What I Read – June 2019

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Read:

Shut Up You’re Pretty – Téa Mutonji (VS. Books, 2019)

How She Read – Chantal Gibson (Caitlin Press, 2019)

Original Prin – Randy Boyagoda (Biblioasis, 2018)

Dissident Doctor – Michael C. Klein (Douglas & McIntyre, 2018)

Positive Discipline – Jane Nelsen (Ballantine Books, 2006)

Jesus the King – Timothy Keller (Penguin Books, 2016)

Rue des Rosiers – Rhea Tregebov (Coteau Books, 2019)

Supper Club – Lara Williams (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2019)

Did Not Finish:

Careless Love – Peter Robinson

Robinson will be one of the author’s at the local Writers Festival this summer and so I started Careless Love as a part of my Writers Fest Challenge. I knew it wouldn’t be quite my cup of tea as I don’t generally read mysteries and I don’t usually enjoy series. (This is #25 in his Inspector Banks series.) I didn’t mind setting aside those dislikes and was hopeful that I might be introduced to something new that I wouldn’t normally read. I made it to page 153 so I think I gave it a fair shot but it was Robinson’s depictions of women that finally made me return the book to the library unfinished.

There is a lot of time spent on explaining who Banks and his fellow police officers are, which was kind of annoying and frankly boring and I feel would be even more boring for readers of his first 24 novels. The mystery itself – the murder of a young woman and then the possible murder of a rich older man – is also kind of boring. I appreciated that neither crime was particularly gory but I also couldn’t manage to really care whether or not either one was solved.

Like I said, it was the descriptions of women that made me quit. When Banks’ police partner doesn’t like her father’s much younger girlfriend (there’s, like 50 years age difference between them), he can’t think of any reason other than jealousy because Zelda is so much more attractive than Annie. The way he thinks about the young woman who was murdered is also pretty repugnant, focusing so much on how pretty she was. And even the sections from Annie’s perspective just scream written by a faintly misogynistic man.

Currently Reading:

Milkman – Anna Burns

Women & God – Kathleen Nielson

2019 Reading Goals:

Books Read: 62/100

Books Reviewed: 50/50

Writers Fest Challenge: 13/21

Thoughts:

Halfway through the year and I reached my book review goal! Not sure what my next goal should be. 25 more? Or 100 reviews total for 2019? (Incidentally, I discovered this weekend that my brother also set a goal of reading 100 books this year. I won’t tell you who’s winning.)

June was a little slower of a reading month for me but still respectable, I think. I’m enjoying Milkman but it’s not a fast read for me. I usually have three ongoing books at any given moment but this month I had 4 or 5 at a time and I’m realizing that that backfires and makes me read less. Why, I’m not entirely sure but 3 at a time is the magic number for me.

My Writers Fest Challenge has slowed down a little. While I enjoyed How She Read, a collection of poetry, and Dissident Doctor, I didn’t like Original Prin much and abandoned Careless Love. Rue des Rosiers was much stronger. Now I’m waiting on the rest of the list from the library so I’m not sure what will be next for the challenge. (Probably Ian Williams, judging by my spot on the holds list.)

I’ve just started Women & God as my theological reading so I expect that will last me the month of July. If I do finish it sooner, my next read will be Philip Yancey’s Prayer.

Miscellaneous reading: Another reason I didn’t do great at reading this month was that with so many books on hold at the library, I was reluctant to start anything new in case it got interrupted. For July I’ve determined that I won’t be afraid to take the plunge and won’t wait around before starting a new read. I’ve got some ARCs to catch up on and plenty on my TBR to keep me occupied.