Well, here we are again. New month, new books. New president. Same fucking pandemic. Sigh. It’s frustrating. Interesting time to live in Delaware, though.

Not sure what else to say.

Before I start reviewing what I read last month, has anyone else found themselves absolutely drowning in new books by authors they love? It’s like every author I love has a new book coming out this year (except for Dean Bakopoulos and trust when I say I will lose my shit when he finally publishes a new one) and NetGalley is being generous for some reason and I also finally set a book budget to preorder or buy new books every month and I can’t stop accumulating books. I legit don’t need the library for a year, and I definitely need a new bookshelf. And my Kindle is probably closing in on capacity.

I suppose I could have worse problems, like incessant chapped lips or terrible sleeping habits or an inability to stop eating all the Doritos in my house. Oh wait. Never mind.

In any event, I read seven books last month, putting my to-date total at 11. I don’t think I have a DNF yet, either, but it is only the beginning of February. But still good.

Here are the short reviews of what I read since the last time we met (short because Oscar has taken up permanent residence in my lap and even though he’s only seven pounds, he gets heavy and it’s a little cumbersome to work around him):

Concrete Rose by Angie Thomas. She doesn’t write a bad book. I loved hearing Mav’s story in his voice (which does take a few pages to get used to) and learning more about why he is the way he is in THUG. It definitely sets the stage and if you read On the Come Up as well, you’ll recognize a couple of other names.

The Cousins by Karen McManus. Not quite as strong as her other books, but still a solid mystery (note: it leans heavily on the YA so if that’s not your thing, you might want to pass) and a quick read.

Crooked Hallelujah by Kelli Jo Ford. Reminded me a little of Valentine. Solid writing, sometimes seemingly disconnected stories woven throughout the larger plot, but not my favorite of the month. I didn’t dislike it. It was just meh for me.

So We Can Glow by Leesa Cross-Smith. What I like about books of short stories is that if I don’t like a story, I can skip it. I don’t think I skipped over a single one in this book. Don’t take that as a glowing endorsement, though. While she’s a great writer, I didn’t particularly love this collection.

Everywhere You Don’t Belong by Gabriel Bump. I don’t really know how to describe this book except it’s not an easy read at times. It deals a lot with race and brutality and bullying among telling the story of family and love and growing up not feeling like there’s a place for you. I’m not sure if it’s YA or not. Maybe new adult so take that for what it is.

The Color of Law by Richard Rothstein. If you ever wondered why neighborhoods look the way they do, this is the book to read. It explores government-endorsed (and sponsored) segregation and racism in housing in the U.S. and how those policies, rules, and laws created what we see now. It’s fascinating but as a warning, this is a very dense book and not a fast read at all. There’s a ton to unpack and learn but absolutely worth it.

Dear Child by Romy Hausman. Ah, a thriller. My brain was happy to read one, particularly because it’s well done, fast, and despite the fact that I HATED the ending, it’s a great read. The jacket says it’s like Room meets Gone Girl which is pretty accurate, but heavier on the Room but AFTER they escape.

TL;DR: All the books I read this month are good depending on your preference, but the best were The Color of Law, Concrete Rose, and Dear Child.

Currently reading: Deacon King Kong by James McBride.

OK. Now it’s your turn to link up and show us your books! Don’t forget to visit my co-host Steph and some of the other bloggers joining us. And don’t forget to mark down March 9 for the next one (where we’ll celebrate both books and Steph’s birthday a little early).

It’s been a month since we all last met. In that time, Tanya fixed my website (thanks, Tanya), I watched all 16 episodes of The Boys (do NOT recommend if violence bothers you; 8/10 do recommend if you can stand it), made note of at least 8 books to buy next year because let’s face, I’m not getting shit from NetGalley, and woke up past 8:00 a.m. TWICE.

I live fucking huge, you guys. But I did figure out how to make hot chocolate bombs so there is that. And I read 6 books so hooray for me.

Let’s recap the books in no particular order except the order that I remember that I read them without using Goodreads to cheat.

Find Layla by Meg Elison. This is a YA novel that will absolutely break your heart, especially if you struggle with reading about issues like neglect, bullying, and addiction. The author got a lot right (from my experience working with DFS) and some stuff wrong but let’s just say my daughter wants to read the book now and that’s high praise from my kid (for real. She doesn’t like reading).

The Four Tendencies by Gretchen Rubin. I’ve been trying to figure out why I struggle with certain things so I retook her Four Tendencies quiz (still a rebel) and decided maybe the book would give me some additional insight. It did but it also didn’t. I learned a lot about my tendency, as well as my kid’s, but I don’t know that it wasn’t anything I couldn’t have gotten from her website or podcast. Read it depending on how you learn.

Make Them Cry by Smith Henderson and Jon Marc Smith. Fine. This book was fine. I feel like at times it had a lot of words that went nowhere and I kind of wish everything was a little more developed but it was a decent enough book. I think I enjoyed Fourth of July Creek a little more, though, so if you’re dying to read one of his books, read that one instead.

