Getting into a hard reading groove, I guess

Guess who finally finished Uncommon Grounds?! It took forever, but it was a great read. So much fascinating history. I also FINALLY started Warrior Girl Unearthed! Victory! I'm about 3/4 of the way through and I love it so much. It's heartbreaking but hopeful and just making me feel so many things. 

I also finished reading Pakistan (my first ever interlibrary loan!) and Third Culture Cooking, although I have not been able to get my hands on a copy of Zaatari (I am realizing now that I could probably have done an interlibrary loan request for that one too...I requested my library buy a copy, so we'll see). I've got a bunch more recipes saved to try, but for now, since I always make pasta salads on Sundays to take to work for the week, I've tried out a pasta salad recipe from Third Culture Cooking and really loved it. I've included the recipe (not exactly as written, since I'm adding it from my notes, but if you want to see the recipe exactly as written, check out the book!) at the end of this post.

Books I still have to read and hopefully will soon:

• Worst-Case Scenario (this one especially, because I think I'm out of renewals for it)
• Does My Body Offend You 
• Algorithms of Oppression
• Daughters of Nri
• The Heirs
• Free Verse Society

Mystery Book Review - Spin the Dawn by Elizabeth Lim

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"On the fringes of the Great Spice Road, Maia Tamarin works as a seamstress in the shop of her father, once a tailor of renown. She dreams of becoming the greatest tailor in the land, but as a girl, the best she can hope for is to marry well.

When a royal messenger summons her ailing father to court, Maia poses as his son and travels to the Summer Palace in his place. She knows her life is forfeit if her secret is discovered, but she'll take that risk to save her family from ruin and achieve her dream of becoming the imperial tailor. There's just once catch: Maia is one of twelve tailors vying for the job.

The competition is cutthroat, and Maia's job is further complicated by the unwelcome attention of the court enchanter, Edan, who seems to see straight through her disguise. But nothing could have prepared her for the final challenge: to sew three gowns so dangerously beautiful, it will take a quest to the ends of the earth to complete them..."

What makes a book good?

My husband isn't a huge reader, but I read to him a little bit every night before bed. It can take some time to finish a book, reading at most one chapter a night, and we aren't usually super selective when picking our next read, so we've had some pretty mixed results with our choices. There have been some pretty solid highs, but we've also encountered some incredibly low lows. 

At some point, I acquired a copy of We Ride Upon Sticks by Quan Barry (which I've never reviewed, but did mention long, long ago in this post), which I knew NOTHING about, but we picked it as our bedtime book, started reading, and at some point we were both like "man, what the fuck even is this book?" It took us a few months, but we finished it and both agreed that while at no point did we have any idea what to expect, we both really enjoyed it. Then we read it again last year. And now we're reading it together for a third time. The other night, he asked what my favorite thing about the book was, and it made me think...

What is it that makes a book GOOD?

For me, it definitely isn't any one thing. Some books are good because they're fast paced and grip you until you can't stop reading. Others are intriguing and full of subtle details that come together to create shocking reveals. Then there are books with characters so well-written and full of life that they feel like real people. Some of my favorites (like We Ride Upon Sticks!) are weird and unexpected while somehow feeling true to life and relatable. I just love stories, man. They're so GOOD. (Shhhhhh I know I don't love EVERY book, let's not talk about my negative reviews right now)

What do you think? What draws you to a book? What makes you fall in love with one?

Best Wishes, Warmest Regards - Daniel and Eugene Levy

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"This beautifully produced, keepsake coffee-table book is the ultimate celebration of the series, the town, the characters, and the state of mind that is Schitt's Creek. Capturing the essence and alchemy of all six seasons of what is now considered to be one of the most groundbreaking comedy television series of the last decade, Best Wishes, Warmest Regards is a gift to fans everywhere who have made the show their own.

