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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 #338

On The Blog Recently

• Best July-December 2023 Young Adult Book Releases
• Mid-Year Reading Check-In
• Best Books Of 2023 (So Far)
• Attention-Grabbing One-Word Book Titles
• Really Good Books That Need A Bigger Spotlight

In My Reading Life

My reading week got off to a difficult start. I gave up on Foundation by Isaac Asimov because I got bored. It had such a good start! It's science fiction about a dude who invents a way to predict the future. He discovers that a multi-planet empire is going to collapse and plunge humanity into a dark age. In an effort to preserve humanity's knowledge, he gathers the brightest minds in the universe and invents Wikipedia. It's a fascinating premise, but the execution is unbearably boring. The book is mostly just a bunch of one-dimensional characters talking about stuff. I couldn't take it anymore.

Luckily, A Game Of Fox & Squirrels by Jenn Reese was a much better reading experience. This is a middle grade novel about two sisters who are sent to live with their aunt in rural Oregon. As a welcome gift, the aunt gives the younger sister a card game about foxes and squirrels. Things get complicated for the sisters when characters from the game start coming to life and wreaking havoc.

I have a massive amount of respect for this novel because it handles a terrifying topic in a way that children can understand. The fox and squirrels are obviously stand-ins for abusers and the people (or squirrels) they abuse, but the abuse is shown in non-gratuitous ways. The human characters learn to spot the signs of abuse and stand up for themselves.

Unfortunately, there are kids in the world who really need this book. They're living in dangerous situations and are afraid to ask for help. This novel could be comforting to them. The author shows how abusers can be scary and charming at the same time. She also shows that life can get better once the abuser is gone. The book tackles a dark subject, but it leaves the reader with hope.

Like many middle grade books, this one is heavy handed with its morals, but don't let that stop you from reading it. There should be a copy of A Game Of Fox & Squirrels in every middle school library.

Two Boys Kissing by David Levithan is hard to describe. It's young adult fiction about two boys who want to break the world record for the longest kiss. Their story is narrated by a Greek chorus of ghosts who died from AIDS.

Weird, I know. That's the whole reason I wanted to read it.

Honestly, it was really hard for me to stay interested in this book at first. The writing style struck me as pretentious and rambling, and the ghosts put an extra layer of distance between the characters and the reader. I considered giving up on it.

Once I got used to the narration style, I started to appreciate what the author was doing. Teenagers live in the moment, but ghosts are able to see the past and the future. The ghosts talk about how the world has changed for gay men. When they were alive, there's no way that two boys would have been allowed to kiss in public. Now two boys are attempting to set a world record. At one point during the world-record attempt, homophobes show up to protest the kiss. This is upsetting for the teenage characters, but the ghosts know that life will get better. There are reasons to be hopeful.

In the end, I really liked the contrast between emotional, impulsive teenagers and thoughtful ghosts. We're all part of history, even if we don't realize it right now. What kind of history do you want to create?

IN THE REST OF MY LIFE

Five things that made me happy recently:

1. I worked so much overtime that I was forced to take a 3-day "weekend." It wasn't really a weekend because there's no way I'd get Saturday or Sunday off, but it was still glorious.
2. Who watched Nimona on Netflix? I love everything about it and really want to reread the book. The movie is hilarious and has a great message.
3. I saw a zombie car. It was a green car with hundreds of zombie stickers all over it. I have no idea why someone would create this monstrosity, but I approve.
4. I ordered a chicken burrito from Qdoba, but when it arrived, the meat wasn't chicken. It was steak. I got fancy meat for the price of non-fancy meat! I think I won at life.
5. My supervisor at work is an awesome human who let me tag along on a fishing adventure. Here's a pretty little fish he caught. He put it back in the water after I took the photo.

YOU KNOW YOU WANT TO CLICK THESE 👇

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