June Review

July is here. Time for hasty trips to the river before they turn slimy green and full of staph infection. It's already shaping up to be a busy month, and with a new puppy who doesn't have all his shots yet...it's going to be interesting.

I am still attempting with the youtubes so if you'd rather watch my review, that's up: Here

In June I read 6 books. Here are the breakdowns:

Format:

2 - Audio Books
2-  Hard Cover
1- Soft Cover
1- Graphic Novel
0 - E-Books

Genre:

1 - Literary Fiction
1 - Middle Grade Adventure
1 - YA Scifi
1- Historical Re-telling
1 - Contemporary Romance
1 - Horror

Star Ratings:

0 - 1 Star
0 - 2 Stars
3 - 3 Stars
1 - 4 Stars
2 - 5 Stars

With an average rating of 3.83

Pages:

160
336
394
290
275
285

With an average of 58 pages per day.

Around the Year in 52 Books:

11) read a literary fiction book
15) A book with a unique format/writing style, as its told in journal entries and emails
41) Read a book with an authors who's first and last name has the same initials
10) Read an author's debut book (their first book published)
45) A book that intimidates/scares you

Book Reviews:

Sing, Unburied, Sing by Jesmyn Ward Narrated by: Kelvin Harrison Jr., Chris Chalk and Rutina Wesley

Published September 2017

This book follows multiple perspectives: Jojo is a thirteen year old who's mother is black, and who's father is white, and he's trying to figure out what it means to be a man. Leonie is a black mother of two children who have a white father. She struggles with herself as she wants to be a better mother but has a hard time putting her chidlrens' needs before her own, particularly her drug use. And Richie, a ghost of a boy who carries the ugly history of the south with him. He has more to teach Jojo about fathers, sons and legacies.

I found this book confusing for the most part. Don't get me wrong it's beautifully written and narrated but it was hard to separate some of the flashbacks with the current story. At times there were flashbacks with in flash backs. I almost feel like this was another book that made of have gotten a better rating from me had I read it physically rather than through audio. Much like The Restaurant at the End of the Universe by Douglas Adams, perhaps at some point I'll read the physical version (maybe) but as of right now it just fell short. Otherwise it was otherwise interesting. My heart broke for Jojo and his sister Michaela as they confirm that their mom and dad just aren't their for them and wont understand them, and it was interesting to get the perspective of their mom and her inner thoughts, her inner struggle as she wants to be a good mom but ultimately fails. This may be a bit of a spoiler but I had hoped she would redeem herself in the end, just some kind of hope for Jojo and Michaela but as the end neared all I found myself wanting them to just leave their kids with Pop's and just leave them be, which they ultimately pretty much did. I think I'd have liked them realize their wrongs and be good parents, but alas, the ending that it was, as unfortunate as it was, was a bit more realistic. 3 out of 5 stars

This book completes challenge 11) read a literary fiction book

As Small as an Elephant by Jennifer Richard Jacobson

Published March 2011

Ever since Jack can remember, his mom has always been unpredictable, loving and fun one minute, other time caught in a whirlwind of "spinning" energy the next. But he never thought she'd leave in the middle of the night, leaving him alone at their campsite three states away from home. Now with no way to reach her and hardly enough money for food, any other kid might report their mom missing, but Jack knows he needs to figure things out on his own particularly how to get from the backwoods of Maine to Boston before DSS catches on. With only a small toy elephant for company, Jack starts his journey south, testing his wits and his loyalties.

So I gave this a 3 out of 5 stars, but I couldn't tell you why I gave it that rating. The author's writing was over all enjoyable. The elephant theme was cute and over all enjoyable through out the book (I particularly enjoyed the elephant facts they had at the start of chapters, and the cover art is adorable). This particular view point is something I feel is important, because I feel like more children than we know are going through similar situations in which they do not have a reliable parent/guardian due to some kind of mental or physical illness and were taught by that said guardian how to avoid curious adults, how to lie when asked certain questions and how to in general, stay out of the system, as they grow to distrust that system. I was happy that Jack was able to figure out that his mom still loved him but wasn't able to take care of him the way she's meant to, and that his Grandma's not crazy. Though as a character Jack and his mom frustrated me, I understand that kids in this predicament may very well make the decision Jack made, that those who have a mental illness like Jack's mom may not have the right medication to help them feel "normal" as opposed to lethargic/not themselves, or may feel so good on their medication that they don't think they need it anymore. I understand these situations, that doesn't make me enjoy them. I think I rated this book lower because of my irritation with the topic really. That there are parents out there that don't understand or wont admit that they're not what's right for their children when they're off their medication, but wont or can't get the medication they need to give their child a better upbringing, and instead isolate the child and manipulate them so the parent wont get into trouble. I think I'm irritated because we have some messed up systems in the United States that don't help our mentally unstable community members to the full ability that we could, that our systems re-traumatize the kids time after time again because those systems believe re-unification is better than the kids mental state. It's weird that that impacts the feelings I have towards this book. I still suggest it, I still think it's an important read.

