The Sunday Post #272

 

This post contains affiliate links. I earn a commission from qualifying purchases.

The Sunday Post is a chance to recap the past week, talk about next week, tell you what I’m reading, and share news. It’s hosted by The Caffeinated Book Reviewer, Readerbuzz, and Book Date.

 

The Sunday Post #272

 

 

 

 

On The Blog Recently

 

• I talked about the May book releases I’m excited to read.
• I attempted to write book blurbs . . . with mixed results.

 

 

 

 

In My Reading Life

 

This is a burrowing owl. This photo is not mine. Obviously. (Thanks, Wikipedia.)

You won’t believe how many audiobooks I finished last week. Six! I “read” so many audiobooks because my day job suddenly got extremely boring. I’ve been listening to books while staring at random fields for hours, and hours, and hours. The goal of my field-staring is to locate burrowing owls. They’re allegedly nesting right now. I say “allegedly” because I’ve seen exactly 0 burrowing owls. I have seen golden eagles, hawks, crows, magpies, deer, rabbits, coyotes, horses, construction workers, and about 10 billion prairie dogs. So . . . that was my week. Here’s what I listened to while not finding owls:

First was Not So Pure And Simple by Lamar Giles. Loved it! Five stars. I had tons of fun listening to this book. It’s a young adult contemporary novel about a teen boy who has a crush on a girl at his church. He schemes up ways to spend more time with her and accidentally ends up joining their church’s Purity Pledge. The book is hilarious, relevant, and timely. It’ll make you smile, and then it’ll make you cringe with second-hand embarrassment. The author tackles a bunch of difficult topics related to sex education. Occasionally, the author gets a bit heavy handed with the morals, but I didn’t care because the world needs this book! It talks openly about sex. I wish every teenager had the opportunity to read this novel. We need to encourage young people to have conversations about consent and honesty in their relationships. I highly recommend this book.

Next was My Sister, The Serial Killer by Oyinkan Braithwaite. I loved this one too! I understand why some readers find the ending disappointing, though. The writing and characters are so captivating that I expected a bigger bang from the end. The story is set in Nigeria and stars two sisters who are opposites. One is flighty and beautiful and uses her looks to get away with literal murder. The other is plain and responsible and buries the bodies her sister leaves behind. It’s a very engaging book. I couldn’t stop listening because I was completely invested in the sisters’ lives. Also, I found the story weirdly relatable. It’s about how society is willing to overlook the bad behavior of beautiful women and how parents have different expectations for their older and younger children. Neither of my sisters are serial killers (as far as I know), but I still saw parallels between our lives and the lives of the characters. Even though I didn’t like the book’s ending, I still recommend this novel. It’s one that will stick with me for a long time.

Up next was Release by Patrick Ness. For your information, this book is NOT safe for work! I knew it was about romantic relationships, but I didn’t realize there’d be so many sex scenes. I’m pretty sure the characters spend 1/3 of the book in bed. So . . . that’s awkward. Good thing I had headphones. This is a difficult book to review because I don’t think I completely “got” it. It’s part contemporary fiction about a teen boy in a love triangle and part fantasy about the ghost of a murdered girl. I found the teen characters believable. They’re all confused, and angry, and passionate. I like that they learn they’re worthy of love and respect. Patrick Ness is a supremely talented writer. My issues all come from the book’s structure. It’s weird. And distracting. It’s disjointed and never fully came together for me. The book was entertaining while I was listening to it, but when it was over, I was left going, “Why did we need all that weird ghost girl stuff?” The fantasy parts are too bizarre for my tastes.

Then I listened to Long Way Down by Jason Reynolds. People, allow me to introduce you to my new favorite book of 2021! It’s simple and stunningly written. I think this novel-in-verse is destined to become a classic. In 100 years, schools will force their students to write essays about it (and the students will complain endlessly because they don’t recognize its brilliance). The plot of Long Way Down reminds me of A Christmas Carol, but it’s set in a modern, inner-city apartment building. Most of the story takes place on an elevator. Yep, a 300-page elevator ride. (I swear it’s not as boring as it sounds!) A teenager’s brother is murdered, and the teen sets out to get revenge. When he steps into the elevator in his apartment building, a ghost gets on with him. The elevator stops at every floor, and a new ghost gets on at each stop. That’s when the Christmas Carol vibes start. The ghosts force the teen to confront his choices and reevaluate his decision to commit murder. It’s a thoroughly modern ghost story! And, best of all, it never gets preachy or heavy-handed! The author treats his (deeply flawed) characters with compassion and lets the readers draw their own conclusions. I have zero complaints about this book. Please read it! It’s short and unique and definitely worth your time.

Next up was We Are Okay by Nina LaCour. This is one of those young adult books that remind me I’m no longer a young adult. It has too much angst for my tastes. It’s an emotionally heavy story. It’s about a college freshman who cuts herself off from everyone in her life after her grandfather dies. Then, her ex-girlfriend shows up at her dorm and demands to know what’s going on. The book is a well-written and accurate portrayal of depression, but I was never fully invested in it because nothing happens! The character is so depressed that she doesn’t do anything. I found my mind wandering while I listened to the audiobook. It’s not a terrible book, but I feel like I’ve already forgotten it.

Okay, one more. My last audiobook was Red At The Bone by Jacqueline Woodson. I keep reading Jacqueline Woodson’s books because I love her writing style, but I always end up feeling “meh” about the book as a whole. That’s what happened with this one. It’s about a teenage girl’s coming-of-age party. She’s thinking about her future and about the lives of her parents and grandparents. The structure jumps backward and forward in time and examines how each character arrived at this exact moment in their lives. The book is too short! Where’s the rest of it? I was interested in every character’s story, but they flashed by too quickly. I wanted more time with them. This seems to happen to me with every Jacqueline Woodson book. They’re either too long or not long enough. I’ll keep reading them, though.

Right now, I’m reading Six Of Crows by Leigh Bardugo. I’ll admit I’m only reading it because I loved the “Crows” sections of the Shadow & Bone TV show. The book is about a gang of young criminals in a fantasy world who are trying to pull off a heist. It’s . . . very average so far. I don’t hate it, but it’s not holding my attention. I think that’s because it has multiple perspectives. Some characters are more interesting than others.

 

 

 

 

In The Rest Of My Life

 

Five things that made me happy recently:

 

1. Finishing 6 audiobooks and enjoying them all.
2. Watching a lightning storm while failing to spot owls. Have you ever looked at lightning through binoculars? It’s bright. I probably fried my eyeballs.
3. Who watched Shadow & Bone on Netflix? I read the first book years ago and didn’t like it. I liked the show! It’s fun. I loved the set design and costumes. I want season 2!
4. There’s a random coyote at my job who is excellent at entertaining the park visitors. It doesn’t get near humans, but it hangs out in an open field, and it’s very bouncy and active. Lots of visitors stop to take pictures of it. I like seeing happy visitors because I often have to deal with the belligerent ones.
5. This song.

 

 

 

Let’s Be Friends

 

 

Pinterest || Bloglovin’ || Goodreads || Instagram || Twitter || Donate || Wish List

 

 

 

 

 

Take care of yourselves and be kind to each other. See you around the blogosphere!