Crazy Rich Asians by Kevin Kwan

 

I know, I know. My finger is really on the pulse of what's hip and popular right now, right? For real though, I'm definitely the last person in the entire universe to start reading Crazy Rich Asians. In my defense, I bought this book back when the movie came out and everyone was reading it, but I just never got around to it. Of course, I was waiting to see the movie until I read the book, so I never ended up doing that either.

The plot of the novel centers around Rachel Chu, a young professor living in New York with her boyfriend Nicholas Young. As the story begins, Nicholas invites Rachel to spend the summer with him and his family in Singapore. Rachel, envisioning a normal family visit, happily agrees. When she arrives, however, she is stunned to learn that Nick's family is wealthy beyond anything she could have even imagined. They have billions, and Nick is set to inherit it all.

Immediately, Rachel is drawn into a world full of the kinds of luxury that most people will never experience. At first, she enjoys the private jets and expensive accommodations, but soon the stress of managing the upper crust of Singaporean society becomes too much. Nick's family views her as an inappropriate match and begins trying to push her away in ways both subtle and overt. When their scheming intensifies and crosses a line, Rachel must decide if staying with Nick and trying to be a part of this world is what she really wants.

 

It took me a while to make my way through this book, but I thoroughly enjoyed it. The picture Kevin Kwan paints of the ultra-wealthy Singaporean society is outrageous and endlessly interesting. I have no frame of reference for determining how accurate the lifestyles portrayed are, but the amount of detail and author's notes included throughout  the text lead me to believe that a lot of it is correct. In either case, it was a very fun and engaging read. The only tricky thing in the text was keeping track of who all the characters were. There were a lot of names and relationships to keep track of and my memory isn't the best with those kinds of details. I did have to refer to the family tree in the front of the book a few times while reading, but it turned out fine in the end.

I found myself wondering while I read, if I were in the main character's place, would I be upset with my boyfriend for not disclosing his enormous wealth? On the one hand, it would be awesome to suddenly discover that you were set for life. On the other hand, all the social complications that come along with all that money would not be fun and require preparation and training. To be blindsided with it isn't fair. At the same time, Nick was so naive in the story about his own situation that it's clear he didn't mean to hurt Rachel. Ultimately, he probably should have been smarter about things than he was, but how much can you blame him for that when his whole upbringing was so entirely different?  It was interesting to think about, and whenever a book gets you thinking like that, it's a good thing.

There are two more books in this series, and I already have them both, so I'm going to continue on with it. I'm looking forward to seeing how the story continues to unfold. These are fun reads and a nice way to usher in the summer.

2025 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 5/40

Clear the Shelves 2025: 5

Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta

 

I found Jellicoe Road by Melina Marchetta at a used bookstore a few years ago. I had heard really great things about it, so I figured the $2.95 was a good investment. It finally made its way to the top of my TBR pile this week. I didn't know anything about it aside from the positive buzz I had heard and the Printz Young Adult Literature medal on its cover. These two factors, however, were enough to set my expectations high. With that in mind, I ended up being very surprised with how I ultimately felt about this book.

The plot of the novel follows two threads. The first is about seventeen-year-old Taylor Markham, a girl with a difficult past. After being abandoned by her mother at a gas station at age eleven, she has been attending a boarding school in Australia. She tried running away at one point to find her mother, but was caught and returned. Ever since, she has stayed at school and became a begrudging leader for her house. Her experiences have made her a tough girl that doesn’t let people get too close, but the other students at the school look up to her and follow her lead. The one person she has grown close to is Hannah, a woman that lives near the school grounds and volunteers as a mentor to students.

In addition to her school responsibilities, she’s also the leader of an underground war game that the school has played against other kids from the town and a military school nearby for many years. The game is rough, violent, and a complete secret from adults. It centers around stealing territory from each other with each group of teens attempting to control the most useful areas.

The other thread that the novel follows is that of a group of kids who lived in the same area as the school somewhere around 20 years ago. Hannah, Taylor’s friend and mentor, is writing a story about this group of friends. She’s writing the story in short bursts and out of order. She lets Taylor read the excerpts from time to time, and her readings tell this secondary story. The group is made up of teenagers Narnie, Tate, Webb, Jude, and Fitz. At first, Taylor believes that their story is a work of fiction, but she soon realizes that Hannah is writing about real people she knew and their relationships and decisions explain a lot about the school and about some elements of her life. 

As the story begins, Hannah mysteriously disappears from her cabin by the school with no explanation. As she is the only trusted adult in Taylor’s life, this frightens her. Despite assurances from school administration that Hannah is fine and will be back eventually, Taylor isn’t so sure. She does not think Hannah would leave her unless something was wrong. She begins looking for clues to her disappearance, which leads her to dig deeper into the story she was writing. However, her examination of Hannah’s writing yields more questions than answers, and she has other responsibilities that keep pulling her away from her investigation. She needs to watch over the younger students in her house at school and maintain the school’s territory in the war game, both of which are difficult and stressful jobs. She also has to deal with her growing feelings for Griggs, a boy from their military school rivals that she has a troubled history with. Eventually, the events of her real life and the lives of the kids from Hannah’s story intersect and reveal information about relationships, family, and secrets that have been hidden for years.

