July Wrap Up

In this episode I will be talking about the ten books I read this month
The three books in The Broken Earth Trilogy by N. K. Jemisin 
The Near Witch by V. E. Schwab
Funny Story by Emily Henry
The Maid by Nita Prose
Normal People by Sally Rooney
Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
The Book of Doors by Gareth Brown

This is a no spoilers episode, so I will give you my brief thoughts and ratings as well as my favorite quote from the book. 

Transcript

July Wrap Up:

It is time for our July wrap up. On the last week of every month I talk about the books I read. My highlights and those that didn’t live up to my expectations. This month I was able to get through 10 books. I will be telling you about them in the order that I read them.

Book 1: 

The 5th Season by N. K. Jemisin 

This book is about a woman named Essun, who has just lost her son, and is traveling to find her daughter after a world ending event up North. This book follows a number of women who are in different stages of their lives and it helps us to learn more about the stillness and the peoples in it. We learn about races, lore, and the magic of this world through the journey’s of this women. 

This was a great first book in a trilogy and I rated if 4 out of 5 stars

Here is a quote from the book

“When we say “the world has ended,” it’s usually a lie, because the planet is just fine. But this is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. This is the way the world ends. For the last time.”

Book 2:

Funny Story by Emily Henry

This book is about a woman named Daphne who is trying to find herself again after her finance dumps her for his childhood best friend a few days before their wedding. She ends up moving in with her exes x Miles who she knows very little about. She just assumes that he is a stoner who does odd jobs. When Miles and Daphne are invited to their exes wedding, they decided to pretend like they are dating to get back at them.

Like any Emily Henry book, this book is about more than the romance. It is about a woman truly finding her place after a lifetime of wandering and fitting her life to match others. I am not sure if this was my favorite Emily Henry book but it sure is close.

I rated this book 5 out of 5 stars and highly recommend. It is a bit spicy but all her books are.

Here is quote from the book:

“You, my girl, are whoever you decide to be. But I hope you always keep some piece of that girl who sat by the window, hoping for the best. Life’s short enough without us talking ourselves out of hope and trying to dodge every bad feeling. Sometimes you have to push through the discomfort, instead of running.”

Book 3: 

The Near Witch by V E Schwab

This book is about a girl named Lexi who lives in a very small town called near. Near is tucked into the woods and far away from other cities so everyone knows everyone. That is until a stranger shows up. Coincidentally when the stranger appears the next morning a small child goes missing. Lexi, who was trained by her father the tracker, goes to find the missing boy. She finds the stranger and he tries to help as well. Of course, the town blames the stranger instead of digging deeper into the mystery.

This book was a fun little ya fantasy romance. It is completely clean and I would say it is suitable for kids 12 and older. I love V E Schawb’s writing and the complexity of language that she chooses. If you like folklore, witches, or fairytales then this would be a great book for you.

I rated this book 4 out of 5 stars.

Here is a quote from the book:

The trees all whisper, leaves gossiping. The stones are heavy thinkers, the sullen silent types. He used to make up stories for everything in nature, giving it all voices, lives. If the moor wind ever sings, you mustn’t listen, not with all of your ears. Use only the edges. Listen the way you’d look out the corners of your eyes. The wind is lonely, love, and always looking for company 

Book 4:

The Obelisk Gate by N. K. Nemisin

The second book of the broken earth trilogy did not disappoint. The continuation of the story was interesting and the multiple perspectives and pov shifts are interesting. The book switches from 2nd person, to 3rd person and occasionally it is in 1st person. There are also interesting asides that delve into the history of the planet and this magic. In this book Essun and Nassoon learn more about magic and what power their own orgaginy. You also get a sense of what happened to the ancient civilizations that came before. I love this dystopian style magic. Usually dystopian books are scifi so it is fun to reading a dystopian fantasy. 

I rated this book 4.5 out of 5 stars. I love the themes explored through out the novel and I cannot tell you anymore without spoiling anything!

Here is a quote from the novel:

“The way of the world isn’t the strong devouring the weak, but the weak deceiving and poisoning and whispering in the ears of the strong until they become weak, too.”

Book 5: The Phoenix Crown by Kate Quinn 

Wow. Kate Quinn does it again and with the aid of Janie Chang they have really made something special. I have only read World War 2 books from Quinn so I was happy to read about another time period. In this book 4 women are brought together to take down a man. Now I will say that the plot was a bit tropey I have seen this trope done in a number of books such as Fried Green Tomatoes or In someone else’s shoes, but I think that the characters and the setting were unique and interesting. Also I love that these women were not 20 somethings and that they were still figuring it out. It is nice to see “older” women working together. 

I rated this book 4.5 out 5 only because it was a bit predictable. 

I couldn’t find a quote from this novel because I returned it to my audio library with haste… and there were only 2 quotes on the internet :*(

Book 6: The stone Sky by N K Jemisin

Yes! This book delivers! I am not going to lie this book makes this series a 5 star series for me. Again I cannot share too much about this book without giving away spoilers for the first two books, but it really a beautiful end to the series. My favorite part of about these books is how they cover racism and slavery with out being heavy handed and overly political. It made me pause to think about my own role in continuing the racism in my country without hammering in a clear cut message.

I rate this book 5 out of 5 stars. It was thoughtful, fast paced, and it really ties everything together.

