The end of the month always seems to sneak up on me until I realize it is time for another book blogpost! I always enjoy looking back on my goodreads list of what I have read this month and picking out some of my favourites (and remembering some that I didn’t enjoy as much).
This month features a lot of trees, a deal with the devil, my favourite Romance book reading dudes, and a fascinating fiction book on being biracial in America. Let me know what you have been reading lately as well!
Crazy Stupid Bromance (Bromance Book Club, #3) by Lyssa Kay Adams
This series has become one of my favourite Romance series’ and for good reason. Not only does it have everything that I love in a Romance book, but it also has a secret male book club where they read Romance books. This book focuses on Alexis and Noah, a café owner and computer genius who are best friends (and secretly want more). When Alexis’ life is turned upside-down by a realization in their life she has a lot of big decisions to make, but will Noah be there to help her through them?
Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai
This middle grade book holds nothing back about the Syrian crisis. Going back and forth in time from back when Nadia’s life was calm and to the present when her city is burning, Nadia gets separated from her family and she needs to make her way back. This book is intense, but also shares about what is going on in the world in a way that younger kids can understand.
I Dissent: Ruth Bader Ginsburg Makes Her Mark by Debbie Levy and Illustrated by Elizabeth Baddeley
I was inspired to read this book after Ruth Bader Ginsburg’s death recently. This book is a short illustrated picture book, but it packs such a punch in a condensed space. The illustrations are beautiful and I learned so much about RBG’s life and this is a book I definitely want to pick up for my own.
Lumberjanes, Vol. 14: X Marks the Spot (Lumberjanes, Vol. 14) by Shannon Watters, Kat Leyh, Dozerdraws (Illustrator), Maarta Laiho (Colorist), Aubrey Aiese (Lettering)
Lumberjanes is one of my favourite Graphic Novel series and one that I love to pick up when I need a bit of a pick me up. These books center around a (seemingly never ending) summer camp where the campers keep encountering magical and mythical creatures and going on crazy adventures. These are just so fun and bring me so much joy.
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
This book is a fascinating look at identity, race, family, and how paths can diverge and be different. The Vignes twins just wanted to get out of their small town and after running away together their paths diverged, with one of them passing as a white woman and the other returning to her black community. When their lives again become intertwined how do they twist and turn around each other and what do we learn about it all?
What Can I Do?: My Path from Climate Despair to Action by Jane Fonda
In late 2019Jane Fonda starting marching on Washington, beginning her weekly Fire Drill Friday Protests. This book tells their stories, with interviews with those who were there, stories of arrests, how Jane Fonda got to this point in her life. I found this book so fascinating and learned a lot about what these protests did and about Jane Fonder herself.
The Golden Spruce: A True Story of Myth, Madness, and Greed by John Vaillant
This book is another true story, but one that hits a lot closer to home for me. This book was recommended to me a few months ago, by an old friend (check out @outdorphins on Instagram for some of the most beautiful outdoor photography and adventures out there) and it was a fascinating look at a story that I didn’t know anything about. This is a story about trees, and more specifically a story about A TREE, the Golden Spruce. It shares about what forests mean to people, what cutting down a tree can do, and solving a mystery.
Greenwood by Michael Christie
This is another book about trees, and another one that exists close to home, though this book spans time from the past into the future. This book was very cool in how it dealt with time first by going backwards and then forwards meeting in the middle over 100 years ago. This book deals with family secrets, runaways, stolen babies, and of course trees. I was drawn into the book by the fascinating characters and how they were all connected and wanted to know how they all ended up.
The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V.E. Schwab
This book was a beautiful story of being invisible, being seen, being connected, and being torn apart. It is a story of curses, of life, of death, and of time. In 1714, Addie LaRue makes a deal for her soul, one that makes it so she is forever existing, but never remembered, never able to leave her mark on the world, but then 300 years later someone sees her, and remembers. Who is Henry? And why does he see Addie in a way that no one has in a very long time? This book is beautiful and so easy to get sucked into. The story is engaging and so full of heart. it brings up important questions about how we think about the people around us, and what we want from the world.
2020 Recap:
Numbers are for the full year, topics are for the challenges I completed this month.
Total 2020 Books: 258
Goodreads Choice Awards: 20/20
Book Riot Read Harder Challenge: 20/24
- Read a doorstopper (over 500 pages) published after 1950, written by a woman – The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin
- Read a book by or about a refugee – Escape from Aleppo by N.H. Senzai
- Read a middle grade book that doesn’t take place in the US or the UK – Bronze and Sunflower by Cau Wenxuan
ARC’s Read: 52
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