I will be honest – the main emotion I felt while reading this novel was confusion. The structure of the narrative was difficult for me to follow. Taylor’s sections were mostly in chronological order, but sometimes drifted into flashbacks. The sections from Hannah’s writings were completely out of order. Both of these things happening at the same time were difficult for me to process. There were also a lot of character names going on in both threads of the story that were very easy to get mixed up and a lot of details were purposely left out in order to facilitate the mystery of the plot. All of these factors added up to me constantly thinking, “who is this kid again?” and “when is this happening?” I never felt like I knew what was going on.

This frustration definitely impacted my overall experience with the novel. I felt like the characters were being mysterious for no reason at all other than for story purposes and that became annoying. As the plot went on, I also developed the opinion that most of the characters from Hannah’s story were behaving in ways that were either selfish or strange. Everyone was making all the wrong choices and being very cagey about it. This put Taylor in a constant state of agitation and anxiety, and I felt like it just wasn’t necessary. It was one of those situations where a small amount of honesty from a few people would have saved a lot of heartache and cleared everything up a whole lot faster. Maybe I’m getting too old for young adult fiction, because I did not appreciate the drama of it all.

I realize that I am definitely in the minority when it comes to Jellicoe Road. This book has won awards and has a very high rating on Goodreads, so I do recognize that it works for a lot of people. I didn’t completely dislike it, but the writing style and story were not for me. So ultimately, I won’t remember this novel as a favorite, but I’m still happy to have given it a chance. Onto the next read! 

2025 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 4/40

Clear the Shelves 2025: 4

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward

 

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward was the next book on my TBR pile. I'd heard excellent things about this author, so I was excited to give it a try. I got started expecting a complex and meaningful story, and that is what I got, although I ended up having more mixed feelings on this book than I anticipated.

The story follows fifteen-year-old Esch and her family, a group that includes her father, her older brothers Randall and Skeetah, and her younger brother Junior. Her mother passed away at Junior's birth and her father is a heavy drinker. The kids mostly look after themselves and keep the household in enough order to avoid igniting their father's temper. They live in rural Mississippi and as the story begins, a powerful hurricane is on the way. Each member of the family spends the days leading up to it wrapped up in their own concerns. Randall is focused on basketball, hoping to perform well enough in his upcoming game to earn a scholarship for a camp. Skeetah is preoccupied with his beloved pit bull China, who just had a litter of puppies. Junior is trying to be a kid and wring some sort of fun out of the poverty his family lives in, and Esch has just realized that she is pregnant. While their father concentrates on preparing their house to withstand the approaching storm with an unusual amount of intensity, the children navigate their respective situations and look after one another the best they can. 

I have mixed feelings about this book. I recognize that is it a moving story that is skillfully written. It's one of those novels that feels very literary while you are reading it--like it could be considered a classic one day. The characters are each unique and complex and their relationships with each other convey a powerful message about the importance and strength of family bonds. Esch and her brothers have very little in the world aside from each other, and they protect each other fiercely. There were parts of the story that carried a lot of meaning and beauty, and the humanity of the characters shone through on every page. The ending, with the fierce hurricane and its aftermath, was especially powerful.

In spite of all this though, Ward's writing style is just not for me. This is a purely personal preference, as I do believe that she is truly a fantastic author and storyteller. What I didn't enjoy was her imagery. She goes into a lot of detail about bodily functions, smells, sweat, stains, dirt, blood, and gore. It was incredibly realistic and you definitely felt like you were right there with her in rural Mississippi. It's probably one of the most unflinchingly real novels I have ever read, but it also made me a little queasy. I prefer a bit of a softer style when it comes to the details of being a living, breathing, sweating, peeing human. Life is most definitely kind of gross though, so I can't blame Ward for being accurate.

Ultimately, Salvage the Bones is a very good novel with a lot of heartfelt things to say about love, loyalty, and family. It was not a special favorite for me, but I would not hesitate for an instant to recommend it to anyone who loves literary fiction or character-driven stories.   

2025 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 3/40

Clear the Shelves 2025: 3

Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro

 

For my next read, I decided to pick up a YA contemporary book that had been sitting on my shelf for a long time- Anger is a Gift by Mark Oshiro. I wasn't drawn to it for any particular reason aside from wanting to read from my own shelves and I had no memory of what it was about before I got started with it. I dove in ready for some contemporary YA goodness.

The plot follows high school junior named Moss Jeffries. He lives in Oakland, California with his mother. His father was tragically killed by the police when he was a young kid and he still struggles with his emotions and anxiety from this event. As his father was innocent of any wrong doing and the killing was a case of a series of errors made by the police, his death has become a symbol of the movement for police reform in his community. He is often recognized by the public and becomes the subject of a lot of unwanted attention from time to time. This only serves to increase his anxiety around both the public and the police. Luckily, he has a very close relationship with his mother and a good group of friends in place to support him.

Moss would like nothing more than to make it through high school like a typical kid, but that's a difficult prospect considering the state of his school. It is in desperate need of repairs and lacks the necessary funding for essentials like textbooks. What's more, there is a police officer stationed in the school that regularly bullies and intimidates students. It feels more like a prison than a place to learn and prepare for the future. These feelings get worse when the new school year begins and random locker checks are instituted. This further increases the amount of conflict between the officer and the students. After a few incidents that escalate into violence occur, Moss and his friends decide to band together to advocate for themselves. They plan a peaceful walkout to protest against the changes. However, the school is tipped off early about the protest and they increase the police presence on campus. When whole event ends in tragedy, Moss and his friends must find the strength and courage to keep fighting for their rights against an oppressive system that treats them as suspects instead of students.

