system is in decline with many planets fighting over limited resources. As they look for this missing ship, they realize there is much more going on than they initially realized. While this is a great story on the surface, there are also important messages about refugee crises, climate change, sexual and gender identity, and racial discrimination layered in the book as well. 

It is odd for a book to be authored by four different people but for the most part it worked. Each chapter was written by one author, each of them taking turns. I could somewhat tell the differences within their writing styles but it wasn't distracting enough to take me out of the story. I gave the book 4 stars and have found out that season 2 is in the works now. I will likely read the sequel.

Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a copy.

October TBR

 Again, this month I am going to keep my list short. I am still reading a book from September's list as well so I'm only going to add 5 more books to my list.

1. Nevermoor: the trials of Morrigan Crow by Jessica Townsend

2. Wundersmith by Jessica Townsend. I am re-reading these in preparation for book 3 which will be released at the end of the month.

3. A Deadly Education by Naomi Novik. I love magical schools so this sounds great!

4. Plain Bad Heroines by Emily M. Danforth. This is a great month for a horror/mystery.

5. Fifty Words for Rain by Asha Lemmie

I have a few library holds so I may read more but I'm not committing to more than this.

September Wrap Up #2

 In the latter half of September, I read 3 books.

My favorite book of the month was Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell. This was a historical fiction focusing on Shakespeare's family, specifically his son Hamnet who dies from the bubonic plague. The author does an amazing job making the characters feel real and the grief that Hamnet's mother goes through after the death absolutely made me sob. The writing is gorgeous and the pace is slow but has a way of drawing the reader in. I gave the book 5 stars and was overjoyed when it recently won the Women's Prize for fiction.

Then I finally read the third installment of The Mirror Visitor installment: The Memory of Babel by Christelle Dabos. I loved that we got to visit a different part of the world and find out even more about God and the history of the world. I really liked the scenes at The Pole, revisiting beloved characters from previous books. I wish there had been more of that to be honest. However, that ending made me gasp out loud. I'm eager to see how this series will finish off. I gave the book 4 stars.

Lastly, I read the ARC After Elias by Eddy Boudel Tan. I did a single review in the previous post so I'll just tell you I gave it 3.5 stars.

ARC Review of After Elias by Eddy Boudel Tan

After Elias by Eddy Boudel Tan is a heartbreaking novel about a man named Coen whose fiancé dies mere days before their wedding. The fiancé Elias, is a co-pilot who dies in a plane crash that also kills over 300 other people. The story is told in alternating chapters. The present moving forward after the crash and the past moving backwards as Coen examines his 8 year relationship with Elias and grapples with the fact that there was a lot he didn't know about Elias.

As you might expect, Coen is dealing with severe depression and that doesn't always make for a reliable narrator. I had very mixed feelings about this book. I liked the realistic portrayal of depression, his relationships with his friends, and the alternating timelines. Additionally, I felt the writing was beautiful without being overly flowery. Here's an example: "All they can do is try to make sense of what is in front of them. To be human is to be limited- to be hopelessly, desperately small." However, there were a few inconsistencies within the story that didn't make sense logistically and which felt placed there to artificially create an emotional moment. I gave the book 3.5 stars.

Trigger warnings for sexual assault, self-harm, attempted suicide, and death of a loved one.

This book will be published on October 6, 2020. Thanks to Netgalley for providing me with a free copy in exchange for my honest opinion.

September Mid-month Wrap Up

 Thus far, I've read 4 books. That's lower than normal but some of these books were longer than my typical read.

I re-read A Winter's Promise and The Missing of Clairedelune by Christelle Dabos in preparation for the third book. I enjoyed these even more the second time. I think the world building is great and I am eager to learn even more.

Then I picked up The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. This has been so hyped that I was sure I would be disappointed but it lived up to it. This is somewhat of a retelling of Passing by Nella Larsen. The book is about two light-skinned black sisters who go their separate ways. One decides to "pass" as a white person, marrying a white man and leaving her family behind. The other sister lives as a black woman and raises a dark-skinned daughter. The story is about the sisters but also about their daughters who go on to meet. I loved the very realistic characters and learned about colorism within the black community. I would've given this book 5 stars except the ending seemed very abrupt, almost like she didn't know how to end the story. Even with the unsatisfying ending, I gave the book 4 stars.

Lastly, I read Cottonmouths by Kelly J. Ford. It is set in a small rural town in Arkansas. Emily has failed out of college and makes her way back to her parent's house. She reconnects with her former best friend and childhood crush. This book is like watching a train wreck as Emily's life falls more and more apart. After a bit of a slow start, by the second day I couldn't put it down and finished it in two sittings. I gave it 4.5 stars and will definitely read anything else this author puts out. 

September TBR

Part of me wonders why I even bother making TBRs when I have a difficult time sticking to them. It does help me prioritize the new books I'm waiting on from the library but I'm definitely a mood reader. Probably even more so since the Pandemic. Here are some books I think I'll read this month:

1. The Memory of Babel by Chistelle Dabos translated by Hildegarde Serle. This is the third book in the quartet to be translated into English so I will be re-reading the first two, and then will read this one.

2.  After Elias by Eddy Boudel Tan. This is an ARC coming out in October.

3. The Vela by Becky Chambers, Yoon Ha-Lee, Rivers Solomon, and S.L. Huang

4. Hamnet by Maggie O'Farrell

5. The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I've been on my library's waiting list for months but I think I'll get a copy this month.

I have a few others I want to fit in, but I don't feel like committing to more than this.