Included are character profiles from the cast of Johnny, Moira, David, and Alexis, and all of the characters that populate the town, major moments from Moira's endorsement of Herb Ertlinger Winery, to Patrick and David's first kiss, to Cabaret and the Rose Family Christmas episode. Also included are special features, such as the complete, illustrated catalogs of David's knits and Moira's wigs, Moira's vocabulary, Alexis's adventures, and behind-the-scenes moments from Dan and Eugene Levy and the cast of Schitt's Creek."

Reading slowly, but reading hard-ish

Back to school means back to less free time and less energy, which means my reading has hugely slowed down and progress has been incremental.

I continue to chip away at Uncommon Grounds, which continues to be interesting. Did you know that during World War II the United States not only put Japanese Americans in internment camps, they also extradited people of German descent from Central America and put them in internment camps until they later traded them to Germany in exchange for American POWs? Some of them were German expats, but many were born in the countries they were extradited from and had never even been to Germany before being sent there in exchange for the release of prisoners of war. Fucking gross, I tell you what.

I also finished The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue, which ended up being a beautiful read, and Wild Beauty, which was...weird, but very good. Very descriptive, beautiful imagery from both books.

Warrior Girl Unearthed and Worst-Case Scenario both remain unread, as does Does My Body Offend You and Algorithms of Oppression from August. I just finished Revolutionary Algorithms, though, and it's very funny to read about things like Skibbety Toilet with scholarly language and big words. I also finished Hear Ye Mortals, which was an interesting mix of historical fiction and supernatural and was very haunting and touching and sad and beautiful.

Mystery Book Review - Our Infinite Fates by Lara Steven

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Evelyn can remember all her past lives. She can also remember that in every single one, she's been killed before her eighteenth birthday by Arden, a supernatural being whose soul is tethered to hers. And it doesn't matter whether she kills them first - they both die.

The problem is that she's quite fond of the life she's in now, and more importantly, her sister needs her to stay alive for bone marrow transplants. So now Evelyn has to: a. find the centuries-old enemy who hunts her through each life and break their curse for good, b. figure out exactly why she's being hunted in the first place, and c. try quite hard not to fall in love with them. Again."

When you're feeling overwhelmed, what do you do?

Remember when I talked about all the reading I had to do at the end of July for one of the award subcommittees I'm on? I had to hustle to get a bunch of work done on a deadline I didn't know existed...and then I started back at work right after that and found out two days before school started that I was going to be teaching a second class for kindergarten through third grade, so I've been scrambling since then to pull together a curriculum for that...so surely I wouldn't agree to take on MORE work, right?

Wellllll...

The opportunity presented itself to take over our entire state book award committee, as in chair the whole thing, and y'all, I love our state book award program so much. How could I say no? I mean...I guess I could have, and maybe I should have, but I know they've been kind of passively looking for someone to take it over from the current chair for a couple of years, and truthfully I was a bit worried that if I didn't take it over no one would and then the current chair would officially retire and our state book awards would be no more. Is that a logical fear? I have no idea. But here we are!

So hey, this isn't a book review, it isn't really anything. It's just me, talking about how bad I am at saying no to things. It's book-related, though, so it counts? 

I know agreeing to take this on was probably not the most responsible thing to do to myself, but I'm actually very excited. I think it'll be fun! And hey, I just finished writing up curriculum for the first quarter of school for my new class, which means I'm on my way to getting the second quarter's curriculum done, which means I'm ahead of schedule, which means...I'll be fine. Right?

Don't Be Scared - Saadia Faruqi

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Riz Choudhry lives for two things: movies and anything spooky. His dad? Not so much. While Riz dreams of filmmaking and jump scares, his father dreams of Riz going to med school or law school—and neither one includes ghosts.

But the film club is Riz’s safe haven, a place where other supernatural-obsessed first-gen kids swap scary stories from their cultures. So, when the group decides to film a documentary about the creepy old mansion in town, Riz is all in. But there’s a problem. His dad wants Riz to quit the club. AND the building is about to be demolished. Now Riz and his friends must use the power of filmmaking to save the mansion…before it vanishes forever."