I had somewhat mixed feelings about this book. It explores a lot of difficult topics related to mental health, grief, racism, policing, and protesting. Some aspects of these are handled very well, and others I felt were a bit heavy-handed. Starting with the positives, I liked Oshiro's writing in general. Moss felt like a very complex character. I liked how close he was with his mother and his friends, and the way his anxieties were portrayed felt genuine. He was the kind of character you root for while you're reading and want to see succeed. The representation throughout the book was good as well. A wide variety of genders, sexualities, cultural backgrounds, and family structures were present without being the complete focus of the story. The students and most of the adults throughout the text respected these differences. It was quite nice to see all sorts of people just being themselves. The story itself was consistently engaging too. I was invested in it and wanted to see how it would end all throughout my reading.

Most importantly, the discussions of systemic racism and the tactics commonly used to frame narratives about protesters and police were well done. Oshiro uses his story to explain how language and optics can become powerful weapons in the hands of authorities with a desire to maintain the status quo. Lawful assemblies can easily be turned into unruly riots and innocent victims turned into dangerous threats when the right words and images are presented to the public. The portrayal of trying to organize people and successfully protest an issue felt realistic. The characters found it extremely difficult to take any action without receiving threats, sabotage, or violence in return. One of the prevailing themes in the novel is the importance of showing bravery and perseverance to order to create change, and Oshiro got this message across successfully.

Where I thought the story was a bit weak was in the amount and degree of violence Moss and the other characters endured. Now, to be clear, I firmly believe that systemic racism and police brutality are real and important issues that need to be addressed and fixed. I also believe that everything Oshiro brought up in the course of the plot has a real-life example from somewhere in the United States to support it. However, it felt like the police in this story enacted all of the worst human rights violations possible within a few events. During the walkout, they use tear gas and pepper spray on students, beat them with batons, use sonic weapons on them, kick and punch them, hit the principal in the face with a baton, and even shoot and kill a student. During the final public protest of the novel, they use the methods I previously listed, plus use a vehicle-mounted weapon called a Silent Guardian that uses microwave rays to make people feel like they are on fire, hit Moss' mother across the face with a baton, break a reporter's arm, and shoot a tear gas canister directly into the face of a protester, killing her. Again, I am well aware that these things have happened in real life, but having all of them happening at once over the course of just a few weeks took me out of the story a little bit. However, I do have to consider that this novel is meant for young people, so perhaps being heavy-handed with the violence was a deliberate strategy to get the importance of these issues across to a teen audience. For an adult reader though, it did feel over the top.

Overall, I thought that Anger is a Gift was a good novel that fearlessly took on some very weighty themes. It is important for young people to interact with these ideas and consider how they play out in the real world. As Oshiro shows through his story, enacting change is hard and often very scary, but it is the only way to disrupt entrenched inequities and make the world a better place. This wasn't a special favorite for me, but it was an interesting and thought-provoking read that I am sure older teen audiences will love.

2025 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 2/40

Clear the Shelves 2025: 2

In Search of the Castaways by Jules Verne

2025 marks my ten year anniversary of starting off my reading with a Jules Verne novel. That feels crazy to me, but time flies I suppose. It still feels right to begin the year with a grand adventure, especially this year, as I am working to get back to reading like I used to again. As such, I picked up where I left off last year and continued my journey through the Extraordinary Voyages series with In Search of the Castaways. This is the fifth book in the series, coming in between From the Earth to the Moon and 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, both of which I have read in previous years. I have long since run out of Jules Verne novels that I have heard of before, so I went into this one blind. As I read, I discovered that this book is actually three books in one, each detailing the adventures of the characters in different places around the world. That's why it's taken me so long to finish and write about it!

The story begins with the Scottish noble Lord Glenarvan and his new wife Helena enjoying their first voyage on their brand new pleasure yacht. In the course of their trip, Glenarvan and his crew catch a hammerhead shark and decide to examine its stomach contents to see if it ate anything interesting (and it is a mark of my familiarity with 19th century adventure novels that I didn't bat an eye at this). They end up finding a bottle in the shark's stomach with a message inside. The message is damaged, but the group manages to read enough of it to understand that a man named Captain Grant was shipwrecked a few years ago and has been taken captive, along with two of his fellow sailors. After doing a little detective work with ship registers and geography, they determine that he must be somewhere along the 37th parallel, likely in South America. Glenarvan takes this information to the English authorities right away, and runs an ad in the newspaper in an attempt to connect with Captain Grant's family. 

His efforts with the English come to nothing; they refuse to send a search party citing the expense and the unlikelihood of Grant still being alive. The newspaper ad, however, is more successful. Sixteen year old Mary Grant and her younger brother Robert turn up. They assumed their father was lost at sea years ago and are desperate for more information about what might have happened. Upon hearing that he may still be alive, but there is no one to help him, they fall into despair. Glenarvan and his wife, moved by the children's distress, decide to launch a search expedition for him themselves. They ready their yacht, assemble a crew, and all set sail together for South America.

