Rabbit Hole #18: July Reading Wrap-up

July was another good reading month. I averaged three books a week, which is kind of crazy, actually. I never thought I would be reading that much, and that's coming from someone who can't ever remember not having a book in her hand. (And I only read three graphic novels this month, so most of those were 250+ page reads.)

I used to read one book at a time, not moving on until I had finished a book. However, I've become a polygamist reader lately. I usually have one nonfiction book, one YA, and one literary fiction book that are being read at the same time. I will also throw in short stories, poetry or graphic novels if the mood hits. I'm not sure if I'm going to be able to keep this up once school resumes, but we shall see!

Now, for the month's reading highlights (if you'd like to see everything I read this month, check out Rabbit Hole #17 for the full list).

YA magic--I read three amazing YA novels this month: Daniel José Older's Shadowshaper, Nnedi Okorafor's Zarah the Windseeker, and Benjamin Alire Sáenz's Aristotle and Dante Discover the Universe. All three of these have phenomenal protagonists and dive into the struggles of growing up, even if you do discover you have magical abilities (Zarah and Shadowshaper). We need more books with diverse characters by diverse authors, especially for young people, and these are great places to start if you haven't started to broaden your reading.

Geek love--Clive Thompson's Smarter Than You Think: How Technology Is Changing Our Lives for the Better is a smart, insightful look at our tech-dominated lives. He argues that, contrary to popular belief, all of this technology is actually good for us. He talks about education, the tech field, the average user, and a host of other topics. Thompson has a very accessible writing style, and I highly recommend this book to everyone. On the other side of the technology discussion, Margaret Atwood's MADDADDAM, the last book in her Oryx and Crake trilogy, warns us about the abuses of tampering with genetics and the eternal "just because we can, doesn't mean we should" question. This is a terrific dystopian series, and well worth the read.

Contemporary Issues: Jesmyn Ward's Men We Reaped is a powerful look at life growing up black in Mississippi. Ward discusses five young men she lost in the span of only a few years, the social, racial, and economic issues that contributed both to their lives and deaths, and how the black community in particular tries to cope with the loss of a generation. Last month I said read Claudia Rankine's Citizen; this is this month's must read.

Dystopian Circus Version of Waterworld: Except it's so much better than that movie. Kirsty Logan's The Gracekeepers is a beautiful fairy tale of a world in the future where humanity is divided between the landlockers, who live on what little land is left, and the damplings, who spend their lives traveling the oceans. It's a lovely tale of the need to belong and feel love, with discussions on humanity, disability, gender, and societal conflict. And it has bears!! The end is a bit rushed, but it is definitely worth a read (It's been compared to Night Circus meets Station Eleven; so if you've read either of those, you'll probably like this one).


In case you haven't noticed by now, I have an extremely eclectic taste in reading. If you have any recommendations for me, please let me know!

Rabbit Hole #16: June Reading Wrap-up

If you read my June Read Harder update, you'll know that while May was a rather lack-luster reading month for me, I finally came out of my reading slump in June. (Too be fair, I did move halfway across the country in May!)

I ended up reading 14 books last month, 5 of which were graphic novels/comic collections, which is a new avenue for me. I'm really enjoying Ms. Marvel, Thor: Goddess of Thunder and Saga. I also read one of the most disturbing graphic novels (or stories, period) I've read in a while in Beautiful Darkness by Fabien Vehlmann. Think Pixar's Inside Out with a Stephen King flavor. Yep, that twisted.

A few other highlights from this month: (obviously I read more, these just rose to the top)

Half-Resurrection Blues by Daniel José Older: This is a fun urban fantasy novel. If you like mysteries mixed with the paranormal and a whole lot of sass, definitely pick this up. The main character is a partially resurrected human being who is basically a gun-for-hire for the ghost world, keeping the dead from interfering too much with the living. Older does a great job with world building, and his characters are smart and funny, with the requisite melancholy. This is the book that pulled me out of my reading slump; I highly recommend it.


All the Light We Cannot See by Anthony Doerr: This novel follows two young children throughout World War II. One is a young blind French girl who becomes part of the Resistance; the other is a young German boy with a gift for electronics, radios in particular, who is trained by the Nazis to search out and destroy the underground networks. This shows a very human side to the war, and how even the young were pulled in to the conflict.


Citizen by Claudia Rankine: Read this. This is probably the most important book about our society and race relations that I have read in a long time. Rankine uses prose poetry, essays, and scripts from videos she and her husband produced to create a very real picture of how far we still need to come in this country. It's not an easy read by any means given the subject matter, but it is a necessary one.


The Wicked Will Rise by Danielle Paige: This is the second in Paige's YA reworking of the Wizard of Oz. In this novel, Amy has to regroup after failing to kill Dorothy. She has lost the other members of the Wicked, and finds herself being drawn into the dark side of magic. Paige adds to the Oz legend without compromising the original mythos, creating a fun, quick read.

If you want to know more about these or any of the other books I read, let me know--I'm more than happy to chat about them!