As I’ve written about before, one of my goals this year is to actually complete Book Riot’s 2018 Read Harder challenge. So far I’ve finished 14 of the 24 tasks, which is pretty good for less than half of the year. Today I’ve got some short reviews of several books I read for the challenge, along with an update of the other tasks I’ve finished up until now (with links to reviews where I’ve finished them).

The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang

8. A comic written and illustrated by the same person

By day, Sebastian is a young prince, with parents looking to marry him off as soon as possible. By night, Sebastian is a Paris fashion icon, masquerading as Lady Crystallia in elaborate gowns made for him by his best friend, Frances. But of course, a prince who wears dresses has to be a secret, forcing Frances to hide her gift until it all becomes too much. This comic was just utterly charming. The illustrations are beautiful, and the ultimate message of acceptance and friendship and standing up to help people be who they are was just so heart-warming. Highly recommended.

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L’Engle

11. A children’s classic published before 1980

I cannot remember if I read A Wrinkle in Time as a kid or not. It seems right up my alley – I was very into science fiction and fantasy books as a tween – but as I was reading this one nothing felt familiar about it. Truthfully, I didn’t love it as much as I hoped it would, which I think says more about me than about the book. It felt a little heavy-handed in places, although I think if I’d have picked it up when I was the targeted age I would have connected with Meg, developed a crush on Calvin, and enjoyed it immensely.

An Unkindness of Ghosts by Rivers Solomon

17. A sci-fi novel with a female protagonist by a female author

Rather than fumbling for a plot description of An Unkindness of Ghosts, I’m going to let author Rivers Solomon do it for me: “In the low-deck slums of a generation ship on its way to a mythical Promised Land, a healer investigates the suicide of her mother and its connection to the ship’s mysterious voyage.” The healer, Aster, is an amazing character, a Black, neurodivergent, intersex woman trying to find her way in a world that’s transposed the world of plantations into the closed system of a spaceship. The book is brutal but hopeful in a way that’s difficult to explain, but it’s really, really good. For a less fumbling review, I suggest you read this one from Jenny at Reading the End.

Gone Rogue by Marissa Meyer

18. A comic not published by Marvel, DC, or Image

Gone Rogue is an extension of Marissa Meyer’s wildly popular Lunar Chronicles series, a book of fairy-tale retelling set in a futuristic world with cyborgs, androids, mutant wolves, and space-travel. I loved listening to the series on audiobook, and I’ve enjoyed both of the comics continuations. Wires and Nerve and Going Rogue are both set after the conclusion of the original series, and follow the work of Iko, an android on a mission to help track down a rogue pack of violent space wolves threatening her friends and the planet. It sounds insane, but it’s actually a lot of fun.

Murder on the Red River by Marcie C. Rendon

21. A mystery by a person of color or LGBTQ+ author

The main character of this story, Cash, is a 17-year-old Native girl who has been bouncing around through foster care since she was three, working on North Dakota farms since she was 15. She has a connection to Sheriff Wheaton, who saved her as a toddler and now sometimes turns to her to help him with difficult cases, especially those that affect the Native American population in that region. This book starts out with the discovery of a dead Indian in a farm field, but Rendon uses that plot point to tell a story about how past trauma and exploitation of native people can trickle down through generations. Cash was a difficult character to follow – I spent most of the book torn between cheering for her and wanting to sit her down for a long talk about life choices – but it ends on what felt, to me, like a both hopeful and challenging path for her to walk. The mystery in the novel is really secondary to Cash’s story, which I was totally ok with.

These are the other challenges I’ve finished so far, with links to reviews where I’ve gotten them written already. I’m hoping to get to the unfinished reviews soon, and then be well on my way to reading and writing about every book in the challenge. Hooray!

