August Reading Wrap-Up+

Oh man, August is done. Summer is fading and we're moving into fall.

August was a big month over our way. We moved. Again. We spent the last few months trying to buy a house. We did not succeed (hence some of that sulking I mentioned in the last post). And unfortunately we could not extend the lease on our rental to get us through the school year (because the little one is not so little anymore and just started kindergarten!) so we had to move. We're currently living out of boxes and will likely be doing this whole move all over again next summer. So some stress is...maybe not alleviated but we'll say pushed to the side till it gets to come back again in a few months. 

Total books read

4

Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace Perry

Eligible: A Modern Retelling of Pride & Prejudice by Curtis Sittenfeld

This is, as the title says, a modern retelling of P&P, set in the mid-2000s primarily in Cincinnati (with some stops in Houston, San Fran and NYC). A question I kept coming back to as I listened to this was "Why"? I'm not opposed to retelling of stories. I'm a fan of Pride & Prejudice & Zombies, so it's not even that I think this is a story that shouldn't be touched. But I didn't really understand the purpose. It kept surprisingly close to the original source material, which made things awkward or nonsensical for current time. Or when things were updated they fell a bit flat. The barbs traded between Elizabeth and...well most people (Darcy, Caroline) don't have the same sparkle of the original, maybe because there is more bluntness. But despite all this, I did stay and listen through to the end vs dropping the book early so it caught enough attention for that

Rating: 3 stars

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney

I love discovering people who are not only readers but ALSO have similar reading tastes to myself, because then I get to dig through their reading lists and find lots of new titles to check out. In this case, a coworker and I realized we're both readers, we're now Goodreads friends, and I'm pretty much adding her full reading list to by TBR. Starting with this thriller. Couple Adam and Amelia win a weekend away at a remote former church turned B&B type thing, in a last ditch attempt to try to save their marriage. But something seems off. They're cut off due to a winter storm but someone seems to be at the church with them. There are also flashbacks via anniversary letters to help explain how we got to this point. There are twists. There are turns. There are things I didn't see so I won't spoil it here but this kept me guessing and the twists and turns felt earned.

Rating: 3.5 stars

The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood

I am loving the genre of older forces-of-nature ladies solving murders (Thursday Murder Club, Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers). Here slightly eccentric Judith (lives in a dilapidated mansion, wears a dramatic cape while riding her bike around town, drinks cheap whiskey, regularly skinny dips in the Thames behind her house, surprised everyone seems to know who she is) witnesses a murder. But no one seems to believe her so she takes on the investigation herself. Eventually teaming up with some other women in town that she would otherwise never have talked to, and they decide they need solve the murder happening in their quiet town. 

It seems unfair to compare this to the other books I mentioned above because those two are SO GOOD and I love them SO MUCH. This one is...not quite up there but still good and I will still be reading the others in the series.

Rating: 4.25 stars

The 2000s Made Me Gay: Essays on Pop Culture by Grace Perry

I was going to say I wish Goodreads had a way to track where you heard of a book going on your TBR list. Except, it most certainly has the option to do it and I just...don't track that. So I can't remember where I came across this book to add to my TBR but "contributor to the Onion writes essays about pop culture and how they intersect with her identity" sounds pretty great, so I'm not surprised it ended up on my list. The essays look at different pieces of pop culture (Buffy, Glee, Taylor Swift, to name a few) and how they contributed to Perry's identity as "gay as hell". The essays were funny with poignant moments and I enjoyed revisiting some of that 2000s pop culture.

Rating: 4 stars

Total Pages Read

1,382

Fiction

75%

Female authors

75%

BIPOC authors

0% 

US authors

50%

Book format

audiobook - 100%

Where'd I get the book

library - 100%

Decade published

2010s: 25%

2020s: 75%

Resolution books

50%

Rock, Paper, Scissors by Alice Feeney and The Marlow Murder Club by Robert Thorogood are both by UK authors

July Reading Wrap-Up+

This month was less successful for reading. Or...not less successful but just less of it. Probably because this month was also very stressful and I wasn't in the mood for doing much of anything but sulking. (I'm still in a sulking mood.) Which has lasted some additional days since I wrote this and the never bothered publishing it.