The Trouble with Heroes - Kate Messner

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"One summer. Forty-six mountain peaks. A second chance to make things right.

Finn Connelly is nothing like his dad, a star athlete and firefighter hero who always ran toward danger until he died two years ago. Finn's about to fail seventh grade and has never made headlines...until now.

Caught on camera vandalizing a cemetery, he's in big trouble for kicking down some dead old lady's headstone. But it turns out that grave belongs to a legendary local mountain climber, and her daughter makes Finn an unusual deal: climb all forty-six Adirondack High Peaks with her dead mother's dog, and they can call it even.

In a wild three months of misadventures, mountain mud, and unexpected mentors, Finn begins to find his way on the trails. At the top of each peak, he can see for miles and slowly begins to understand more about himself and his dad. But the mountains don't care about any of that, and as the clock ticks down to September, they have more surprises in store. Finn's final summit challenge may be more than even a hero can face." 

Reading Hard gets harder when you're under a surprise deadline

While I started strong on my July challenge reading, as the title of this post suggests I then found myself under a surprise deadline for another reading project (state book award committee) and ended up having to hustle to read many, many children's chapter books, which took a lot of time. I thought I had until the end of September, but noooooo.

I did still manage to make SOME progress - primarily finishing my To All the Boys I've Loved Before reread and reading Where You'll Find Us, which drug in the middle but had a beautiful ending. I'm still working away on Uncommon Grounds, which is proving to be very interesting. For example, did you know that the inventor of Grape Nuts, who also sold a coffee substitute that he made wild health claims about, advertised that Grape Nuts could cure appendicitis and then in his 50s ended up getting appendicitis, for which he had to have surgery? He died by suicide shortly after, and many believe he did so because he couldn't get past the humiliation of having to have surgery for something he claimed his products could cure.

I'm also about a third of the way through The Ocean Would Paint Me Blue, which is so beautiful and emotional and infuriating and heartbreaking. I've been reading it before bed, but I finally had to break down and bring it downstairs because I want to read more than a chapter at a time.

Books I've not yet started but will, at some point: Warrior Girl Unearthed (still, yeesh. I'll get there!), Worst-Case Scenario, and Wild Beauty. I've got them all sitting in my immediate TBR pile, ready to go as soon as I have time.

Mystery Book Review - How to Raise an Anti-Racist

I'm not doing a typical review for this one, because it always feels weird to review a book like this, where it's partially a biography and partially advice. Who am I to review someone's lived experience? Especially, in this case, because I ended up needing to hustle to finish reading a bunch of books being considered for our state book awards and haven't had time to finish this one...but that's neither here nor there. 

Thus far, I'm really enjoying the book. It's very insightful, giving so many new ways to think about things and consider how attitudes are shaped from a very young age. So many things get treated as "normal" or as something small that doesn't matter as a result of US culture being shaped from inception by white supremacy, and this book reexamines things that are treated as default or that just straight up are not paid attention to and reminds us to be vigilant about what kids are learning as they observe the world around them and interact with the trusted adults in their lives. 

One of the thing that stands out the most so far in my reading is being aware of whether the things we are choosing to address or not to address with the kids in our lives are because we truly think it's the best for them or if it's because we're uncomfortable with it. I for sure don't always have the perfect answer when I encounter certain situations, but I don't want to ever bail on having a talk that a child in my life needs because I'm uncomfortable with it or don't know exactly the right thing to say.

If you have kids, niblings, work with kids, etc I highly recommend checking this out. It's giving me a lot to think about, for sure.

