Mini Reading Recap - May 2021

 What is nice about my reading habits is that sometimes in the first week, I finish multiple books. 

Of course, that's because I've been reading them for months and just finally get through them!

Mini May Reading Recap

Mulan Retelling; The Uncorked Librarian Challenge, March 2020

First, as I posted at the beginning of May, I finished reading Warrior Maiden by Melanie Dickerson. I didn't enjoy the Mulan retelling as much as I would have liked. Mulan is one of my favorite Disney "Princess" stories that have been shared over the years, girl power and all that. Obviously, the cartoon classic from 1998 had its issues, but it was designed for children and we got the gist of the story. It interested a lot of people in learning more about her country, her culture, her history.

Then Disney decided to give it the failure of a live-action treatment like all its other Princess stories for its March 2020 movie, and it just fell flat. Its release was also the reason for the TUL's March 2020 theme. I haven't even seen the movie, but I am taking Xiran Jay Zhao's word for it. For a movie to be problematic enough that she spawned her entire YouTube channel, yes. I'm taking her word for it. Warning: Movie spoilers in her video.

Find my Goodreads review HERE. The biggest problem I had with Warrior Maiden, which I don't go into in the Goodreads review, is that it is from a romance series. Wait, that's not the problem, because I occasionally like to delve into a little mindless romance that is predictable and makes me believe in the possibilities of love again. Allow me to clarify. The problem is that it is a series and I started on book 9. That's the problem.

These types of romance series are truly designed to be read in any order, to just read the ones that spark your interest, and are capable of containing the entirety of a single story within one installment. But my ADHD brain goes... Wait a minute! You're mentioning off screen characters and romances. You mentioned Rapunzel and Aladdin as characters that exist in your world. But you don't tell us anything more about them!

Yup. I pick up on those details and they're a rock in my craw. So while I did myself a disservice by picking up a book in the middle of a series and even though it was enjoyable as a story of its own, the series follows events and people who are all interconnected in the fictional historical version of a German town called Hagenheim, which is about 64 highway driving kilometers east of present day Munich. In fact Googling just "Hagenheim" gets you very little information on the town, just Dickerson's book series. You have to add "Germany" to your search to get the real place.

Lots of Romance haters don't realize that some of these stories can be turned in series where you leave one couple's happy story and get set up in the last couple pages for the next story to be tackled. I'm almost positive that book 10 was going to be centered around Stefan finding his lady love, just from how the last couple chapters went.

But enough about that book, let's move on.

Throne of Glass Installment #3: Heir of Fire

As mentioned previously, I had been borrowing the ebook from my local library via Libby on and off since September. My Goodreads review is a little more impressionist in it's view of characters and plot, and is technically a spoiler free review as I do not mention actual events.

BookTube hates this series. They really do. I understand their gripes. They are entitled to their opinions. For me however, the very gripes they have about the characters is the very reason I'm hooked. I HATE the characters. The story is totally PROTOTYPICAL. It's the hidden motivations that are driving me nuts and keeping me coming back for more.

Sadly, the reason it takes me so long to read each book is format. My library tends to not have audio versions of this series in Libby, Overdrive, or Hoopla. And sadly, even though I am borrowing from the exact same library in all three apps, their digital content is different across them. What is wrong with Indiana man?

I think I am going to lay off Adarlan for a while. Queen of Shadows ebook has a waitlist and I have a backlog of challenge books to read anyway. I need to get back on track with completing the books in the month they are actually challenges.

Speaking of which...

May 2021 TBR

Reading Challenges

The GirlXOXO May challenge is Magnificent Middle Grade. Which I am certainly NOT in the mood for right now. I selected A Wolf Called Wander by Rosanne Parry earlier in the year, which still sounds like a great book, but I think I want to do something else right now or I may just skip this challenge altogether.

For The Uncorked Librarian, 2021 is a Book Set in India and 2020 was a Book Set in One of the 50 States. Initially I selected The White Tiger by Arawind Adiga and Armed with Steele by Kyra Jacobs respectively.

The reviews and comments for The White Tiger on Goodreads by actual Indians makes me want to change my selection. Still researching other books set in India that might pique my interest and hoping to make it through it in time.

Armed with Steele should be a quick romantic read, written by a Hoosier and set in Indiana. When I searched books that are set in the city I live in (trust me, there are not a lot) this book popped up, but I think it only mentions the city, doesn't take place in. We'll see. Just borrowed it as an ebook via Libby.

Other TBR to Finish

I've been working on The Cat Who Saw Red by Lilian Jackson Braun for quite a while. It was published in 1986, so we're going back y'all. I initially came across this series in the mid-90s and been slowly working through them. I'm only on book 4, which has a completely different feel than the first 3 books. That is probably because there was an 18 year publishing gap between #3 and #4 as Braun stopped writing to concentrate on raising her children and then went back to it. I will read this entire series just because I'm stubborn like that, but again, audio books from my library for this old of a series are few and far between.

I'm also still trying to read/listen to Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid. It was my February pick for TUL 2021: Book by a Contemporary Black Author. I purchased the book from Amazon, but paperback wasn't available at the time I purchased, so I have a very nice hardback copy. Again, sitting to read is a problem, so working through the audiobook version.

As I mentioned before, I picked up John Gwynne's Malice to see what the hubbub is about. I also recently watched Daniel Greene's author interview with Gwynne where they discuss his latest book, The Shadow of the Gods which apparently has a Nordic/Viking vibe going for it. And we all know I'm really into my Viking stuff right now.

And to my great shame, Cold Fire from the Emelan Universe by Tamora Pierce has been sitting in Currently Reading since November 29, 2020 and I've never had a copy, digital or physical. My library doesn't have an audio or ebook copy in any of the apps. They have a physical copy in the children's section of the Main Branch, but thank you COVID-19, I'm leery of borrowing anything physical. Because of the logistics of getting it back to them, picking it up, can I even walk in right now? UGH.

Overdue!

Overdue TBRs that I have previously mentioned in posts include: Who Rides With Wyatt by Will Henry (Western; Owned), Slatewiper by Lewis Perdue (Thriller; Owned), The Sign of Four by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (Mystery/Classic/Owned), Dracula by Bram Stoker (Horror/Borrow), Divergent by Veronica Roth (Sci-fi/Borrow), and Pride and Prejudice by Jane Austen (Literary/Classic/Borrow).

Overdue Challenge TBRs that I have mentioned previously but not in this post: The Blue Fox by Sjón (Owned-Amazon), The Last Anniversary by Liane Moriarty (Owned-Amazon, although my cover is different), Lilac Girls by Martha Hell Kelly.

Overdue Challenge TBRs from April that I never even considered touching last month are Violet by SJI Holliday, Unscrupulous by Morgan Lee Wylie, and Mistress of Spices by Chitra Divakaruni.

The Skulls

In my last post I mentioned the project of "The Skulls". This project is nowhere near completed, and with the backlog of TBR reads I just mentioned, the purpose of the Skulls will not be reached soon. The idea is to utilize the Skulls when I'm done with a month's challenge and have no other planned TBRs that month and have time to kill. I also have a backlog of television and movies to watch, so we'll see how often the Skulls are even utilized. I will explain the process when I unveil the finished products.

That's it for now folks. I was supposed to mow the yard at my father's yesterday but it was damp. Now today it's been raining all day. Should have gone and done it yesterday anyway.

Until Next Time, Readers...

Keep Reading!