But instead of focusing on sulking, let's look at this fun bookish puzzle I got cos that is where I'm now at when it comes to wild nights these days.

Anyway, hey book stats, eh? 

Total books read

3

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us To Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

(I also started Severance by Ling Ma and while I think it could have been good, it wasn't the right choice for me at the time. )

The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill

A woman goes to the Boston Public Library to work on her novel. While there, she (and others in the Reading Room) hear a scream. she strikes up a friendship with a few other folks about what could have been happening and starts to work these new friends into her novel. When it turns out the scream was from a murdered woman, there is a crime to solve. BUT ALSO, this woman is a character in another story, which we learn about via letters from a beta reader, giving feedback on the chapters. I was intrigued by the mystery(ies) presented but wished we got a bit more of the beta reader piece. Some of the details didn't necessarily make all that much sense or maybe I missed a key detail (always a risk when doing an audiobook).

Rating: 4 stars

When Books Went to War: The Stories That Helped Us to Win World War II by Molly Guptill Manning

A history of WWII and how much soldiers wanted books. A bit about Nazis and book burning, a bit about how paperback books became a thing so that soldiers could have books with them that were lighter than traditional hardback books. WWII is not a period I typically find myself drawn to. This was no different. It's a bit like the rules of football: no matter what, I can't make myself care. Books are great. I'm a fan. I don't know that I totally understand how these helped win the war. I guess the argument is keeping up morale. 

Rating: 3.25 stars

My Best Friend's Exorcism by Grady Hendrix

I love this book. I was recently traveling for work and saw someone on the airplane reading this. Had this trip not involved a 4 hour delay and getting home after midnight instead of like 8pm I probably would have said something to this lady. BUT ANYWAY, this is at least my third time reading this. A story of friendship, in particular those friendships that you have as children. Yes, the story involves demonic possession and also the '80s so it gets a little silly but also legit scary and yes, it does make me tear up.  Who knew this Southern horror writer would be SO GOOD at teen girl friendships? (Me, I knew, cos I've read this before.)

Rating: 5 stars

Total pages read

889

Fiction

67%

Female authors

67%

BIPOC

0%

US authors

67%

Book format

audiobook: 100%

Where'd I get the book

library: 100%

Rereads

33%

Book club

33%

Decade published

2010s: 67%

2020s: 33%

Resolution books

33%

The Woman in the Library is by an Australian author

June Reading Wrap-Up+

Oh boy, I can't believe we are already well into summer. We just had a very busy long weekend (hence the delay getting this out) which is great but also exhausting. I was going to say it's also been a stressful month and honestly, yes, it was that, but also it's been stressful for a while so I can't entirely blame that (work stuff! house stuff! big things that are stressful on their own and very rude to combine together)

Since I'm already late with this, why not just jump right in to those stats

Total books read

6

World War Z by Max Brooks

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

A Libertarian Walked Into a Bear by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

Is It Hot In Here? by Zach Zimmerman

Unmentionable by Therese Oneill

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

World War Z by Max Brooks

I mean, come on. What is there to say at this point? Per my own tracking, this is roughly the 9th or 10th time I've read this since I first came across it, over 10 years ago. And let's be real, this isn't the last time I'm going to read it either. Or listen. This is one of the books that is that much better (IMO) as an audiobook.

Rating: 5 stars

Black Cake by Charmaine Wilkerson

How much do we know our parents? What were they like before we came along? What did they have to endure to get to the point where we knew them? These are all questions that come up as siblings Benny and Byron grapple with after their mother dies, leaving them a piece of their mother's famous black cake and a long voice recording. The story slows a bit when it deals with the kids current lives (especially Byron's) but comes together when hearing the mother's story. 

Rating: 4.5 stars

A Libertarian Walked Into a Bear: The Utopian Plot to Liberate an American Town by Matthew Hongoltz-Hetling

"A tiny American town's plans for radical self-government overlooked one hairy detail: no one told the bears."

