July 19, 2019

Friday Reads 7-19-19

I love it when dates repeat like that. I'm a nerd.

Anyway, tonight is book club night, so that will be fun. And yes, I managed to finish the book. It's the only one I've finished this week, but there will be more. I hope. But for now, I'm still working on the ones from last week. Let me just line out my reading plans for you.

I intend to finish these this weekend:

On the Come Up

On the Come Up by Angie Thomas - This is turning out to be a pretty good book. The main character is a teen girl who is trying to make it big in the rap field. She has people telling her different directions to go and she can't see the big picture about what is the best direction to take for the long run. This is an accurate portrayal of a teens inability to see how her actions will have major effects later on.

Poe Blythe

The Last Voyage of Poe Blythe by Ally Condie - I am about half way through this one. I am not entirely sure how to describe it. It's sci-fi, I guess. Maybe post-apocalyptic? It's hard to decipher if it is Earth or some other place altogether. More when I finish it.

And now for the ones that will carry over into next week:

Lovely War

Lovely War by Julie Berry - Ok, this has an interesting premise. It starts out in 1942 in a fancy hotel. Hephaestus catches his wife, Aphrodite, in bed with Ares. Hephaestus is trying to convince Aphrodite to leave Ares and be his loving wife. Ares is making fun of him. Aphrodite begins telling a story about what she does to try to explain why she does it. She tells a love story that takes place in 1917 about a boy who is about to go to war, who meets the love of his life a week before he leaves. I guess there's another story that follows. Then other gods show up to tell their parts of the story.

Daughters

The Daughters of Juarez by Teresa Rodriguez - This is the one I'm spreading out over the whole month, but honestly, I will probably finish it early. There is a lot of white space on each page and the text is large. It's not terribly long, so I can probably get it done early. This is an investigative look at the phenomenon of hundreds of girls and women being kidnapped, raped, and murdered in the Mexican border city of Juarez, and how it was (badly) handled by law enforcement and government agencies.

Crown of Feathers

Crown of Feathers by Nicki Pau-Preto - I'm listening to this one, so I'll finish it when I finish it. I'm listening on 2X speed, so when I get a minute to listen, I get a bunch done at once. It's about a girl who wants to be a Pheonex rider so much she'll do whatever it takes. She has a Phoenix, but her sister poisoned it and it died. She ran away, posed as a boy, and got a job at a Phoenix Rider hideout helping with the horses. I can't decide if I like it or not. It's high-angst. I'm only half way through though, so maybe something will change.

The Queen

The Queen by Josh Levin - This is about a woman in the 1970's who was cheating the government for tons of money through welfare fraud. I haven't read much, but it looks like she also kidnapped a lot of kids as well as murdered at least one person. I am all about social justice stuff, so I'm enjoyoing it.

Now for books I plan to start this weekend:

(Side note: What the hecking heck am I thinking?)

Warrior of the Wild

Warrior of the Wild by Tricia Levenseller - As far as I can tell, this is Norse inspired fiction? It's pretty short, so hopefully it will also be easy to read.

Princesses Behaving Badly

Princesses Behaving Badly by Linda Rodriguez McRobbie - This is a set of essays(?) about princesses in history who didn't behave royally. Maybe even really despicably. I'm going to find out.

Echo North

Echo North by Joanna Ruth Meyer - This seems to be a kind of fairy tale retelling. Maybe Beauty and the Beast? Probably. A girl trades a year of her life with a wolf to ensure her father's safety. This one is a bit long, so it might take some work to finish in a week.

Cold in her bones

The Cold is in Her Bones by Peternelle van Arsdale - This one is billed as a Medusa retelling, but the summary doesn't really point that way. I will find out what it is up to and let you know.

So to recap: I will be finishing 2 books, continuing on in 4 books, and adding 4 more. Oh wow. I may collapse after that.

I have a meeting with my award committee at the end of the month, so I am trying to read as many books as possible for that. I feel like I am making excellent progress in that regard.