A Suitcase Full - Maryam Kia

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When a young girl's family is forced to flee, Iran, there isn't time to make a plan. With only one suitcase, Kimia is forced to leave behind many cherished possessions as well as say goodbye to her beloved grandmother, Nana-joon. As years pass, the family lives in vibrant cities like London and Paris, but are never able to stay for long. After traveling halfway around the world, they finally find a new place to call home on the island of O'ahu. When Kimia's new teacher assigns the class a special project - bringing a suitcase filled with meaningful objects - Kimia finds a way to weave her past into her present, celebrating both her roots and her growth."

Mystery Book Review - A Study in Drowning by Ava Reid

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Effy Sayre has always believed in fairy tales. Haunted by visions of the Fairy King since childhood, she's had no choice. Her tattered copy of Angharad - Emrys Myrddin's epic about a mortal girl who falls in love with the Fairy King, then destroys him - is the only thing keeping her afloat. So when Myrddin's family announces a contest to redesign the late author's estate, Effy feels certain it's her destiny.

But musty, decrepit Hiraeth Manor is an impossible task, and its residents are far from welcoming. Including Preston Heloury, a stodgy young literature scholar determined to expose Myrddin as a fraud. As the two rivals piece together clues about Myrddin's legacy, dark forces, both mortal and magical, conspire against them - and the truth may bring them both to ruin."

Halfway through Reading Harder

As it transpired, packing some of my books paid off. I read Peter Darling in one day, in between doing touristy things in Paris, and while I wasn't sure it would hook me (ha, pun), I thought it was bittersweet and a fascinating twist on what Neverland actually was. I also finished That Self-Same Metal on the plane ride back home, and while I didn't like it as much as Peter Darling, it was adventurous and unique. 

Once we got home, I ended up having massive amounts of free time due to my husband traveling to Texas twice within about a week and a half (thanks, work!). I finished Do You Dream of Terra-Two?, which while I got what it was going for ended up feeling kind of meh by the end. Everything building up to the end was slow, and then the end felt so...incomplete. Eh. I also finished, in quick succession, These Ghosts Are Family, which was so, so sad in so many ways, Deadly Ever After, which could have used a lot more show and a lot less tell, Dear Medusa, which was sad, sad, sad, but also beautiful, Too Bright to See, which was very bittersweet and emotional, and Beyond the Red, which was meh. Parts of it were interesting, but I felt like there was a lot of talking about things but not a lot of actual action, and then the ending was kind of fast-forwarded in a way that didn't feel earned. Hey, similar to my complaint about Do You Dream of Terra-Two! Two books with very different vibes but similar pacing and development issues.

I finally started on Uncommon Grounds toward the end of the month, which I'm sure will take me some time to get through, and I'll be working on Warrior Girl Unearthed and my To All the Boys trilogy reread (finished the first one, two to go). All in all, a pretty productive reading month!

Princess Diaries: The Graphic Novel - Meg Cabot

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Mia Thermopolis is pretty sure there's nothing worse than being a five-foot-nine frizzy-haired freshman, who also happens to be flunking algebra.  

Is she ever in for a surprise.

First, her mom announces that she's dating Mia's algebra teacher. But her dad's announcement is even worse: he is the crown prince of Genovia, and guess what that makes Mia?

A frizzy-haired freshman who is flunking algebra and also happens to be a PRINCESS."

Camelot Rising - Kiersten White

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"Princess Guinevere has come to Camelot to wed a stranger: the charismatic King Arthur. With magic clawing at the kingdom's borders, the great wizard Merlin conjured a solution - send in Guinevere to be Arthur's wife...and his protector from those who want to see the young king's idyllic city fail. The catch? Guinevere's real name - and her true identity - is a secret. She is a changeling, a girl who has given up everything to protect Camelot.

To keep Arthur safe, Guinevere must navigate a court in which the old - including Arthur's own family - demand things continue as they have been, and the new - those drawn by the dream of Camelot - fight for a better way to live. And always, in the green hearts of forests and the black depths of lakes, magic lies in wait to reclaim the land.