What happens when a group of libertarians decides to move en masse to a small New Hampshire town in an effort to create a libertarian utopia and hopefully spread the message of small government. Except sometimes those rules and regulations the government tries to impose have an actual reason. Like having bear proof garbage cans or fines for feeding the bears, so the bears don't, you know, associate people with food and then think of people AS food. The book is entertaining with a number of colorful characters. The story started as a magazine article and TBH, the article gets you all of the key points while the book felt a bit padded without adding too much.

Rating: 3 stars

Is It Hot In Here (Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth)? by Zach Zimmerman

A collection of essays by a comedian who grew up in a conservative Southern household before becoming a queer, liberal New Yorker. His essays are (for the most part) very funny, particularly the chapter dealing with a very drunk twink and a date gone wrong. There were touching moments as well as he thinks about his relationship with his family or revisiting a relationship through their trips to Paris (and how those changed over time). 

Rating: 3.75 stars

Unmentionable: The Victorian Lady's Guide to Sex, Marriage, and Manners by Therese Oneill

Picture this: you're somehow sent back in time to the Victorian era. Sure, you may know about this time from the books you read, but do you know all of the ins and outs to the more delicate bits of day to day life for an upper-middle-class lady in either the US or Western Europe? This book hopes to address all of this. Sometimes the tone was a bit...much. But overall the book was funny and informative, which made up for some of the bits that made me eye roll a bit.

Rating: 3.5 stars

Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

Queenie, a Jamaican-British mid-20 year old living in London is going through a rough time. She and her boyfriend are taking a break and things are spiraling a bit for her as she tries to find somewhere to live, keep her focus on her job and figure out what is it she wants to be. Queenie is constantly making choices that make me want to throw the book across the room but not in a way that frustrated me with the story. Instead it felt like a real person looking for comfort and validation in all the wrong places. Despite the frustrations with her, I wanted to know what she was doing and how she was going to find the strength to hopefully pull herself up

Rating: 4.25 stars

Total pages read

1,890

Fiction

50%

Female authors

50%

BIPOC authors

33%

US authors

83%

Book format

audiobook: 83%

ebook: 17%

Where'd I get the book

gift: 17%

Kindle/Audible: 17%

library: 67%

Rereads

17%

Book club

17%

Decade published

2000s: 17%

2010s: 33%

2020s: 50%

Resolution books

33%

Black Cake is by a Black author

Queenie is by a Black and UK author

May Reading Wrap-Up+

My streak of reading an unusually high (for me) number of books seems to be at an end. I suppose I couldn't keep it up especially when I didn't know what I was doing to make it happen in the first place. This month was especially low on reading time because of vacation which in past times meant extra time for reading but turns out entertaining a 4 year old means there isn't a lot of time to read. But between time at Disney World and a Disney Cruise, we did have plenty of time to meet Mickey

Many Mickey encounters. And zero interest meeting anyone else.

Let's see those stats

Total books read

4

Now Is Not The Time To Panic by Kevin Wilson

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Now Is Not The Time To Panic by Kevin Wilson

One summer in the mid-90s two misfit teenagers in a small Tennessee town meet and create a poster with the words "The edge is a shantytown filled with gold seekers. We are fugitives and the law is skinny with hunger for us." With the use of a stolen photocopier, they paper the town with this poster. And people go nuts. It's a town-wide mystery that expands to the whole country. Are Satanists behind it? Some sort of cult? What does it mean? The reaction seems outsized given what it was but panics can be started over dumber things. Now 20 years later, a reporter has reached out to the now-adult Frankie to confirm if she is behind the poster and the panic. A coming of age story, the role of art and how the intended meaning might get distorted. The story is a bit tedious and as I said, the panic seems overblown, especially as it expands beyond the small town. 

Rating: 3 stars

The Cabin at the End of the World by Paul Tremblay

This has a great opening. A young girl, Wen, is playing in the yard of a cabin in the middle of nowhere New Hampshire when a big man comes up. He's friendly, helping her catch grasshoppers until he stops and tells her that none of what is about to happen is her fault. Then 3 other strangers show up, wielding strange weapons as this big man Leonard yells that her dads won't want to let them in, but they have to help them save the world. What follows is horror and suspense and some very hard moments. It wasn't quite what I was expecting but even when I was (metaphorically) watching it from between my fingers, I wanted to know more.

