Hey nerds, how are you?
I AM AWARE THAT IT IS ESSENTIALLY THE END OF JULY BUT I STARTED WRITING THIS AT THE END OF JUNE SO LET’S PRETEND TIME DOESN’T MATTER.
I cannot believe I’m writing another blog post! I’m so happy. I have been in such a thesis bubble the past few months…who am I kidding, I still am. I am currently data collecting, which is a fancy way of saying I’m interviewing participants! I don’t know how to express how awesome it is to be able to interview people who want their stories to be heard. I just sit there and absord their experiences and feelings – and to be honest, it does drain you but you feel as if there is a purpose to the research that reading articles and trying to understand theoretical perspectives, don’t quite highlight, especially to a PhD student! We’re like…baby academics. Still trying to figure out our motorskills and learning how to speak the language.
That was a tangent. But that’s what I’ve been doing! I’m also currently at the beginning stages of organising a symposium for my university because I (alongside a friend of mine, Renee) are co-student representatives for our College. My university has ‘colleges’ which then have ‘schools’ – if that makes sense? For instance, I am in the School of Education, and the School of Education is within the College of Design and Social Context. So I am the college wide student rep! It’s been meeting after meeting!
๐๐ท๐๐๐ช๐, let’s actually get to the post that I’m meant to write! In the month of June, I actually read 17 books! Again, wow. I’m lowkey proud of myself, even though I promised myself that I would slow down and read the more bigger books on my shelf. Have I done that? Not really.
So, yes, 17 books. I wanted to finish The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt by the end of June, but it is so not happening. I only have one more day of June and 500 more pages of The Goldfinch so this time, the book wins!
I read mostly ‘LGTBQIA+’ fiction, according to my Storygraph, totalling to 5 books. Within that though, is a new adult contemporary/sci-fi romance, a memoir, a young adult fantasy and, a literary novel. I mostly read adult fiction this month also, either contemporary, literary, or short stories. I read only two classics, which is lowkey disappointing of me (remind me to do a classics check-in soon) and two historical romance novels. I also read a hard sci-fi novel in the beginning of the month – and I haven’t read a hard sci-fi in possibly years, so that was exciting.
If there are any books you want to see a full length review for, please let me know!
These are in no particular order by the way!
So the ‘literary’ novels that I read this month were ๐ณ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐ ๐ฎ๐๐๐๐ and ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ฉ๐๐๐ 1982 ๐๐ ๐ช๐๐ ๐ต๐๐-๐ฑ๐๐, and both of these novels were fantastic in their own unique way. ๐ณ๐๐๐ was an absolute surprise. It completely blindsided me – I am one of those people who think that books come into your life for a reason and this one definitely did because it hit me so emotionally. ๐ณ๐๐๐ is the story about Arthur Less, written from the perspective of someone else (I won’t tell you who, because the unmasking of the narratar is one of the elements of this novel that I loved) who decides to go tour the world’s literary events that he was invited to, in order to have a justifiable reason to not go to his ex-lover’s wedding. The book itself is not plot-heavy at all, so don’t read this novel if that’s what you need in your books – it is essentially a character study. Nothing much happens, we are sitting alongside Aurther as he navigates this period of the aftermath of his relationship and the man that he loves, marrying another man. Absolutely fantastic.
๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ฉ๐๐๐ 1982 is similar in the sense that there is not really a plot, it is again, a character study from the perspective of someone else, an outsider looking in and reconstructing ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ฑ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐’s life. The exploration of sexism, misogyny and its almost insiduous nature in the way that it oppresses and suppresses a woman living in a patriarchal society, was exceptionally well written. I had to put the book down a few times because of how impactful it was in conveying these themes. Cho Nam-Joo writes with a simplicity that smacks you in the face with emotional poignancy – it is a skill.
