JULY, AUGUST, SEPTEMBER 2017

This is that happens when I wait to do my book list... I can't ever remember what I read.  And sadly, most of my reading was just bleh.  Nothing really stood out. I started and didn't finish a record number of books (which is NOT like me). I've just had a solid three months of unsatisfactory reading.

Here are a few I do remember:

Turning 15 on the Road to Freedom: My story of the 1945 Selma Voting Rights March by Lynda Blackmon Lowery / YA / ***1/2 / Kindle
One of my favorite things is to read a book and become curious about some facet of it, causing me to want to learn more.  I obviously know about Martin Luther King and the Civil Right Movement but I had no idea about Selma and voting rights and Bloody Sunday. I was not aware that younger children were often protesting, as missing work was impossible for many adults. This book was written as a memoir by a girl who was part of a peaceful protest but then was gassed and physically attacked on Bloody Sunday.  I was shocked this even happened. I ended up reading quite a few things online about the event and the subsequent march to Montgomery.  The author was quick to say that even though what she went through on Bloody Sunday was scary and painful, she felt like this was a turning point as people around the nation came together in their behalf. 
This book was a really quick read but packed a punch as to content.It included photos, simple illustrations, and the lyrics to several marching songs. 

Dash and Lily's Book of Dares by David Levithan and Rachel Cohn / YA / *** / Kindle
This teen novel had one of the best opening paragraphs EVER. It was fantastic. The idea of this story was so great, but the actual implementation of it was a little flat.  It tells the adventures of two teenagers as they alternate leaving a red notebook all over New York City for the other person to find.  They get to know each other through the words on the pages as well as the locations the book is left. It had a fun city vibe to it.  I had a hard time feeling like I knew the main character, Dash. He was a paradox.  But overall, this was a fun read.

Tell The Wolves I'm Home: A Novel by Carol Rifka Brunt / A / **** / Kindle
Favorite Quote: "If my life was a film, I'd have walked out by now."

It is fun to me that when I think of a book sometimes I also have a memory of WHERE I read it. This one was on deck of a cruise ship.  Ahhhh fantastic.

This is a story of family and AIDS.  I liked this one as it took place back in the 1980's when AIDS first became a big crisis.  I remember those times... people were just afraid because there was so much that was unknown. June (14) and her Uncle Finn have a special relationship. They are "kindred spirits". In the first 1/3 of the book, Finn passes away from AIDS.  June is approached by Toby, Finn's partner, whom she didn't even know existed. They become friends, grieving together and supporting each other as Toby also becomes sick.  June and Toby are forced to keep their friendship a secret, as June's family think that Toby "killed" Finn by giving him AIDS on purpose.  Also part of the story line is June's relationship with her passionate and sometimes vindictive sister, Greta.
I thought the characters were well written and the story had a good arc to it.  At times the writing was super poignant and riveting.  It was worth a read.

The Fixer: by Jennifer Lynn Barnes / YA / ** / Kindle
Oh my. This one was so ridiculous that I had to remind myself that even though I love Young Adult fiction, I am NOT the age that this type of book is written for. Basically it is the story of a teen girl, Tess, who moves to Washington D.C. to live with her sister. Through a serious of extremely implausible coincedences, she and her friends uncover a high-level political conspiracy. It felt very Scooby-Doo.  It would help if I liked the main character, but I felt like zero emotion.

Milk and Honey by Rupi Kaur / A / ** / Kindle
This book was recommended to me by Juliana. It is billed as poetry, but honestly the selections were not poetry to me but rather a series of well-written thoughts.  Breaking up a sentence with spaces does not make it poetry.  That being said, there were some really powerful selections.  It is the type of book you need to read SLOWLY. It is presented in four parts, each dealing with some type of sorrow or loss. Some of it was so gritty and raw it was uncomfortable to read.. which is the point I think.  Some selections were tender and poignant.  I am not into strong emotion or overly sexual writing, so I didn't really enjoy this book, but I can see why it is so loved.  It is NOT for children by any means. If the writing doesn't shock you, the pictures will. 

The Fate of the Tearling: A Novel (The Queen of the Tearling Book 3) by Erika Johansen / YA / ** / Kindle
Reminder on this series: I kinda hated the characters in the first one but the story line was pretty good so I kept going. The second book was better even though it took some surprising twists, so I kept going. The third book was a disaster to me. Too much story. Too many characters. Too many plot lines.  I hate when the totally evil 'bad-guy' turns into a weak enemy. Hated this book.

