#readingupdates

Hey People of Earth!

I recently started a new series on this blog (titled above), where I reflect on the last few books I’ve read. I’m doing this mostly to keep myself accountable because I’m notoriously bad at committing myself to reading. So far, reading has been far greater than it’s been in the past--I’m definitely getting into the rhythm of things. I read some amaaaazing books this time around (since approx. November), and these are them:

1. The Darkest Legacy by Alexandra Bracken

This is book four in The Darkest Minds series, and was just recently released (last summer). Whilst I’ve drifted from YA in the last few years, this series was such a huge favourite of mine when I was younger, and I thought I’d give this book a go for nostalgia’s sake. Also, I truly admire Alex as an author, and wanted to support her! Here’s the summary:

Five years after the destruction of the so-called rehabilitation camps that imprisoned her and countless other Psi kids, seventeen-year-old Suzume "Zu" Kimura has assumed the role of spokesperson for the interim government, fighting for the rights of Psi kids against a growing tide of misinformation and prejudice. But when she is accused of committing a horrifying act, she is forced to go on the run once more in order to stay alive. Determined to clear her name, Zu finds herself in an uncomfortable alliance with Roman and Priyanka, two mysterious Psi who could either help her prove her innocence or betray her before she gets the chance. But as they travel in search of safety and answers, and Zu grows closer to the people she knows she shouldn't trust, they uncover even darker things roiling beneath the veneer of the country's recovery. With her future-and the future of all Psi-on the line, Zu must use her powerful voice to fight back against forces that seek to drive the Psi into the shadows and save the friends who were once her protectors.

What drew me to it: Like I mentioned, its mother series was a mega favourite of mine in grade 8, and whilst I’ve grown out of YA, I was curious to see where the story went, five years in the future. I read about 60% of it on page, and listened to the rest on and of over the course of a few months. I started it in August, and finished it on New Year’s Eve. Not the fault of the book, that’s totally me being Very Bad at commitment. I’ve really enjoyed Alex’s novels in audiobook format, and this one was no exception (I think, if I were to read it again, I’d listen to the audiobook: it’s like listening to a television show!)

My rating: 3/5

Why: This is really due to the fact that I no longer am very interested in YA. In all truths, I got into YA early, and got out of it even earlier because apparently I am a sixty year old woman?? I started my journey with YA in grade seven, and it ended around the end of grade eight. After that, I had trouble finding YA books I could enjoy/relate to, not that the books were any less, or bad because of this, but because I was just an injustice to them (I’ve always been a strange reader). This is why I don’t really read YA anymore because I feel like I rate them unfairly because I’m not super big on the category anymore. It just (rightfully) didn’t give me what I’m most currently interested in in books (horrible people; horrible relationships; morally grey protagonists), because of course the category is different to what I read now! With that said, I think, if I’d read this book in my Peak YA Moment (grade 7-8), I’d definitely have given it a 5 star rating. It was super entertaining and funny and nostalgic, and made me miss a series so pivotal in my writing journey. If you love YA, and this series, I think this book is definitely worth the read! That was a thiccccc tangent. 

2. Past Lives, Future Bodies by Kristin Chang

This is a really quick poetry collection (that I spoiler: looooved). This is the summary:

PAST LIVES, FUTURE BODIES is a knife-sharp and nimble examination of migration, motherhood, and the malignant legacies of racism. In this collection, family forms both a unit of survival and a framework for history, agency, and recovery. Chang undertakes a visceral exploration of the historical and unfolding paths of lineage and what it means to haunt body and country. These poems traverse not only the circularity of trauma but the promise of regeneration—what grows from violence and hatches from healing—as Chang embodies each of her ghosts and invites the specter to speak. 

What drew me to it: @shaelinwrites rec’d it to me on my last update, and I fell in love with the premise. I’m *cheap* so was very excited to be gifted it by my Grandma for Christmas. (I actually read it on Christmas!)

