June 2023 Wrap Up
I was typing the title of this post and had to stop to think about what month it is. It can't possibly be time to wrap up the month of June already, right? I checked my calendars and it is, in fact, July. So here we go. These are the books I have read since my June Mid-Month Wrap-Up.
The Haunted Bookstore: Gateway to a Parallel Universe, Vol. 1 by Shinobumaru - I gave this book 3 stars on Goodreads when I finished it, but just now I had to go back and read the synopsis because I couldn't remember what it is about. A human girl lives in the spirit realm with her adoptive father and they have a bookshop. Then she rescues a human boy from the street who turns out to be an exorcist, which makes him upopular in the spirit realm. I really remember nothing of what happened in the story. It's a graphic novel, translated from the Japanese, but it is seriously forgettable.
The Professor and the Madman: A Tale of Murder, Insanity, and the Making of the Oxford English Dictionary by Simon Winchester - My friend Karl has been yelling at me for years to read this book. It's his favorite. I can see why he would like it. Me? I got bogged down in the minutiae of how they collected words and examples of their use. The story of the madman was fascinating, though.
Doomsday With My Dog, Vol. 1 by Yu Ishihara - This is a serious of four-panel comics about the last remaining human at the end of the world and her Shiba Inu. They are wandering around Japan and interacting with random other animals and the occasional alien. The dog talks and is extremely philosophical. It looks way cuter than it is. I gave it 3 stars and I started the second volume, but I don't think I'll finish it.
Nick and Charlie by Alice Oseman - This is a novel about the characters from the Heartstopper graphic novel series. This one is set at the end of Nick's last year of high school. Charlie is a year behind. Nick is ready to go off to college and Charlie is stressing about how they are going to change when he leaves. I finished it in an afternoon while we were at the lake.
The Windsor Knot by S.J. Bennett - This was a lot of fun. It is told through third person from the perspectives of The Queen and her personal assistant, Rozie. Occasionally we got the thoughts of other characters like Prince Phillip and Prince Charles. Those perspective changes happened in the space of a paragraph break and sometimes it was jarring, but when it got to the action scenes, it was worth it. Herself is really funny. She realizes that other people assume she is sheltered and innocent, but she ruminates that she has lived through several wars and has seen everything at least once. Not only does she solve the mystery, but she leads other people around so that they think they have solved it and remain fully dedicated to serving the crown. Rozie, the assistant, is awesome. I really liked her too.
And that's it. I read a total of 11 books in June, which is a wonderful number. Yay me.
On to July!