What I've Been Reading (Outbox June 16, 2016)

I’ve barely blogged this month! My averages! My stats! I’ve got to get my head in the game!

I’m not sure what’s going on that’s kept me from the blog this month, so far. Oh well. I try to go with the flow of how I feel. Blogging is a hobby for me so I don’t want to stress about it too much. I have been able to get some books into my head though. Maybe I’ll squeeze some longer review posts out of some of these.

It's really been a Diverse Books kind of month so far with almost every novel I've read being by or about the people of color or from a marginalized group. I hope that means that this is becoming so common the people don't have to try so hard and will just automatically find themselves in the diverse stories of the world! I just eye rolled myself, y'all.

Some Highlights from June so far:

I finally read CK Oliver’s Daybreak Rising. It’s due to drop in September. This is a futuristic dystopian fantasy thing about elementals who are basically oppressed by people and the government. They have attempted to take their freedoms back but haven’t been able to. The main character was used as the primary weapon in the most recent rebellion attempt that failed which earned her the nick name Daybreak (the code name for the failed plot). Now she is on a mission to redeem herself. I liked the story and the characters were easy to like even though I kind of felt like some of them were inconsistent. There’s a diversity of skin tone and sexuality/ gender identification which was great to see. There’s a recurring transgender character who uses the they/them pronouns and it takes some getting used to, especially when they are interacting with a group of people to which the “they/them” could seem to apply. It’s interesting that things that seem to work well in-person might require a bit more effort to understand on paper. Anyway, the book was good and if you’re into dystopian fantasy, this might be a good one to pick up. Especially if some of the ARC problems (e.g., editing, formatting) get all worked out.

The Great American Whatever by Tim Federle was awesome. The author reads the audiobook of this witty, funny story of a gay high school senior, Quinn) suffering from complicated grief after the sudden death of his sister, who was one of his best friends. Once his best friend drags his ass out of bed after 8 months of withdrawal, he starts to learn that the sister, the best friend, and the plans he had for his future weren’t as straight forward as he thought they were. Quinn wants to be a movie producer so the drips with movie geek information and references. It reminded me of the similar Broadway geek knowledge from Better Nate than ever. Also, I love platonic straight best friends in these books. The potential “triangle” is… just read it. This is another winner from Federle.

Prudence by Gail Carriger was hilarious as an audiobook and I will be talking like Rue and whatever her friend's name is in my head for the rest of the month probably. The main plot line is kind of not that interesting to me but the rest of it was a hoot. I’m pissed the second one isn’t out until next month. I’m hoping the audiobook is quick to follow and available on Overdrive IMMEDIATELY. The diversity of this book is especially grand because the characters are actually traveling to India from... somewhere.

Forget Tomorrow by Pintip Dunn is classic dystopian. A "utopia" built on the practice of people getting one memory from the future when they turn 17. This memory decides their path. The questions are where do the memories come from and how are the people in power keeping the utopian dream alive. This is the kind of book I would usually do a full review on, but it seems unlikely by this point.



Soundless by Richelle Mead: Also a book I should review. Here's what I said on GoodReads.



Hmmm... Ya know, I also really liked The Lesser Dead. This was my second by the same author and I wonder if he has a lot of nightmares... but anyway... It's been a damn good reading month so far! Now, to blog! 

Currently I am reading A Light Between Oceans by ML Stedman. I'm reading it for virtual book club and we are reading it 100 pages at a time. Which is basically like hell. I think my next book to start tonight will  be Chains by Laurie Halse Anderson. It, along with 11 of it's closest friends, are already checked out from the library.