In a surprising turn of events, I have purchased some books. If you’ve been with me from the early days of this blog (thank you!) you will know that I used to do monthly haul posts that were probably twice as long as this one is. So I’m proud of myself for, you know, being a reasonable human. And sticking to my budget. Sort of.

Today I have twenty-three books to talk about, all of which I purchased over the last three months. And I have actually read seven of them! Look at me reading the books I buy. I’m also in the middle of a eighth, and hoping to finish after writing this post (so before you’re reading this).

I’m pretty happy with the books I picked up recently – they’re all books I am actually looking forward to reading (if I haven’t already). I have plans to read quite a few of these very soon, so hopefully I can do a better job of balancing out my TBR with my incoming books. I have been slowly sorting through my existing TBR and unhauling some here and there, so let me know if an unhaul something you’d like to see (it’d probably have to be a series, because I think I’m going to end up getting rid of a lot).

But for now, let’s talk about the books that I purchased recently and are staying on my shelves.

Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel

The fact that I was slightly apprehensive about reading this book did not prevent me from pre-ordering a signed copy. I absolutely love Station Eleven, it’s one of the books that really got me back into reading after college. But I didn’t enjoy The Glass Hotel all that much when I read it last year. (Even though I had also preordered a signed copy of that one when it was released.) So I wasn’t too sure how I would feel about this one.

But I am very glad I picked it up (and that I now own a signed copy), because I did read it and I loved it. I probably can’t do this book much justice describing it, and honestly, I think it’s best if you don’t know too much going in. It’s speculative science fiction that takes place over hundreds of years. And it’s really good. I will say I’m glad I had read The Glass Hotel before this one, because some of those characters make an appearance. But it is great as a standalone.

The Invisible Kingdom: Reimagining Chronic Illness by Meghan O’Rourke

This is the book I am currently in the middle of reading, and I am loving it so much. It’s mostly memoir about the author’s experience with chronic illness and autoimmune disease. But she does delve a lot into the history and science of it. As someone who is also chronically ill with an autoimmune disease, I am identifying so much with this book.

For whatever reason, my ADHD brain has been really into nonfiction lately. I’m not mad about it, but it feels weird that it’s easier to sit and read a science-heavy memoir than a romance novel. So I am really glad to have this book to read right now. It’s also a great pick for Disability Pride Month, which is happening now – I featured The Invisible Kingdom in my list of 20 books to read for Disability Pride Month. Go check that out if you missed it!

Pandora’s Jar: Women in the Greek Myths by Natalie Haynes

I had a Barnes & Noble gift card and was perusing their sale books without looking for anything specific when I came across this one. And I immediately added it to my cart. It’s not something I talk about a ton, but I love mythology. I also love feminist books, especially history, so this one is obviously the perfect book for me.

Before purchasing this one, I had heard of Natalie Haynes. She writes fiction heavily inspired by mythology. I think I might even have A Thousand Ships on my bookshelves somewhere (you see why I need to get that all sorted). I haven’t read her work yet, but I have a feeling I might end up picking this one up soon. It’s a new release, and I keep glancing over at it. So it might just be my next nonfiction read.

Their Eyes Were Watching God by Zora Neale Hurston

I picked this one up because there was an edition with a gorgeous cover on sale. But I’m also working on reading a few more classics by the end of the year, and I really want to incorporate at least a few written by authors of color. Because they are very underrepresented in the classics. I’m not quire sure if I’ll end up picking this one up before the end of the year, but I am glad that it lives on my shelves for whenever I do decide to read it.

Seasonal Fears by Seanan McGuire

Seanan McGuire is one of my favorite authors. And I loved Middlegame, so I obviously had to pick up the sequel. I’m pretty sure I had this one preordered… and then put it on my shelf, where it is still unread. I’m not quite sure why, but I haven’t felt all that motivated to pick it up. At least not yet. Maybe when we get more into the fall/spooky season (I am very much a seasonal mood reader).

I’d love to hear your thoughts if you’ve read this one. Because so far, it’s been getting not the best reviews. Even Kayla from BooksandLala, who convinced me to pick up Middlegame (she is a massive fan) gave this two stars. Which does not bode well for me with this book, since we have fairly similar taste.

