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.