Books

Book 750: Darius the Great Is Not Okay (Darius the Great #1) – Adib Khorram

As I mentioned in my monthly recap I discovered this when Sarah from Sarah Reads Too Much sat on an awards committee of some sort and they really liked this one (can’t remember if it won or not). I added it to my list then, but when I saw her talk about the sequel I knew I needed to bring it forward on my list.

I thoroughly enjoyed my very slow read of this. I probably wouldn’t have read it this slow, but life got in the way. I read a chapter or two at a time over two-ish weeks and it allowed me to luxuriate in Khorram’s rich descriptions and characters.

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Books

Book 740: To All the Boys I’ve Loved Before (To All the Boys #1) – Jenny Han

We watched this adaptation on Netflix when it was first released and when I noticed the second in the trilogy was released I realized I wanted to go back and read the source. And really, there weren’t that many differences which was refreshing.

The move rarely strays from the book and I enjoyed the opportunity to revisit with Lara Jean and her dramatic junior year of high school. The book, more so than the movie, better captured the emotions of the three young women growing up without a mother at what is obviously a momentous time in their lives. And I really enjoyed the extended family information and few interactions.

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Books

Book 739: Solitaire – Alice Oseman

I honestly have no clue how to respond to this one. I enjoyed it for the few glimpses I got of Charlie and Nick and am now both looking forward to and dreading the next two volumes of Heartstopper because of knowing some of their future. But, it was a weird book in that it is very much a tribute to angsty teenage-ness.

I like to think that I was an angsty teenager, but really, I was a toe-the-line don’t draw attention to yourself closeted teenager who was boring as hell. I’m sure I had a touch of anxiety, I always have, but I never let it take over my life so I couldn’t really relate to Tori losing all control over everything to her depression or Charlie to whatever he faces (it wasn’t explicit).

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Books

Book 668: Charlotte Brontë Before Jane Eyre – Glynnis Fawkes

I stumbled across this illustrated biography of Charlotte Brontë after one of my google alerts (“Boston” and “Brontë”) alerted me to this article in Seven Days, Vermont’s Independent Voice publication. I’ve been meaning to read an actual Brontë biography forever really, but specifically since the 2017 release of To Walk Invisible on PBS and my visit to the Parsonage in 2018.

I read The Mother of the Brontës last year which covered a good portion of this and some of the inspired works cover similar time periods because they were all so young. The downside of the Brontës and Austen are how short their lives were and we can only glean so much from the few letters and drafts of their works that exist, but there are instances where a little creative license and ingenuity can make these well known facts and situations seem new again. And that is the case with this Fawkes work.

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Books

Book 652: Bob’s Burgers: Char-Broiled (Bob’s Burgers #5) – Jeff Drake, Brian Hall, Rachel Hastings, Mike Olsen, Mark Von Der Heide, and Anneliese Waddington

Bringing the Bob’s Burgers comic adaptation to a close with issues 13-16, Bob’s Burgers: Char-broiled was kind of disappointing. I think there were other continuations through the free comic book day issues, but this was the last trade paperback anthology.
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