Deadly jousts, duplicitous knights, and forbidden romances are nothing compared to the greatest threat of all: the girl with the long black hair, riding on horseback through the dark woods toward Arthur. Because when your whole existence is a lie, how can you trust even yourself?"

Lydia Cooper is a Lie - Meaghan McIsaac

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

From the cover:

"For as long as Lydia can remember, it's been her and her dad against the world. But while she loves him, her dad is so overprotective. Well-versed in the dangers of the internet from his job in cybersecurity, he refuses to let Lydia be online without heavy parental controls, and social media is out of the question.

One day, when all Lydia's friends are invited to a movie night at her crush's house - except her because she's not in the group chat - Lydia gets fed up with her dad's rules and makes a social media account. Then an armed intruder shows up at her home. Clearly, there's more to her family's past than she knows.

On the run and separated from her dad, Lydia will need to uncover the secrets her dad has been keeping if she wants to reunite with him. But how can Lydia know who to trust along the way when she doesn't even know who she is?"

A Hasty Read Harder Update

Uh oh, we're leaving for France in half an hour and I just realized I didn't prep this update for while we're gone! May was not a strong reading month for me, but I DID finish Underground Railroad and The Hard Parts, both excellent. I did NOT start Deadly Ever After or Peter Darling, but I have Peter Darling packed for our very long plane ride, so hopefully I make some progress. I tried to download Deadly Ever After, but there was a wait list. Womp womp. I also did not read either of my sci-fi books, and neither of those were available digitally, so again...womp womp.

My June challenges are #2, read a book featured on a "best book cover" list, and #15, read a book written by a librarian. 

For two, I chose Dear Medusa by Olivia A. Cole, That Self-Same Metal by Brittany Williams, and Warrior Girl Unearthed by Angeline Boulley. I've got That Self-Same Metal downloaded, so we'll see if I can make a little progress on my reading there.

For fifteen, I chose These Ghosts Are Family by Maisy Card, Too Bright to See by Kyle Lukoff, and I want to reread To All the Boys I've Loved Before...none of these were available digitally, so I guess I'll be playing a lot of catch up when we get home!

So there you have it, a very rushed update. Fingers crossed I get some reading done on the plane, and if not...hey, I'll be in Paris.

Mystery Book Review - The Light We Lost by Kyla Stone

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When all lights fail, will you survive? A catastrophic solar flare strikes Earth, plunging half the planet into darkness. Amid the chaos, thirteen-year-old Shiloh awakens to a nightmare: a dead body beside her, her brother missing, and no recollection of what happened.

As she desperately searches for her brother, a killer is hot on her trail, determined to silence the only witness to the brutal crime.

Undersheriff Jackson Cross races against time to catch the killer and save an innocent girl. But the more he uncovers, the deeper he is drawn into a dangerous darkness that threatens to consume him.

With law and order crumbling around him, Jackson's only hope may lie with Eli Pope, a ruthless ex-convict just released from prison. But Eli has a score to settle - he's hellbent on vengeance against the very sheriff who put him behind bars.

With the world on the brink of destruction, the stakes have never been higher. As the killer closes in on Shiloh and her missing brother, they must navigate the devastation to stay alive."

Champions of the Galaxy - Tola Okogwu

Initial Draw: ☆☆☆
Character Development: ☆☆

Plot/Writing Style: ☆☆

Overall: ⭐⭐

From the cover:

"When a powerful group of aliens threaten Earth, a mysterious species called the Onni offers humanity hope. But there's a catch. Ninety-one children from across the planet must first prove their worth by competing in a series of trials set on a distant planet. 

For twelve-year-old Kola, who has long dreamed of going into space, it's the chance of a lifetime. But once aboard the Onni mothership, Kola finds himself thrown into a misfit team of Champions. As secrets unravel and tensions rise, Kola and his team must decide who to trust and what it really means to be a Champion. Because in the end, it's not about being the smartest or the strongest. It's about standing together."