Rating: 4 stars

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting by Clare Pooley

First there was Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers. Then, I came across Iona. And Listen, I'm going to need 100 more books that center on force-of-nature women who meddle in the lives of strangers around them because I loved that book and I loved this one. Iona Iverson has strict rules for her daily commute, such as never talk to those around you. Sure, you can have fun nicknames for them but you don't get involved. Everyone is just trying to get to work. But one day Sexist Manspreader starts to choke and is saved by a nurse, leading to a chain reaction between a number of regular commuters. The book is funny and light and I need more books like this, please and thank you.

Rating: 5 stars

The Rosie Project by Graeme Simsion

Following Iona (and being on vacation) meant I was looking for something that was similar in tone. Lighthearted, funny, sweet. I also had the added requirement of something that I already had since I had failed to download a book before my vacation and since we were on a cruise, internet access was spotty at best. Seemed like a good time to re-read The Rosie Project, a sweet rom-com about a genetics professor Don who has trouble with social interactions. In an effort to find love, he embarks on The Wife Project, a detailed questionnaire to help him find the right partner. When his friend sends over a grad student Rosie, he finds she fails key questions. But she also has her own project, trying to find who her real father is. As a genetics professor, Don can help her here and more than that, finds he wants to spend time with Rosie, even when logically it doesn't make sense. I've re-read this a number of times and I love it each time

Rating: 5 stars

Number of pages read

1,175

Fiction

100%

Female authors

25%

BIPOC authors

0%

US authors

50%

Book format

audiobook: 50%

ebook: 50%

Where'd I get the book

Kindle/Audible: 50%

Library: 50%

Rereads

25%

Decade published

2010s: 50%

2020s: 50%

Resolution books

50%

Iona Iverson's Rules for Commuting is by a UK author

The Rosie Project is by an Australian author

April Reading Wrap Up+

I don't know what it was about April but I really had trouble getting into a reading groove this month. Some starts and stops. Some lack of motivation to read. A lot going on in the month that is enough of a mental distraction I didn't necessarily want to read. Also I currently have a trial of satellite radio and thus have been listening to the 90s station in the car instead of listening to books. Even with all that I still did get through a decent amount of books.

Since I don't have a good why, let's just get to the what. And by "what" I mean those stats.

Total Books read

5

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana 

The Importance of Being Earnest by Oscar Wilde

I found my Kindle and I hadn't read this in a while but it was short and I remember it being funny. And it is. I felt like I'd rather watch it than read it, but then tends to be the same with any play. It's hard to find something to say about a book that has been around so long as is well know. It's funny and ridiculous and at times feels like a "best of Oscar Wilde" collection of quotes, but that's not really a fault in the play. (Though does remind me of when I was in high school a fellow student claiming Shakespeare used some cliched line when the teacher had to point out that line originated with Shakespeare, so wasn't really cliched at the time)

Rating: 4 stars

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn

Four women of a certain age (60) have spent their lives working as assassins for "the museum" but they're all retiring and taking a lovely cruise as a retirement gift from the company. But of course things can't be that simple (because if they were that simple then this book would be short and boring). Instead they seem to be targeted by someone that works for the Museum. Now they have to figure out why they're being targeted and what they can do to make sure their retirement doesn't end too soon. It has less of the humor I was assuming, perhaps unfairly, since I was comparing this to The Thursday Murder Club books but it's a fun mystery and I do appreciate some variety in protagonists

Rating 3.75 stars

Like a Mother: A Feminist Journey Through the Science and Culture of Pregnancy by Angela Garbes

I didn't read many pregnancy books when I was pregnant. Really just one, Expecting Better. Despite no longer being pregnant by a good few years, I had seen this one floating about and my library finally got a copy so I thought I'd check it out. I think if I was actually pregnant it would have been more helpful and more interesting. Instead it was...fine. I liked what it was doing, taking away some of the judgement  that I have heard (though haven't read so couldn't say first hand) can be in found in books like What To Expect. It's part memoir, chronicling Garbes own questions when she was pregnant, and looking for information instead of rules of what women were and (very often) were NOT to do. The bit on breastfeeding comes off a little more on the rules side, with a few side mentions of "but maybe some women can't". Being someone who didn't for a variety of reasons, this section felt more preachy and because a bit of a turnoff.