Here is quote from the novel:“They’re afraid because we exist, she says. There’s nothing we did to provoke their fear, other than exist. There’s nothing we can do to earn their approval, except stop existing – so we can either die like they want, or laugh at their cowardice and go on with our lives.”

Book 7: Normal People by Sally Rooney

Well people this book is very big on booktalk and bookstagram and I’m here to say I was not here for it. I did not understand the hype. The first half of the book had me hook line and sinker and then the second half of the book was just like the first in reverse but the same issues just came up over and over again. Now, I understand that it is realistic. That people get stuck in patterns and it is difficult not to just fall back into those patterns, but to me the repetition in this book just felt heavy handed and frustrating. I also thought that the ending of the book ruined the whole book for me. Maybe I wasn’t clear on what the main conflict was, but I didn’t feel like the end resolved the main conflict, and again you could argue that, that is real life, but that is not good literature. 

All in all I rated this book a 3, maybe even a 2.5. If you loved this book please tell me why you loved it in the comments. I need to understand. Maybe I missed something.

Here is a quote from the book:

She closes her eyes. He probably won’t come back, she thinks. Or he will, differently. What they have now they can never have back again. But for her the pain of loneliness will be nothing to the pain that she used to feel, of being unworthy. He brought her goodness like a gift and now it belongs to her. Meanwhile his life opens out before him in all directions at once. They’ve done a lot of good for each other. Really, she thinks, really. People can really change one another.

You should go, she says. I’ll always be here. You know that.

Book #10 the maid

Again, bookstagram and booktalk have been talking up this book and it’s companions and i thought it was fine. I guess I wasn’t expecting it to be a cozy mystery. I wanted it to be a thriller and it just wasn’t. Molly maid, a girl who doesn’t understand people much like elanor oliphant, works hard at a hotel, until one day a very famous and powerful man dies and Molly takes the blame for his death. I really liked Molly as a main character, but I found that the book felt a bit forced. Also, it was fairly predictable. 

For me this book was a 3 star book. It was a fun read but I probably won’t be recommending it in the future.

Here is quote from the novel:

“I wasn’t one hundred percent sure what it was I’d seen. I’ve learned to doubt myself and my perceptions of the world around me. I do realize I’m different, you know, different from most. What I perceive isn’t what you perceive. Plus, people don’t always listen to me. I’m often afraid I won’t be believed, that my thoughts will be discounted. I’m just a maid, a nobody. And what I saw in that moment, it felt like a dream, but I know now that it was real. Someone with a deep motive killed Mr. Black. And that wasn’t me,” I said. I looked at Rodney then, and he looked at me. There was a look on his face that was entirely new. It was as though, for the very first time, he was seeing me for who I really am.”

Book 9: Dark Matter by Blake Crouch

If you are looking for my favorite romance of the year, then look no farther than Dark Matter. Now I know what you are thinking, Sam this book was marketed as a Sci-fi or a Thriller it is definitely not a romance. However, the whole book the MMC is trying to get back to his wife. And not just any version of his wife, but the one he loves. If that is not a romance, then I don’t know what is. In this book a physics professor, Jason, is kidnapped and forced into box. When he awakens he is in another world, a world like his but missing all of the people he knows and loves. At first he thinks he is crazy but then learns he is just on another dimension where he is the same person but he made several different life choices. This book is fast paced and keeps you on the edge of your seat. However, my favorite part of this book is how it addresses the ideas of regret and the choices we make. 

I rated this book 5 out of 5 and it was one of the best books I read this month.

Here is a quote from the book:

“We're more than the sum total of our choices, that all the paths we might have taken factor somehow into the math of our identity.”

Book 10: The Book of Doors

The last book I snuck in this month was the book of doors. This is a low fantasy thriller. I think this is the first fantasy thriller that I have ever read. In this book Cassie is given a book from an older gentleman she had become friends with at the bookstore she works at. She goes home to find that this book can open doors to anywhere in the world. As long as she has the picture in her mind she can go. However, it turns out that a number of shady characters are after this book and would stop at nothing to get their hands on it. The book was actually covered a number of topics and themes as dark matter, but in different ways, which as very interesting. 

I gave this book a 4.5 out of 5. It is a fun book and requires no extra thinking which I think is great at times.

Here is a quote from this book

“Happiness is not something you sit and wait for. You have to choose it and pursue it in spite of everything else. It’s not going to be given to you.”

It is difficult to say which of these books was my favorite book of this year. I thoroughly enjoyed the broken earth trilogy. It was beautiful and well written. It also does a great job at exploring difficult topics in a meaningful way. After the first book, I wanted to devout the next two books. I also loved Dark Matter. It was not nearly as beautiful as Jemison’s work, but it was fun and it kept me on my toes. Both pieces are books I highly recommend and would love to talk more about. 

Speaking of, if you have read these books make sure to leave me a comment about how you felt about it? Do you agree with my rating? Why or why not? 

Make sure to give this video a thumbs up and subscribe to the channel this way you can keep updated with the books I am covering. Or if you are listening to this podcast make sure to subscribe to the podcast and leave the podcast a review. Your reviews help other people to find my content and help grow our reading community. 

If you want to know what books I am currently reading, you can find me on Instagram, tiktok, or on good reads. I try to keep those places updated with my current read. Also if you want to connect with me you can send me an email at atyet33@gmail.com.

And make sure you join me next week as I review one of my favorite reads from this year Real Americans by Rachel Kang. 

Thanks for listening and happy reading. This episode was written by me Sam gunther and was edited by Dallin Gunther.