Now, a ๐๐ธ๐๐ป๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ต๐ธ๐ธ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ ๐ข.๐ฃ. ๐๐ฒ๐ซ๐ผ๐ธ๐ท was one of the biggest surprises of June. I think this is technically categorised as a novella and it was stunning. The writing in this actually blew me away and I ended up annotating it because some of the lines were beautiful. Do you want an example? I’m going to give an example to you anyway. Here we go – non-spoiler, by the way:
๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐, ๐๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ , ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, ๐๐๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐’๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ฐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐. ๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐-๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐.
๐ฐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐๐.
(p. 19)
Like? I was blown away throughout reading this entire book. ๐๐ธ๐๐ป๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ต๐ธ๐ธ๐ญ centres on the story of Constanta, one of the brides of Dracula. I think this novella can be thought of as both a confession and a love letter. It is written to ‘you’, which we as the reader figure out that it is Dracula himself in the beginning. We follow Constanta’s journey from human to vampire, to victim to survivor. We have a polyamorous relationship and queer characters. This was beautiful and I highly recommend reading it!
๐ข๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ญ๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ป๐ฒ๐ช๐ท ๐ฃ๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ฒ๐ด๐ธ๐ฟ๐ผ๐ด๐ was also a suprise! I won’t say any more about this book because I have a full review here.
The adult romance I read in June was mostly immaculate. ๐๐ท๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ธ๐น ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ช๐ผ๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฌ๐ ๐พ๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ๐ธ๐ท was my favourite romance of June. It’s not without it’s flaws, but goddamn did it make me feel all the emotions. Jane Su is one of my favourite characters that I have read this year. August and Jane’s relationship is pure and wholesome and I still think about them. This book is super light sci-fi, with aspects of time travel set in the contemporary world albet slightly alternate (McQuiston bookish universe?) that is about two women falling in love on the train. One stuck in-between time, the other trying to save her. It was so beautiful. August is such a chaotic bisexual and I love it.
๐ฃ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ต๐ต๐ฒ๐น, ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐พ๐ต๐ฒ๐ช ๐ ๐พ๐ฒ๐ท๐ท and ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ธ๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐พ๐ด๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐พ๐ท๐ถ๐ธ๐ป๐ฎ were both historical romance fiction that I read in June and they were both really good. Historical romance fiction is a genre of romance that is typically hit and miss with me (hello toxic relationships) but ๐๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฎ ๐๐พ๐ท๐ถ๐ธ๐ป๐ฎ’s novel ๐๐ป๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐๐ธ๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐พ๐ด๐ฎ was super fun and adorable. Again, not flawless – I do wish there was more actual attention paid to the historical context. This book is promoted as suffragettes meets romance – but the suffragette movement is mostly pushed to the side and the romance is emphasised. I wish there was more of a balance. ๐ฃ๐ธ ๐ข๐ฒ๐ป ๐๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ต๐ต๐ฒ๐น, ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐๐ธ๐ฟ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐พ๐ต๐ฒ๐ช ๐ ๐พ๐ฒ๐ท๐ท is my favourite Bridgerton novel to date. Yes okay, Phillip is not the best male romance lead but in comparison to most, he is superior. I just really loved Eloise’s character so much and the inclusion of Phillip’s two children. It made me feel happy!
๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ถ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ผ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ถ๐ฎ๐ท ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฒ๐ช ๐๐ช๐ฌ๐ฑ๐ช๐ญ๐ธ will have to be in the top ten of my favourite books of all time. It was transcendent. I honestly cannot believe it took me this long to get to reading this book. Classified as a memoir, ๐๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ป๐ฎ๐ช๐ถ ๐๐ธ๐พ๐ผ๐ฎ turns the genre on its head. It deconstructs and remakes what it means to be a memoir, with an interweaving of experience and story with queer theory. I loved it so much. Trigger warnings for mental and psychological abuse.
๐๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ท ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ข๐ฝ๐ช๐ป๐ผ ๐๐ธ๐ธ๐ด ๐๐ธ๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ๐ธ๐ถ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ช๐๐ช ๐๐ท๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ต๐ธ๐พ was my first Angelou and it was, again, beautiful. I really enjoyed the insight this essay collection offered into Angelou herself, and into her thoughts concerning love, racism and sensuality. I am quite excited to read more of her work in the future.