• A book published posthumously (1) – I’ll Be Gone in the Dark by Michelle McNamara
• A book of true crime (2) – The Dragon Behind the Glass by Emily Voigt
• A book in or about one of the BRICS countries (5) – The Milk Lady of Bangalore by Shoba Narayan
• A book about nature (6) – The Evolution of Beauty by Richard Prum
• A romance novel by or about a person of color (10) – Hate to Want You by Alisha Rai
• A celebrity memoir (12) – Born a Crime by Trevor Noah
• A book of social science (14) – Locking Up Our Own by James Forman Jr.
• The first book in a new-to-you YA or MG series (16) – Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
• A one-sitting book (17) – Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmeri

Around Here | I’m enjoying a quiet hour or so at home this morning before jumping into a busy day. I’m meeting some friends for coffee this morning to plan for my sister’s birthday party next weekend, and then we’re meeting some other friends to go see Ocean’s 8. It should be a fun day!

Reading | I’m in the middle of two nonfiction books right now, The Truth About Animals by Lucy Cooke and The Fact of a Body by Alexandria Marzano-Lesnevich. I got The Truth About Animals from the library because I love the subtitle — “stoned sloths, lovelorn hippos, and other tales from the wild side of wildlife” — and I finally picked up The Fact of a Body from my TBR shelf because it just won a Lambda Award for lesbian memoir/biography. They’re both very good so far, although also very, very different reading experiences.

Watching | On Wednesday, a friend and I went to see Chicago at a local theater. I’ve never seen the show performed live, just the movie, so that was really fun.

Listening | I’ve been digging two new podcasts this week, one very new and one a bit older. The new podcast is The Good Place: The Podcast, an NBC podcast all about the show The Good Place (the name pretty much says it all). It’s hosted by Marc Evan Jackson, the actor who plans Shawn on the show, and is totally delightful (if, in some moments, a bit corporate-sounding). The second is Appointment Television, a podcast about “the TV you want to make time for.” They’re doing an ER book club, watching various key episodes and then discussing them, which is making me so, so happy.

Blogging | This week I posted my May reading wrap up, with some really quick thoughts on the 10 (10!) books I finished last month. Coming up, I think I’m going to do a review-round up of the books I’ve read for this year’s Read Harder challenge.

Loving | I bought some vanilla-flavored syrup to use in my Earl Grey tea each morning instead of pain sugar and it is amazing. Life really is about the small things.

Hating | I love many thing about my job, but I do not love that my office is in a basement room with no windows or natural light. I’ve been trying to get outside every day at lunch to read and soak in some sunlight, which helps.

Anticipating | I’m taking a week of vacation at the beginning of July, so of course I am already thinking about what books I want to bring with me. We’re going to spend the week at my parents cabin, which means it will be a long week of doing pretty much nothing except sitting by the lake with a drink and a book. I need this break!

Happy Sunday, everyone!

Can you believe 2018 is almost half over? I’ve had a busy spring at work because I’ve been covering for a coworker’s maternity leave, which has made the last few months a bit of a blur. Between work, my freelance writing, and spending with with family and friends, it’s feels like just a blink. It’s true what they say – the days are short, but the years (and months) are long.

Anyway, enough philosophy! May was a stellar month in reading – I finished 10 books, and I can confidently say that I enjoyed all of them. I think one of the best things was setting aside my weird fear of missing out when it comes to reading. I feel like I save a lot of excellent books because I’m waiting for the “right time” to read them, when I’d be much happier if I just picked up the dang books. There will always be more great books, so just read the good ones now! Here’s what I finished:

1. Pachinko by Min Jin Lee (fiction – review)
2. The Feather Thief by Kirk Wallace Johnson (nonfiction – review)
3. The Girl Who Smiled Beads by Clemantine Wamariya and Elizabeth Weil (memoir – review)
4. Jane Steele by Lyndsay Faye (fiction)
5. Damnation Island by Stacy Horn (nonfiction)
6. The Prince and the Dressmaker by Jen Wang (young adult, comic)
7. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (fiction – review)
8. The Paper Magician by Charlie Holmberg (fantasy)
9. Dear Madam President by Jennifer Palmieri (nonfiction)
10. In the Woods by Tana French (mystery)

Because so many of these were excellent, it’s hard to pick favorites. On the fiction side, I was so happy to read a mix of realistic fiction, fantasy, and mystery. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was so charming and warm and hopeful, I’m still thinking about that one. The Paper Magician was a promising start to a new fantasy trilogy, and I loved In the Woods, the start of a mystery series. And then Jane Steele was both satisfying and surprising, I had a lot of fun reading it.

