May & June | Reading Wrap Ups

I ended up reading 7 books throughout May and June and all of them (er, well... most of them), I was quite pleased with!

MAY:

1. Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party by Ying Chang Compestine - Whoa. I was so impressed with this book. It was a book we read in school, but I ended up enjoying it immensely. It's a middle grade that follows a young girl named Ling in Communist China and it's based off the author's own experiences. I loved Ling's relationship with both of her parents - especially her father - and the writing was simplistic yet powerful. I feel like I also learned quite a lot, and it turned a lot of my views of things on their heads!
2. Dumplin' by Julie Murphy - Ordinarily I don't pick up contemporary (for whatever reason), but I decided to pick this one up both due to the cover and due to the fact that many people seemed to enjoy it. Luckily, I was amongst those people! I felt the main character was a bit hypocritical about some things, but other than that I did really like the characters and the friendships that were found. It was a quick and easy read, and would be perfect for the beach. Or, in my case, for the riverside, as we were camping while I read this! I had such a fun time reading it!
3. Three Dark Crowns by Kendare Blake - I'd been itching to read this one for quite a while. A story about triplets who have to fight to the death to be queen? Sounds dark and twisted and magical, so clearly, I'm in! I loved the action in this, and the characters (Team Arsinoe all the way!), however there were a few boring patches in the middle that sort of brought my enjoyment down just a bit.

JUNE:

1. Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them: The Original Screenplay by J. K. Rowling - Whew, that's quite a long title! Anyways, as I've mentioned before, I loved both the movie and the written screenplay. Newt Scamander is my precious Hufflepuff child, and I'm so proud to have him as a housemate. The illustrations in this version were really cool as well, and sometimes I just couldn't stop staring at them!
2. Is Everyone Hanging Out Without Me? (And Other Concerns) by Mindy Kaling - Speaking of long titles! This was a collection of memoirs about Mindy's life, and as we know, I love her. However this book just wasn't for me I think? A lot of the stories were kind of difficult for me to relate to? Like a lot of it was about boys and relationships in dating which was fine. Like it's your book, so you do you! But I had just expected there to be more on friendships and comedy and such.
3. Land of Stories: The Wishing Spell by Chris Colfer - This was actually a reread for me, but the first time I hadn't watched Glee and didn't know who Chris Colfer was, but this time I had and did and I loved him. So clearly it needed a reread. And it held it's own again! This was just a really cute and fun middle grade story. While it had some predictable elements both in the plot itself, and in the writing style (if that makes sense), I still found it to be really enjoyable and I will be looking for the sequels!
4. Catcher in the Rye by J. D. Salinger - This is my dad's least favorite book of all time, so clearly I had to read it. Plus, it's a classic! I'm... not sure why. I guess because the style of writing was such a breakthrough, and it dealt with topics that were more... sensitive for the time? Like smoking and alcohol? Apparently? I don't know. I wasn't the biggest fan of this book, mainly because all the narrarator really did was flirt with girls, drink, smoke and make excuses. Not to be hypocritical, but he also complained like... a lot. Open to any page of this book, and it'll have him complaining. Go on, do it, I dare you! Of course I didn't hate this book, it is an easy book to read (which is something coming from me, especially when it comes to classics) and there's something about that once I started reading it, I really couldn't stop. So I guess it was enjoyable in that aspect of it!

TOP THREE:

My top three of these seven books are probably...

• Revolution Is Not a Dinner Party
• Dumplin'
• Fantastic Beasts and Where To Find Them

With, of course, honorable mentions going to Three Dark Crowns and Land of Stories.

Until next time, happy reading!