The Revenant: A Novel of Revenge by Michael Punke / A / *** / Kindle
I read this one solely because the movie won so many awards. It is a story of a mountain man who is mauled by a bear and then left to die by two men charged with his care. The rest of the story tells of his gritty survival and his search to find the two men who abandoned him.  The ending was weirdly abrupt. I've heard the movie is different, so I'll have to check it out next.

Flight by Sherman Alexie / YA / **** / Audio
I had such mixed feelings about this one.  I have traditionally loved anything I've read by Sherman Alexie (especially 'The Absolute True Diary of a Part-Time Indian' and 'The Lone Ranger and Tonto Fistfight in Heaven'). I listened to this one, and the first problem I had was that the narrator didn't sound "indian" to me. I was really bugged by this, and looked up the narrator... only to find out that he is, in fact, native american.  Who knew that the native americans I grew up with sound different? But they do. I got over this quickly and now when I think of this book I "hear" the voice of the narrator.
It is a powerful story of a young indian boy who runs away from a series of terrible foster homes and goes to a bank with a gun to commit an act of violence. He has an out of body experience as his "spirit (?)" goes into the body of a series of different people from the past including a police officer during the Civil Rights movement, a native american boy before the battle of the Little Big Horn, an indian tracker in the 19th century, a pilot, and a few more I don't want to share as they are spoilers. I didn't always "get" the lesson I was supposed to probably be learning, but in the end this book left me literally SOBBING.  Despite all the grit and language and violence, this book was hopeful and quirky and sometimes bizarre. 

The Hired Girl by Laura Schlitz / YA / ***1/2 / Hardback
This book won quite a few awards, so I think I expected too much of it. It tells the story of a young girl (14) who runs away from her hard and emotionally abusive life on the family farm to work as a servant in the big city.
I liked the dynamics between Joan, the family she works for, and the friends she makes along the way. It was interesting to read about that time in history, especially from the perspective of a jewish household.  I just didn't LOVE the book for some reason... the naive antics of the bookish and imaginative Joan made me feel like it was trying a little too much to copy "Anne of Green Gables".
The second half was not as delightful as the first half.


Tell Me Something Real by Calla Devlin / YA / *** / Kindle
This was in interesting book that was really character driven. It tells the story of three sisters bonded together by their mother's illness.  Let me make it clear that this is not another "cancer" book.  It does involve illness, but also betrayal and growing up and family and forgiveness.  I liked it but didn't love it.  It was interesting, though.


Vassa In the Night by Sarah Porter / YA / ** / Hard Copy
I do not know why I keep reading some of the stuff I read. I picked this one up as it had a blurb on the cover by Leah Bardugo (WHO  I LOVE ) but man Leah, you let me down. This story is just WEIRD.  Normally I like weird... but this was beyond weird. I think it was based on the Russian folktale of Vasilisa ... at least elements of it felt a little familiar... but because I'm not familiar enough with the folktale I possibly didn't make connections I should have. Some elements were just creepers. And I admit I didn't "get" it.  The sad part is that it was really engaging at the beginning. Oh well....

 Lady Midnight by Cassandra Clare / YA / ***/ Hard Copy This is the first in the Dark Artifices series, and is one I read before. I had to re-read it because the second book came out and I couldn't remember what the first one was about in enough detail.  That is what I like about Cassandra Clare, not only is she the best writer ever for dialogue, but she also writes richly detailed stories. Anyway, I didn't enjoy the book as well this time around. That being said, these books are still better than a lot of what I've read this month. Anyway, this one seemed more juvenile - like Cassandra had a girlfriend night and had them brainstorm her book and put in every single plot they gushed about.

Lord of Shadows by Cassandra Clare / YA / *** / Hard Copy
This book is a product of our times. For a while all the books included vampires of some sort. Then love triangles. Then the government being corrupt. Now, it is LGBTQ rights.  This book not only jumps on board but tries to drown you with it.  Considering that about 4% of the population is LGBTQ, it doesn't make sense that probably 80% of the characters in this book are something other than heterosexual.  This isn't the reason I didn't love the book, however. I'm just pointing out some of the problems. I love Clare, I own all her books. It hurts me to not love this book. I understand she is writing for a teen audience and I am obviously not a teen... but this one just didn't have the magic. For whatever reason I didn't feel the feels on this one. Characters were introduced in such a detailed way you were sure they meant something to the plot.... nope.  Whole diary sections were included which made sure they meant something to the plot... nope.  Our emotions are jerked around and it just didn't feel fun anymore. There are too many characters and too many unnecessary links to characters in her other books.  So sad....