November Reading Wrap-Up+

First, what happened to November? What do you mean it's already December? I am not prepared for that. October felt like it went at a somewhat normal clip but November was a real blink and you miss it situation. 

Second, I dunno what's going on with comments on here. I'm working on it. Slowly. Basically I have a plug in for comments and it's been acting up for...honestly who knows how long. A long time. So I'm trying to figure that out. 

Third, I am tired. And sore. I guess putting up Christmas decorations, which I did the other day, was too much for me. Am I ready for the holidays? Yes I am. I mean, I am ready for some more time off. Am I ready like I have anything done or planned? No, no I am not. So I'm sure this month will also go super fast because stuff is going to sneak up on me.

But hey, why don't we just get to those stats. 

It's a little lighter this month than the past few. In part because I had a hard time getting into books for a bit here. Then the little monster has moved on from me reading to him till he falls asleep to listening to Harry Potter audiobooks. And I was right in the middle of Sarah Vowell's Unfamiliar Fishes which I know I could just finish on my own, but I haven't done that yet. 

I also read The Wayside School Collection which includes Sideways Stories from Wayside School, Wayside School is Falling Down, Wayside School Gets a Little Stranger and Wayside School Beneath the Cloud of Doom by Louis Sacher but I never counted it for some reason. And since it's made up of 1/2 re-reads and 1/2 new stuff, it seemed too complicated to try to count it as one long book and since I read it between last month and this, I really don't feel like going back and re-doing October to account for what I read when. I like tracking my stats but I am also quite lazy when I fall behind.

Number of books read

4

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

Witchcraft for Wayward Girls by Grady Hendrix

I actually started this book back in February and while I enjoyed it then, I found the book a little hard and things in the world were a little...depressing and while I was enjoying it I couldn't do it right then. Plus my library hold got returned and it was a long wait to get it back. Not that I waited for that, I just bought the audiobook* knowing I was going to want it eventually. Well, eventually came.

The story is about, as the title says, witchcraft for wayward girls. Unwed pregnant girls living in a world before Roe v. Wade who find themselves at a home in middle of nowhere Florida where they can have their babies, give them up for adoption and then go back to their old lives. The girls don't even learn each others' names, instead going by plant names like "Rose" and "Fern". The girls are given strict rules to follow by adults who "know what's best". Then Fern meets a librarian who gives her a book about witchcraft and makes her feel powerful. But at what cost?

This has all the hallmarks of a Hendrix book, which I love. Well-rounded female characters, a premise that feels a bit silly (the book is called "Witchcraft for Groovy Witches" afterall) but that is treated seriously and thus, the story is tense, moving, upsetting. There is horror (gory moments, body horror) though I wouldn't say this is as scary as some of his other stuff. Not in the traditional way. But the trauma that the girls go through, it was rough to read at times. By the end though, I loved it. It's not my favorite of his stuff but it's probably one of the strongest ones.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Julie Chan is Dead by Liann Zhang

This story is wild. Every time I thought I figured out what the story was and where things were going, we'd take a turn and be somewhere entirely new. And not in a "twist for the sake of twists" frustration. It was crazy and fun. Julie Chan's life isn't going great. When she was young, her parents died in a car accident and she and her twin sister were split up. She was taken in by a disgruntled aunt who resents having to raise Julie (and never lets her forget it) while her sister was adopted by a wealthy white couple and became a rich and famous lifestyle influencer, living the seemingly perfect life. The sister's never really spoke (save for when Chloe used her sister for a viral video). But one day, Julie gets a strange call from her sister and not long after, she finds Chloe's dead body and the police think Julie is Chloe. 

Julie is now trying to fit in to her sister's life, in part to try to figure out what happened, but in larger part to take part of the life she feels she deserved. Of course, that picture perfect life was anything but. Julie isn't the most likable character, which made the story work so much better, especially as things amp up with an influencer retreat on a private island. Thrills and twists and funny and nuts.

Rating: 4 stars

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

An astronaut love story. Joan has always loved space and when she is chosen to be among the first class of women to join NASA in the summer of 1980 and try to become an astronaut she is thrilled. The story flips between the days in astronaut training, getting to know the other cadets and 1984 when a tragedy happens on the space shuttle and Joan is on the ground, doing what she can to help get the astronauts home.

The story was a bit slow and the the timeline jumping felt like more of a gimmick at first, though it's something that grew on me as the story went on. I won't say too much to avoid spoilers but just saying there is a love story, the world can be deeply unfair, and I was definitely crying on the plane as I finished the book (while also texting a friend about my feelings about certain characters who I am still mad at).

Rating: 4 stars

The Wild Robot by Peter Brown

See, I thought I cried at Atmosphere. And then I read The Wild Robot to Matthew, a book that I thought would just be a fun book about a robot and animals. HAHAHA joke's on me. I didn't know much about the book when I picked it up, other than I saw it on a lot of lists for "books to read to your kid" and I vaguely knew about a movie made based on it that was supposed to be good. 

This book. Roz (ROZZUM unit 7134) is a helper robot that finds herself washed up on the shore of a remote island. She doesn't know why she's there or what her purpose is, the animals on the island see her as a monster and she is battling storms as she tries to survive. She slowly learns from the animals and  integrates herself into this strange world, even adopting an orphan gosling. The story doesn't shy away from death, though surprisingly that's not where the tears came from (or at least not the main place). But Roz's relationships with the animals, trying to find where she belongs, and what she does when her past catches up to her. Whew. The movie too. Beautifully (BEAUTIFULLY!) animated and just as lovely of a story and we are already reading the next book and when I am emotionally ready, I'm sure I will come back to this. 

Rating: 5 stars

Total pages read

1,406

Fiction

100%

Female authors

50%

US authors

75%

BIPOC authors

25%

Format

audiobook: 75%

ebook: 25%

Where'd I get the book

indie: 25%

library: 75%

Decade published

2010s: 25%

2020s: 75%

Resolution

25%

Julie Chan is Dead is by an Asian-Canadian author

*Using Libro.fm if you want to support small biz for audiobooks!