Hey bookbugs!
Today I'm bringing to you my very belated June wrap-up! (Yay!)
I read a total of
15 books this month, including quite a few old childhood re-reads. I read:
- The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater (5 stars)
- Vampire Academy by Richelle Mead (3 stars)
- Vampire Academy 2: Frostbite by Richelle Mead (2.5 stars)
- Shadow and Bone by Leigh Bardugo (4.5 stars)
- Siege and Storm by Leigh Bardugo (5 stars)
- Ruin and Rising by Leigh Bardugo (4.5 stars)
- City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (4 stars)
- My Heart and Other Black Holes by Jasmine Warga (4 stars)
- Neverwhere by Neil Gaiman (4 stars)
- There Are No Men [eBook] by Carol Maloney Scott (2.5 stars)
- No Way Out and Other Scary Stories [eBook] by M.J. Ware (1 star)
And then, the nostalgic re-reads from my childhood, in eBook form:
- Animorphs #32: The Separation by K.A. Applegate
- California Diaries #2: Sunny by Ann M Martin
- The Babysitter's Club #50: Dawn's Big Date by Ann M Martin
- Don't Get Caught (in the Girls' Locker Room) by Todd Strasser
I read a TON in June, and I am quite pleased about that. On the whole, my favourite book that I read this month was The Raven King, of course. I love everything about the Raven Cycle series and it was a totally stunning conclusion to a series which I rank up there with Harry Potter. Yes, I love it that much.
I read a couple of not-so-great books this month and I don't want to spend too much time on those, but I do have a lot of feelings about There Are No Men. I got this as a free eBook from Amazon; and quite honestly, if I had paid money for it, I would have asked for it back. I have nothing against the chick-lit genre per se, but I do have some REALLY BIG issues with the fact that, as a general rule, the female protagonists usually spend the entire book obsessing over a man/men, with nothing else happening on the peripheral. This story was just like that- A whiny, annoying protagonist with nothing on her mind apart from men. What men like, what men want, how to make herself submissive and therefore appealing to men, blah blah blah. And I could literally write entire paragraphs about how annoying it was to be constantly reminded that she was unable to have children and therefore needed to stay away from young, attractive men- despite the fact that she does not stay away from them at all. And our perpetual damsel in distress falls head-first into minor alcoholism, refuses to eat and constantly reminds us how skinny she is, yet somehow none of these things are painted negatively. Can we say, 'unhealthy'? Not to mention the fact that she willingly submits herself to an extremely emotionally abusive man and has absolutely no mind of her own, to be rescued eventually by her handsome neighbor who promises her a life of adopted children (because, in case we misread the first fifty times, she can't have them herself).
The only thing which stopped me from giving this book less than two stars was that there were a few laugh-out-loud moments, but sadly the negatives outweigh those on this book.
I read quite a few eBooks this month that had once been books I had as a child, but lost over the years. Finding the Babysitter's Club and Animorphs in eBook form was so exciting! I may be too old for them now, but I don't care- I will re-read them anyway!
I won't go into too much detail with the rest of what I read this month, because I would be here all afternoon, but if there are any books here that you loved/read/want to read, let me know in the comments and we can talk about it!
Happy reading!
Rhi xo
