Happy June! I'm excited for this summer; I love spending time outside at the pool, on the beach, and in the woods, and it doesn't hurt that my birthday is in the summer either. 😏 And, of course, I'm excited for all the reading I plan to do!
Speaking of reading, May was a pretty good reading month for me! At my husband's suggestion, I'm adding a sentence or two describing each book before I dive into my thoughts on it. (He warned me, at the same time, not to be too "summarize-y".) I only managed to read one book for Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month, but we'll start with that.
Asian/Pacific American Heritage Month
Loot, by Tania James
Loot is a historical novel set in the early- to mid-eighteenth century. The story jumps from India to France to England and back to France throughout the course of the book, and it mainly follows Abbas, a talented young woodcarver who helps a Frenchman build an automaton of a tiger eating an Englishman for Tipu Sultan. However, the POV jumps around quite a lot, even within sections. At least once, there was a single paragraph from the point of view of a character who never shows up again (although Abbas thinks about her from time to time throughout the book). This bothered me, but only because I wanted more from those characters. I didn't find Abbas compelling; in fact, I didn't really like any of the characters until Thomas, who *SPOILER* dies at the end of his section. I also enjoyed reading about Lady Selwyn, who *SPOILER* also dies. Speaking of Lady Selwyn, the book featured a little too much sex for me–but not enough to make me DNF it.
Here are some pros to balance out my complaints in the paragraph above: The writing was lovely! I also thought the book was very well-researched, and I enjoyed learning a bit about India during that time period.
A note on the writing, however: I am disappointed to report that Tania James is guilty of the "s/he released a breath she didn't know s/he'd been holding" cliche: "When she discovered him hugging the trellis, she released the breath she hadn't known she'd been holding." Although, James's use of articles in this sentence ("the breath" instead of "a breath") almost makes me think that she's poking fun at the cliche. What do you think? Is it intentional, or guileless?
Other Books I Read in May
Court of Lions, by Somaiya Daud
Court of Lions is the follow-up to Mirage, a Young Adult sci-fi/fantasy about a girl named Amani who is kidnapped and forced to become the body double for the crown princess of the race that has conquered Amani's planet system.
I read Mirage in April and enjoyed it enough to read the sequel right afterwards. However, it took me a while to realize that Court of Lions actually was the sequel, because the titles and covers don't match at all, as YA series usually do. I know this is superficial, but it bothers me. Here, I'll show you what I mean:
Beyond this shallow criticism, I just didn't care for Court of Lions. In my review of the first book, I noted that Amani seems to get used to her new situation far too rapidly; in this book, I think her grasp of politics is way too good for a farmer's daughter. I usually like politics in fantasy (because I don't have to worry about them in real life), but for some reason all the names of places and families and galaxies really threw me off in this one. Plus, the story didn't really escalate. With each book in a series, in my opinion, the stakes should be raised and the villain should get scarier and more evil. It's like peeling back the layers of an onion to discover more complexities beneath what you thought was happening. However, there was little to no escalation in Court of Lions. Everything went pretty much exactly how I thought it would, which is a terrible thing to be able to say about a piece of fiction.
I'm trying to think of something positive to say and I just can't. I'm sorry.
The Other Side of Infamy, by Jim Downing
The Other Side of Infamy is a memoir about a navy career man who survived Pearl Harbor. Jim Downing was 103 when he wrote this book!! The writing overall wasn't great, despite the fact that he had a ghostwriter, but the story was engaging. Towards the end, the organization seemed to fall apart and it felt very scattered.
The World of Sanditon, by Sara Sheridan
★★★
My husband got me this book for Christmas because we both love Andrew Davies' PBS series Sanditon, which is based off of Jane Austen's last, unfinished novel. Basically, the book is a look at Regency England and covers topics ranging from travel to health to diet to fashion, with behind-the-scenes content from the miniseries and interviews with the actors sprinkled throughout. I wish that there was more of the behind-the-scenes content and that the interviews were longer, but overall, I really enjoyed it!
The Secrets of the Stormforest, by L.D. Lapinski
This was the perfect conclusion to a delightful Middle Grade fantasy series! I've really enjoyed the Strangeworlds Travel Agency trilogy, despite the small beef that I mentioned in my review of Radio Silence last week. Here's the first sentence of the Goodreads blurb of the first book: "At the Strangeworlds Travel Agency, each suitcase transports you to a different world. All you have to do is step inside . . ."
Unlike Court of Lions, The Secrets of the Stormforest actually did escalate, with the biggest and baddest villains, who had been foreshadowed throughout the series, finally coming to light. Very satisfying. The pacing did seem a little off to me, but I liked how this last book tied up all the loose ends from the first two books. However, there was this sentence: "The head turned at Cutpurse's approach, and then, before she knew it, Nicc was hugging her tightly and Flick was letting out a breath she hadn't realized she'd been holding." Really?!? Come on!
A Brief Theology of Periods (Yes, Really), by Rachel Jones
Periods are becoming less and less taboo as a topic of conversation and, yes, books. But how many Christian books are there about periods? Well, at least one!
My pastor's wife recommended this book to me and I absolutely loved it. I was somewhat skeptical at first (although not so skeptical that I didn't buy the book when I discovered that my library system doesn't have it), wondering how theological you can really get about periods, but wow! Rachel Jones's use of Scripture to back up her points was phenomenal, and I felt like she did a great job of drawing out logical applications from the Bible without stretching them way too far.
Radio Silence, by Alice Oseman
Radio Silence is a standalone YA contemporary novel set in England, and it's about a driven, school-oriented girl named Frances Janvier who's obsessed with a YouTube podcast–and the podcast's maker.
I finally got around to reading some Alice Oseman! I was hooked on this book. In fact, I did a whole review on it here, as mentioned earlier.
Seven books–not too shabby! I've already gotten through one book this month, so June is promising to be a good reading month as well! Are you excited for summer? Have you read anything exceptionally good lately? Let me know in the comments!
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