You Made a Fool of Death with Your Beauty by Akwaeke Emezi

I have somewhat conflicting feelings about this book. On the one hand, the story itself sounds like something I might not really enjoy. It’s about a woman who is moving on after the love of her life dies in an accident. Which doesn’t excite me at all. It just doesn’t sound like the most original or enjoyable story. But it’s Akwaeke Emezi. And I feel like she’s going to do something weird and wonderful with it. So I picked it up anyway.

The hardcover has been sitting on my TBR pile for a while (this was also a preorder), and I just haven’t been in the mood for it yet. So I recently also picked up the audiobook, and I think I’m going to start it after I finish my current read.

The Mermaid of Black Conch by Michelle Raffey

I have absolutely no idea where I heard of this book, or even really why I picked it up. I just had to reread the synopsis because I had completely forgotten what it’s about. But it is on my summer reading list (because mermaids, obviously). And now that I have refreshed my memory a little, I am kind of excited to read it. This book is about a young woman who is cursed by jealous wives to live as a mermaid. And one day she is caught by a fisherman. Its fantasy/romance/historical fiction, and this sounds like it might be a fun read.

This book has gotten some great reviews, and is winning awards, and I think maybe it’s one we should be talking about. So I’m excited to read this one and share more about it here. I really enjoy discussing books that maybe aren’t as popular or well-know as they should be, especially by authors of color.

The Deep by Rivers Solomon

Rivers Solomon is an author that I have been meaning to read for way too long. And The Deep was at the top of my list. It has an incredible premise – it’s about the descendants of the pregnant slaves who were thrown overboard on the transatlantic crossing. And then became mermaids. It’s also based on a song written by Daveed Diggs, William Huston, and Jonathan Snipes. As a huge Daveed Diggs fan, obviously I had to read it.

I have already read it. And I won’t go into it too much here, because I’ll be discussing it more in an upcoming blog post. But I just didn’t connect with this one as much as I wanted to. Not really sure why. Sometimes that just happens. I do want to try more Rivers Solomon, though, so if you have suggestions, let me know.

Razorblade Tears by S. A. Cosby

Despite the fact that I have not read a single one recently, I have really been in the mood for thrillers this summer. This one has been on my radar for a while. I like that it delves not only into a murder, but also issues race and sexuality. It’s about two fathers – one white and one Black – who have to come together to get revenge for the murders of their sons. Their sons were married, and neither father had truly accepted them for being gay before their deaths. So I love the idea that this thriller is a bit more complex than just murder and vengeance (which is totally fine, but sometimes it’s nice to get something a little different).

Hopefully I pick this one up very soon. I really need to fill that thriller craving, so I am going to attempt to squeeze this one into July.

How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Natamatsu

Another book I have already read! This is a new release speculative sci-fi about a pandemic and the aftermath. Don’t worry, this one feels different than the one we’re currently living in. (Although the non-fictional pandemic is mentioned in Sea of Tranquility, so just a warning.) This is something between a collection of related short stories and a novel. Each chapter skips forward in time and features a different main character, though those characters do make appearances in other stories.

This author was totally new to me, but I need to read more of his work. I loved this book so much. Pretty sure this is going to end up on at least one favorites list this year. This is very similar to both Sea of Tranqulity and Cloud Atlas, but it’s definitely my favorite of the three. And not just because it made me cry over a pig.

The Neil Gaiman Reader

I am a massive fan of Neil Gaiman. Neverwhere is quite possibly my all-time favorite book (at least that’s what I tell people when they ask – because I can never just pick one). But I haven’t read any of his work in a while. I do want to revisit Sandman soon, because the Netflix series looks amazing and I need to reread the comics before I watch. Anyway, I saw this one on sale and picked it up. It’s a collection of short fiction. It includes almost fifty short stories and excerpts from some of his novels. I probably will only read the short stories, but I just think this is a cool collection to have for a Gaiman fan.