Rating: 3 stars

Maybe In Another Life by Taylor Jenkins Reid

I read this for book club and I'll say that I enjoyed it more than the consensus of the group. A sliding-doors style story, where we follow main character Hannah, recently returned to her hometown after jumping from city to city looking for what is right for her, through 2 different paths her life could take based on one decision: does she stay out with her old high school boyfriend or go home with her friend she's staying with? The chapters alternate showing what her life would have been like depending on this one choice. At the heart it's a love story (stories?) and how much role does fate play in our lives. There is a bit at the end I liked but would be a spoiler so I'll leave out. However, the writing for this was just OK and the characters are a bit weak. To quote a fellow book clubber "Liking cinnamon rolls does not a personality make". And I found myself nitpicking a lot of details that typically only happens when I find myself annoyed with the book. But I didn't hate it and sometimes you want something sort of mindless

Rating: 2.75 stars

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs by Sidik Fofana

I really wish I had it together enough to write down where I hear of books when I add them to my TBR list. I'm pretty sure this was a list of best new books in 2022 or something of that nature and would happily give credit if I had a memory better than that of a goldfish. The book is a collection of interconnected short stories all dealing with residents of a low-income high rise in Harlem. A new owner has taken over the building and residents are struggling to meet their current rent, let alone deal with rent hikes as new management is trying to push people out in order to get market-rate tenants in. The characters feel real and fully formed, each with a different and unique voice. The audiobook helped with this certainly (they had different voice actors for each short story, including Bahni Turpin who has read a number of books I like and it seems silly to get exciting for a narrator but hearing some bad ones makes you really appreciate someone so good), but the writing carries it as well. There is no mistaking a Mimi for a Quanneisha. My only real complaint is because the stories are interconnected it felt like there was going to be an over-arching narrative that would come to some kind of conclusion by the end. However, even without that this was an excellent collection.

Rating: 4.25 stars

Total pages read

1,240

Fiction

80%

Female authors

60%

BIPOC authors

40%

US authors

80%

Book format

audiobook: 80%

ebook: 20%

Where'd I get the book

library: 40%

gift: 40%

Kindle: 20%

Rereads

20%

Classics

20%

Book club

20%

Decade published

1890s: 20%

2010s: 40%

2020s: 40%

Resolution books

60%

The Importance of Being Earnest is by an Irish author and from before 2000 (by a good amount)

Like a Mother is by a Filipino-American author

Stories from the Tenants Downstairs is by a Black author

March Reading Wrap Up+

I don't know why I got so much reading done in March. Or how. I wasn't making a concerted effort to do so. Maybe it's just the momentum of the month with all of the birthdays (and by all of the birthdays I mean mine and Tom's). Maybe it's because some library holds came in and I had to get to them. Maybe it's because I had two 4-hour flights in the month and needed something to do on the plane (though really, I only read on the way back).

Since there's a lot to get through this month, why don't we jump into the stats? 

Total books read

8

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Guide to Unapologetic Living by Jes Baker

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

Me, Myself and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession edited by Elizabeth Benedict

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made the Modern World by Steven Johnson

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

The Lying Game by Ruth Ware

I have to be honest, I'm not 100% sure why I keep picking up Ware's books. Because for the most part they're fine. Fine overall with some detail or another that drives me up a wall. And yet, I continue to picking them up. Because there are a bunch of them and they're usually available at the library. Anyway, The Lying Game. It's fine. It takes a while to get into the story and the titular "Lying Game" seems to be treated as far more dramatic by the characters than seemed to make sense and also didn't end up having a huge amount to do with the central drama when they finally got into that. Once it gets to it, it's fine. It's built up a bit for what it is, but as I said, many of the reactions in the book seem outsized. But will I pick up another Ruth Ware book? Yeah, probably because it will be available and I won't have anything else in mind and I like a mystery, even if it's not great.

