Drama-Lovers Book Club

 penel:

Unfortunately, due to my long recuperation from some health issues I faced last month, I spent time reading mostly work-related stuff, so I didn't make much progress with my books - I only re-read some familiar, inspirational and comforting poetry collections from three of my most fave greek poets:
C. P. Cavafy, Odysseus Elytis and Kiki Dimoula.

So my plan for June is to start one of the following books I wasn't able to start in May:
Una Madre by Alejandro Palomas, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.

Hope you're feeling much better now, dear friend :)

Always look forward to your sharing of Greek literature, and this time the poetry from your fave poets!

 penel:

Unfortunately, due to my long recuperation from some health issues I faced last month, I spent time reading mostly work-related stuff, so I didn't make much progress with my books

I am in the same boat as you. It's astonishing how much things pile up when you're away from your normal routine. After spending the day sifting through documents, picking up a book at the end of that became a task to me. 

I hope your recovery is progressing well and your work-related reading has immensely decreased xD 

Hello! I ended up reading a lot in May.  I was trying to catch up on my reading challenge before classes start and I won't be able to read as much.  For May, I tried to focus on books for APA month.

My Rating: 4/5	My Rating: 3/5	My Rating: 2/5	My Rating: 3/5
My Rating: 3/5	My Rating: 5/5	My Rating: 3/5

The Benefits of Being an Octopus by Ann Braden - This one really surprised me cuz it's intended for a middle school aged audience, but ended up being really deep.  It covered a lot of issues like gun control and domestic violence. I loved how debate taught the main character to research issues from both sides and how to speak up.

Trumpty Dumpty Wanted a Crown by John Litgow -  It's an amusing collection of political satire poetry about American politics during the last couple of years.  It unfortunately requires a lot of American political knowledge.  They have some explanation blurbs at the end regarding the events that went down, but it's not nearly enough to understand the juicy gossip if you were there at the time or know the topic well enough. 

We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faisal - Okay this one was recommended to me a lot by readers who follow muslim authors.  I just didn't see what they big deal is.  It's a fantasy and she threw in a lot of Arabic words/terms to make it unique.  The story didn't catch my interest.  I've read other fantasies from muslim authors that were so much better.

Where the Crawdads Sing by Delia Owen - I feel like this was marketed towards the typical female centered book club audience.  It's got the typical abandoned lonely female like in Circe.  Anyways, the story is inspirational, but this swamp/"waste" people storyline is not for me.

The Leavers by Lisa Ko - It's about this Chinese American kid that gets abandoned and then ends up being adopted by a white American couple.  The main character clearly had issues from the ordeal and was struggling with dual/forgotten identities.  Some of the stuff I could relate to, but for the most part I couldn't get into the story.  It's pretty popular on goodreads.

Nothing to Envy by Barbara Demick - Holy moly, this was amazing.  It was like reading an addicting dystopian novel, except it's non fiction and based off a true story.  I love how she included a little romance too. xD

Everything I Never Told You by Celeste Ng - It's about this biracial Chinese American girl who was found dead in a lake during the 70s and the toll it takes on her family.  It covers  many topics such as the struggle of being biracial, how interracial marriages were frowned upon/illegal back then, the struggle of women trying to break into a field that was non traditional for women at the time. Lots of food for thought stuff.  It was interesting, I just wasn't satisfied with the ending I guess.  I really loved this author's other book: Little Fires Everywhere.

For June, I will try to finish The Mountain Sings by  Nguyễn Phan Quế .  I may end up dropping this one cu it just seems so depressing.  Also, I want to read The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi.  Also for June, I will try to read a couple of books for Pride month.  Right now I'm looking at Leah On the Offbeat by Becky Albertalli.

 penel:

Unfortunately, due to my long recuperation from some health issues I faced last month, I spent time reading mostly work-related stuff, so I didn't make much progress with my books - I only re-read some familiar, inspirational and comforting poetry collections from three of my most fave greek poets:
C. P. Cavafy, Odysseus Elytis and Kiki Dimoula.

So my plan for June is to start one of the following books I wasn't able to start in May:
Una Madre by Alejandro Palomas, Girl, Woman, Other by Bernardine Evaristo and
The Subtle Art of Not Giving a F*ck by Mark Manson.

Get well penel, I hope you get to read what you crave this month.

I'm going to keep it short because I'm busy and I'll continue to be even more busy this month ( :( )

The Rebirth of the Malicious Empress of Military Lineage by Qian Shan Cha Ke.

Terrible, outrageous even. Really despicable Mary Sue as a main protagonist paired with the worst male character I've ever read (I'm obviously exaggerating, but please, let me have my dramatic moment). The main theme (revenge) was really underwhelming. It was shocking (and disgusting) at first because the main heroine is... well, truly malicious, but it later become unreasonably prolonged and relied too much on overpowered main hero and his absolute flawlessness. I don't know if the translation was bad, but the constant repetition of some phrases (and the flowery language that was used to describe the perfection that is the male character's beauty...sheesh) drove me crazy. Also I felt that the structure of this novel was really half-baked, the last 50 chapters were this weird mixture of filler material, new storylines that didn't have any impact on the story and just the crumbs of main plot. Despite its entertaining moments, it was not worth my time.

Childhood's End by Arthur C. Clarke

I've recently re-visited works of Yoshiyuki Tomino, who is one of my favorite creators when it comes to Japanese animation. In his anime Space Runaway Ideon he created (spoiler alert!) a fascinating concept of a god-like cosmic entity that leads mankind to the higher level of cognition, the ultimate "rebirth" as species, by basically killing their flesh and connecting their minds in a one stream of collective consciousness (yeah, Hideaki Anno later adapted this to Neon Genesis Evangelion). I've read that this book was allegedly an inspiration for Tomino, so I gave it a try and I really really dig that retro (it was written in the 50s) science fiction, devil-like aliens (neat!) and almost apocalyptic conclusion that was simultaneoulsy terrifying and hopeful? I like how Clarke fiddled with some concepts from Eastern philosophy, abrahamic religion and mythology. Really short, but satisfying read.

I'm currently in the middle of The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern and I'm kinda obsessed with it, but I'll express my final thoughts in june :). I also want to re-read Wuthering Heights for... uhm, 4th time? I just need it.

I finished an exegetical book last month, primarily textual/historical criticism on some aspects of the NT.  Going to omit the title because religion can make people uncomfortable.  

I also finished an old book (1937) I found in a box and not even sure how I ended up with it-Norman Vincent Peale's The Art of Living.  Though dated and with a decidedly biased view, it was an interesting old read of how technology was creeping more and more into people's lives and how he was supportive of psychology.

I started A Wild and Precious Life by Edie Windsor today about the woman who sued the US government to have it recognize her 40+ year relationship with her same sex partner, went on to bring her case to the Supreme Court and won the landmark case.  First chapter has been interesting.

 toxicbybritneyspears:

I also want to re-read Wuthering Heights for... uhm, 4th time?

wow I was barely able to complete read once