The Dragons, the Giant, and the Women by Wayétu Moore

Yes, Wayétu Moore’s She Who Became King is on my reading list for 2022. But I really haven’t been able to get into it. I’m not sure why, maybe it’s just not the right time for me to pick it up. It’s probably not the only book on that list I’m abandoning this year, though. My 2022 reading list wasn’t as planned out as in previous years, because I didn’t have a lot of books in mind going into this year. And at this point, I’m not really feeling that list.

Anyway, I did pick up this one, which I think might be a better starting point for me with this author. It’s a memoir about her experience growing up during the Liberian War, having to flee her home, and later adjusting to life in Texas. It’s gotten incredible reviews, so hopefully I end up loving it, too.

Seven Days in June by Tia Williams

Yet another book everyone is raving about and I haven’t quite gotten into. I am going to attempt it again in the next few weeks, though. Because I feel like I’d love this book. And I’m not sure why my brain is against physically reading fiction right now (audiobooks seem okay – which is weird, because it’s usually the opposite and I listen to nonfiction books). I did want to get to this in June, but whatever. I’m still planning on reading it at some point this summer.

Summer seems like the perfect time to read romance novels, and I have yet to read a good romance novel this year. (Click here to read all about the horrific romance reading experience I had back in February – it’s a fun post, I promise.) I have a couple romance novels I want to read this year, and this book is at the top of the list.

Finlay Donovan is Killing It by Elle Cosimano

I’d been hearing people talk about this so much, so I finally picked it up a couple months ago. I was kind of hoping this would be a fun thriller, but it’s more cozy mystery. Which is totally fine, because I still loved it. It’s not often I read a book and immediately jump into the sequel, but this is what happened here. I didn’t love the second one quite as much, but I still think this is a really fun series, and I do plan on reading the third one when it’s released next year. Also thinking I should explore cozy mysteries a bit more, because this was such an enjoyable quick read for me. Let me know if you have any recommendations.

What Happened to You?: Conversations on Trauma, Resilience, and Healing by Bruce D. Perry, MD, PhD and Oprah Winfrey

I’ve mentioned it before on this blog, but I suffer from mental health issues stemming from trauma. I am doing really well at the moment, and I think that’s because I’ve been spending time reading and working on my mental health. I’ve heard such amazing things about this book, so I had to pick it up. I initially grabbed an ebook from the library, but realized I was highlighting so much that I kind of wanted to have a copy to keep on my shelves and come back to.

This is formatted as a conversation between Oprah and Dr. Perry, which I thought was really creative and made the content very approachable. There are a lot of anecdotes and stories that make the material feel more personal and relatable. I got a lot of good info from this book, and I think I want to revisit it soon, both to add tabs to my physical copy for the information I want to be able to return to, and also to just refresh my memory and focus more on what I want to take away from this book.

Hide by Kiersten White

Pretty sure this is the fifth Kiersten White book I’ve purchased. And I have no idea why I am so convinced I will love her writing, because I have yet to read a single one of them. Yes, I am a terrible book buying addict and can’t be stopped. Especially when it comes to Kiersten White for some reason.

The other books I own by her are YA, so I think my interest waned a little bit when I started reading a lot less YA in general. I do still want to read those books eventually, but just not right now. I think when I saw this one, and that it’s an adult thriller, I thought it might be a good starting point with her books. Although I have heard this feels very YA. Either way, it’s short and seems like a good thriller to pick up for summer, so I’m planning to read it soon anyway. Even if I don’t like it, it should be a quick read.

Orlando by Virginia Woolf

Prior to June, I had only read Virginia Woolf’s nonfiction – Three Guineas and A Room of One’s Own. Which was a shame because I love her. I did try to listen to the audiobook of To the Lighthouse a few years ago, but something about it didn’t work for me. But this one did! I enjoyed this so much. It was so fun, and worked perfectly as a classic for Pride Month.

Orlando is about a man who one day wakes up to discover he has become a woman. So it’s been mentioned a lot as a piece of trans literature. To be honest, I was a little unsure if that’s actually what this book is, so I did some research. And it looks like Woolf did a pretty great job of portraying hat experience – so many trans people online said they identified heavily with this book. (Yes, that is Tilda Swinton on the cover. And yes, I absolutely plan to watch the adaptation she’s in, because it sounds perfect.)