Rating: 3 stars

Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell

It's been a while since I've read much by Rowell. She's moved onto doing a lot of Simon Snow stuff and good for her, but not for me. This, however, is a collection of short stories about love. Teen love, 30-year-old love, married love, fantasy love and yes, even some Simon Snow love. I've read a couple of the short stories before in a book for World Book Day and the stories are just as sweet as I remembered them. Because for the most part, that's how I'd describe the stories. They're sweet. The stakes are for the most part low and for the most part cozy. That's not to say it's the same for every story, and things never felt repetitive. And she does revisit some past characters, like Regan from Fangirl and Beth and Jennifer from Attachments, which really makes me want to reread that one.

Rating: 4.5

Things No One Will Tell Fat Girls: A Guide to Unapologetic Living by Jes Baker

I can't remember why I originally added this to my TBR. I really should start adding notes when I add things to my Want To Read list. Except I'm never going to do that, because that requires more work than just clicking a button. Anyway, I can't remember why I put it on my list but who doesn't love some body positivity? The book was originally published in 2015 and while that really isn't very long ago, there is something about the book that felt very dated. The style of writing and the numerous references to Tumblr probably did it and honestly got a little tiring at a point. Overall the message is good, and the book itself was fine.

Rating: 3 stars

The Guest List by Lucy Foley

I was looking for some sort of mystery or thriller and this one was...available. I think I put it in the same bucket as Ruth Ware's stuff which as I mentioned just above, has been a bit of a mixed bag. I didn't really know what to expect. Good news is I was pleasantly surprised. It's got multiple narrators (love it) and switches back and forth between present and recent past until the 2 timelines intersect. A wedding of two rich, fancy people at an out-of-the-way Irish island during a storm and something goes wrong. Things seem off among a number of the guests and many people seem to have secrets. Lots of fun and everyone seems to be a suspect.

Rating: 4 stars

Me, My Hair and I: Twenty-Seven Women Untangle an Obsession edited by Elizabeth Benedict

Hair can be a funny thing. It can mean so much beyond just adornment or part of the body. It can represent culture and religion, aging and family. This is a collection of essays about hair and the role they have played in various women's lives. While there is some diversity among the contributors (though could be more) there is one trend you notice as you read through: most of the essays are written by women who live in and around NYC, are of a certain age (~60s at the time of writing), and went to a college such as Barnard. Multiple times the writers name drop specific stylists and I don't know if I'm supposed to know who they are (spoiler: I did not). Because of this there is some level of repetition and it would have been nice if perhaps we looked for a few different viewpoints.

Rating: 3.25 stars

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

I love this book so much. I had to take a work trip to Austin and was looking for something to read on the plane. I brought my Kindle with me so I'd have some choices and planned to read some true crime book I had bought a few years ago but never read. And then I had no desire to read it. But having recently read a different Rowell, she was on my mind, so I figured I'd give this a reread. That was so smart of me because I love this book so so much. It's so cute and so sweet and so funny and I wish I could be friends with all of them and when I realized I was getting near the end of the book I considered MAYBE I should restart the book as soon as I finish it because I wasn't ready for it to end.

Rating: 5 stars

How We Got To Now: Six Innovations That Made The Modern World by Steven Johnson

A story of how inventions and innovations have shaped the world in a number of ways that couldn't have been foreseen when people were first tinkering around. Like glass, first used to make decorations, later glassware, windows, eye glasses, fiber optics and all of the benefits that go along. The book has an interesting premise but was sort of dry for something that is supposed to be more of a pop history. It's an interesting premise and perhaps it would work better as an actual book (vs the audio kind). 