Joining them on their journey are a colorful cast of worthy adventurers. John Mangles, the captain of the yacht, is an expert sailor that knows his business. His first mate, Tom Austin, is similarly experienced and helpful. Muscle and wisdom is provided by Major McNabbs, a military hero and cousin of Glenarvan. At fifty years of age, he is described as unflappable and even-tempered in the extreme. Nothing surprises him and he is able to endure anything. His bravery and athleticism are unmatched. This group is rounded out by the addition of a surprise guest - Jacques Paganel. Paganel is a famous French geographer that is always getting into mishaps, one of which is accidentally boarding Glenarvan's yacht instead of the steamer he was meant to get on. By the time he realizes his mistake, it is too late to turn back and he decides to just join the group and lend his geographical talents to their mission.

From there, the adventurers travel from one place to another on a search and rescue mission that spans several continents and thousands of miles. The first book details their adventures across South America, the second book sees them travel through Australia, and the third book chronicles their journey through New Zealand. On each leg of the journey they run across dangers like earthquakes, floods, and landslides. They also encounter dangers from other people, like escaped convicts and tribes of cannibals. Clues of Captain Grant's whereabouts are scarce and easily misinterpreted, and this keeps them constantly on the move, hoping each time that their most recent theory will be the correct one. Each time, the bravery and quick thinking of the group sees them through, although their journey takes a toll on their spirits. Eventually, their travels lead them to a little known island in the Pacific where the mystery of Captain Grant will finally be revealed.

This novel was a little different as it did not contain any science fiction elements. It is purely a geographical journey with a lot of information about the different terrains, animals, and people of each continent they visit. As is usual with a Jules Verne novel, his information is factual for the time period. Also as is usual, his depiction of the indigenous peoples of each area are certainly outdated and reflective of the attitudes of the time period. This is, unfortunately, an inescapable part of reading a lot of older novels. To Verne's credit, however, there are positive depictions of native people included as well. In particular, their adventures in South America bring them into contact with a man named Thalcave, whose knowledge and abilities are an integral part of the group's survival. He was definitely one of the more interesting characters.

I did enjoy the story overall, but it definitely started to feel a bit long by the third book. There's only so much geographical information one can absorb over the course of a story without getting bored. Luckily, there were enough story elements included to keep things engaging for me, but all the adventuring and danger did get repetitive. I would not say that this is a must-read novel, but it does have that classic Jules Verne feel to it. So, if old school adventures are your thing, this might be a enjoyable reading experience for you. I would place this novel in the middle of the pack if I were to rank all the Verne novels I have read so far. Even so, it was a fun way to start the year off. I'm looking forward to what will come next now that I can read more again!

2025 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 1/40

Clear the Shelves 2025: 1

Reading Resolutions: 2025

 

Happy 2025! It would be an understatement to say that I'm feeling excited about reading this year. With my degree finally finished I can get back to being my bookish self from now on. I'm hoping to get back to reading and blogging like I used to, so I'm setting my goals a little bit higher than I have in the past few years. That being said, I know I have to take my time easing back into the swing of things. I'm still mainly going to focus on reading books from my shelves. I'm really hoping to clear off some shelf space this year because I have a whole lot of hobbies and I need the room!

My Goodreads goal for this year will be 40 books. This is more than my goal of 30 from last year, but not outrageously higher. I'm interested to see how quickly (or not) I can reach this.

My other reading goal will be to read books from my own shelves. I still have an absolutely insane number of unread books in my TBR pile and I want to continue chipping away at the stack. Last year I did manage to read 24 of them, so this year my goal will be to beat that. I will keep track of my progress here.

So those are my modest goals for 2025 as I attempt to rediscover my reading self. I'm looking forward to getting back to some familiar territory. I feel like a stranger to myself these days. It's time to come back home.

Clear the Shelves 2025

 

Once again, I will be trying to read books from my own shelves in 2025. I'm hoping for big numbers this year! I at least want to beat my total of 24 from last year. I will keep a list of everything I read in this post:

1.

End of 2024 Reading

The best possible thing has finally happened. After two and a half very long years of hard work and sacrifice, my master's degree is finally finished. I have my degree in remedial reading and language arts. I know more about reading disabilities and intervention than I ever thought I would and I finally feel a little more confident in my work as a reading specialist at my school. 

While all of that is inarguably wonderful, perhaps the most wonderful thing of all is the fact that I can now get back to being myself. I've been so tired and out of it for so long that I barely remember back to when regular reading and blogging about it was part of my life. Spending so much time learning about how people read took me right out of the magic of reading for pleasure. It might take me a bit to get warmed up here, but I'm coming back to all this.

In the fall and early winter, I did read a bit here and there. I didn't write any real reflections on the books, so I thought I would just list the titles here with my star rating for the sake of completeness.

Gilded by Marissa Meyer (4/5 stars)
Cursed by Marissa Meyer (4/5 stars)

A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger (4/5 stars)

I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys (4/5 stars)

Gallant by V.E. Schwab (4/5 stars)

Beasts and Beauty by Soman Chainani (5/5 stars)

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel (5/5 stars)

An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan (4/5 stars)

Miles Morales Suspended by Jason Reynolds (4/5 stars)

When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead (5/5 stars) 

Dig by A.S. King (5/5 stars)

It's exciting to think about planning my reading goals for next year. I could do a challenge again. I could read more than a book or two a month again. It feels so nice to have these possibilities open. I definitely don't regret getting my degree, but I am so, so, so happy it's finished. See you all in 2025!