For some reason, in the month of June, I re-discovered my enjoyment of short story collections. I started with a short story collection that was on my tbr for a bit, and that was ๐ฆ๐ฒ๐ต๐ญ๐ฎ๐ป๐ท๐ฎ๐ผ๐ผ ๐ฃ๐ฒ๐น๐ผ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฐ๐ช๐ป๐ฎ๐ฝ ๐๐ฝ๐๐ธ๐ธ๐ญ. This was incredibly strange and ridiculous and I thoroughly liked it. There was mostly duds in this collection, but the ones I enjoyed, I loved. But it definitely fizzled out by the end. Here are my ratings for the individual stories:
- ๐ป๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐, 3 stars
- ๐ฏ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, 5 stars (freaking weird and disgusting, I loved it)
- ๐ฐ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐, 4.5 stars
- ๐ป๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐ ๐ด๐๐, 3.5 stars
- ๐ซ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐, 2 stars
- ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐, 4 stars
- ๐ป๐๐ ๐จ๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐ , 2 stars
- ๐พ๐๐๐๐๐, 2 stars
- ๐พ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐, 2.5 stars
- ๐ฏ๐๐๐ ๐พ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐, 2 stars
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ท๐ฐ๐ฎ๐ป๐ผ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ข๐ถ๐ธ๐ด๐ฒ๐ท๐ฐ ๐ฒ๐ท ๐๐ฎ๐ญ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฒ๐ช๐ท๐ช ๐๐ท๐ป๐ฒ๐บ๐พ๐ฎ๐ was fantastic. Oh my god, were these fantastic. They were disturbing, messy, unsettling and slightly horrific. It centred on messy women doing messy things and I ate that up. I just had so much fun reading these stories. Here are my ratings for the individual stories:
- ๐จ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ผ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐๐ : 3.5 stars. I found this one hilarious but I donโt think it was meant to be.
- ๐ถ๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ธ๐๐๐๐๐: 5 stars. ICONIC. The way this one ended!?!?
- ๐ป๐๐ ๐ช๐๐๐: 2.5 stars. Meh.
- ๐ป๐๐ ๐พ๐๐๐: 5 stars. THIS WAS INCREDIBLE.
- ๐น๐๐๐๐๐ ๐ป๐๐๐๐๐: 3 stars
- ๐ป๐๐ ๐ณ๐๐๐๐๐๐: 3.5 stars.
- ๐พ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐, ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐?: 4 stars. This was perverted and horrifying.
- ๐ด๐๐๐: 4.5 stars. I MEAN THE TWIST????? What the fuck
- ๐ต๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐ฉ๐๐๐๐๐๐๐: 2 stars
- ๐ฒ๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐: 4 stars. So weird!!!
- ๐ป๐๐ ๐ซ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐บ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ : 3 stars.
- ๐ฉ๐๐๐ ๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐๐๐๐ ๐๐ ๐๐๐ ๐ ๐๐๐ : 4 stars
I didn’t read many classics in the month of June, which I am disappointed about but I will just try to rectify that in the future. But the two classics I did read where more of in the meh category. ๐ข๐พ๐ถ๐ถ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ญ๐ฒ๐ฝ๐ฑ ๐ฆ๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ฝ๐ธ๐ท was my third Edith Wharton work I’ve read. Similar to Ethan Frome, this is a novella that leans more towards the tragic and bleak. I still have mixed feelings about this novella. On one hand I can appreciate it as a work of art – it explores issues surrounding womanhood, sexuality when being a woman, normative structures that limit and confine a womanโs sexual expression, etc. But on the other hand, I was bored. So. Bored. And I canโt really get past that. At least with Ethan Frome, you were engaged and almost enthralled by the tragedy and the writing was immersive! With Summer, I just wanted it to end.
