Jana Says

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.

Me, every month: I’m totally going to start writing more!

Life: LOLOLOLOL

And that about sums it up. Guys, I have so many things to say but I don’t know where to start and blogging just seems so pointless right now and it’s all just a mess. If you have any suggestions, I’m all for them.

Separately, we do go on a short vacation last month, so the fact that I read 10 books can be attributed to that. I haven’t lost my reading mojo at all through this pandemic but it’s only been of late that I’ve been able to read nonfiction. And some of the nonfiction I read last month are probably some of the best nonfiction books I’ve ever read. For real.

Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollett. He’s also the singer for The Airborne Toxic Event, if the name sounds familiar. And he’s had a few viral tweets, I believe. In any case, this book was phenomenal. Like Educated but 1000x better, in my opinion. It’s honest and rough to read (trigger warning: he describes both physical abuse and the killing of an animal. The latter was for food, though, so it wasn’t gratuitous murder) but worth every minute you’ll put into it. I could write a whole post just about this book.

Know My Name by Chanel Miller. Speaking of books I could write a whole post about, add this one to the list. I hate that this outstanding woman was assaulted by a that piece of shit Brock Turner, but her book is spectacular. Like We Should All Be Feminists, this book needs to be required reading. Obviously there’s trigger warnings for rape but trust me when I say you need to read this book, particularly if you want a greater understanding of what rape survivors experience.

She Rides Shotgun by Jordan Harper. Thanks to Steph for reminding me that I have this on my TBR. Another brutal, violent read but for very different reasons than the previous two I mentioned. However, it is also excellent and I read it in a day. Could not put it down.

Blacktop Wasteland by S.A. Crosby. Thanks to Netgalley for this one. It was like if Ocean’s Eleven and Baby Driver were married and made into a book, but also with lots of racism and deep dives into what makes a person who they are. It’s so well done and interesting, and the only problem with it was the main character was named Beauregard and I kept thinking of that one Muppet. That’s my issue, though.

I Was Told it Would Get Easier by Abbi Waxman. It’s no secret around here what a giant Abbi Waxman fan I am, but this book was just okay. I found it kind of shallow and annoying and I really disliked Jessica at times. But it was a cute, easy vacation read.

Three Perfect Liars: One Deadly Secret by Heidi Perks. Thanks to Netgalley for this one, too. This was another mashup, but if Big Little Lies met The Whisper Network. It was an intriguing enough mystery and the end kind of surprised me, but it was not my favorite of the month.

The New Corner Office: How the Most Successful People Work from Home by Laura Vanderkam. It’s also no secret what a huge Laura Vanderkam fan I am and I read this book because I read everything she writes. I don’t really have an issue with WFH habits but if you do, this is a quick, informative read. Or you could just listen to the podcast of the same name.

Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner. This was a weird book. It was two books in one, and I feel like she stretched combining them into one. The mystery part felt super shallow and underdeveloped (although who the murderer was was a shock to me) but I liked all the body image and social media stuff. This is a good brain cleanser for in between heavy books.

Dreamland Burning by Jennifer Latham. Like a lot of people, apparently, I didn’t know about the Tulsa Race Massacre until I watched Watchmen earlier this year. Which is awful and such a testament to the whitewashing of our history. Anyway, this book is set against that, as well as the Jim Crow South as it bounces back and forth between now and 1921. It is a hard book to read; it’s a gut punch. Like a hard gut punch. But it’s a punch well worth taking.

The Giver of Stars by Jojo Moyes. Okay, so I know that there’s some controversy around this one and it’s…closeness to the The Book Woman of Troublesome Creek (which I do own and plan to read next month) but I found myself loving this book so much. I didn’t want to because plagiarism is wrong but I couldn’t help it.

TL; DR: Do yourself a favor and definitely read Hollywood Park, Know My Name, She Rides Shotgun, Dreamland Burning, and Blacktop Wasteland. The others are all fine.

Currently reading: Other People’s Pets by R.L. Maizes

Now that you know what I read, it’s time to show us your books! Don’t forget to visit my cohost Steph and the other bloggers joining us today. And mark your calendars for September 8 for the next one.

Time. What is it anymore? I legit don’t know because it feels like 500 years since we last had one of these. And I didn’t even realize it was the second Tuesday of the month until halfway through the second Monday of the month.

I don’t know what that says about me but I’m pretty sure it says something.

