My company gave us a 5-day weekend for 4th of July, and I majorly enjoyed myself. I've got some pictures to share but first need to share my June reading!
I have 10 books to share this month, 9 that I read and 1 audiobook. My total for the year is up to 62, well ahead of my goal. Yay! 4 were written by BIPOC, 2 were non-fiction, and they were all a mix of genres, it was a great month of reading.
The Lost Queen by Signe Pike - This was a lush historical fiction story about the daughter of a ruler in ancient Ireland. It took me a minute to get into it, but once I did, wow-ee. It was very, very good. You can tell the author did a lot of research about this time period and is a talented author. There's a second book, and I'm definitely going to read it ASAP.
It's In His Kiss/On the Way to the Wedding/The Other Miss Bridgerton by Julia Quinn - I am definitely having a love affair with Julia Quinn books. I finished the last 2 Bridgerton series books and enjoyed them both. It's in His Kiss was one of my favorite of the whole series, so I love that they didn't lose steam as the series went on. I also started a Bridgerton 'prequel' series, the Rokesbys, and accidentally read the 3rd one instead of the 1st. Didn't matter, thoroughly enjoyed! Very typical Victorian romance novels but super well written and a lot of fun!
You Should See Me in a Crown by Leah Johnson - YA book that covers so many topics are my jam, and this one definitely fit the bill! Liz has her college plan in place...until she doesn't get the scholarship she needs to afford her dream school. BUT in her town, winning prom queen means winning a scholarship. So Liz decides to go for it - all while dealing with being one of the few Black students at her school, having a brother who is sick, being gay but not ready to share that with the world, fights with friends, and everything else that is hard in H.S. I thought this could have very easily veered into a super cheesy story, but it didn't! This covered some tough topics but was thoroughly enjoyable and the ending made me cheer!
Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult - Woof. I'm going to struggle to put my thoughts for this one into words. As a *basic* story, this was super engaging. A black nurse is not allowed to help take care of a white supremacist's baby. When the baby dies, the nurse is charged with murder. BUT I mega struggled with this book. This hit on so many tropes - white savior complex being a big one. I also didn't like that the white author wrote a big chunk of the book in the voice of the black woman. I also felt like she took every little stereotypical racial story she'd ever heard or read about it and put it in this book - I could probably list 10 off the top of my head. The author did have a note at the end explaining her thought process for writing this book which helped me understand her POV better, but it still didn't sit super well with me. As a fiction story, it was captivating. But I felt icky reading it.
So Close to Being the Sh*t Y'all Don't Even Know by Retta [audiobook] - I love Retta from Parks & Rec. She is just someone who makes me smile and laugh. I thoroughly enjoyed listening to her audiobook {I love hearing celebs read their own books!} and liked that she shared behind the scenes stories from Parks & Rec and general Hollywood stories but also loved the whole book - she touched on body image, her obsession with Hamilton - which I feel so so so deeply - and tons of other stories. Very enjoyable!
The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton - Holy cow, this was amazing. I was sobbing by the end. Ray was wrongfully convicted of murder in Alabama in the 80s and spent 30 years on Death Row. Bryan Stephenson {of Just Mercy fame and founder of EJI} was the lawyer who helped get his conviction overturned. Ray's story hit every emotion - the injustice of our justice system infuriates me, the way prisoners are treated disgusts me, the hope Ray kept throughout his experience moved me...this book is a MUST READ. At the end Ray lists every person currently {as of the writing of the book} on Death Row and encourages the reader to read every name. I did and it took quite a while and was extremely emotional about it when I finished. Our system is broken and Ray's story highlights that, but he also seems to be an amazing person, and I feel lucky to have been able to read his words.
The Midnight Library by Matt Haig - As delightful as everyone says! Nora is hovering between life and death and ends up in a library with infinite possibilities to see how her life would have been different if she had made different choices. I've always wondered about this - one tiny decision made differently and your whole life could be changed. I was engaged the whole time reading this and especially loved the ending. My co-worker has said all of this author's books are great, so I'm excited to pick-up more!
The White Tiger by Aravind Adiga - I picked this for the June session of the BFBC. Emily described it as 'meh'. While I feel a little bit better about it, it wasn't my favorite. I struggle with dark books, and this was definitely dark. But at the same time, while the main character isn't particularly likeable, he's very engaging as he tells his story of rising from extreme poverty in India to becoming a driver for a rich family to an entrepreneur. My boss recommended this movie as almost half of our group is in India, and I do want to watch the movie. If you like dark comedies, I think this would be a good one to pick up.
So what do you think of my reads? Anything sound like you'd enjoy it?