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 25/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 23

Summer Reading Roundup Part 2

 

I have been enjoying my summer so much this year. I didn't have to take a class, I wasn't being paid to do any extra school work, and nobody really needed me for anything. It was bliss. I got a bit of reading done, of course. This post is a continuation of my thoughts on my latest reads.

I've had Winger by Andrew Smith sitting on my shelf for years now. In my ongoing efforts to clear off shelf space, I finally picked it up. I read Grasshopper Jungle by this author way back in 2016 and really enjoyed how it blended science fiction and realistic teen coming of age elements. This book was quite different from that one, but still enjoyable nonetheless. 

Winger follows a fourteen year old boy named Ryan Dean West through his sophomore year at a boarding school. He is very smart, and, due to him skipping a grade in his younger years, is viewed as a kid by many of his classmates. The story follows his struggle to fit in with his peers and his budding romance with his best friend, Annie. This is a coming of age story, and a solidly realistic one. It's filled with the immaturity and selfishness you'd expect from a teen boy, but it's surprisingly heartfelt as well. 

There was one aspect of it that bugged me a bit. Right at the end of the novel, a jarringly serious and tragic event occurs . It didn't really match the tone of the rest of the novel and there was not enough time to watch the characters process it. I can see how it fit into the story and how Smith tied it into his overall themes of growing up, but I thought it could have been incorporated into the story better. As it was, it kind of smacks you in the face and then the story is over. I would give this one 3/5 stars.

Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult follows Ruth, a labor and delivery nurse in Connecticut. She is a strong nurse, but her reputation and integrity are called into question when a white supremacist family delivers a baby in her hospital. They request that Ruth, who is African American, not be allowed to touch their baby. The hospital complies with their wishes and instructs Ruth not to care for the infant. Later, when the infant dies after a routine procedure, the family blames Ruth and decides to sue her, claiming that she let their baby die on purpose in an act of revenge against their family. The story is presented from three perspectives, that of Ruth, the infant's father, and the lawyer who takes Ruth's case. 

I enjoyed this novel and thought it touched on difficult topics like racism, privilege, and relationships with grace and wisdom. It's always tricky when a white author takes on a story like this one, but I thought Picoult did a good job presenting Ruth's feelings. The ending was a little bit too ideal in some respects, but overall I thought this was a good read. 4/5 stars.

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 14/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 13

Summer Reading Roundup Part 1

Summer is here and it has been bliss. The first bit of it has been crowded with some family vacations, but I am back now and reading to sink into a routine of reading and all the rest of my cozy hobbies. Since I last posted, I finished a few more books and wanted to jot down a few thoughts.

 

Girl Mans Up by M-E Giraud follows eighteen year old Pen as she navigates through her way through her last bit of high school as a masculine lesbian. She meets a girl she's head over heels for the pair start dating. She faces difficulties, however, from her traditional-minded parents and insensitive peers. This story featured excellent representation and diversity. It was a heartfelt and realistic look at what LGBTQIA+ teens often go through.  4/5 stars.

The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr follows seventeen-year-old Flora Banks, a girl with no short term memory. She has not been able to form new memories since she was a small child and lives with her extremely protective parents. When she unexpectedly forms a new memory with a boy she likes, Flora becomes determined to reconnect with him, no matter how far outside her comfort zone she has to push herself. In doing so, she begins to uncover some truths about her situation that she didn't remember and understand what she is capable of doing, despite her difficult situation. This was a very unique and engaging read. It was well-written and very interesting. I enjoyed it quite a bit. 4/5 stars.

Attachments by Rainbow Rowell is a romcom novel follows a young man named Lincoln who is hired as a night shift IT assistant at a newspaper. Part of his job involves monitoring employee emails. In the course of his work, he begins taking an interest in the emails exchanged by two employees, Beth and Jennifer. They send irreverent, funny, and heartfelt messages back and forth about their lives. Lincoln, rather than sending them a warming about the frivolous use of their work email, begins reading the emails nightly. He finds himself falling in love with Beth through her writing, but he doesn't know how to make a relationship between them work, given his somewhat creepy and awkward way of getting to know her. I thought this novel was pretty cute and I did enjoy reading it. As usual, Rainbow Rowell's writing is sharp and funny. It's an older book. so some of her jokes haven't aged particularly well, but overall I liked her writing style. The idea of someone reading your email for months and then approaching you with romantic interest is inherently problematic, but I think Rowell addresses it fairly well in the story. This was a cute read if you don't think too hard about it. 3/5 stars.

We Are Okay by Nina LaCour follows a young woman named Marin that lives with her grandfather on the California coast. As the story begins, we learn that Marin went through some sort of traumatic event at home and abruptly left for college in New York. She didn't take anything with her and hasn't spoken to anyone from her old life since. She is clearly very deeply hurt and struggling to function normally at school. As the plot develops further, we learn more details about what happened and watch Marin try to come to terms with her part any move forward. This book is definitely better if you head into it without knowing specific details, so I won't spoil any here. I thought this book was very touching and engaging. Definitely worth the read. 4/5 stars.