Rural Voices edited by Nora Carpenter. The best way I can describe this is a YA-antidote to the abomination that is Hillbilly Elegy (which, the more removed I become from the reading of it, the less I like it. Also, the movie is shit. Don’t see it. I watched it so you don’t have to). It’s an almost-lovesong to small and rural towns, told through short stories written by different authors who all bring their unique perspective to everything. Like any short story collection, some are great, some are not but it was a good book. If you’re on the fence, go for it and skip the stories you don’t like.

My Darkest Prayer by S.A. Cosby. In case you missed it on IG, Blacktop Wasteland is one of my favorite books of the year, and finding out he has other books was super exciting (he’s also one of the authors in Rural Voices). This book is violent and brutal and interesting and graphic and my biggest gripe is that the proofreader at the publishing company made some seriously glaring errors. But they’re not worth not reading the book. He’s a great storyteller if you like those kinds of stories. Which I do.

Zikora by Chimimanda Ngoza Adichie. This spectacular little novel/short story fails only in its brevity. It’s free on Amazon. Get it and read it.

TL; DR: Zikora and Find Layla are this month’s must-reads. Maybe My Darkest Prayer depending on your stomach for violence. Do what you will with the rest.

Currently reading Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson (the sequel to A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder).

OK. Now it’s your turn to link up and show us your books! Don’t forget to visit my co-host Steph and mark your calendars for both December 29 for our yearly favorites linkup and January 12, 2021 for the first SUYB of next year.

Anyone else feel like they can finally, I don’t know, relax. I mean, it’s not like our work is done. We have a long way to go but it’s been a long, tedious four years and as I told Steph, I’m looking forward to the president running in the background instead of dominating our lives every single fucking day.

And fun fact: Jill Biden’s first husband founded the Stone Balloon, which was my favorite bar in college. A little personal trivia on this, our next-to-last SUYB for the year. Speaking of SUYB, thanks to everyone who participated last month and I’m so sorry for all the glitches you might have experienced on this here blog and my lack of participation. I don’t know what’s going on, and I’m so swamped at my new job that I didn’t ask Tanya to fix it until yesterday so we’ll see what happens.

In the meantime, if she can’t work her magic, feel free to send me a tweet (@saysjana) with your comment about anything I read. I’m also going to try really hard to read everyone’s posts this month.

This past month was my slowest in years but it did put me over the finish line for my arbitrary Goodreads goal (and if you’re not sick of voting, don’t forget to vote for your favorites in Goodreads’s yearly awards) so I’m into bonus books now. So I’ve got that going for me. Which is nice.

Sidebar: You know what else was nice? My Halloween costume. I was an audiobook.

In addition to Sweet Pickles, here’s what I read:

Love by Roddy Doyle. This book is a SLOG. It’s essentially the story of two old friends meeting in a bar and the entire book is their conversation about relationships and feelings and, yup, love, and all the different forms it takes. As the night goes on, they get drunker and drunker and it gets more and more difficult to follow, but it was interesting and different. But I don’t necessarily recommend.

Men We Reaped by Jesmyn Ward. She is a magnificent writer. For real. There’s a reason she won the National Book Award twice. This book isn’t fiction, though. It’s a memoir that tells both her story and the story of five men in her life who have passed away, including her brother. It’s a heartbreaking read but definitely worth it. And now that I’ve read this book, some of the circumstances and settings in her fiction make a lot more sense.

The End of the Day by Bill Clegg. NetGalley didn’t let me have an ARC but I read it anyway. It was fine. Slow, but interesting enough that I wanted to know what happened. It’s told from a bunch of points of view and how all the stories connect, similar to Did You Ever Have a Family, so if you read that and didn’t like it, you might not like this one either.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig. I didn’t love the supernatural element of this book, but I did love the messaging and the storytelling. He’s probably the best writer I’ve seen when it comes to addressing mental health, and this book is definitely in his wheelhouse. It will make you think, it will make you sad and optimistic, and it will make you feel HARD.

Navigate Your Stars by Jesmyn Ward. This was the book version of her 2018 Tulane commencement speech. It took me literally 15 minutes to read and it’s a fairly standard commencement speech BUT reading it on the heels of Men We Reaped made it slightly different. Going to try to find the recording of it.

Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri. DNF. Not because it’s bad, it’s not, it’s interesting and he’s a good writer, but it’s too slow and I can’t do another slow book right now.

Currently reading: Make Them Cry by Smith Henderson. Another NetGalley ARC I was denied. TAKE THAT, NetGalley. I’m reading it anyway.

TL; DR: The election has made this month challenging, I only read 5 books and I recommend two of them: The Midnight Library and Men We Reaped.

Now it’s your turn. Link up and show us your books! Don’t forget to visit some other bloggers and my co-host Steph, and don’t forget to mark your calendars for December 8 for our regular linkup and December 29 for our yearly favorites linkup. I’m sure there will be prizes if you need some incentive to join us twice.