June 2021 Wrap Up pt 1

How in the hell is it halfway through June? I feel like it was June 1 on Monday! I know I'm repeating myself every time I post, but WTF!?!? Anyway, I've read some books, so I think I could probably tell you about them now so I don't have a huge post at the end of the month.

Broken (in the best possible way) by Jenny Lawson - I listened to this on audiobook because I feel like that is always the best way to take in her work. She reads them herself and her voice is perfect for the bizarre things she comes up with. I laughed out loud with regularity while listening to this. She has some of the same disorders that I do and her struggles are so relatable. I feel so seen. I had my hubby listen to some of it and he was a little overwhelmed and then felt lucky for only having to deal with my crazy. 10/10 bookmarks.

Perfect on Paper by Sophie Gonzales - Gonzales has perfected teen banter. Her books are great. The plot of this one was a lot like that of a book I read last month: Glimpsed. In this one, Darcy maintains a locker where kids write letters and ask for relationship advice. She's run it for 2 years when someone catches her and asks her for personal help getting his girlfriend back. She helps him, but it all blows up in her face when she finds out that her best friend's (and secret crush) new girlfriend rigged the recent student council election to beat the best friend. Darcy tattles and now everyone knows she's the advice giver. The best part of this whole book, though, is a scene in a meeting of queer and questioning students when Darcy admits she's afraid to date a boy because it might mean people won't believe she's still bisexual. There is a name for this feeling and the other kids in the group, even people she's fighting with, support her and tell her she's still queer even if she is in a straight-passing relationship. It was beautiful. 8/10 bookmarks.

Tokyo Ever After by Emiko Jean - The premise of this one is a little ridiculous. Izumi has never known her father. Her mother told her he was a one-night-stand she had her last year of college. Her best friend finds a letter he wrote to her mother and looked up his name. He's the crown prince of Japan. So begins a whirlwind of a trip to Japan to meet her father and the rest of her family. Only, she doesn't know anything about being Princess. She's too American for the taste of the Japanese royal family and the press. The whole thing is a lot like The Princess Diaries with an Asian twist. I enjoyed the story, but it wasn't earth-shattering. 7/8 bookmarks

Resident Dog by Nicole England - England is a photographer for an architectural magazine in Australia. While she was taking pictures of gorgeous homes, she got shots of the dogs that live there, too. Then she put together this book of those pictures. They are all the goodest dogs. 13/10 bookmarks

Check These Out: One Librarian's Catalog of the 200 Coolest, Best, and Most Important Books You'll Ever Read by Gina Sheridan - This book was published in 2015 so I've read most of the books on her list. I don't necessarily agree with her taste. Also, I've had 6 years' worth of exposure to fantastic literature so I felt there was stuff missing.

Yesterday is History by Kosoko Jackson - Andre Cobb got a liver from a young man who died in a car wreck. Along with this liver, he got the ability to travel back in time. He goes back t 1969 and meets a boy who lived in his house. They fall in love, of course. But then, Andre meets Blake, the brother of the boy that died and gave him his liver. His whole family can time jump. Well, not Blake. They also fall in love. Now Andre is torn between the boy in the past and the boy in the present. It was okay. It got docked a rating because it used the sentence: I released a breath I didn't know I was holding. I hate that. It's so cliche. Just stop already. 6/10 bookmarks

6 books in half a month isn't terrible! I'm pretty proud of that. Go me!