Rating: 3 stars

The Fortunes of Jaded Women by Carolyn Huynh

Three generations of Vietnamese women who have been living under a curse. No one in the fmaily will find love. No one will find happiness. And they are all doomed to have only...daughters! (GASP). Most of the family is estranged from one another going years, even decades between talking to each other, and when they do meet up, don't be surprised if fruit goes flying. But a psychic tells the family that there will be one death, one wedding and one birth in the year so the family makes efforts to grow and mend. There are multiple narrators which usually I love, though here I found it hard to keep up with who everyone was since there are SO many characters. The story had very funny moments but it was hard to say that it was actually a comedic novel. But overall I did enjoy the book

Rating: 3.75 stars

Total pages read

2,435

Fiction

63%

Female authors

88%

BIPOC authors

88% (though some authors in the Me, Myself and I book are not white, I just have Elizabeth Benedict the editor included as the author cos basically my tracker can't handle more than one author)

US authors

75%

Book format

audiobook: 75%

ebook: 25%

Where'd I get the book

Kindle/Audible: 25%

Library: 75%

Rereads

13%

Decade published

2010s: 63%

2020s: 38%

Resolution books

38%

The Lying Game and The Guest List are both by UK authors

The Fortunes of Jaded Women is by a BIPOC author

The (Reading) Freedom That Comes With Acknowledgement

I like tracking my reading. I really do. I find it helpful to know what I read, when I read it. I like the act of writing it down, of looking at what my totals look like, what were my reading trends

However, there was a negative I found in all of this. I tended to finish books. That sounds stupid as a negative right? Of course I finished books. That's the goal. But I tended to finish books EVEN if I wasn't enjoying them. Because I had invested time in them. Because if I didn't finish them then they wouldn't count towards my totals. Totals that do not matter at all. Something I am well aware of. But it still held me back unless a book was TERRIBLE.

Recently, I started a bullet journal of the books I'm reading. This is just to keep track of what my reading looks like, visually, over time. What days am I reading. Maybe a bit of how quickly or not am I reading.

I've found something else. I am less concerned about giving up a book that isn't clicking with me. Because I have it written here. It is acknowledged. It's still not counted towards any totals. I still "lost time" reading it that could have gone to something else. But who cares. I'll drop it and if it strike my fancy later, I'll pick it up again some other time. Or I won't.

To be clear, I don't entirely know why. It's not like I think the few people still reading this (hi!) care how much I'm reading or when. No one is actually keeping track, making judgements. But it is enough and it's crazy how many books I feel like I'm getting through without actively trying to read more.

We'll see if this keeps up or if things settle back to where they typically sit. But for now, I'm enjoying things.

eBooks, it's been a while

Did you know the last time I finished reading an ebook was in 2020? It was the book Toddlers Are Assholes: It's Not Your Fault by Bunmi Laditan. I'm sure the fact that I was dealing with my own toddler while in COVID confinement had nothing to do with that selection

Anyway, April of 2020 was my last ebook. Before that things were trailing off a bit. The ebook before that was December of 2019 (Fleishman Is In Trouble by Taffy Brodesser-Akner).

I didn't make a conscious decision to not read ebooks. It's just that once the little monster showed up and then I changed jobs to one that didn't require hours per day on public transportation in favor of one that required about an hour a day in the car, my reading switched over to audiobooks. In 2018, 50% of the books I read were ebooks. In 2019, that dropped to 12%. In 2020, it was just 2%. And then nothing. Not a single ebook in all of 2021 and 2022.

Why do I bring this up? Because, as I mentioned recently, I'm trying to do more non-audiobook reading in the evenings whenever I can grab a few minutes. It's an effort to go back to something I enjoy and spend less time scrolling through social media. So I've been reading the various books I have strewn around the living room and it's been mostly working out. But here's the thing. 99% of my books are packed away in boxes because we're only in this place temporarily. I do have a paperback book sitting in front of me I haven't read yet (American Dirt) but I'm not really in the mood for it. So I was trying to figure out what do I want to read? Do I dig through all of the boxes (so many boxes) to try to find a book I feel like reading?

Then I found my Kindle. The battery had long since died but I managed to find a charger that fit it and lo and behold, the thing turns on. And it turns out, I've downloaded books on there that I never read. Books that look interesting and that I would like to read. Good job, past me. 

Now I have some more books to read that won't require me to unpack a bunch of boxes and I can continue to read in the evening. 

