What I Read In June
As it would happen, the type of stress we were under this month was not conducive to reading, so it's a very short list.
1. If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley - This is a really, really fun book. (If a slow read. I couldn't stick with it for more than a brief chapter at a time, so it took forever to get through.) Worsley is an historian in the UK of fairly prominant stature, and in this book she has laid out an interesting look at the different rooms of the home and how they developed throughout history. Also included is a look at the things we humans actually DO in each room. Sometimes I wish there had been MORE detail. Often I wished that there was an American counterpart. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating, enjoyable read. If you like to look at history from the everyday standpoint of how people actually lived, this is the book for you!
2. Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman - Domestic Violets was a Books on the Nightstand recommednation, and so when it popped up on iBook's discount list I had to buy it! (I frequent that list, and have found some amazing books that way.) The entire novel was a very interesting father/son story....and I definitly related to the concept that one's father can be so very larger in life that it overwhelms yours. (Although quite happily, my father is NOTHING like the senior Violet.) I also love that it was a novel about writers. Unfortunately, my reading of this novel was swept away on the events of June....and a few weeks later I find that it's probably one of the least memorable novels I've read in a while. So fun....but nothing truly special.
3. Scarlet, Stephen R. Lawhead (audio) - This is the second book in Lawhead's Robin Hood triligy. I love that each book is told from the point of view of the title character, and I love Lawhead's Will Scarlet....who's more sincere and down to earth than Will usually is. There was an odd trick of storytelling - with most of the book being told as a flashback while Will is in prison, delaying his execution by confessing in great detail to a monk. The first couple of times he broke into current time banter it caught me off gaurd and I admit to momentary confussion.
4. Tuck, Stephen R. Lawhead (audio) - So here's the funny. Tuck, the third book, came available for checkout first...and I had to wait on pins and needles to see if Scarlet would become available before my download of Tuck expired. I wanted badly to read them back to back! With just four days left on my checout of Tuck that happened....thank goodness they are each only about 12 hours so that I could get through them both in that four days! Tuck is actually the least interesting narrating character...but then in the final book there is so much stuff going on it's kind of nice that the personality recedes a bit in favor of plot.
5. Among Others, Jo Walton - I got this recommendation from a friend of mine, and I'm so very glad I read it. For so many years all I read was fantasy with a smattering of sci fi, but I've moved quite a bit away from my favorite genres since I started tracking my reading and using recommendations from various literary sources like BOTNS. Among Others, quite simply, is a beautiful book. Having recently reread my teenage diaries, I can attest to the fact that it's framing in the pages of a teen's diary reads very true. Also, our main character, Mor, is a broken girl who loves/escapes with books. Ahem. (I both absolutely loved that, and was also made pretty uncomfortable by it.) I have a feeling this one is going to stick with me for a long, long while.
A bit on what to expect from next month's book list:
1. If Walls Could Talk: An Intimate History of the Home by Lucy Worsley - This is a really, really fun book. (If a slow read. I couldn't stick with it for more than a brief chapter at a time, so it took forever to get through.) Worsley is an historian in the UK of fairly prominant stature, and in this book she has laid out an interesting look at the different rooms of the home and how they developed throughout history. Also included is a look at the things we humans actually DO in each room. Sometimes I wish there had been MORE detail. Often I wished that there was an American counterpart. Nonetheless, it was a fascinating, enjoyable read. If you like to look at history from the everyday standpoint of how people actually lived, this is the book for you!
2. Domestic Violets, Matthew Norman - Domestic Violets was a Books on the Nightstand recommednation, and so when it popped up on iBook's discount list I had to buy it! (I frequent that list, and have found some amazing books that way.) The entire novel was a very interesting father/son story....and I definitly related to the concept that one's father can be so very larger in life that it overwhelms yours. (Although quite happily, my father is NOTHING like the senior Violet.) I also love that it was a novel about writers. Unfortunately, my reading of this novel was swept away on the events of June....and a few weeks later I find that it's probably one of the least memorable novels I've read in a while. So fun....but nothing truly special.
3. Scarlet, Stephen R. Lawhead (audio) - This is the second book in Lawhead's Robin Hood triligy. I love that each book is told from the point of view of the title character, and I love Lawhead's Will Scarlet....who's more sincere and down to earth than Will usually is. There was an odd trick of storytelling - with most of the book being told as a flashback while Will is in prison, delaying his execution by confessing in great detail to a monk. The first couple of times he broke into current time banter it caught me off gaurd and I admit to momentary confussion.
4. Tuck, Stephen R. Lawhead (audio) - So here's the funny. Tuck, the third book, came available for checkout first...and I had to wait on pins and needles to see if Scarlet would become available before my download of Tuck expired. I wanted badly to read them back to back! With just four days left on my checout of Tuck that happened....thank goodness they are each only about 12 hours so that I could get through them both in that four days! Tuck is actually the least interesting narrating character...but then in the final book there is so much stuff going on it's kind of nice that the personality recedes a bit in favor of plot.
5. Among Others, Jo Walton - I got this recommendation from a friend of mine, and I'm so very glad I read it. For so many years all I read was fantasy with a smattering of sci fi, but I've moved quite a bit away from my favorite genres since I started tracking my reading and using recommendations from various literary sources like BOTNS. Among Others, quite simply, is a beautiful book. Having recently reread my teenage diaries, I can attest to the fact that it's framing in the pages of a teen's diary reads very true. Also, our main character, Mor, is a broken girl who loves/escapes with books. Ahem. (I both absolutely loved that, and was also made pretty uncomfortable by it.) I have a feeling this one is going to stick with me for a long, long while.
A bit on what to expect from next month's book list:
- Will probably be skipping audio books as I am catching up on my podcasts, including back episodes of some new shows that I've found.
- I have some not-so-fun-but-neccessary nonfiction to read
- Maybe....just maybe....I'll give myself some silly, escapist fiction to cover the rest.
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