Monthly Musings – July 2016

This is a where I look back at what I read (or tried to read) during the past month. I also plan on highlighting my experiences in any book club reads I from the month as well. I will always start with any books I would label as a surprise find/under-read books so if anyone missed my reviews for them, and don’t make it to the end of this post, they’ll be easy to find.

Another month come and gone. Lately I have realized I need to do something to organize my books, and I don’t think I have quite enough room to get book cases to hold them all! So, I have been toying with the idea of hosting a regular giveaway where I pick a winner that can select one of the books I am offering (much like Fantasy Literature lets you pick from their stacks …. of course, I don’t have THAT many stacks, but I do need to start working on preventing them from getting quite that large). So … I had thought about maybe picking someone who participates in Backlist Burndown (but thats a pretty small pool … 😉 ) Other ideas where to just pick one commenter from the month, or maybe I will work on getting a new feature up, perhaps some type of monthly discussion, and select one commenter from that post. This is obviously still somewhat in the “musing” stage, but is something I would like to start doing.

Highlighted Reads

Review Summary 

• [4 Jul] Paper and Fire by Rachel Caine ★★★½
• [7 Jul] Infomocracy by Malka Ann Older ★★★★
• [18 Jul] Roses and Rot by Kat Howard ★★★★
• [25 Jul] Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters ★★★★
• [29 Jul] Moxyland by Lauren Beukes ★★★★

 July Backlist Burndown

For July, I decided to finish up reading my Lauren Beukes’ backlist by reading her debut novel, Moxyland.

Here’s what other people read and burned off their backlist this month! It makes me happy to see other people joining in with this, so thanks to all of you! 🙂 Anyone else that posted a backlist review this month, feel free to link up! Hope to see another great set of books for May.

What I read this month:

• Roses and Rot by Kat Howard – This was a fun modern fairy tale with a nice balance of dark/light elements.
• Underground Airlines by Ben H. Winters – I really enjoyed this one. An alternate history, set modern day with many elements the same as we know, but in a US where slavery remained legal in four states. Insightful and thought-provoking book with topics that are very relevant for today’s world. Definitely recommend.
• Dark Matter by Black Crouch – Seriously, if you need to read just one HIGHLY ADDICTIVE book this year, this is a great pick. Can’t say a lot about it without giving away too many details, but the main characters wakes up after being attacked. His life is not his life as he knows/remembers it. Did I mention this book is highly addictive? I read it in less than two days because I just couldn’t put it down.
• Moxyland by Lauren Beukes – I quickly became a huge fan of Lauren Beukes, and this is her first book (and the last one left for me to read). I may not have loved it on the same level as Broken Monsters and The Shining Girls, but it is still great. Moxyland has an interesting portrayal of ways society can go wrong with technology, politics, and corporations, shown through 4 very different people/perspectives.
• Necessity by Jo Walton – This is the final book in the Thessaly trilogy. And while it has many elements I loved in the first two books, I have to admit it missed the mark a bit for me, maybe I just wasn’t in the mood to be as philosophical, maybe the novelty of this attempt at Plato’s Republic has finally worn off. Not sure.
• Red Right Hand by Levi Black – sigh They can’t all be winners, and they can’t all live up to expectations. I started out really enjoying this one, but then it seemed to have crossed my weirdness threshold. I was also surprised this book read more like horror to me than urban fantasy, but not the type of horror I typically love. For me, there was less of a psychological element than I prefer of horror. I like horror to really make me feel for the characters, and that just didn’t happen with my experience with Red Right Hand.
• Borderline by Mishell Baker – OK, I am not quite done with this one yet, but am close enough I am hoping to finish it today (so still within the month of July). I am really enjoying this one! It’s a bit lighter than expected, and the main character is great. Her disability is just something she deals with, it is not presented as a sob story, nor is it something that somehow grants her extraordinary powers. I feel like its been very well done. She’s invited to take part in a secret project that interacts with the fae.

Looking Forward to September 2016

AUGUST – Twelve Kings of Sharakhai