I didn't have a ton of time for reading this month, but what time I did have I spent with some very good books.
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7/1: The Unseen World by Liz Moore (library, 2016) - Very good. I recommend this one, especially if you want a good cry. 4.5/5 stars
7/6: The Spellshop (Spellshop #1) by Sarah Beth Durst (library ebook, 2024) - Nice cozy fantasy. 4.5/5 stars
7/11: Kittentits by Holly Wilson (university library, 2024) - What a ride. I don't know if I liked it exactly, but it was not boring. 3.5/5 stars
7/12: Raised by Ghosts by Brianna Loewinsohn (library, 2025) - Graphic novel about a girl growing up with divorced parents in the '90s. Quiet, but powerful. If you know a teen/tween girl going through it, this might be a good addition to their library. 4/5 stars
7/16: The Enchanted Greenhouse (Spellshop #2) by Sarah Beth Durst (library ebook, 2025) - Lovely cozy fantasy. TINY DRAGONS. 4.5/5 stars
7/18: The Phone Book: The Curious History of the Book That Everyone Uses But No One Reads by Ammon Shea (university library, 2010) - Look, sometimes you want to read a book about a book no one still owns. 4/5 stars
7/23: Ella Minnow Pea: A Progressively Lipogramatic Epistolary Fable by Mark Dunn (library, 2001) - Scarily prophetic. 5/5 stars
7/25: Where the Mountain Meets the Moon by Grace Lin (library, 2009) - Sometimes you read a Newbery Honors book and remember that Newbery likes preachy books. For heaven's sake. There was a dragon, though, so that's a thing a did like. 3/5 stars
Average star rating: 4.13/5 stars
Picture book I read:
Bog Myrtle by Sid Sharp - A children's book about sustainability, environmentalism, labor rights, and just being a nice person? Sign me up. What a fun ride. A guest on the Sarah's Bookshelves podcast recommended this book and I am glad she did! (Yes, I'm aware that I called the Grace Lin book preachy, but this one somehow I liked a lot. I'm full of contradictions.)
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Did Not Finish:
Shadow Speaker by Nnedi Okorafor (The Desert Magician's Duology #1) - I listened to 80 minutes of this before I gave up. Not quick enough world building for me. DNF at 13%.
The Wolf Den by Elodie Harper (Wolf Den Trilogy #1) - I do not need to read about women being abused and sexually mistreated. Some books are not for some readers. (DNF at 5.1%)
Ornithologist's Field Guide to Love (Love's Academic #1) by India Holton - My audiobook game is lame. DNF at 12%.
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I desperately need a good audiobook. What recommendations do you have for me?
My audiobook game is nonexistent, so I don't have a recommendation for you - sorry! Right now I'm reading Kin, which I think you've already read?
ReplyDeleteYes! I liked Kin a lot. I think Tayari Jones is better at writing a sentence than most published authors.
DeleteI just finished “You are Here” on audiobook and can recommend it
ReplyDeleteI just looked up that title and there are three books with that same title! Who is the author?
DeleteWell I've read two of these! The Unseen World (also liked it) and Ella Minnow Pea. I'm glad you ultimately gave that one five stars- I know you found it disturbing. But it was so good!
ReplyDeleteI haven’t listened to it yet, but the new Alexis Hall book Father Material is in my queue.
ReplyDeleteAlso on the waitlist for Trash! A memoir by a Montreal sanitation worker.
We’re working our way through Emily Wilson’s Odyssey translation on audio too.
I feel like we enjoy very different books - evidenced by the fact that I’ve read NONe of your July books- , but audiobooks I’ve really liked the past year of so- Erin Langston’s The Finest Print; The Mailman by Stephen Starring Grant; Shakespeare, or the Man who pays the rent by Judi Dench; Clear by Carys Davies; The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden; The Monsters we Defy by Leslye Penelope; What the Dead Know by Barbara Butcher.
I hear the History of Sound is very good on audio too- I really enjoyed reading it.