My goal for June was to read six books and I ended up reading seven! Not bad! Here they are, in order from least favorite to favorite.
The Sisters Grimm: The Fairytale Detectives, by Michael Buckley
★★★
This was cute, but I'm a little tired of the "Orphans go to Live with Eccentric Grandparent Who Turns out to be Really Cool" trope. No offense–I've written a book around this trope! (And I no longer like it because it centers on that trope.) Also, Daphne seemed a lot older than seven years old.
The Upside of Unrequited, by Becky Albertalli
★★★
I started reading this years ago and then put it down because I was uncomfortable with some of the content. It's been calling my name ever since, though, so when I happened to see it on the library shelf (twice) a couple weeks ago, I decided to pick it up again.
Here are the things I did like:
1. Molly was a very relatable character. When she's moaning about feeling like she's waited forever for a relationship, I felt that. And when they laughed at her (sympathetically) because she's only seventeen, I felt that too.
2. I also liked that Molly didn't conform to modern beauty standards, and she was okay with that. There's one part where she says, "Actually, I don’t even hate my body. I just worry everyone else might."
3. Another thing I liked was that the book was set in Takoma Park, and I live nearby.
And here are the things I DIDN'T like:
1. The language. I'm not a person who swears a lot (do I occasionally whisper "shit" to myself? Yes. Yes, I do), but reading or listening to a lot of curse words makes me think in curse words for a little while after, and I don't like that.
2. The cavalier attitude towards sex. This was probably my biggest problem with the book. I read this book with a Christian worldview, so that will tell you a lot. Unless you're not Christian, and then let me explain: Christians don't, as some people might believe, think that sex is bad or shameful (at least, if they understand how God thinks about sex, they shouldn't. God made sex. He's good with it). We do, however, believe that it is good and right only within the context of marriage. God created sex to be a symbol or reflection of the relationship Jesus has with the Church (big C: that means the Church globally) (read Ephesians 5). It is also for the deepening of relationship between a husband and wife, the consummation of marriage in which they become "one flesh". Having sex with anybody you feel like undermines both of these reasons that God made sex. (Also, I'd just like to say that sex is proof, if anybody was wondering, that God has a sense of humor.)
So, because of the language and the attitude towards sex, I'm giving it three stars, but I did enjoy this read.
Home Cooking: A Writer in the Kitchen, by Laurie Colwin
★★★★
I laughed out loud so many times while reading this book. I love a good collection of essays, and this one was definitely worth the read.
The Four Loves, by C.S. Lewis
★★★★
This was a reread! Every time I reread a Lewis book, I get even more out of it than I did the last time I read it.
Story Trumps Structure, by Steven James
★★★★
I'm planning to do a separate post about this book, so I won't say too much here except that it was really good! If you are a fiction writer, I highly recommend that you read it.
Blade of Secrets, by Tricia Levenseller
★★★★
Tricia Levenseller has done it again! I don't know why it took me so long to pick this one up, but I'm so glad I finally did! From the very first chapter, I was hooked. Ziva, like Molly, was a very relatable character. She has extreme social anxiety and I loved that that was carried throughout the book, and in the situations and scenes where she managed to overcome it, it was explained why she was able to overcome it. It wasn't a personality embellishment that the author pulled out whenever it was convenient–it was a fact of who Ziva was throughout the entire book, but it also wasn't the only defining thing about her. Tricia Levenseller managed to write her in such a way that you could imagine Ziva without social anxiety, and she would still be Ziva. Am I making any sense? This makes sense in my head. It was just a really great story! The sister dynamic was also spot on, and I loved the slow-burn romance between Ziva and Kellyn.
Anxious People, by Fredrik Backman
★★★★★
This was also a reread. Fredrik Backman is one of my favorite authors; I own most of his books, and occasionally I get a random urge to reread one of them. This time it was Anxious People, which is currently vying for position of favorite with A Man Called Ove. In addition to being a page-turner, Anxious People has a lot of good things to say about relationships, grief, and adulting. And how to love idiots :)
That's it! Until next month!
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