In any event, it’s Show Us Your Books day and that’s really all that matters.

I do know that since our global grounding, I’ve been reading more than usual. Well, maybe not more but faster. And my schedule hasn’t changed all that much. I’m still working from home, going to the gym (thanks to my gym’s incredible safety precautions, I’m able to do that), and living my life pretty much the same except now I wear a mask everywhere I go (pro tip: you should, too). So why am I reading so much faster?

That remains a mystery.

I do know that this month, I read an overwhelming amount of 4- and 5-star books so maybe that helped? I was skeptical because the first few books after last month’s SUYB left me wondering what was going to happen, but leave it to Brit Bennett and Attica Locke to bring that around. 

All told, I read 10 books since the last linkup which now puts me at 49 finished for the year and 7 ahead of reaching my arbitrary Goodreads goal of 80 (I’ve had 2 DNF). I might increase that but probably not. Mostly because it’s a meaningless number. It’s just something I need to set that helps me keep track. 

Digital Minimalism by Cal Newport. I don’t have a huge problem with overusing my phone or social media so I read this one more out of curiosity than wanting or needing to learn something. I came away with some takeaways but I don’t know that it’s anything I couldn’t have learned from a few blog posts or podcast interviews.

Two Little Girls by Francis Vick. I think this was a NetGalley read and it honestly wasn’t that great. There were some parts that were interesting but it tried WAY too hard to be a solid thriller and didn’t quite get there.

The Ballad of Songbirds and Snakes by Suzanne Collins. The Hunger Games prequel. Blah. So boring for 400 pages, decent for 100, and I have so many more questions than I did before I read it. Haymitch would have made a much better book subject. Snow sucks, and not because he’s evil. He just sucks.

The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I don’t know how much more praise I can give this book than it’s already gotten. But like The Mothers, it’s well-deserved. Bennett can WRITE. It wasn’t a perfect book, there were definitely some issues and flaws, but I can’t recommend it enough.

How We Fight for Our Lives by Saeed Jones. This is a primarily a memoir about growing up Black and gay, and you palpably feel his pain in some of his essays. He is a phenomenal writer but, as a warning, there are some graphic descriptions of sex and violence so if that’s not your thing, I probably wouldn’t recommend that you read this particular memoir.

Heaven, My Home by Attica Locke. This book was so good, I don’t even know what else to say. Probably one of my two favorites of the month. I can’t wait to read the third one in the series, provided there is a third one. Which I really, really hope there is.

I Don’t Want to Die Poor by Michael Arceneaux. A collection of essays describing how his student loan debt has impacted all facets of his adult life. He’s very funny, very talented, very smart but some of his pop culture references went over my head. I attribute that to my being an old lady not his writing.

A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson. Such a great YA thriller. Exponentially better than Two Little Girls, which is geared for adults, and that’s partly why people need to stop knocking YA books. I’m super excited to read the second one, even if I can’t get it until February in the U.S. If I had to describe this one better, it’s like Serial + the Maura Murray case + some other fucked up stuff. Maybe it’s more like Sadie lite.

White Fragility by Robin DiAngelo. If you plan to read this book (and white people 100% should), do not get it from the library like I did. Buy it, and commit to reading one chapter a night rather than all at once. It’s a lot to take in and think about and process, and reading it like a novel will do you a disservice. It is uncomfortable to read, especially in the context of your own behaviors, but very necessary.

Deposing Nathan by Zach Smedley. This book broke me into a million pieces. I read it in one afternoon both because of the incredible story, engaging writing, and the fact that it’s YA, but it’s also told in a way that makes it easy to read. I mean, it’s not an *easy* read – there’s homophobia, verbal abuse, and some other triggers – but it’s a story that needed to be told. The other one of my favorite books this month.

Currently reading: Hollywood Park by Mikel Jollet. The fact that he’s in the band Airborne Toxic Event is an added bonus because that is one of the best band names ever.

TL; DR: Add most of these to your TBR, especially Deposing Nathan, Heaven My Home, The Vanishing Half, and White Fragility. As far as the Hunger Games book, wait for the movie because you know that’s coming. 

P.S. Many of these will be up and in the SUYBookstore by the end of the month if you want one place to look for them. 

All right. Now it’s your turn. Link up and show us your books! Don’t forget to visit my co-host Steph and some of our other friends, and also don’t forget to mark your calendars for August 11 for the next one!

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