A Wrap Up: June 2019 Part One

Hi, and thanks for stopping by.

 
Today's post is my regular monthly wrap up (part one), where I go through the ratings and reviews of all the books I've read so far in June. I'd love to hear what you've been reading & loving this month - let me know by leaving a comment down below!

Floored – Various

4 stars

This was such an interesting concept & novel - I really enjoyed reading it. Initially, I think I assumed the vast majority of the story would take place actually in the lift (spoiler alert: they're in the lift for like half a dozen pages all in all, if that). I really loved the narrative technique of each new chapter skipping forward in time because it made for incredible pacing and development in a really unique way - I want to try writing something like that myself.

Sally Rooney’s Normal People

4 stars

This was my first experience reading Sally Rooney's writing and I really, really enjoyed it. She has quite an unusual style, it's definitively hers and really interesting. Similarly to Floored, each new chapter skipped forward some months and I absolutely loved that narrative technique once again.

Estelle Maskame’s Just Don’t Mention It

3 stars

I just have to wonder how long you can drag one story out for - especially one story that has pretty much just one major plot-line. I don't think this retelling from Tyler was necessary at all - although reading the chapters where Tyler was a child being abused was interesting and engaging, the rest of the novel just felt so repetitive and unneeded. 

Heather Morris’s The Tattooist of Auschwitz

4 stars

Reading this was every bit as harrowing and horrific as I expected (if not more) but it was so much else, too. It was so full of hope and love and just did the most beautiful job of showcasing how selfless and courageous and wonderful human beings can be. 

Robin Benway’s Far from the Tree

5 stars

This is right up there with the very best books I've read this year; I'd be very surprised if it doesn't end up in my Top 5 reads of 2019. I've never read a book so deeply focused on family before, and I absolutely adored that. The three different narratives all read as so unique and developed, never once merging into one or feeling uneven. The endings made me cry several times. Such a beautiful book; couldn't recommend it more.

Nick Burd’s The Vast Fields of Ordinary

3.75 stars

This was an interesting read; I think it did some interesting stuff with the topics of sexuality, homophobia, coming out, mental health, parental relationships and friendships. I also liked the way it ended; I enjoy books that don't shy away from the more realistic, less romantic endings.

Abbie Emmons’s 100 Days of Sunlight
3.75 stars

I really enjoyed this book in the end; it did such a great job of balancing between telling a story of living with disability and all of the hardships and trauma and mental health troubles that go with it but also the way in which positive thinking can change your life and how living with a disability can make you love and appreciate life more than you thought previously possible.

So those are the books I've read so far in June. Robin Benway's Far From the Tree absolutely stunned me - what's your current favourite book of the month?

Till next time

Katie

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