The Lonliest Girl in the Universe by Lauren James

Published September 2017

Romy Silvers is the only surviving member of The Infinity crew set to voyage to a new planet to establish a second home for humanity. Alone on this spaceship, Romy is the loneliest girl in the universe, that is until she gets news about a second space ship that has launched from Earth with a passenger who calls himself J. Romy can communicate with J but due to their distance, e-mails take months to pass through the vacuum of space, yet Romy finds herself falling in love.

Ok...I read this in one day. If I could have read it in one sitting I would have. I rated this a 5 out of 5 stars, with the understanding that I thought there were a couple flaws but mainly because I could not put this down and I loved this book! This book kept me on the edge of my seat. It was thrilling and it was creepy. I kind of predicted some twists but they still surprised me in how they were executed. Romy as a character, I had some slight issues with just because I felt she acted young for her age? or perhaps I just wanted to connect with her better so I kept thinking she was older than she was. There were a couple aspects of this book that forced Romy to be more adult than what should have been asked of her at her age, however, in her circumstance, she didn't have much of a choice, I think with that I kept thinking she was older, but then she didn't apply that to every aspect of her living situation or her personality, which was fine, it just brought me out of the story a bit and gave a disconnect with Romy and myself. Overall I felt for Romy, to be in her situation I think I would have panic attacks on the regular, as being in trapped in space alone sounds like my nightmare. As I was reading this book, there was a constant tension in my chest as the book added stressful situation after stressful situation to Romy's life, and reading her work through them was entertaining to say the least.

This book completed challenge 15) A book with a unique format/writing style, as its told in journal entries and emails.

Circe by Madeline Miller Narrated by Perdita Weeks

Published April 2018

Forgive me but I enjoy Goodread's summary of this book and feel like that's the best to describe this book:
              "In the house of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, a daughter is born. But Circe is a strange child - not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother. Turning to the world of mortal for companionship, she discovers that she does possess power - the power of witchcraft, which can transform rivals into monsters and menace the gods themselves.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult crafts, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all mythology , including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

But there is danger, too, for a woman who stands alone, and Circe unwittingly draws the wrath of both men and gods, ultimately finding herself pitted against on of the most terrifying and vengeful of the Olympians. To protect what she loves most, Circe must summon all her strength and choose, once and for all, whether she belongs with the gods she is born from or the mortal she has come to love."

This book was beautifully written and wonderfully narrated. The story of Circe is one I have not heard of before, yet was familiar as it was being told. Her path entangles with some of the most famous of stories from Greek myths, it was fun to hear from a different perspective by one who was there during the birth of the Minotaur, the daughter of the Sun God and how she viewed them as time went by. It was all very interesting and entertaining I had a hard time stopping. I seem to be a sucker for books about Gods and American Gods by Neil Gaiman is one of my favorites of all time, and this book Circe, although not quite as up there as American Gods is still in my top favorites. 5 out of 5 stars.

This book completed challenge 41) Read a book with an authors who's first and last name has the same initials.

The Kiss Quotient by Helen Hoang

Published June 2018

Stella Lane believe math is the only thing that connects everything to the universe. She creates algorithms to predict customer's future spending. A job that gives her more money than she knows what to do with. But Stella has Asperger Syndrome, also known as High Functioning Autism, which makes her obsess over her work, and gives her less experience being intimate with another person. It doesn't help that french kissing reminds her of pilot fish cleaning out a sharks mouth. Her parents want her to get married, to start having kids, where they feel a 30 year old should be. Stella doesn't like the idea of being intimate with someone, let alone babies, but she doesn't want to disappoint her parents, so she hires and escort to teach her how to be intimate, sex and all.

So I did a spoiler review of this book HERE so I won't talk about it too much here, but ultimately, I felt this book took a couple themes from E.L. James's Fifty Shades series, none of which were good. Stella I loved, she was funny, intelligent and awkward and had amazing character growth. Michael was hot but had issues that were a constant reminder and were excuses not to be happy. I felt like this book could have been written better.

Over all, as much as I'd like to give this book a higher rating, for Stella alone, I brought it down because of Michael. Three out of five stars.

This book also completed challenge 10) Read an author's debut book (their first book published)

Clean Room written by Gail Simmone, Illustrated by John Davis-Hunt, Colored by Quintio Winter, lettered by Todd Klein and cover art by Jenny Frison

Published June 2016

Journalist Chloe Pierce has no idea why her fiancee decided to blow his brains out all over their remodeled kitchen, she does know it has something to do with the book he picked up three months ago by self help guru Astrid Mueller. Now Chloe will stop at nothing from infiltrating Mueller's clandestine organization to find out the truth behind her fiancee's death and the "Clean Room" she's heard whisper's about, a room where your deepest fears are exposed and your worst moments revealed.

"What the fuck" was my first thought after finishing this intense graphic novel. The art is interesting enough where most everyone is in this rather "basic" comic illustration style (that sounds weird as everyone illlustrates in their own style but this just seemed very dull to me) with a rather gory accents to it's violent and paranormal themes. What I appreciated about this is the clean ending, where everything kind of wraps up nicely enough to where you get what's going on in the story but leaves you with just enough questions to want to buy the second volume. That's how I'm presently feeling despite this fear of nightmares.

This completed challenge 45) A book that intimidates/scares you.

And those are the books I've read in June, if you've read any of these, let me know your thoughts, I'd love to discuss with you.

Until next time!

Litta