I read a little less nonfiction this month, which isn’t totally surprising given my current reading patterns. I thought The Feather Thief was fun – a good true crime book if you don’t like gore, that does a good job explaining why the theft of dead birds is a big deal. The Girl Who Smiled Beads was heartbreaking but very well-told, and I liked getting back to some historical reading with Damnation Island. I’m hopeful I’ll read a bit more nonfiction going forward, maybe getting my yearly reading to about 50-50. We’ll see though!

A Look to June

I don’t have any particular plans for my reading this month. I should be working ahead on review copies, but I haven’t really been in the mood to read for “work,” so they’re languishing a bit. June is a really full month of new books, though, so I imagine I’ll be tempted by a few at the bookstore or at my local library.

One interesting thing about my reading in May was that it was almost entirely books by women. I don’t know if that’s the reason it was such a great month, but I’m leaning towards continuing that streak if I can to see what reading almost entirely women and people of color looks like. We’ll see where that goes though!

Around Here | I’ve been going through a lot of older blog posts lately during my prep for podcast episodes and realized that I miss being able to check in via these weekly-ish Currently posts. They’re nice little snapshots of a given moment, and fun to come across when I’m looking for a particular review or post. So, I’m going to try to bring them back!

Reading | I’m trying to finish up Locking Up Our Own by James Foreman Jr. for my book club meeting this afternoon. It’s a book about the history of the criminal justice system, looking specifically at how black leaders in the 1970s — trying to save their communities from an epidemic of drugs and violence — put in place policies that (coupled with lots of racism) have led to today’s era of mass incarceration.  need to pick up a new fiction book, but haven’t decided yet. I’m thinking either Dietland by Sarai Walker or The Glass Magician by Charlie Holmberg.

Watching | I am deep into a binge-watch of ER. I’m past the prime of the show and into the slow seasons, so we’ll see how long it continues. I’m also catching up with the most recent season of Jane the Virgin — I love that show so much!

Listening | I just finished a fun audiobook, The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman, the first in a series about a secret society of librarians who travel to alternate worlds to save great books. It was goofy and fun, which is one of the kinds of audiobooks that I love.

Blogging | I’m trying to get caught up on reviews for most of the books I’ve read this year. I knocked out a bunch in recent fiction and nonfiction roundups over the last couple weeks. I’m still very behind, but getting closer!

Stopping | I was really excited about the idea of my 100 Day Project for this year, 100 Days in a Notebook, but I fell off the wagon pretty early. Going in, I wasn’t comfortable with the idea of showing off random sketches and doodles on my Instagram account and so didn’t plan to do that… but without the accountability, I lost momentum. It’s a good lesson for thinking about what to do next year.

Starting | I also found a slightly-different outlet for my creativity lately — knitting! My grandma tried to teach me a few years ago, but I just couldn’t get it. I decided to try again a few weeks ago, and something just clicked this time. I can’t decide on my first real project — suggestions for a beginner pattern are welcome!

Loving | In May, nine of the 10 books I read were by women. And honestly? That was amazing! With everything happening in the world right now, filling my brain with voices that aren’t just mediocre white dudes has been soothing. I’m curious to see how long I can follow my interests while still only reading books by women and people of color.

Loving II | A new season of The Great British Baking Show is coming to PBS on June 22. I actually think it’s probably a season that’s aired in the UK already but whatever, new to me. This is not a drill!

Anticipating | Summer programs kick off at the library I work for on Saturday, so that’s exciting. I’m also going to see Chicago with a friend, and have plans to see Ocean’s 8 with some girlfriends next weekend. I haven’t been super social lately, so I am looking forward to all of that.

Happy Sunday, everyone!