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Bookwormish, 2nd quarter of 2019
Jul. 17th, 2019 10:49 pmVery belated and maybe also a bit briefer than usual, because life is a rodeo right now, but here are my favorites out of the books I read in the second quarter of this year (April, May, June):
VERY TOP BOOKS
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith – I don't know how to describe this book except "delightful." I knew nothing about it except that I'd seen it recommended in places I respect, so I went into it admirably clueless. It turns out to be a wonderful, lively, often funny, always compassionate coming-of-age story, set in the 1930s but wonderfully fresh and relatable. Also: it's written by the same author as "The Hundred and One Dalmatians," how funny is that!
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – Last quarter I loved Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X, so I snapped up her new book as soon as it came out. (...Literally. It was still on the shelving cart, newly catalogued and processed, when I arrived at the library in eager search of it.) This one, too, is wonderful, about a high school student who's balancing being a teen mother, and an aspiring chef, and part of a loving web of friends and nontraditional family.
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas – You know how, when someone's first book is as AMAZING as Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give, you worry that it's just not possible for the author's second book to live up to the hype? Don't worry about Angie Thomas, though. On the Come Up is excellent: equally hard-hitting topics, equally well-drawn characters, and different from The Hate U Give in some great ways, too. (Like: the protagonist here, Bri, is a lot less sympathetic in some ways, while still being totally relatable.)
( lots more good books in here! )
.
VERY TOP BOOKS
I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith – I don't know how to describe this book except "delightful." I knew nothing about it except that I'd seen it recommended in places I respect, so I went into it admirably clueless. It turns out to be a wonderful, lively, often funny, always compassionate coming-of-age story, set in the 1930s but wonderfully fresh and relatable. Also: it's written by the same author as "The Hundred and One Dalmatians," how funny is that!
With the Fire on High by Elizabeth Acevedo – Last quarter I loved Elizabeth Acevedo's The Poet X, so I snapped up her new book as soon as it came out. (...Literally. It was still on the shelving cart, newly catalogued and processed, when I arrived at the library in eager search of it.) This one, too, is wonderful, about a high school student who's balancing being a teen mother, and an aspiring chef, and part of a loving web of friends and nontraditional family.
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas – You know how, when someone's first book is as AMAZING as Angie Thomas' The Hate U Give, you worry that it's just not possible for the author's second book to live up to the hype? Don't worry about Angie Thomas, though. On the Come Up is excellent: equally hard-hitting topics, equally well-drawn characters, and different from The Hate U Give in some great ways, too. (Like: the protagonist here, Bri, is a lot less sympathetic in some ways, while still being totally relatable.)
( lots more good books in here! )
.
