May 2024 Wrap Up

I don't know if you noticed that I didn't have a mid-month wrap up in May. That's because by the middle of May, I hadn't finished a single book. Since then, I've finished 7. So, settle in. Let's discuss.

Empire of the Damned by Jay Kristoff - This book. It took me 7 weeks to finish this book. Not because it wasn't interesting. It is just dense. The pages are super thin, so you have to read a lot to feel like you're getting anywhere, and the tiny print went nearly to the edge of the page on all sides. 700 pages of that takes awhile. This is the second in a series. We are being told a story by Gabriel, who is a vampire hunter. Or was. He met a girl and saw her miracles and believed that she was the Grail that would bring their world out of the ever-present darkness that has fallen. The whole story is about him protecting her and trying to get her to the place where she can save the world.

Manga Classics: Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (sort of) - I got this for Mother's Day. It is pretty good, but it has some piddly issues. Clearly, whoever adapted this for graphic novel format, didn't know diddly about Regency Era naming conventions. Occasionally, Jane would be referred to as "Lady Jane". The Bennets are not aristocracy. They are landed gentry. Lord and Lady are reserved for the aristocracy. As rich as Mr. Darcy is, he is still only Mr. Darcy because he is landed gentry, not aristocracy. Lady Catherine is a Lady because she is the daughter of an Earl. This kind of annoyed me. Otherwise, it was fun.

How to Take Smart Notes by Sonke Ahrens - This book made me crazy. It's not a long book, but I really struggled to make sense of it. It was really more for academics and students, but I was hoping to get some good info from it. His theory is that people who are writing academic papers are taking notes wrong. Instead of thinking up a subject and then reading to support that, they should be reading and taking notes on lots of things and then noticing how the subject pulls itself together, and then putting the notes together into a paper. He says to take notes on a slip of paper and then putting it in a box. Then taking all the papers out of the box to create the paper. Somehow all those slips of paper are meant to stay organized in this box? That's not how paper works. At the end of it, I finally got some good info. Basically, mark up the book with margin notes and highlighting, etc. Then when you're finished, go back through and rewrite your notes in a separate notebook in your own words so you can have those to review later. This I can use for my book reviews, if I ever write one.

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin - I really enjoyed this one. I like Gretchen Rubin, to begin with, but also, I love a personality theory. This one appears to hold water. There are four tendencies: Upholder, Questioner, Obliger, and Rebel. The book describes each tendency's relationship to expectations (external and internal) and also talks about how to live with and work with each type.

Brain on Fire by Susannah Cahalan - In her 20s this professional journalist started having "episodes". Her sight would go wonky, she would have crying jags for no reason. Then she started hallucinating. When she had a grand mal seizure, she finally got someone looking at her. At NYU hospital, a doctor said he had heard of this sort of thing from a paper. Other women were having the same thing. It is an autoimmune issue stemming from an ovarian tumor in 50% of the cases, and a virus in others. She got a massive steroid dose and some blood cleanouts and she was much better. She may not ever be back to her full self, but she is alive and back at work and living her life.

The Girl From the Other Side, Vol. 5 by Nagabe - This one was weird. It was hard to tell what was happening now and what was a flashback. Let's be honest, the whole thing is weird, from the world where people turn into these weird beasts to the fact that the little girl appears to be immune. Weird.

The Viscount Who Loved Me by Julia Quinn - I do enjoy a good hate to love romance. Anthony Bridgerton, confirmed bachelor and known rake, has decided it is time for him to marry, and he is looking for the right woman during this year's season. He has his sights set on Edwina. She is sweet, intelligent, beautiful and boring. Perfect. You see, he firmly believes he is going to die young, like his father, and he doesn't want to love his wife and leave her bereft like his mother. Unfortunately, Edwina's older sister Kate has no intention of letting a rake like him marry her sister. They go toe to toe several times and he kind of likes it. Oops.

Lore Olympus, Vol. 1 by Rachel Smythe - This was a reread for me. I read it a couple of years ago, but never read past the first volume. This time I also got the second volume. I reread this one and still enjoyed the art and the wit.

Okie dokie. That's everything I read in May. What did you read?