My rating: 5/5

Why: Kristin Chang is literally so skilled with her use of the line break? I was shook? This is my second collection of poetry that I’ve read, following (no shade) Rupi Kaur’s The Sun and Her Flowers, which, I felt kinda made the line break feel gimmicky? So this collection definitely reinvented it for me. Her poems are so punchy, and thoughtful, and you can truly feel the experience built into the backbone of every one of them. When I panic wrote some poetry for my writing class, I used it as comfort reference and was amazed at how deliberate she is with her words. I also found so much of its commentary on race so relatable. It’s definitely a collection I’ll keep re-reading. I’d recommend this if, like me, you’re just starting out in poetry--a perfect way to acclimate yourself to a new form!

3. God of Shadows by Lorna Crozier

*Rachel vigorously trying to diversify her reading.* The summary:

The poet Lorna Crozier has always been brilliant at fusing the ordinary with the other-worldly in strange and surprising ways. Now the Governor General's Literary Award-winning author of Inventing the Hawk returns with God of Shadows, a wryly wise book that offers a polytheistic gallery of the gods we never knew existed and didn't know we needed. To read these poems is to be ready to offer your own prayers to the god of shadows, the god of quirks, and the god of vacant houses. Sing new votive hymns to the gods of horses, birds, cats, rats, and insects. And give thanks at the altars of the gods of doubt, guilt, and forgetting. What life-affirming questions have these deities come to ask? Perhaps it is simply this: How can poems be at once so profound, original and lively, and also so much fun?

What drew me to it: At this point I’m just stalking @shaelinwrites​’ Goodreads because her reading taste is on pointttt. I’ve also been dying to read more poetry, and branch out into different forms of writing, so I can be a little *prepared* for school, so I thought I’d take a peek at this collection. 

My rating: 5/5

Why: This collection is so beautiful! I read it super quickly, and fell in love with the concept immediately. I think Crozier explored such unique ideas with super unique language, and I live for it. This collection gave me perspective on ‘gods’ I’d never even thought about. I’d definitely recommend it if you’re looking into reading some prose poetry!

4. The Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin

I finished this book today, and now have trust issues and feel like I’m in a constant state of wanting to cry. Here’s the summary:

If you knew the date of your death, how would you live your life?

It's 1969 in New York City's Lower East Side, and word has spread of the arrival of a mystical woman, a traveling psychic who claims to be able to tell anyone the day they will die. The Gold children—four adolescents on the cusp of self-awareness—sneak out to hear their fortunes.

The prophecies inform their next five decades. Golden-boy Simon escapes to the West Coast, searching for love in '80s San Francisco; dreamy Klara becomes a Las Vegas magician, obsessed with blurring reality and fantasy; eldest son Daniel seeks security as an army doctor post-9/11; and bookish Varya throws herself into longevity research, where she tests the boundary between science and immortality.

A sweeping novel of remarkable ambition and depth, The Immortalists probes the line between destiny and choice, reality and illusion, this world and the next. It is a deeply moving testament to the power of story, the nature of belief, and the unrelenting pull of familial bonds.

What drew me to it: I actually don’t know?? I put it on hold at my library in October, and was loaned it in January (looooong waitlist). So I can’t remember why I wanted to read it, probably because 1969 was in the premise lmao. I actually completely forgot about placing a hold on it because it’d been two months, so by the time I got the email notification, I’d forgotten what it was about. Oftentimes, I’m Bad, and leave my loans for weeks, forgetting about them, but I was intrigued by seeing I’d received this loan because I couldn’t remember placing it/why I placed it. I quickly re-read the summary, and immediately started reading because it reminded me a lot of the Haunting of Hill House sibling dynamic, and I was on board!