The Boy with a Bird in His Chest by Emma Lund

I picked this one up because it’s a new release and it sounds amazingly weird. Which you all know is the kind of book I need to pick up. It’s a coming-of-age LGBTQ+ story about a boy who has a chatty bird living in his chest named Gail. Which is pretty much all I needed to know to buy myself a copy. Though it does help that the blurb on the front is by Andrew Sean Greer, who wrote Less (another weird LGBTQ+ book that I loved).

I’m really trying to get to more new releases this year, especially ones that maybe aren’t getting that much hype. And this book is at the top of my list. Even just writing about it is making me want to stop blogging, ignore all the other books I have going, and pick it up.

Body Work: The Radical Power of Personal Narrative by Melissa Febos

Diverse memoir about writing? Yes, please! Last month, I decided to pick up some new release LGBTQ+ books, and came across this one. Which sounds really great (and is also short, which is a plus when I have a habit of collecting books much faster than I can read them). It’s about writing specifically about yourself, and what goes into that and the things you should be thinking about. I have toyed with the idea of writing down my personal experiences, if only as part of my trauma healing, so I’m curious to see what this book has to say.

When Women Were Dragons by Kelly Barnhill

If it’s not clear yet that I love weird feminist books… I love weird feminist books. And this one is right up my alley. It’s about The Mass Dragooning of 1955 when hundreds of thousands of women turned into dragons. Which just sounds so fun. Both to read and to do. I’m sure I’m not the only woman in 2022 who thinks turning into a dragon sounds like an amazing idea right about now.

But not all women in this book become dragons, and we center around a girl who did not. Her aunt transformed, but her mother didn’t, either. So she’s looking into why, but in classic 1950s style, everyone is just kind of pretending it never happened. She also has a crush on a girl at her school, and has to deal with that. This book just sounds amazing and I am excited to read it (hopefully very soon)

Four Hundred Souls: A Community History of African America, 1619-2019 edited by Ibram X. Kendi and Keisha N. Blain

So I had a post for Juneteenth all planned out this year, but June kind of got away from me and I didn’t get it up in time (don’t worry, I’m saving it for next year). But I did pick up a few books for that post because being a blogger also apparently means having to take pictures to promote your posts on social media. Which can be annoying. But I’m not going to be too mad that it gives me a good excuse to buy more books, especially books like this one.

This is a history of African America, told in chronological order by some of America’s leading Black writers. As a history nerd in the process of fixing years of education that did not really address this part of history, I need to read this. I think this is a brilliant concept. And while I’m not quite sure when I’ll be able to get around to it, I’m glad I have it around for when I have time to pick it up.

The 1619 Project: A New Origin Story by Nikole Hannah-Jones

Another history book I grabbed for my Juneteenth post that didn’t happen. But again, I’m really not mad. 1619 is the year the first slave shipped arrived in America. And the 1619 project is a movement designed to reframe our understanding of American history. I have a college degree in history with a minor in American studies, and I was not taught any of this. I am glad to see students learning more now (at least in some parts of the US), but I feel like my degree really isn’t complete without learning any of this. Maybe I need to focus on reading some actual history books next year, and get around to these two.

Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall

Last, but certainly not least, I grabbed a book I have already read, but didn’t own. I love being able to check out ebooks from my library, but books like these are ones I want to be able to come back to. I thought I was a pretty decent feminist and doing well working towards being anti-racist. And then I read this book and felt like a moron. Because there are so many things I hadn’t even considered as a white woman. This book really opened my eyes, and I am very grateful for having read it.

That said, I don’t remember all that much from it (my brain is awful at remembering the things I want it to, but remembering the bite force of a T. rex, it deems necessary information). Anyway, I do plan on revisiting this one at some point, both to refresh my memory and add some flags to the information I want to be able to easily refer back to. So I’m very glad I finally decided to pick up a copy of this one to own (and highly recommend it, if you haven’t read it yet).

And we are finally done! Thanks for making it to the end of this very long book haul! I hope you enjoyed it. Have you read any of these books? What book(s) did you pick up recently that you’re most excited about?

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