What I Read: June

This month our library opened back up for curbside holds pick-up. That was super exciting and led to me reading my first actual library book since the beginning of January! At the start of the new year I decided to start working through my stacks of books I've either been given over the years or bought super cheap at Goodwill and the out of circulation books from the library. Then everything shut down and my only option was the books I was working through in my stacks. So it's been a while since I got to experience that thrill of having a book I've been waiting on come in and then picking it up and holding it in my hands. It's such a wonderful feeling and I still get excitement over it every time! I have been reading ebooks from the library but it's just not the same as the excitement of picking up a book on hold! Our summer reading program started on June 22nd. To complete the program adults had to read 3 books and I was finished with the program before the weekend rolled around! I'll be working on our Summer Reading Program Bingo page now which is always so much fun to complete. I usually try to go for a blackout.

Books:

• The Woman Who Stole My Life by Marian Keyes- Another one my mom read and then gave to me. It was cute and I really enjoyed it. I cracked up every time she sat down to work on her book and just typed ass. It was just what I needed, something fun and uplifting!
  

• Unaccustomed Earth by Jhumpa Lahiri- I really liked this book. It was short stories with the last 3 short stories going into the lives of the same 2 people. It ended on a very surprising note. There were a few stories that were pretty sad but I always love the way she writes and the perspective she gives.

• Tulsa 1921: Reporting a Massacre by Randy Krehbiel- As the 99th anniversary of the Tulsa Race Riot approached, I decided I wanted to read some books to learn more about it. This was the first one I chose because the Public Library had it on a list about the riot and it was currently available. I learned a lot through the book. It was pretty obvious it was written by a journalist because it was fairly dry. At the end of the book he quoted Senator Lankford, "Ninty-five years ago this week the worst race riot in American history broke out in Tulsa, Oklahoma. And in five years the entire country will pause and will look at Oklahoma and will ask a very good question: What's changed in 100 years? What have we learned in 100 years?" Then Krehbiel said, "A lot, it is fair to say. And yet sometimes it seems not so much." It was the perfect ending to sit and marinate with and think about where we are not just as a town, but as a country. We are currently getting a lot of attention in Tulsa and Lankford's quote from 4 years ago seems so prescient.
  

• The Husband's Secret by Liane Moriarty- I got so excited when I found 3 of Moriarty's books at Goodwill I hadn't read yet. I spread them out so I could really enjoy them. Plus her books are ones you kind of devour and it's nice to come up for air between. This one was so good it was always hard to stop reading. I'd say it's a 4-way tie between Big Little Lies, Three Wishes, What Alice Forgot, and this one for my favorite books of hers. So basically I have loved all of her books I've read except Nine Perfect Strangers. I'm so glad I still have some of her books I haven't read yet. Between her and Joshilyn Jackson I know I still have some wonderfully fun books I can pick up when I need something fun and crazy good to read.
  
  

• The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead- I kept seeing this on book lists and then our really awesome local book store posted an event they will be hosting with Colson Whitehead virtually on July 6th. I decided to buy tickets for the Zoom event and wanted to read a couple of his books beforehand. Since this was one I'd been seeing a lot I decided to read it first. It was sad and reminded me of the movie Sleepers which I saw way too young (long story but my parents didn't know we watched it) and it traumatized me. At times it was really hard to get through and it made it even worse knowing the book was based on an actual "juvie" school for boys that existed. It was really neat how he totally tossed everything on it's tail at the end. I'm interested to see what he shares about this book during the event.

eBooks:

• And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie- This was our book for June's book club. I really enjoyed it. It was a quick, easy read and I wanted to keep reading to find out who died next and how. I thought it was fun she started the book with an old nursery rhyme which was a theme throughout the book. I liked that she gave you enough information about the characters to understand what was going on but not so much that you cared much when they died. I was invested in the story line but not in the characters. That was perfect for me after crying my eyes out at the death of a character in one of my books during May.

• The Bookish Life of Nina Hill by Abbi Waxman- I was scrolling through ebooks I'd put on my for later shelf in my app. I saw this one was by the same author as Garden of Small Beginnings so I decided to read it. It was so cute and I finished it pretty quickly because I enjoyed it so much.
  

• American Dirt by Jeanine Cummins- Wow, this book was so incredibly good. It was well written and included so many aspects of migrants making their way from South America and Mexico to America that I hadn't known about. I've always felt that people who would be willing to risk their lives to arrive in our country must have a very dire situation at home. Why else would they leave their home and everything they know to travel to a country where they don't speak the language? Especially if they have children! If there was ever a situation in our country where my children's lives were in danger, you better believe I would do anything in my power to help them escape. This book really hit me right in the heart. It was heavy and sad at points, but also so important. I tried to tell Ty about it but he didn't want to hear the story since it was sad. The reality is that so many people in our world live this. I hate that.
  

• Know My Name: A Memoir by Chanel Miller- Chanel was the woman sexually assaulted by Brock Turner on Stanford's campus. Her book was so amazing. It wasn't her whole life, it focused on the assault and the impact it had on her life. She is a wonderful writer and did such a great job helping you feel what she felt throughout her experience. If you have ever said a woman was lying about being assaulted or said it shouldn't count because the victim drank too much, you need to read this book. It was so powerful. Even if you haven't, I think this book is worth the read.

• The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden- The parent of a past student recommended this book on Facebook because her daughter read it and then she read it. I really like her daughter and thought it would be fun to read a book she had read, so picked this one out. It was really good and a super quick read. 

Audiobooks:

• Olive, Again by Elizabeth Strout- I kept seeing this on book lists and then came across it on a list of audiobooks so I decided to try it. At first I didn't really like that the story would all the sudden veer off from Olive and introduce you to some other random characters, it was almost like a novel interrupted by short stories every now and then, but then I realized she was using those stories about other people to show all the small little ways we impact other people in life because each story would have some little connection to Olive. I didn't like that pretty much every married couple either hated each other or had a weird and/or unhealthy relationship, but I did like the book. It was interesting. I did find that after I finished the book, I kept wondering about what happened to some of the random characters introduced in one of what I thought of as the short stories. She could easily write multiple different books following the lives of those characters.

• Dear Girls: Intimate Tales, Untold Secrets, & Advice for Life by Ali Wong- I was listening to an audiobook about the Salem Witch Trials and found it interesting as I was doing chores. But when I'd listen to it while running my mind kept wandering and I would miss a lot of information. I decided to download something that would capture my interest better on runs and listen to the other audiobook while doing chores. I loved this book. It was funny and entertaining and I enjoyed it quite a bit.
  

• The Witches: Salem, 1692 by Stacy Shiff- I listened to Cleopatra by Shiff also as an audiobook. I don't think I like her as a writer very much. Both topics were something I was really interested in but the way she writes seems to me to be a little jumbled and jumps from idea to idea a bit much without seeming to be cohesive and fluid. It was really interesting to learn more about the Salem Witch Trials though.

• Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok- This was an interesting story and kept me wondering and unsure for most of the book. I didn't feel super strongly about it one way or another though, it was just okay. It reminded me a little bit of Where'd You Go, Bernadette the way it was written and how you didn't find out until the end what happened to Sylvie Lee.