Books

Book 659: The Testaments (The Handmaid’s Tale #2) – Margaret Atwood

I did not expect to read this so soon or so quickly. When I first heard Atwood was revisiting The Handmaid’s Tale nearly 35 years later I was incredibly wary about it. With the success of the Hulu series, I wasn’t surprised she was revisiting it, but I was hesitant to jump into this feet first so I put my name on the hold list at the library for an e-book version expecting not to get it until early-2020. They must’ve bought additional copies because I got it within two months of release!

There WILL be spoilers, so if you don’t want to know anything that happens stop now.

Continue reading “Book 659: The Testaments (The Handmaid’s Tale #2) – Margaret Atwood”

ARC, Books

Book 658: The Children of Harvey Milk – Andrew Reynolds

I’m not sure how I stumbled across this one, but when I did back in May I requested a copy from the publisher and they kindly obliged.* I was interested because of the subject matter, but also because Reynolds is based at UNC Chapel Hill (my undergrad) and his name rang a bell because he’d chaired the Sexuality Studies program there at some point in the recent past. And then with my master’s degree focusing on the Civil Partnership Act (2014) in the UK, of course I was going to want to read this book and see what he had to say.

Continue reading “Book 658: The Children of Harvey Milk – Andrew Reynolds”

Books

Book 656: The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) – Genevieve Cogman

Why is it every time I say I’m not starting a series, I accidentally stumble into one!? I picked this up when we were visiting the UK last summer because it sounded interesting and there wasn’t a mention of a series anywhere on the cover/back blurb. But of course, as I’m drawn in I realize it’s going to be a much larger story than one book can contain and I find out it’s a six book series, SO FAR. There’s at least one more unpublished. BAH!

Don’t get me wrong, I enjoyed it and am looking forward to reading the rest of the series over time, but I really didn’t want to jump into another unfinished series. I don’t know why, but I’ve become the person who likes to know there’s an ending and that I can reach that ending. This is across all my media these days, not just books. but I don’t want to go on and on about that, so let’s talk about this book.

Continue reading “Book 656: The Invisible Library (The Invisible Library #1) – Genevieve Cogman”

Books

Book 655: Upside Down – N.R. Walker

Sometimes you just have to eat your own words. I really don’t like reading self-published works. In general, they are not edited (structurally, thematically, copy) appropriately, but then I stumble across a self-published book, like this one, and I am pleasantly surprised.

Don’t get me wrong there were a few copy editing errors—I’m looking at you “Hans Solo”, ouch—but no more than what I’ve found in some big publisher books before (cough ** Mr. Dancy ** cough ** Signett Classics ** cough). And in general, I found this to be well paced and complete. Maybe this is because I found it versus the author reaching out to me? I honestly don’t know.

Continue reading “Book 655: Upside Down – N.R. Walker”

Books

Book 646: How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom – S.J. Goslee

How is it that each one of these I read is able to best the last? Don’t get me wrong, they’re not all perfect, some have plot holes and others need better copy editors, but in general they just keep getting better.

I put this one on hold at the library at some point, probably around the same time I read Bloom, and it came in recently so of course I decided to read it ASAP. What I wasn’t expecting was for this to be a sort of mash-up of all the teen rom-coms I grew up with (think 10 Things I hate About You, She’s All That, Clueless and even I’m pretty sure some Pretty in Pink or 16 Candles.

Continue reading “Book 646: How (Not) to Ask a Boy to Prom – S.J. Goslee”