My rating: 5/5 stars soaked in all my tears

Why: This book is SO good, I literally can’t think about it too much because I will cry, lol. I’m not one to get emotional over books, but this book touched me in a place I didn’t know existed?? Like I didn’t know I had emotions before reading this book?? Apparently I do?? It also left me feeling stunned with a whole bucket of life lessons, and similarly to getting emotional, I’m not a reader to really take away a whole new worldview after reading something, but this book was like NOPE, here’s some THOUGHTS. I think I might’ve loved it so much because the four siblings it follows remind me a lot of my siblings (tag yourself I’m Klara, @sarahkelsiwrites is Varya). I too am a sibling of four with a similar composition to the novel’s (two boys, two girls), so the actual heartbreak of realizing that one day, there ain’t always gonna be four of us struck me so hard I was not prepared?? The characters are BEAUTIFUL, and my heart aches so much after finishing this, I almost don’t know what to do with myself... If you liked the sibling dynamic in the Haunting of Hill House (me!!), you’ll probably dig this book. Benjamin’s writing is also gorgeous; straightforward, but so detailed and lush at the same time. I don’t often see books in third present, so this was a delight for me to read. Also: I’m no expert on any of the topics in this book, but to me, a Fool, this book felt so well researched? This isn’t something I ever notice in books, but it surprisingly really added to the reading experience. 

TL;DR: I’m literally an emotional wreck because of this book and have a whole new perspective on life, if you too want to be an emotional wreck, defs join in on the fUN.

So that’s it for this reading update! All of these books in this update were wonderful! Making me antsy to read more for sure! I’m currently attempting to read more short story collections, so if anyone has recs, hit me up! ‘Scuse me while I go sob!

Hey People of Earth!

Since I’ve been on my (accidental) writing hiatus I’ve been doing some reading and wanted to share the most recent stuff. As a preface, I don’t read very much, and have fallen out of touch with my love for reading--all of this being stuff I really want to change! So as a petition to get better at reading, I’ve opted to start this series and post an update at least bimonthly. This means, come the new year, I’ll hopefully be reading at least two books a month (pls)! If you have recs, throw them my way!

I don’t really talk about my reading preferences on here, but in short: adult litfic about girls or weird relationships = I love. Here’s a run down about what I’ve been reading as of late (in order of which I read them, since October):

1. The Sun and Her Flowers by Rupi Kaur

I don’t really remember this collection very much (I read it in October), so I can’t really say what it’s about, but here’s the summary if you’re interested:

Divided into five chapters and illustrated by Kaur, the sun and her flowers is a journey of wilting, falling, rooting, rising, and blooming. A celebration of love in all its forms.

What drew me to it: I’m not going to comment very much on this collection because it wasn’t really my style, and I didn’t really enjoy it. I kiiiiiiiiind of needed to up my Goodreads goal, sooo I borrowed this at the library aaaaand I’m not *super* happy about that decision hahaha

My rating: 1/5

Why: This collection kind of hurt to read, like physically, lol. There were some good ideas I enjoyed (like her commentary on culture), it was just the actual writing that I didn’t love very much? It wasn’t super memorable, and the collection read as one giant poem to me. However, I can see the appeal, it just isn’t my style!

2. Dead Girls and Other Stories by Emily Geminder

Dead Girls is a short story collection comprised of nine stories, so it was a rather quick read! Here’s the summary:

With lyric artistry and emotional force, Emily Geminder’s debut collection charts a vivid constellation of characters fleeing their own stories. A teenage runaway and her mute brother seek salvation in houses, buses, the backseats of cars. Preteen girls dial up the ghosts of fat girls. A crew of bomber pilots addresses the ash of villagers below. And from India to New York to Phnom Penh, dead girls both real and fantastic appear again and again: as obsession, as threat, as national myth and collective nightmare.

What drew me to it: I was browsing short story collections so I could get into reading more as I’ve recently started getting into short fiction, and this one popped up. The short summaries for the first few stories in the summary intrigued me, and when I read the first few pages off Amazon, I was lowkey amazed?? I bought her right away lol. 

My rating: 3/5

Why: I finished this collection two days ago, and oh boy was it a ride. I think the strongest stories are Houses, Choreograph, and Dead Girls. Beyond these three stories, I didn’t enjoy the collection as much. Nothing bad in particular, I was just pretty neutral on most of the stories. I found some of the stories meandered a little at some points, and I couldn’t grasp onto a lot of the others. I think the strongest story is definitely Dead Girls--if you can get your hands on this collection, this is a story I’d for sure recommend you read! 

3. What It Means When A Man Falls From The Sky by Lesley Nnekah Arima

I finished this collection yesterday! It’s comprised of twelve stories. 