So that wraps up my latest reading. I'll be back with the rest of my summer reading in a later post. I hope everyone is having a happy and relaxing summer!

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 12/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 12

Spring Break Reading

 

Last week was my spring break and I took the opportunity to luxuriate in lots and lots of reading. It was so nice to slip back into my old habits for a little while! I always feel more like myself when I'm lost in a good book. Now that I'm back to the usual grind of work and school, I don't have time to write long reviews. I figured I'd just jot down a few thoughts on the four books I read here.

My first book was St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russell. This was a short story collection, which is not a format I typically read, but I really enjoyed this one. Each of the short stories had a magical, surreal quality to them and were very well written. I felt like each one could have been turned into a longer novel successfully. I was always left wanting to know more. My favorite story out of the collection was the eponymous "St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves," which focused on a school dedicated to civilizing the human children of werewolves. It was a story with a totally wild premise that spoke to very real ideas about identity and belonging. I really enjoyed Karen Russel's weird and imaginative style and would definitely read something by her again. This was a 4/5 book for me.

My next book was Where'd You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple. This irreverent novel focused on an anxiety-ridden woman named Bernadette that simply disappears from her home following a series of increasingly awkward misunderstandings that paint her in a bad light. The story is presented as a collection of documents collected by her precocious adolescent daughter as she attempts to figure out where her mother disappeared to and why she left. I thought this was a really quirky and interested read. I was totally engaged in the mystery of where Bernadette might have gone and found myself sympathizing quite a bit with her with her situation, as implausible as it was. Semple's writing was an entertaining mix of being funny, sarcastic, and heartfelt. This was another 4/5 read.

Next, I moved on to Mosquitoland by David Arnold. This young adult book follows a teenage girl named Mim who runs away from her father and stepmother when she learns that her mom is battling some sort of mystery illness several states away. She buys herself a bus ticket and sets off on a journey. Along the way, she reflects on the events from her past that have led up to this moment and meets a colorful cast of characters that teach her all sorts of things about life, both good and bad. When she finally reaches her mom, things aren't the way she expected and she must find a way to reconcile her old memories with her current reality. I thought this novel was pretty good, but it had a few typical YA tropes that bugged me a bit. The protagonist was uncannily smart and mature for her age and she was able to operate in the adult world more independently than is realistic. When I run up against these elements in fiction for teens I always roll my eyes a bit, but this story was still heartfelt and interesting. Arnold's writing was clever and the story was engaging. I could see bookish, sensitive young people falling in love with it. This was a 3/5 read for me.

The last book I finished was Every Day, another young adult novel focused around an interesting premise. The main character of this novel, A, wakes up in the body of a different person each day. He can access most of that person's memories and spends the day living that person's life. When he falls asleep, he wakes up in the body of a new person and repeats the process. He's been doing this for his entire life, just living day to day as all sorts of people. His normal routine is interrupted, however, when he falls in love with the girlfriend of one of the bodies he wakes up in. He can't keep himself from seeking her out each day, in a new body, and trying to form a relationship with her. Suddenly, he has something in his ever-changing life that he wants to remain constant and this opens up all sorts of feelings and challenges for him. This was a very engaging read, although it did also suffer a bit from the trope of teenagers going around doing whatever they want with very little parental oversight. I did still enjoy it though, especially the aspect of A exploring the different lives he ends up in each day. This was another 3/5 read for me.

So that covers everything I finished during spring break! I'm so looking forward to summer when I have more free time to read again! It can't come fast enough.

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 8/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 8

Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

 

My reading time is still woefully short, but I did manage to finish Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust and wanted to write a little bit about it.

I didn't realize this as I was starting, but this novel is a Snow White retelling, and it's a very good one. It centers around the relationship between a teen princess named Lynet and her stepmother Mina. Both of these women have magical origins. Lynet was crafted from snow by a magician in the image of her dead mother and Mina, born with a weak heart, has a magical glass replacement heart. Mina is the only mother Lynet has ever known, and they were quite close as she was growing up. When the king of their country dies, however, they become torn apart in a conflict over who will rule.

That summary is leaving quite a bit out, because this novel was surprisingly rich. I really enjoyed how Bashardoust took some of the elements of the classic Snow White tale and wove them into a story that was completely different and new. I also really liked how it focused on the mother and daughter relationship between Mina and Lynet rather than a romantic storyline. Those elements were present, but they took a backseat to the complicated dynamics between mother and daughter. This story has a lot to say about love, loyalty, and family--more than you would think you'd find in a young adult novel. The world building, magic system, and secondary characters were similarly complex and interesting. I was very engaged the whole time I was reading, even if my lack of free time made my progress a lot slower than I wanted.

Overall, this was a very enjoyable and memorable read. I'd highly recommend it to anyone interested in this genre.

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 4/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 4

Reading Roundup

  

The months have been slipping by at an alarming pace, but I'm still here and sometimes I'm even reading. I managed to finish two books in a very disjointed fashion over the past three months and I'm most of the way through a third. I have no time to sit and write about them with my classes and job going into overdrive, so I thought I'd write a thoughts on them here.

