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July was a good month for reading and will help me achieve my reading goal well before the end of the year. It was miserably hot and humid, so I only went outside to mow the lawn, and listened to audiobooks while mowing. Life kept throwing curve balls during July, but I don’t want to dwell on that, so let’s get right into talking about books. Shall we?

The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon

In June I took a little road trip and attended the Fouke Monster Festival. It was a lot of fun and suffice to say, I met some interesting people there. One of these people told me about The Girl Who Loved Tom Gordon. Somehow, I didn’t remember ever hearing of this book. I’ve read a lot of Stephen King, but there is a lot of SK I haven’t read. The gentleman who put this on my radar said it was the scariest thing he ever read. It wasn’t quite that scary to me, but it was a bit scarier because one of my kids was visiting a National Park in Maine while I was listening to this. And I do want to say that I think listening helped this be less scary, especially listening in broad daylight. If I had been reading this in the dark, I would have been more scared. I thought it was delightfully creepy. I liked the way Tom Gordon works into the story. I also really liked Trisha, even if she was a bit OP for a 9-year-old. And this was short! So if you don’t read much King because of the length, give this one a try. I gave it 5 stars.

The Stone Sky (Broken Earth #3)

This is the third book in the series, and I basically talked about the whole trilogy last month. I gave this one 4 stars as well. This series is a good bridge between YA and adult fantasy, so if you are looking for something like that, check it out.

Throne of Glass (reread) and Crown of Midnight

I originally talked about Throne of Glass in this post and I talked about the prequel, Assassin’s Blade, last month. I haven’t given TOG a rating on Goodreads either time, because I’m on the fence about how to write something that has a lot of issues, yet at the same time, I want to keep reading the series. I do feel like the reread of TOG was better than the initial, and I think the backstory provided in Assassin’s Blade helped a lot. There are still some things that don’t add up, like she’s supposed to be this super-amazing assassin but she does some things that I doubt a super-amazing assassin would do. I’m willing to give this series the benefit of the doubt, because I’ve heard it keeps getting better. Now that I’m through Crown of Midnight, I’m optimistic that it will keep improving. And honestly, fantasy doesn’t have to be very good for me to enjoy it. I will show up for magic and fairies most days of the week. Stay tuned for more on this series.

The Green Man: Tales from the Mythic Forest

I thought this one started out great, but there were some stories in the collection that were a drag for me. There are some unique takes on the Green Man story, so if you have an interest, check this out and maybe just finish the stories you like. I tend to be a bit of a finisher. It might take me a long time, but I rarely give up on a book entirely. I started this one in April on Earth Day. I finished in just under three months, which really isn’t that long for me, but I’ll admit, I *wanted* to be done with it sooner. Nevertheless, I persisted. I am glad to have finished it. I gave it three stars, and that’s meant to reflect that I really loved some selections and didn’t care much for others. Of course, I was prompted to buy this because it contains a selection from Neil Gaiman. It’s a lovely poem. Another of my favorite selections is “The Pagodas of Ciboure” by M. Shayne Bell.

Unwinding Anxiety: New Science Shows How to Break the Cycles of Worry and Fear to Heal Your Mind

I loved this one. As someone who has their own anxiety experiences and friends and family members with anxiety, I am always on the lookout for helpful info. Sometimes a book will talk a lot about the amygdala and what causes us to be anxious and not provide much to actually help. This book has some usable, practical advice. One of my favorite sections talks about not needing to figure out what is causing the anxiety, but focusing on dealing with the effects and what is being felt in that moment. I get tired of hearing explanations of how my fight/flight/freeze response works. Trust me, I got that. It’s literally in everything from work presentations to weight loss advice these days, because everyone is stressed OUT. I gave this book five stars and highly recommend it as best amongst all the anxiety-help books I have read so far.

Slaughterhouse Five

For someone with a degree in English Literature who repeatedly professes her love of books, there are a surprising number of classics that I have not read. Now I can check Slaughterhouse Five off my list. We’ve owned it for a long time, but I hadn’t gotten to it. There’s nothing like a book club to light a fire under my butt, so shout out to my sci fi book club for getting me to read this. Of course, Vonnegut is awesome, and this book is a classic for good reason. What else can I say? I think it’s fascinating to file this under sci fi because of time jumps and aliens when it’s really about PTSD. The near-autobiographical story with the author as an omniscient narrator of someone else’s life (real and imagined) is quite unique. He’s there to witness Billy Pilgrim’s entire life, but we only get a few glimpses of what he was doing while these things happened to Billy. Does he feel sorry for Billy or hate him? Maybe a little of both? Maybe the most sympathetic character is the guy with the teapot. The book tells you outright that it is antiwar, and I think it delivers. I wasn’t a fan of war before reading the book. I wonder if it has any significant effect on people who are. I look forward to discussing this with the book club.

Keep Reading

I am grateful to have books to keep me company and help me escape. The world continues to be crazy, and I encourage everyone to be smart and safe and get vaccinated. Public health should not be political. Personal health should not be political. Books should sometimes be political. I talked about that here. I’m glad to argue about books. If you’re local (NWA) and looking for a book club, hit me up for some recommendations. Until next month, may peace and health be with you.