A dazzlingly accomplished debut collection explores the ties that bind parents and children, husbands and wives, lovers and friends to one another and to the places they call home. In “Who Will Greet You at Home,” a National Magazine Award finalist for The New Yorker, A woman desperate for a child weaves one out of hair, with unsettling results. In “Wild,” a disastrous night out shifts a teenager and her Nigerian cousin onto uneasy common ground. In "The Future Looks Good," three generations of women are haunted by the ghosts of war, while in "Light," a father struggles to protect and empower the daughter he loves. And in the title story, in a world ravaged by flood and riven by class, experts have discovered how to "fix the equation of a person" - with rippling, unforeseen repercussions. Evocative, playful, subversive, and incredibly human, What It Means When a Man Falls from the Sky heralds the arrival of a prodigious talent with a remarkable career ahead of her.

What drew me to it: This collection was an interesting one for me. I was initially drawn to it because of the bomb story summaries, but found it was super difficult to get into. I don’t know if this was just because I was reading it at 2AM, or if the first three stories and I just weren't vibing, but after the first three, it was a much quicker read!

My rating: 3.5/5

Why: I enjoyed this collection quite a bit, but looking back, I can’t exactly remember why? It’s like a solid 3.5. The strongest story for me was Who Will Greet You At Home (I also enjoyed Light quite a bit)! Even though it’s only been a day, I can’t remember the stories all that well. I almost felt like some of them ended too quickly/I wanted to see a little more before the end. I’d recommend this collection if you need a quick read, but there are definitely a few stories I could’ve skipped out on. 

4. Lullabies For Little Criminals

This is the first novel I’ve read since the summer (oops) and I finished it just a few days ago! It took me foreeeevveeeerrrr to read (not the fault of the book, that’s def on me), however, I really enjoyed it! Here’s the summary:

At thirteen, Baby vacillates between childhood comforts and adult temptation: still young enough to drag her dolls around in a vinyl suitcase yet old enough to know more than she should about urban cruelties. Motherless, she lives with her father, Jules, who takes better care of his heroin habit than he does of his daughter. Baby's gift is a genius for spinning stories and for cherishing the small crumbs of happiness that fall into her lap. But her blossoming beauty has captured the attention of a charismatic and dangerous local pimp who runs an army of sad, slavishly devoted girls—a volatile situation even the normally oblivious Jules cannot ignore. And when an escape disguised as betrayal threatens to crush Baby's spirit, she will ultimately realize that the power of salvation rests in her hands alone. 

What drew me to it: It’s been on my to-read list for a while since seeing how much @shaelinwrites liked it, and someone else I know also liked it a lot! I didn’t even read the summary when I started reading because I wanted to experience it as I went.

My rating: 4/5

Why: I really enjoyed this book. It’s so thoughtful and my heart hurt so much during and after reading?? The characters were so well thought out and Heather O’Neill’s writing was amaaaazing. I spam read the last half in a day because it was sooooo good. I think there were a couple ideas I would’ve liked to see be more fleshed out, but if you’re looking for a really good book, this one is definitely one of my new favourites!

So that’s it for this little reading update! Let me know what you think, and send recs if you have any! 

I didn't get off of work until six, so I only got some reading done today. BUT tomorrow is a day off, which means reading as much as I possibly can! 

(Along with registering for classes and housework and stuff, but you know. That can wait.)

Currently Reading: The Raven Boys

Need to finish "The Raven Boys," and "Breakfast Served Anytime" before...

July 10th, when the Read-A-Thon starts up again.

My July Read-A-Thon TBR List includes:

Cinder

To All The Boys I Loved Before

Toxic

Grand total of books read for the Readathon: 2. UGH.

I finally finished "The Leftovers" on Friday. I will try some of Tom Perrotta's other works, but fair warning, "The Leftovers" is very bleak.

I have no idea if I'll do the July readathon, since it'll be during the middle of Camp NaNo.

My 'To Read' List for the next few weeks:

What I thought was True (Currently reading)

To All the Boys I've Loved Before

Toxic

Clockwork Angel

The Raven Boys

Cinder

We Were Liars

The Last Forever