Gaston Library discussion

We are reaching the end of the summer and with it the end of our Summer Reading Challenge. I was able to catch up a good bit this month to be able to make my goal of reading 16 books this summer happen. Don’t forget to get your final entries in by August 21st! Now onto Wrap Up!

This month I read…

Hollow Kingdom by Kira Jane Buxton- I saw this one come in the library and was intrigued by the premise. A zombie apocalypse novel from the perspective of a domesticated crow, yes please! This book definitely had a pretty dark sense of humor about it. Not entirely my cup of tea at times, but I did enjoy it. I loved the ending though and am going to read the sequel. Also, spoiler alert but I should have checked doesthedogdie.com before I read it.

Carry On, Wayward Son, and Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell- I read Fangirl years ago and loved it, as I have always been a “Fangirl” in ways myself. Relistening on audio was fun and I had forgotten a lot more of the story than I realized. I listened to Fangirl after deciding to read Carry On, which is the first of a companion series to Fangirl, and listening to it on audiobook and absolutely loving it. I loved it so much I immediately grabbed a physical copy of the second in the series (Wayward Son) and devoured it in a week, which is super quick reading for me. I’m just as into Simon Snow as Cath from Fangirl at this point and am excited to read the third in the series.

Klara and the Sun by Kazuo Ishiguro- I have mixed feelings about this one. It had me almost up until the very end when they take the trip to the city. After that it just felt muddled and confusing. I started the book with a lot of questions, a few got answered, but I finished it with even more questions than I started with. It was thematically very similar to Never Let Me Go, but Never Let Me Go did the themes better.

Ready Player Two by Ernest Cline- I listened to this book on audio. I went into this book with no expectations having not heard great things about it at all. I loved Ready Player One and wanted to give it a try. I liked it a lot more than I expected to, but not as much as the first. If I hadn’t been listening on audio I probably would have given up in the first part of the book when Wade is explaining the events that have happened between this book and first and is proving himself to be absolutely terrible in the process. I was able to push through that and enjoy some nostalgia filled adventures similar to those in the first book though.

Speak: The Graphic Novel by Laurie Halse Anderson- Have you noticed I’m on a rereading kick and have been for over a year now? Haha. This isn’t technically a reread (although stay tuned next month because I plan to revisit the original of this work soon) since it’s the Graphic Novel version of a book I loved in High School, but still. I had forgotten quite of this story as well, but it is just as powerful of a story as it was back in high school even in its Graphic Novel form. This was a story that opened a whole new world of YA books for me in high school and I’m forever grateful for it.

What did you read this month? Be sure to share down below!

Happy Reading!

I read Ready Player Two and thought Wade sounded SUPER whinny and self-pitying most of the time. I agree the first book was better.

Brandye wrote: "I read Ready Player Two and thought Wade sounded SUPER whinny and self-pitying most of the time. I agree the first book was better."

I think the audiobook helped me tune him out and focus on the action as I got to the later parts of the book, haha.