Hello book buddies,
Welcome to another installment of my Book Blurbs. I took it a little easier on reading this month because during my Reading Week, I decided to watch every single episode of Veep on Crave. If you haven’t watched it yet, I highly recommend it!
I’m starting to think about my reading goals for 2022 and what sort of books I want to eat up. Throughout this year I’ve been following along with Book Riot’s Read Harder Challenge and it has definitely opened me up to a wider variety of books. I highly recommend looking into this challenge if you’re wanting to step up your reading game in the new year. (note: the official 2022 challenge has not been posted yet at the time I’m writing this).
Here’s what I read this month:
Kate in Waiting by Becky Albertalli
Best friends, Kate and Anderson, are crushing on the same boy as they start their junior year of high school. Already that’s a great recipe for drama. For teens, this seems like a gold mine, but for an adult like myself, it definitely wasn’t my favourite. The best way I can explain it is that the novel was a little too “teen” for me. The dialogue was a little cringe-y too. But I’m sure that if you purchase this for the teen in your life this holiday season, they’ll devour it.
Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey
Don’t bother picking up a hard copy of this actor’s memoir — GET THE AUDIOBOOK. McConaughey narrates the book himself. With his laughter and lustrous voice, the recording is quite close to perfection. McConaughey walks us through his younger years in Texas, his unbelievably ridiculous student exchange to Australia, how he became a star, and how he rebranded himself from a rom-com actor to become an Academy Award-winning actor. In regard to the entertainment factor, this book satisfies. But in regard to actual substance, I’m trying to find a reason for this book other than it being a total cash grab for McConaughey.
The Break by Katherena Vermette
Vermette’s first novel is heartbreaking, there’s no other way to put it. My peers and I discussed if this would be an appropriate book to bring into a high school classroom and decided against it. The pain was too much and we didn’t think students at that age should be asked to read this in class. This novel follows a group of Métis women in Manitoba after one of their daughters is assaulted. It’s quite tough to get through but wow, the writing is exquisite and Vermette’s ability to capture emotions is deeply intimate.
Scythe by Neal Shusterman
Plot: Earth has eradicated disease and death and in order to keep the population under control and Scythes have been ordained to take the lives of their choosing, they call it gleaning. If that sentence doesn’t make you drop everything and put this novel on hold at your library, I don’t know what will. This book kept me captivated until the very end and left me totally satisfied while wanting to read the next one in the series. Top notch stuff here.
Still Stace: My Gay Christian Coming Of Age Story by Stacey Chomiak
Told from an early age that homosexuality was wrong in God’s eyes, Chomiak reveals to us her intimate thoughts throughout her teen and young-adult years of wanting so desperately to be a Christian but also being attracted to women. And SPOILER ALERT, she realized she can love Jesus and be gay too. This book is mighty powerful and I highly recommend it to anyone who has felt guilt within the church — or just anyone at all.
Thanks again for reading along! I ALWAYS am down for book talk so hit reply to this email and tell me about what you’re reading, what you’re hoping to read, or what you’re having to read for school but not into. I’m accepting of it all!
Carissa Wiens