I discovered the It’s Monday? What Are You Reading? (#IMWAYR) linky a few weeks ago. I was at the time reading a lot, but not enough to make this a weekly theme, so instead, I chose to participate the last Monday of the month with my monthly reads. I was hoping they’d be more than a few, but no such luck.
I read only three books in the past month. That still is more than my average, I think. I did start a couple of other books, but didn’t get far enough into them to judge them.
First, I read Attachments by Rainbow Rowell. I was inspired to read it by a fellow blogger who confessed she hadn’t read Rainbow Rowell. Neither had I, even though Fangirl has been on my to-be-read list for years. I chose to read Attachments first though, because it seemed more geared towards my age group. Then again, at times I really love young adult fiction, so I don’t really know what I was thinking. The book definitely didn’t disappoint. Occasionally, it dragged on a little, but for the most part, it was hilarious.
Then I read Don’t Wake Up by Liz Lawler. This was the polar opposite of Attachments. Not hilarious at all and it definitely didn’t drag on. It was a true page-turner. I wrote a review about two weeks ago.
Then I didn’t read much for the next two weeks. I managed to finish one book, Angels in Our Hearts by Rosie Lewis and Casey Watson. This is a collection of moving short foster care memoirs. They definitely didn’t disappoint either, though I took some time to finish the book. I had never read anything by Rosie Lewis but had enjoyed reading Casey Watson for years.
For this reason, I decided to buy another book by Casey Watson, A Boy Without Hope as an audiobook. I had intended to read it in the ParaTransit bus to and from day activities, but the narrator’s voice is hard to understand and pretty much impossible to decipher in noisy environments. It was my first-ever English-language audiobook and will most likely not be followed by many more.
Next on my reading list is The Fault in Our Stars. It’s been on my TBR list forever and I was originally hoping I could finish it before today. Well, I’m not nearly finished, but I assume I will be next month.
A Multitude of Musings 
That sounds like some really interesting reads.
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Hi Astrid:
While responding to your Recent Reads, I was particularly interested that you had made a start on THE FAULT IN OUR STARS.
John Green. He is a tricky tricky man. During Christmas 2018-January 2019 my cousin had given me TURTLES ALL THE WAY which has a wonderful premise and a walk inside the mind of its protagonist which is based in part on authorial mental health concerns.
THE FAULT IN OUR STARS is a much more overtly popular book than this latest one and much less obscure than some of JG’s work [and the brother Hank – nerdfighters!] – would love to know how you respond and react to the visit to the Achterhuis.
Argh! why do our audiobookers not consider their audibility in noisy environments or those which bring out field dysfunction?
Ah – Ms Rowell – was introduced to her in 2011-12 by a pre-medical blogger in a southern state of the USA – especially the whole way she captures 2010s Internet culture.
Be brave about your love of Young Adult fiction. It has become much more acceptable this decade and these last 5 years in particular – even as it has become so much more political and politicised and policed.
The hilarity will stick when the dragging on is forgotten – I found this in the last five chapters of VANITY FAIR – which I am so glad I gave Thackeray a fair chance. Now I would like to read more of his magazine work. And PENDENNIS too.
The last book I read to completion was Australian historian Geoffrey Blainey’s A GAME OF OUR OWN. In the 2010 edition published by Black Inc; Blainey turns sportswriter. I was particularly interested in “Myths: Gaelic and Aboriginal”.
Essentially he says that Australian football since 1857 has been an indigenous game -and not big-I indigenous like lots of people have said. There is not much evidence for the adaptation or evolution of Gaelic football at least in the published rules or in journalistic reporting practice.
Glad you got a good introduction to Rosie Lewis.
If you were looking for more English-language audiobooks; where would you turn? Bolinda is a great publisher and distributor. And J might need/want something in his truck especially for road trips.
Writers festivals are coming up in my neck of the foothills. And I am thinking of reading Sholom Aleichem who wrote FIDDLER ON THE ROOF and many other stories and ancedotes of Judaica/Judaism in the diaspora.
Then there’s THE INTERPRETATION OF DREAMS – I was into condensation and displacement and the third mechanism. Chapters 4 and 5 are golden.
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I haven’t read Attachments but I did read Fangirl and liked it a lot. I’ve been meaning to read more Rainbow Rowell but just haven’t gotten around to it yet. Hopefully soon! 🙂
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