Books, Library

Quick May 2021 Reading Wrap-Up

Posted by mindforbooks on

Did I partake in another MASSIVE KA binge and reread 19 books and one new?

Yes, yes I did!!

via GIPHY | Schitts creek, Creek, Television show

I won’t go into them all because there is only so much I can talk about books I’ve read so many times. Here’s the thing, when I feel slumpy it’s either don’t read anything or reread rings around myself. The day I pick the not reading I’ll be sad. So I just need to reread until I come out of it. April was mainly rereading and May was mainly rereading but the last week I started feeling my mood shift and I think (I don’t want to get too excited) I’m starting to come out of it. Overall though, I regret nothing. A KA binge is always fun.

That Second Chance (Getting Lucky #1) by Meghan Quinn – 3 ⭐

Didn’t like this as much as I hoped (Meghan Quinn has a huge backlist so I was excited to discover her) but I am very intrigued about the rest of the Knightly brothers so I will for sure finish this quartet.

The Library of the Dead (Edinburgh Nights #1) by T.L. Huchu – 4 ⭐

An Urban fantasy that is light on the world building but is no less for it. I feel we will learn more as the series progresses and I’m always a fan of world building done that way. This was particularly enjoyable because I know a lot of the places mentioned and it was fun seeing them in a totally different light. I think if you’ve been to Edinburgh this aspect of it will be cool to read. I know I was a big fan.

Another thing to like is the characters and Ropa is definitely top of that list. I love her, she is a freaking badass and I feel like she is going to be a favourite.

The Library of the Dead is incredibly fast paced, Ropa talks about how exhausted she is at the end and I felt that right along with her, I felt like I’d ran a marathon and I love that in a book, Urban Fantasy in particular, my only real complaint about it was that the end felt very rushed and all wrapped up a little too neatly. I’m looking forward to more from this author though, I don’t think I’ll be able to get enough of Ropa!

Silver Silence (Psy-Changeling Trinity #1) by Nalini Singh – 5 ⭐

Oooooooh this is a strong start to this new story arc.

Valentin may possibly be the funniest of all Nalini Singh’s Changelings. Sneaky like a cat! 😀

I have loved Silver for years and I feel her book did her justice. She is awesome and a total badass!! 

Ocean Light (Psy-Changeling Trinity #2) by Nalini Singh – 5 ⭐

I was not a Bo fan so I wasn’t that fired up about this book but it was fabulous! Kaia and Black Sea in general was definitely a big reason for me loving this but Bo ended up being kind of awesome. The human pairings aren’t my favourite so this really did surprise me.

Real Men Knit by Kwana Jackson – 4 ⭐

I adored Jesse and Kerry. The whole family dynamic was really intriguing and I really hope we get the rest of the Strong brothers stories.

Real Men Knit was a lovely read and Jesse was particularly fabulous. How he dealt with the kid who was being bullied because he liked to knit! Goodness, I can’t even, I had a cry!! I loved that he knit and was proud of it, I loved that he got emotional over losing a person he absolutely adored, I loved that he grew and learned about himself through the loss of his mother, taking on the store and falling for Kerry. It was just all so sweet.

Real men knit. Real men cry. Real men don’t scoff at other men for doing things that they deem ‘too feminine’ instead to speak up for the boys and men who want to bloody knit etc!

The Disordered Cosmos: A Journey into Dark Matter, Spacetime, and Dreams Deferred by Chanda Prescod-Weinstein – 5 ⭐

Outstanding!

There is a lot to unpack and think about with this book. Prescod-Weinstein is fabulously passionate about her field and that comes across so strongly that even though my grasp of physics isn’t what I’d like it to be I still found myself wrapped up in it because of her excitement writing about it.

This book is divided up into four parts. The first part was definitely heavier on the physics but parts two through four focus very much on how a Black queer woman navigates the world of science. A world that is dominated by white cis colonialists. As a white woman this isn’t always comfortable reading but as someone who often looks to science for all the answers it was eye opening but also not surprising to realise that science is full of misogyny and racism. This book once again highlights my privilege because there were things I just never thought to consider given my skin colour. It is very Americanised but misogyny and racism is a world wide issue and I can’t see science in Ireland being any more welcoming here than it is in the US. It’s something I definitely would like to look further into though.

Another thing that will stick with me after reading this is the use of indigenous lands for science and the microaggressions around that. The plans to build a Thirty Meter Telescope on Mauna Kea in Hawai’i is rage inducing, that anyone would use the mantra ‘it’s for the greater good’ to ignore the wishes of the people who own that land. Again, this is also not surprising. I think what bothered me most about this was I often think of scientists being more liberal and clear thinking, in my mind I imagined that once protests like this arise the scientist will be standing with the people protesting. Apparently that only happens when it’s not directly impacting their own interests.

There is so much more I could go into in relation to this book. I feel like it really deserves to be discussed chapter by chapter. This is a book I’ll be dipping into time and time again. It’s a must read and Prescod-Weinstein is a fantastic and passionate writer and I really hope there are more books from her in the future.

One Comment Add yours

  1. asic says:
    June 2, 2021 at 1:32 pm

    there’s so many books in here and i love the recs!!! great post, happy reading in june!!!

    Liked by 1 person

    Reply

Leave a reply to asic Cancel reply