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Second Quarter Reading Wrap-Up
Jun. 30th, 2021 12:50 pmI've done pretty well with my reading this quarter, most of my reading was in April and May. I am currently reading a non-fiction book and have been for most of the month of June, it is interesting, but a little dry, so not something you zip through. I am making good progress with my bingo card, and I think I am still on track. Books read this quarter:
*A Choice of Catastrophes by Michael Schuster and Steve Mollman - Star Trek TOS novel, I really enjoyed this one, it was very McCoy focused, which is my jam, however Kirk and Spock also had their own storylines. Basically Kirk, Spock and others are trapped on a planet that they think is unoccupied, while McCoy deals with a mysterious medical emergency on the ship. My only major compliant with the story is that McCoy, Kirk and Spock spend the majority of the novel separated, and I always prefer when they are together.
*Christmas Beau by Mary Balogh - I usually like this author, but I didn't really like this story of hers. It starts off with the hero wanting revenge on the heroine, which is not an unknown concept, but the hero held onto his resentment for way too long, even after he learned the valid reasons behind her decisions, and that she was very young and confused at the time of making them.
*Love After the End by Joshua Whitehead (editor) - a collection of sci-fi short stories by various indigenous authors. This one was a mixed bag, some of the stories I really enjoyed, others felt like they needed to be developed more.
*How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy - I'm not sure I could actually write a song after reading this book, but it was interesting reading about this songwriter's process, and he had some good writing exercises included.
*The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks - Grim-dark fantasy, interesting world building. This was one of those books that is a compelling read, but also brutal at times. There is a lot of child abuse in the first half of the story, child on child abuse, and adult on child abuse, and it had some tropes that I dislike, but I really grew to love the main character, and a couple of the side characters, and that kept me reading.
*Peak Survival by Pam Withers - YA adventure story, about a group pf teens that are stranded in the mountains during winter and have to find their way back to civilization. The beginning was a little clunky, but once we got to the actual survival stuff it was pretty good.
*The Exile Waiting by Vonda N. McIntyre - Dystopian sci-fi, the world in this one is very grim, the only people left on earth live in a huge underground bunker, that is controlled by a few wealthy families, and we are following a teen girl that is desperate to get off the planet. This was written in 1975, and it definitely has that gritty old school feel to it. I didn't 100% love the ending, and some of the secondary characters weren't flushed out, but I really liked the three main POV characters. I'm kind of sad this wasn't a series, because it felt like there could have been more story to tell.
*A Choice of Catastrophes by Michael Schuster and Steve Mollman - Star Trek TOS novel, I really enjoyed this one, it was very McCoy focused, which is my jam, however Kirk and Spock also had their own storylines. Basically Kirk, Spock and others are trapped on a planet that they think is unoccupied, while McCoy deals with a mysterious medical emergency on the ship. My only major compliant with the story is that McCoy, Kirk and Spock spend the majority of the novel separated, and I always prefer when they are together.
*Christmas Beau by Mary Balogh - I usually like this author, but I didn't really like this story of hers. It starts off with the hero wanting revenge on the heroine, which is not an unknown concept, but the hero held onto his resentment for way too long, even after he learned the valid reasons behind her decisions, and that she was very young and confused at the time of making them.
*Love After the End by Joshua Whitehead (editor) - a collection of sci-fi short stories by various indigenous authors. This one was a mixed bag, some of the stories I really enjoyed, others felt like they needed to be developed more.
*How To Write One Song by Jeff Tweedy - I'm not sure I could actually write a song after reading this book, but it was interesting reading about this songwriter's process, and he had some good writing exercises included.
*The Way of Shadows by Brent Weeks - Grim-dark fantasy, interesting world building. This was one of those books that is a compelling read, but also brutal at times. There is a lot of child abuse in the first half of the story, child on child abuse, and adult on child abuse, and it had some tropes that I dislike, but I really grew to love the main character, and a couple of the side characters, and that kept me reading.
*Peak Survival by Pam Withers - YA adventure story, about a group pf teens that are stranded in the mountains during winter and have to find their way back to civilization. The beginning was a little clunky, but once we got to the actual survival stuff it was pretty good.
*The Exile Waiting by Vonda N. McIntyre - Dystopian sci-fi, the world in this one is very grim, the only people left on earth live in a huge underground bunker, that is controlled by a few wealthy families, and we are following a teen girl that is desperate to get off the planet. This was written in 1975, and it definitely has that gritty old school feel to it. I didn't 100% love the ending, and some of the secondary characters weren't flushed out, but I really liked the three main POV characters. I'm kind of sad this wasn't a series, because it felt like there could have been more story to tell.
