June 2020 Wrap Up

Hello everyone, hope you are all having a nice end of the month reading! As per usual, here is my June wrap up. Unlike previous wrap ups, I thought it’ll be better for me to just mention the books I read and highlight my favourites, because I have been posting my thoughts as I was reading and some “small wrap ups” in my Friday Reads posts every week. I will link all of the books down below to a longer review if you are interested to give them a read!

This Fairyloot edition of Song of Sorrow I bought secondhand online, and it was honestly a very random purchase. I knew next to nothing about this book, but I thought the cover was pretty and I was in the mood for fantasy, so I jumped at the chance at getting it at a lower price.

Unfortunately, I didn’t gel much with these two books in The Witcher series. I found the story interesting at times, but the writing style and the abundant characters made it hard for me to keep track. Also, I was really preferring some plotlines than others. I rated both books 3/5 stars.

An Edited Life by Anna Newton was a very fun and interesting read. It’s nice to relearn some life tips and get to be inspired to get your life together and be more adult. I found Anna a very fun personality in the internet, and her very personal, laidback writing style here shows her lovely personality as well.

Days of Distraction by Alexandra Chang was very relatable. As a fellow Asian, it’s also interesting to listen to our main character’s thoughts as she goes through a big change in her life. Her small encounters with microaggressions and her problem with unable to relate to her white boyfriend is very interesting to read about. It felt like a very true quarter-life-crisis story.

The Far Field by Madhuri Vijay had such beautiful writing. It is set in Bangalore and Kashmir, and explores the beautiful landscape and nature but also shows amazing character writing. The backdrop of the political problems in India was also very interesting as I didn’t know much about it before.

So You Want to Talk About Race by Ijeoma Oluo is a book I would urge everyone to read. It is so insightful, had very doable and realistic tips, and is written for everyone, whether you are a POC or a white person. It is both personal and tells the history very well. Such an important book.

We Should All Be Feminists my Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie is a short read that I think also is so important for everyone to read. It’s so inspiring and I hope to give this to all young people I meet for them to have a good early education on feminism.

I was so pleasantly surprised to love State of Sorrow by Melinda Salisbury. This young adult fantasy was filled with amazing worldbuilding and great plot, but what shines in my opinion are the characters. I really liked Sorrow as a young woman, and I’m interested reading her thoughts and actions. Love the atmosphere in this book as well.

Ship of Destiny by Robin Hobb is just simply an amazing end to the Liveship traders series. Though I found my engagement in some characters’ point of view lacking compared to the previous two books, I really liked how everything was tied up and how all the characters’ stories are resolved. On to another Robin Hobb book!

 

20 Books of Summer ’20 Challenge – check in

My plan for reading 20 books this summer is going quite well. As you can probably count, I have read 9 books and I am one-third away through summer, even though mathematically I only need to read 6 books per month. We’ll hope that this reading rate will keep up!

Granted, I didn’t read up to 1,000 pages per week like I hoped I could. But some weeks I would reach 800 pages and I think that is already amazing for me! I am also like 10 books ahead of schedule for my Goodreads reading challenge, so I think this mini challenge is really good and motivating for me.

I haven’t been reading my TBR to be honest. You probably saw, for example, that I was not liking the Witcher story, so I might drop the trilogy for now. I’m still hoping to read more fantasy books, and looking forward to buying some exciting fantasies in the next month to immediately read. So wish me luck!

Share with me your thoughts on the books I read, and what did you think of summer reading challenges, let’s talk in the comments!