I read Once and Future by A.R. Capetta. This was a science fiction retelling of the King Arthur legend staring a female protagonist. It was an okay read. There was great representation and diversity among the characters and the updated setting was an interesting take on the classic tale. I wasn't blown away by it, however. I enjoyed it well enough while I was reading, but I don't think it will stick in my mind as time goes on. I would give this one 3/5 stars.

After that, I moved onto Conversion by Katherine Howe. This novel was a historical fiction story about the Salem Witch Trials, but not in the usual sense of the genre. It alternated chapters about the trials of the 1690s with chapters set in modern times about a group of girls at a private prep school that fall mysteriously ill with strange symptoms. The experiences of the two groups mirror each other in interesting ways as the stories go on. Howe examines themes ranging from the desires of young women to be heard to how easy it can be to get swept up in the excitement of a scandal. I enjoyed this one quite a bit. It was a new way to look at an old historical event and make it relevant to some of the troubles young girls struggle with today. I gave this one 4/5 stars.  

I'm afraid this is all I have time for now. I am hoping to return to blogging more normally once things settle down a bit. 

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 3/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 3

The Adventures of Captain Hatteras by Jules Verne

 

For the ninth year in a row, I started off my new year of reading with a Jules Verne novel. I began reading his Extraordinary Voyages series in order last year after making my way through his most famous works. The Adventures of Captain Hatteras is the second book in the series, right after Five Weeks in a Balloon, which I read as my first book of 2023. I didn't have any idea what the story was about before I got started, but I was ready to kick of 2024 with a new adventure. As such, I got nice and cozy with a cup of coffee and got started.

**This review will contain spoilers for the whole story - it's very hard to discuss the plot without them!** 

The Adventures of Captain Hatters is composed of two parts. Part One is about Captain Hatteras' dangerous and daring 1861 expedition to the North Pole. He believes that the Pole will be surrounded by an open ocean and will stop at nothing to be the first to discover it and bring glory to England. This won't be his first try at the voyage, however. His past attempts were unsuccessful and ended in the loss of all of his crew. As a results, people aren't exactly rushing to sign up for his latest trip. To solve this problem, he disguises himself and prepares for the trip under a pseudonym. He engages the services of a Commander Shandon to act in his stead, passes him orders by letter, and then joins his own crew as a deckhand when everything is ready. He reveals himself only when it is too late for the ship to turn back and formally takes on his role as captain. The crew is understandably angry about this, but he is temporarily able to maintain his authority with the promise of a big payday for everyone once the North Pole is reached. He does have a few men on the ship that are loyal to him, including the brilliant Dr. Clawbonny, who is both the ship's doctor and resident scientific expert, but most of the voyage is extremely tense, with the crew frequently considering mutiny. 

Things do not go smoothly on the voyage. The ship is constantly in danger of being trapped or crushed by icebergs, the temperature is continually dropping, and the storms are violent and dangerous. All these problems increase in intensity as the winter approaches. There are many times where turning around or finding a safe place to stop for the winter would have been the safest course, but Hatteras is unwilling to stop exploring for any reason and continues forward. He does not listen to the concerns of his crew and burns through the ship's supply of coal at a speed most consider to be imprudent. Eventually, his supplies run out and the icebergs hem him along a frozen coast. He is forced to stop for the winter. With the need for coal becoming urgent, he is forced to mount a small trip over the ice to try finding an old supply cache left along these shores by previous explorers. He sets out with a few men, but is unable to find anything useful. When he returns, he discovers that the crew he left behind have finally mutinied. They have taken the smaller boat they were carrying and are attempting to go back to England. They burned the remains of Hatteras' ship in anger, leaving him and his four remaining loyal men with nothing.

Part Two is about Captain Hatteras and his few remaining friends trying to survive alone in the Arctic. Luckily for him, Dr. Clawbonny is among the group, and his intelligence helps the men establish a dwelling the spend the winter in. They run into trouble with bears, cold, and supplies, but after finding an old shipwreck to salvage supplies from, they are able to get along comfortably enough until winter ends and the seas start to open up again. Incredibly, Hatteras still wants to continue his journey to the North Pole and is able to get the rest of his very small crew to agree. They build a boat out of the old shipwreck and continue northwards. Eventually, they do reach their destination and find that the North Pole is situated in the middle of an active volcano sitting in the middle of an open ocean. Hatteras, mad with the desire to plant his English boot on the exact location of the North Pole, breaks away from the group, runs up the volcano, and throws himself into it. He somehow survives this, but is driven insane by the experience and never speaks another word. His friends recover his body, manage to make it home to England, and place him in an asylum where he spends the rest of his days always attempting to walk to the north.

This book was wild, and pretty different from the other Jules Verne books I have read so far. There was still a grand adventure, of course, and lots of scientific information from the time period. It was the characters that were a bit unusual for me, especially Captain Hatteras. I'm used to Jules Verne protagonists being generally faultless. They are smart, brave, and the kinds of leaders that men follow to the ends of the earth. Hatteras was...not that. He was obsessive, deceptive, and quite careless with human life. Most of his crew was mad at him for the duration of part one of the story, and for very good reasons. However, their mutiny was portrayed negatively, and it is eventually revealed that they fail in their mission to return to England and end up cannibalizing each other. So, as a reader, as I supposed to feel like they should have continued following Hatteras, even though he was clearly completely unconcerned with their welfare? The characters that stick by him, including the smartest character, Doctor Clawbonny, view him as an admirable leader and the way he is written in the story makes it clear that I am supposed to view him similarly, but I had a hard time doing that. Much like Commander Shandon, I never got over his initial deception of the crew. I suppose there is something grand and dignified in the way he never gave up on his goal, but that goal led him to jump into an active volcano and then drove him insane. I'm not sure that's a win.

