Bookish Summer
I read two books in July. One was a teen book to read to my son at night for bedtime reading. Elatsoe by Darcie Little Badger is a supernatural murder mystery of sorts that explores racism with a Lipan Apache protagonist. 4⭐️. This was the first teen book I’ve read to my son and it was a hit. The other was an adult novel that I read for personal reading. The Coast Road by Alan Murrin is a good book that delves into the lives of Irish women before the referendum passed legalizing divorce. I’m finding that I really like a lot of Irish novels. This book also got 4⭐️.
I read four books in August: one nonfiction book, two middle grade novels, and one teen book. The teen book was the sequel to Elatsoe. My son wanted the sequel right away and I was happy since Elatsoe was my pick. Sheine Lende by Darcie Little Badger was even better than Elatsoe. This book focuses on the grandmother of the main character of Elatsoe when the grandmother was a teenager herself. We both liked Sheine Lende even more than Elatsoe.
The two middle grade novels were rereads for me. One I read to my son and we both really enjoyed it (The Girl With Silver Eyes) which I would have given 5⭐️, but my son is very stingy with stars and only gives 5 stars to his absolute favorites. I let him rate the middle grade and teen novels since he’s the target audience, even here in my newsletter blog. The other one was Kristy’s Great Idea, which is the first book of The Baby-Sitters Club. I wanted something light and fun for personal reading and this book filled that. I can definitely see why I loved the series as a kid. I did give it 4⭐️, but if I was a kid I’d probably give it 5.
The nonfiction book I read is called Chasing the Sun: How the Science of Sunlight Shapes Our Bodies and Minds by Linda Geddes. It seemed like the perfect nonfiction book for summer and I find the science of sunlight interesting. I gave it 5⭐️.
This summer has been a really difficult one reading wise. At first I thought the really hot days were just sapping my mental energy, but then we had a break of cooler weather and still I couldn’t seem to read much. I think part of it is just me, but I do wonder if part of it is the publishing industry. A few years ago, I’d have a bunch of new release books every year that I was excited about reading. The past couple of years or so I’ve been pretty disappointed in what’s being published. Publishing trends are just not to my interests at all. I still give a lot of books a chance based on popularity or if it seems like it might be interesting to me at all. That has resulted in a lot of DNFs. But the beauty of libraries is that I can keep checking out books and keep returning them early if they just aren’t working for me. And if I get too frustrated with new releases, there are lots of books to reread and of course the hundreds (literally) of backlist books on my TBR list on Goodreads.