๐๐ต๐ฒ๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฃ๐๐ฒ๐ผ๐ฝ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฑ๐ช๐ป๐ต๐ฎ๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ด๐ฎ๐ท๐ผ is my third Dickens novel that I have ever read. I did mostly enjoy it but I had some issues. It wasn’t until I reflected about the book that I decided to give it a three star rating. The ending was satisfying and great. I feel like Iโve tabbed and underlined entire pages because the portrayal of love and family was so beautiful and lifted off the page. So I adored the character of Oliver Twist. But, I still think that the pacing was a bit off – the last 60ish pages so many things happened and I wish we had more time to see the aftermath of certain events instead of it happening off page and referred to.
I also had a slight issue with the character of Fagin. I need to look into it a bit more, but the way that he was described, in terms of his physical appearance as well as his personality and nature, it seemed anti-Semitic. Like, in some scenes it was written as if he was the way he was because he was Jewish. I donโt know – maybe I was reading too much into it? I have to do a bit of research.
There was also an instance (I think only one?) of a character using the n word.
The two biggest disappoints of the month. ๐๐ช๐ต๐ฒ๐ฌ๐ฎ ๐ซ๐ ๐๐ฎ๐ช๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ป ๐ฆ๐ช๐ต๐ฝ๐ฎ๐ป had so much potential but it was just not very good.
I had such high hopes for this. And I donโt quite know why I didnโt love it.
Actually, no thatโs a lie. I do.
It started off strong, it really did, I thoroughly enjoyed the first half of the book. I thought the magic system and the history of the world were interesting, I was enjoying Alyce as a character most of the time. But then I couldnโt see last how idiotic Alyce was. Iโm sorry but she lacked critical thinking so such a degree that she refused to see things that were right in front of her. I think that this mustโve been deliberate- maybe to showcase how much she longs to actually be loved. But we were reading from her first person perspective and she was seeing what we, as readers, were โseeingโ, and she didnโt SEE THINGS THAT WERE SO OBVIOUS. Or she does recognise or acknowledge it and then forgets about it. But gets surprised when it bites her on the ass. She takes very little accountability. I guess I understand that everything was leading to the climax, her villain origin story of you will, but even that was ridiculously lacklustre. Donโt even get me started about Aurora. One of the most two dimensional dull characters Iโve read this year. She had no substance! Alyce and Auroraโs โrelationshipโ, if you want to call it that, had no substance! This book really is placing hell of a lot of pressure on the sequel and final book in the duology to make us care for Aurora and tie up the loose ends.
Also, there were a few plot holes regarding literally everything. The magic, the history, the Graces and the Fae. Donโt get me wrong, itโs interesting, but again, there needed to be more. So much of the book was spent really doing nothing in terms of plot – it was mostly to get the reader sympathetic to Alyce and her situation (which was terrible!) but I think if more world building was woven through, it wouldโve been great. And who saw Val and that โtwistโ coming a mile away? Alyce just didnโt understand what it meant to THINK THINGS THROUGH. Honestly.
๐ฃ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฟ๐ฎ๐ต๐ธ๐พ๐ผ ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐๐ช ๐๐ฒ๐ป๐ต๐ผ ๐ซ๐ ๐ข๐ฑ๐ฎ๐ซ๐ช ๐๐ช๐ป๐ฒ๐ถ, again, had so much potential. The first half of it was literally sitting on a 4.5 to 5 star rating. But the last half? It lost focus. The story became entirely too concentrated on the romance element and it was so lacklustre. If you’re going to promote a book with ‘gilmore girls with bollywood’, then give me the mother-daughter content, if you’re also going to promote it as the main character going through grief and mourning, well, I would also like to see more that too. It just became so boring towards the end; what made it incredible in the beginning, was completely lost by the end.
Oh my god, I completley forgot that I read these two books. They were very average. I don’t have much to say about either of them, they were just okay and I have definitely read better.
And that’s it for today, friends! I’ll see you all in a week or so with the july wrap up (whoops).
Until next time, happy reading!
All the love,
allie
xx
โจ ๐ฝ๐ฑ๐ฎ ๐ต๐ฒ๐ซ๐ป๐ช๐ป๐ ๐ธ๐ฏ ๐ช๐ต๐ฎ๐๐ช๐ท๐ญ๐ป๐ช โจ 