What I'm Reading

It's very hot outside, and I've been doing a lot of physical labor before and after summer school, so in lieu of a book review, please accept this list of books I am currently reading and how I'm presently feeling about each one. I am including a bonus "I just finished this!" with my impressions...not a review, just impressions. There's totally a difference. Anyhoo, let's do this thing.

1. The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk

I've started choosing a non-fiction book, typically something associated with mindfulness, mental or physical health, etc. and reading a little bit of it at the start of my yoga practice. This is what I'm currently working my way through, and it's a bit heavy, but I am very interested in trauma and the impact it has on us, so it's fascinating reading about basically the evolution of our understanding of the effects of trauma.

2. A Nature Poem for Every Day of the Year compiled by Jane McMorland Hunter

I've posted about this before. As the title says, it's a poem for each day of the year, and they're pretty delightful for the most part. I wish there were more female poets included, but also most of them are hella old poems, so I guess the pool to draw from was limited. I don't know why the decision was made to only use old poetry, though. There's so much poetry out there.

3. The Gilded Ones by Namina Forna

Book club book! (For May, shhhhh. I'm reading it slowly because our other consistent book club participant is still waiting for their copy). It's so good! I love it, all of it, every bit of it. I want to finish it so I know what's going to happen (and end up on a cliffhanger, because it's not a standalone novel), but I also want to read it forever.

4. Aristotle and Dante Dive into the Waters of the World by Benjamin Alire Saenz

Look, this is billed as a YA, and it's technically about 17-year-old kids, but let's be real, it was written for adults who love coming-of-age stories. I mean, for shit's sake, it's more than 500 pages long. That's a fairly hefty book, particularly for realistic fiction. It's also very stream-of-consciousness, and I'm just having a very hard time envisioning tons of teenagers having the patience to sit down and read 528 pages of that. Don't get me wrong, I'm a little over a third of the way through and enjoying it, but I wish as a "YA" book it was not so blatantly written NOT for an actual young adult audience.

5. Queen of Air and Darkness by Cassandra Clare

I'm buddy reading this with my sister, and we're working our way through it very slowly. We've been reading it for approximately...eight months? A long time. I fucking love this series though. Protect Ty at all costs.

6. Shadow of Night by Deborah Harkness

Look, I'll be honest...this is the second book in a trilogy, and I'm kind of slogging through the series. I don't dislike it, but I don't think I like it, either. I want to finish it, but I've also been reading it since March and if I go for a long stretch without reading any of it I don't miss it, so.......it might take me a while. There are some strong "Adult Twilight" vibes for me? Eh. It's an ok night time read for when I don't want to stay up late engrossed in a story.

BONUS: The Backstagers: Volume 1 by James Tynion IV

This is the first in a graphic novel series, and it was on my list to consider purchasing for my school but was rated as 12+, so I figured I would check it out to see what the vibe was and if it was ok for my 6th graders or if it read a little older. Did I read the description before I checked it out? Not closely (in my defense, I was going through a list of like...hundreds of books to consider adding to the library), and it was not what I expected, but I LOVED IT. Now I'm regretting not putting the other books on hold so I would have more to read right away. The illustrations are fantastic (shout out to Rian Sygh and Walter Baiamonte), the story is the perfect balance of humor, heart, and intrigue, and ahhhhh, I can't wait until my hold for the next one comes in.