February Reading Wrap-Up+

Alright, another month has passed. Better than January? Worse? Who's to say? It was a stressful month for me, which may or may not have affected the amount of reading I got done. Not that it was terrible but I feel like I had some fits and starts finding something I felt like reading and then finding the time to do it. But I still actually made it through a lot this month now that I actually look at those stats. This is why I track things instead of just relying on my thoughts. 

Let's look at this bullet journal for the month, because I have managed to keep up with this so far! 

Total books read

5

The Mothers by Brit Bennet

Klara and the Son by Kazou Ishiguro

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

The Mothers by Brit Bennet

I had apparently downloaded a copy of this book through a Libro.fm sale and then forgot about it. So when I didn't know what to read, this seemed like a good choice. It's a complicated story following motherless Nadia and Aubrey, the local pastor's son Luke, and the ties to their Oceanside community. The story is complicated, or at least I've spent a good 20 min trying to summarize it in a few lines and have failed. It was a story I couldn't binge but instead would listen to in smaller spurts. I liked the prose and the role of the Mothers (a sort of chorus) when they were more directly involved with the characters. 

Rating: 4 stars

Klara and the Sun by Kazou Ishiguro

I actually won one of the Goodreads giveaways and actually started this book back in January but given this is one of the paperback books rather than an audiobook, it took me a bit longer to get through. That and it took a bit of time to get into the story and really figure out what's going on (and tbf, not sure I got all the way there). Taking place in the near future, Klara is an AF (artificial friend). Basically a robot friend but one that you can boss around without feeling bad about it. Klara is bought by a young sick girl Josie to keep her company as she spends time at home studying on her "oblong" (phone, I suppose) and trying to get better. Another story that is difficult to summarize in a few lines as we try to understand Klara's role in this world and Klara tries to understand exactly what will be expected of her with this family.

Rating: 4.5 stars

Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky

I like the ways seemingly small things in the modern world had big effects on history. And salt had some big effects on the geopolitics of the world, while I sometimes use salt to clean my cast iron pan. This feels like a comprehensive history and by that I mean Kurlansky goes off on some tangents that are only kind of related to salt, which made for a pretty dry read/listen from time to time. But it always managed to stay on this side of interesting so while I considered putting this down, I never followed through. I suppose that's something.

Rating: 3 stars

Wow, No Thank You by Samantha Irby

I couldn't find a book I was really excited about that was available from the library so I dug into some audiobooks I had on my phone already and decided Irby's is the way to go and is definitely something different from the difficult lit fic picks and very dry history I had recently finished. A series of deprecating essays about aging, GI issues and actually finding success with her weird blog (and previous books). The stories are very funny and the fact that she narrates the audiobook makes it that much better. I found myself speaking in her cadence a couple times. Good choice, me.

Rating: 4.25 stars

Vera Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers by Jesse Q. Sutanto

Another Goodreads giveaway! Pretty sure I was entertaining these things for like 10 years before winning anything and then it was 2 in one month. Anyway, LOVED THIS. Vera Wong wakes up bright and early one morning to find a dead body in her tea shop. And since "nobody sniffs out wrongdoings quite like a suspicious Chinese mother with time on her hands" she decides to take on the investigation herself. Vera is a force and I loved her. I loved all of the suspects she pulled together as well as she tries to get to the bottom of what happened. OK the mystery isn't perfect and I literally just finished it so it's possible my feelings will cool slightly, but honestly, Vera pulled me through and hopefully there will be more for Vera to tackle in the future

Rating: 4.85 stars

Total Pages Read

1,744

Fiction

60%

Female authors

60%

BIPOC authors

80%

US authors

60%

Book format

audiobook: 60%

paperback: 40%

Where'd I get the book

gift: 40%

indie: 20%

Kindle/Audible: 20%

library: 20%

Reread

20%

Book club

20%

Decade published

2000s: 20%

2010s: 20%

2020s: 60%

Resolution books

80%

The Mothers and Wow, No Thank You are both written by Black authors

Klara and the Sun is written by a Japanese-English author

Very Wong's Unsolicited Advice for Murderers is by an Indonesian-Singaporean author