However, the fact that Hatteras was an unusual character kept me very engaged in the story. I honestly had no idea what this man would do next and I kept turning the pages to find out. Both the sailing and survival sections of the novel were interesting, with lots of dangers for the characters to overcome. Some of this was somewhat realistic and some was not. My favorite unrealistic bit was when a group of polar bears teamed up to try and deliberately suffocate Hatteras and his buddies by piling snow all over their shelter. Dr. Clawbonny eventually figures out a way to blow up the bears using some gunpowder. The whole sequence was amazing. Of course, being a Jules Verne novel, there were several sections of scientific and historical information that dragged on a bit too long, but those parts weren't bad to get through and didn't take away from the story too much. The pacing was actually better than a lot of other Verne novels I've read in the past. The accuracy was not great, but as usual, it was correct for its time. The writing itself was nice as well. This was a book set in the Arctic and it felt cold. It was the perfect read for winter.  

Overall, The Adventures of Captain Hatteras was a pretty good time. It wasn't my favorite Verne novel, but it was a fun (and strange) one. I would place it solidly in the middle of the pack out of what I have read from him so far. It was most definitely a grand adventure and a great way to start off what will hopefully be a productive year of reading.

2024 Reading Challenges Tally:

Goodreads Reading Challenge: 1/30

Clear the Shelves 2024: 0

Clear the Shelves 2024

 

Once again, I'm setting the modest goal of trying to read from my own shelves throughout 2024. I still have several hundred books on my TBR pile that I want to be able to read and donate. There's not an official number of books I'm trying to get through this year, but I would like to do better than I did in 2023, which would mean reading at least 14. I will keep track of the titles I finish here on this post.

1. The Adventures of Captain Hatteras by Jules Verne

2. Once & Future by A.R. Capetta

3. Conversion by Katherine Howe

4. Girls Made of Snow and Glass by Melissa Bashardoust

5. Girl Mans Up by M.E. Girard

6. Everyday by David Levithan

7. St. Lucy's Home for Girls Raised by Wolves by Karen Russel

8. Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple

9. Mosquitoland by David Arnold

10. The One Memory of Flora Banks by Emily Barr

11. Attachments by Rainbow Rowell

12. We Are Okay by Nina LaCour

13. Winger by Andrew Smith

14. Small Great Things by Jodi Picoult

15. Gilded by Marissa Meyer

16. Cursed by Marissa Myer

17. Gallant by V.E. Schwab

18. I Must Betray You by Ruta Sepetys

19. A Snake Falls to Earth by Darcie Little Badger

20. Beasts and Beauty by Soman Chainani

21. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

22. An Arrow to the Moon by Emily X.R. Pan

23. Suspended by Jason Reynolds

24. Dig by A.S. King

Reading Resolutions: 2024

 

Much like last year, 2024 is not destined to be a productive reading year for me. I just have too much going on with graduate school. However, I do want to aim a little higher than last year. Having a year without a lot of reading has made me miss it terribly. It really is something I need to make more time for, in spite of my busy schedule. 

I'm still going to keep my goals modest, because I want to be realistic. Once again, I will just focus on reading a few books a month and reading mostly from my own shelves.

My Goodreads goal for this year will be 30 books. That's six more than I managed in 2023, so it's just a small increase. Hopefully this will be achievable for me.

Once again, my other reading goal will be to read books primarily from my own shelves. I barely made a dent in my TBR pile last year, so I still have a long way to go when it comes to clearing my backlog of books. I'm not going to attach a specific number to this challenge, but I would like to do better than 13 books, which is what I read in 2023. I will keep track of my progress here.

And that's it for my 2024! This will still be a very busy year for me, but I'm really hoping to start incorporating a little more reading back in between all of my classes and assignments.

Reading Reflection: 2023

 

The end of 2023 has arrived, so it's time for another yearly reflection. As I predicted at the end of last year, I was not able to read very much at all. The combination of graduate school and my regular instructional coaching job took up most of my time and napping took up the remainder of it. I did still manage to read a little bit though. Here is the breakdown:

My goal was to read 24 books in total and I did read 24. It feels like a very small victory compared to reading 101 books last year, but considering the different demands on my time, I'll take it. You can view my year in reading here.

I was hoping to read 24 books from my own shelves this year, but I ended up getting distracted by books at my school and fell short. I ended up reading a total of 13. I'm hoping to do a little better with this next year. You can see the list of what I read from my shelves here.

Overall, I would not say that I am particularly happy with my reading this year. I did read some really enjoyable things, but the stresses in my life made it difficult to enjoy them like I usually do. I feel like I gained some perspective though, and am getting more used to my busy schedule. I still have another year of graduate school to go, but I'm hoping to relax a little more in 2024 and get a little more reading done.