Weekly Wrap-Up 12 – 18 May 2020: My TBR Increased Mysteriously

Hello readers!

It’s been a mixed week in terms of reading, lots of amazing books, one flop and many different genres. Also, I discovered a few new books I want to read, and so my TBR goes down and then right back up. A true mystery how it never really seems to decrease permanently. This week I actually got a few days off, so maybe I can get my TBR a bit down again? Or maybe I’ll use the extra time to find new books I’m interested in. *sigh*

Books I’ve added to my TBR these past two weeks:

• Bestiary by K-Ming Chang
• Girl, Serpent, Thorn by Melissa Bashadoust
• Throwaway Girls by Andrea Contos
• The Invisible Life of Addie LaRue by V. E. Schwab
• Out of the Easy by Ruta Sepetys
• The Fountains of Silence by Ruta Sepetys
• The Other Black Girl by Zakiya Dalila Harris
• Kept Animals by Kate Milliken
• A Good Marriage by Kimberly McCreight
• The Book of Longings by Sue Monk Kidd
• Near to the Wild Heart by Clarice Lispector
• With my Dog Eyes by Hilda Hilst
• If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
• Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica
• Long Bright River by Liz Moore

A total of 15 books added in two weeks, during which I normally read between 4 and 10 books. Oh well.

I normally don’t much plan the next books I’ll pick up, but over the next few days I hope to read:

Most of these are very short books, so maybe I can actually get through them very quickly!

Weekly Wrap Up

Dominicana by Angie Cruz / Goodreads 2 stars

[SPOILERS]

I don’t think I will write a review for it, because it’s not entirely fair to the book, since I expected to dislike it, read it anyway, and ended up disliking it, exactly as I knew I would. Instead, I am compiling a list of other Latinx books to read! This book was mostly about the main character lacking agency for most of the book and, when she does make a decision for herself finally and sacrifices a loving relationship with the man she loves, it’s still not a satisfying ending. It would also not have been a satisfying ending had she run away with him. It’s exhausting to spend 10h listening to Ana being told what to do and being abused, and then in the last chapter decide that her not-all-that-great family is her priority etc etc. I appreciate that the book highlights the difficulties of being an immigrant, of not knowing the language or costumes, of not having a choice but stay even when that means being in an abusive relationship for the rest of her life. It’s a realistic portrait, but the book did not really enchant or move me too much. I was rather annoyed by it. I know stories like this are important, but I wish Latinx stories were more than just Being an Undocumented Immigrant is Awful and Traumatizing. Hence creating my list! I’ll need a few more weeks for it, but I’ll post it soon!

Wishful Drinking by Carrie Fisher / Goodreads 4 stars

I was so moved to hear Carrie again – and this book is a delight, snapshots of her life and her experiences with struggling with her mental health, her family, her career. The narration was a bit too much at times, there’s yelling and such which I don’t love in an audiobook, but that’s ok! It was such a short audiobook, around 3h! If you listen to them in 1.5x or so, it goes by way too fast. I’m thinking of picking up The Princess Diarist in audio in the future, has anyone read it?

My Name is Monster by Katie Hale / Goodreads 4 stars

This book blew me away with the richness of its themes, and how beautifully it’s written! It’s a post-apocalyptic story about motherhood, survival and society and wow. This was a fantastic read!

Human Acts by Han Kang / Goodreads 4 stars

I am in shock a bit after reading this book, my abysmal lack of knowledge of South Korean history probably made this even more shocking. This little book is very intense and I had to stop reading a couple times, but it’s also very engrossing, especially once you get used to the writing style after a few pages.

The Bass Rock by Evie Wyld / Goodreads

Picked up the 10th book for the Squad Longlist! Reminder that this is available for download on Netgalley if you’d like to join us and don’t know which book to start with! I’m still in the very beginning of this one.

You Are Not Alone by Greer Hendricks, Sarah Pekkanen / Goodreads

I’m also not very far into this one but I’m enjoying it! It’s not brilliant so far but I’m only a bit over 25% in, so anything could happen.

What did you read this week?