July was a pretty slow reading month for me. I feel like the summer always is a slower time for me reading-wise because I’m always outside or doing something with my friends. But I did get to read a few books. I finished up one of my favorite manga series, The Promised Neverland which was happy and sad, it’s such a good series! I also read a Kindle Unlimited book that was certainly something and had little to no plot. And it was my birthday! I didn’t do much because it’s so freaking hot outside in July but I did have a nice day. And with all that being said, it’s time to talk about books!
First up we have the graphic novel version of The Librarian of Auschwitz based on the novel by Antonio Iturbe and adapted by Salva Rubio with illustrations by Loreto Aroca. I knew going into this that it would be sad at times just from the subject matter but I was unprepared by just how sad this would be. We follow our main character, real-life Auschwitz prisoner Dita Kraus, as she and her family are imprisoned in Auschwitz. Dita goes above and beyond to keep the meager amount of books that the prisoners have in Auschwitz safe from the Nazis.
If you are a fan of books based on real events or historical fiction than you should check this out. Be aware though that there are depictions of antisemitism, death, grief, starvation, descriptions of torture and methods of killing. Make sure you are in a good headspace before you read this, it deals with a lot of heavy subjects.
Next up is The Plain Janes omnibus by Cecil Castellucci and Jim Rugg. I had read the first book in this omnibus but not the other two that are included.
When Jane and her family move from the city to the suburbs of Kent Waters, she thinks that her life is over. They are moving because of a traumatic events that scared Jane’s parents so badly, they decided that the city wasn’t safe anymore. Jane is not looking forward to living and going to school in the suburbs. But on her first day at school she finds friends in the other Janes are her school: Brain Jayne, Theater Jane, and sporty Polly Jane. They become friends and start an art club to spruce up their small town.
This was a fantastic omnibus. I really enjoyed all of the stories but I think that I liked the first one the best. Seeing the Janes meeting each other and then forming the art club is always fun. If you’re looking for a graphic novel about art and friendship then look no further!
Lauren Groff is going to be at a seminar next year that is taking place where I work so I decided to read a few of her books. I had already read one short story from her Florida collection and really liked it so I decided to read the rest of the book. This collection of stories was really fantastic. As someone who was born and raised here in Florida I feel like Groff really captured all the different facets of Florida and the people that live here. If you are looking for a fantastic short story collection about our weird and wonderful state, they I would recommend checking this one out!
I don’t normally read memoirs but I’d heard great things about this one so I decided to check it out and see if I liked it, and I did! I really enjoyed reading Pageboy by Elliot Page and honestly, if you are looking for a well written memoir that’s very entertaining than I think you should check this one out. Now I did see a lot of people saying that this book jumped around a lot and wasn’t a linear traditional book in that sense and they would be right, it did jump around. However, I don’t think that it detracted from the story. Maybe it’s because I tell stories the same way when I’m talking but I didn’t mind the jumping around. I get bored sometimes with memoirs because they are very like this is what happened and then this happened and so on and so forth. My brain just goes into autopilot mode and I never actually retain any of what I’m reading. But it wasn’t like that with this book.
I’m so sad to say that I’ve finished the last few volumes of The Promised Neverland by Kaiu Shirai and Posuka Demizu. I loved this series so much and I’m really sad that it’s over. I loved watching the kids grow and change throughout this series. The twists and turns were immaculate and most of them I didn’t see coming which I loved. If you’re into horror manga then I highly suggest checking this series out. It’s one of my favorites.
Our one Kindle Unlimited book for July was My Jurassic Mate by Michelle Deimos. This was interesting to say the least. It’s about a group of female scientists who go through a portal to a world run by dinosaurs? Honestly, I’m not really sure what they were. Lizard men? That would probably be more accurate. I really hated the main character Ash, he was horrible and a crappy leader. The girl that he was mated to (I can’t remember her name and I don’t care enough to look it up) was super whiny and just really annoying. She straight up abandoned all the other girls just to get laid. She’s supposed to be in charge of this whole mission (which is to figure out which planets are inhabitable so that we can go there once we ruin Earth) and she almost immediately goes off with Ash. Overall, I gave this three stars and that’s mostly for the spice, the plot was terrible.
That’s it for July! I hope that you guys have had a good summer so far. It’s so incredibly hot down here that I feel like I’m walking in an oven anytime I go outside. I hope you have a great August and I’ll see you then!
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