Bookwormish, 1st half of 2025
Jul. 8th, 2025 09:06 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
starfishstarWith the end of the school year, I suddenly have some free time again (what is this strange thing??) and it occurred to me I could do one of these posts...
It's books from all of the first half of this year, rather than just a quarter of the year, like I used to do. Which I guess is fine, because these days I only manage to read a fraction of what I used to! (The irony: Once you become a librarian or a teacher, you no longer have time to read all the books you want to read in your capacity as a librarian or teacher...)
Apparently I last did these posts in 2021 and...well, that tracks too.
Here we go!
TOP BOOKS
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo – I was so impressed by Elhillo's first novel, Home Is Not a Country, and – a rather rare thing – her second novel does not at all disappoint. There is no sophomore slump here! When poets write novels in verse about characters who are also poets, very good things happen. (See also: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo.)
Punching Bag and Road Home by Rex Ogle – These are sequels to Ogle's Free Lunch, and all three are memoirs with difficult subject matter about growing up amidst domestic violence, mental illness, and poverty. And yet Ogle's writing is so full of heart, full of compassion for his family members and for his younger self. I find myself thinking back to these books a lot.
EVEN MORE GOOD BOOKS
Brownstone by Samuel Teer and Mar Julia – Very sweet graphic novel about a girl getting to know the other half of her identity for the first time (her dad is Guatemalan, but she's been raised entirely by her white American mom) and gaining a whole community in the process.
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates – I don't know why this book didn't stand out to me more! Usually Coates' nonfiction would be an automatic "very top book" from me. I think he's one of our deep thinkers who are very needed right now. I worry I didn't connect with this book as much as I should have because I listened to the audiobook, so maybe I should go back and read it instead. But definitely the section of the book about his time in Palestine was a deep gut punch and should be required reading.
Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton – An interesting set of thematically linked stories, moving from the present to the far future. The book was published in 2018 and what fascinated me was that the book's central concern is genetic modifications and how far humans will go in the pursuit of being "better." 2018 is only a few years ago, but the list of reasons for humans to be terrified about our future has expanded so much, even in that short time, that the book's conceit feels almost quaint.
The Robber Girl by Franny Billingsley – I love Franny Billingsley's books SO MUCH; especially The Folk Keeper, an instant classic for me. The Robber Girl didn't grab me nearly as much (in fact, I kept putting it down and not managing to get back to it...though that may be me and my lack of available time for anything that's not an audiobook) but it's certainly got Billingsley's characteristic inventiveness, especially in the way her characters use language.
Twelfth Night by Alexene Farol Follmuth – I was inordinately tickled by this sweet YA novel about a geek girl and an athlete boy accidentally falling for each other thanks to a video game. Yes, the story draws inspiration from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, but it's also got a lot of heart of its own.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange – Again, I feel like I should have been more engaged in this than I was. I was riveted during the first part, which follows an early generation of the family featured throughout the novel, a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre. But then the book starts skipping through time very fast, and I didn't get a chance to get attached to subsequent generations.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – A narratively implausible (and I don't even mean in terms of the octopus) but very sweet story of human (and cephalopod) connection.
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill – Another quite on the nose parable from Kelly Barnhill. I bounced off of When Women Were Dragons and just couldn't finish it, but I found this one sweet.
A BELOVED RE-READ
All Systems Red by Martha Wells – I finally started watching the Murderbot show (was a little worried whether the show would do the books justice, but a friend whose judgment I trust told me to give it a try) and now I am deeply obsessed. I told myself don't start a re-read of the complete book series, don't start a re-read of the complete book series...and then I almost immediately started a re-read of the complete book series.
It's books from all of the first half of this year, rather than just a quarter of the year, like I used to do. Which I guess is fine, because these days I only manage to read a fraction of what I used to! (The irony: Once you become a librarian or a teacher, you no longer have time to read all the books you want to read in your capacity as a librarian or teacher...)
Apparently I last did these posts in 2021 and...well, that tracks too.
Here we go!
TOP BOOKS
Bright Red Fruit by Safia Elhillo – I was so impressed by Elhillo's first novel, Home Is Not a Country, and – a rather rare thing – her second novel does not at all disappoint. There is no sophomore slump here! When poets write novels in verse about characters who are also poets, very good things happen. (See also: The Poet X by Elizabeth Acevedo.)
Punching Bag and Road Home by Rex Ogle – These are sequels to Ogle's Free Lunch, and all three are memoirs with difficult subject matter about growing up amidst domestic violence, mental illness, and poverty. And yet Ogle's writing is so full of heart, full of compassion for his family members and for his younger self. I find myself thinking back to these books a lot.
EVEN MORE GOOD BOOKS
Brownstone by Samuel Teer and Mar Julia – Very sweet graphic novel about a girl getting to know the other half of her identity for the first time (her dad is Guatemalan, but she's been raised entirely by her white American mom) and gaining a whole community in the process.
The Message by Ta-Nehisi Coates – I don't know why this book didn't stand out to me more! Usually Coates' nonfiction would be an automatic "very top book" from me. I think he's one of our deep thinkers who are very needed right now. I worry I didn't connect with this book as much as I should have because I listened to the audiobook, so maybe I should go back and read it instead. But definitely the section of the book about his time in Palestine was a deep gut punch and should be required reading.
Stronger, Faster, and More Beautiful by Arwen Elys Dayton – An interesting set of thematically linked stories, moving from the present to the far future. The book was published in 2018 and what fascinated me was that the book's central concern is genetic modifications and how far humans will go in the pursuit of being "better." 2018 is only a few years ago, but the list of reasons for humans to be terrified about our future has expanded so much, even in that short time, that the book's conceit feels almost quaint.
The Robber Girl by Franny Billingsley – I love Franny Billingsley's books SO MUCH; especially The Folk Keeper, an instant classic for me. The Robber Girl didn't grab me nearly as much (in fact, I kept putting it down and not managing to get back to it...though that may be me and my lack of available time for anything that's not an audiobook) but it's certainly got Billingsley's characteristic inventiveness, especially in the way her characters use language.
Twelfth Night by Alexene Farol Follmuth – I was inordinately tickled by this sweet YA novel about a geek girl and an athlete boy accidentally falling for each other thanks to a video game. Yes, the story draws inspiration from Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, but it's also got a lot of heart of its own.
HONORABLE MENTIONS
Wandering Stars by Tommy Orange – Again, I feel like I should have been more engaged in this than I was. I was riveted during the first part, which follows an early generation of the family featured throughout the novel, a survivor of the Sand Creek Massacre. But then the book starts skipping through time very fast, and I didn't get a chance to get attached to subsequent generations.
Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt – A narratively implausible (and I don't even mean in terms of the octopus) but very sweet story of human (and cephalopod) connection.
The Ogress and the Orphans by Kelly Barnhill – Another quite on the nose parable from Kelly Barnhill. I bounced off of When Women Were Dragons and just couldn't finish it, but I found this one sweet.
A BELOVED RE-READ
All Systems Red by Martha Wells – I finally started watching the Murderbot show (was a little worried whether the show would do the books justice, but a friend whose judgment I trust told me to give it a try) and now I am deeply obsessed. I told myself don't start a re-read of the complete book series, don't start a re-read of the complete book series...and then I almost immediately started a re-read of the complete book series.
