Hello my lovely word nerds! How are you? I am doing well but I must admit something….I am falling behind on my reading challenge. The year will soon be over and I pledged to read 150 books this year. But I am only at 105!!! That means I am four books behind schedule. Doe anyone volunteer as tribute to go to work for me so that I can get back on track?
In honor of that 3/4 mark, I decided to share three books with you.
A Book That Didn’t Quite Live Up To The Hype
My Sister The Serial Killer is a wonderful short novel by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I was excited to read it the moment that it became a Goodreads Giveaway almost a year before it was actually released. I was truly excited to read this novel and as it’s release date grew closer there was more talk about it, more reviews and Bookstagram posts and I was so upset I didn’t win that giveaway!
I finally got a copy and while I did enjoy it, the characters were interesting and Braithwaite has a very nice narrating style but I couldn’t help but be a little disappointed in the novel. I wanted so much more. Have you read it? What did you think? Am I right in thinking that this book wasn’t as amazing as you had hoped it would be or am I just crazy?
A Book That Made Me Cringe…And Not In The Good Way
Soft Thorns by Bridgett Devoue is a book of poetry that discusses topics such as rape and depression. Now, before you zone out or think I am insensitive, I think these are very important topics and wish more literature truly addressed it as the traumatizing experience that it is. But Devoue almost makes these very serious topics into something comical with the way she discusses them and the crudely drawn shapes of bodies entwining that lines most every page.
That is another issue that I have with this poet. The poems themselves were rather short and in order to get over 200 pages, I feel as though whoever had the last say just said, “Throw some images in there!” The images take away from the message and even though the message is told in a vague manner that makes them almost seem unimportant, I do believe that the message would’ve been portrayed clearer in another way.
A Book That Surprised Me
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia is one of the most unique and original novels that I have read all year. The meld of folklore and family dispute was so natural and convincing that I had no trouble becoming fully immersed in the narrative. Even if I pronounced probably all of the character’s names wrong in my head, they were practically tangible and that is definitely something that I can appreciate.
Don’t get me wrong, I was expecting to like this novel because I love folklore. The surprise was how much I liked it. I had to stop myself from picking it back up for another read only a couple days after I had finished it the first time. Books like that stay with you. Fantastic work!
Did you make a reading goal this year? If so, how is it going? What are some things that may be keeping you from achieving it? Let me know, I’m curious to see what my bookish family is up to!
Thanks for stopping by! Feel free to read some of my other posts before you go and share them with another bookish person.
Happy reading!
Chyina Powell
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