June '22 Reading Wrap Up

Hey hi hello friends, and welcome back to my blog! 

I can't believe we're officially in the second half of the year. I know I've said this in practically every wrap up so far, but this month has just gone by so fast. 

This month was definitely a little slower for me, reading wise. I only read 12 books in June: 9 novels, 1 anthology, and 2 nonfiction works. I had a good mix of classics, contemporaries, and fantasy horror, which I'm realizing has quickly become one of my favorite genres. I love how my reading tastes are changing. 

Alright, let's just get right into it, shall we?

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Novels

1. The Haunting of Hill House by Shirley Jackson
Genre: Horror, Classics, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3.5 out of 5 / 6.57
Page count: 242 pages
Day(s) read: 6.06 - 6.07
Goodreads thoughts: I feel like I just went through a psychological breakdown and my brain has turned to mush. This is exactly the kind of horror that I gravitate to, the kind that gets in your head and twists itself into knots, refusing to let you go. This was absolutely brilliant.

2. Black Sun by Rebecca Roanhorse (Review here)
Genre: Fantasy, Historical, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 4 out of 5 / 7.57
Page count: 496 pages
Day(s) read: 6.03 - 6.08
Goodreads thoughts: Truly an fantasy of epic proportions. I can’t believe that ending! This whole story was wild from start to finish.

3. I Kissed Shara Wheeler by Casey McQuiston (Review here)
Genre: Queer Romance, Contemporary, YA
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3 out of 5 / 5.29
Page count: 368 pages
Day(s) read: 6.07 - 6.10
Goodreads thoughts: Honestly, this wasn't great? The last 100 pages were everything I've come to expect from a Casey McQuiston novel, but the first 250 were really random and kind of boring and just a little off. Like, the whole paper towns-esque storyline trying to find Shara felt really unnecessary, and that is literally the main plot of the book! I don't know, to me it wasn't Casey's finest work but I still enjoyed it well enough. But overall this was definitely a disappointment.

4. Snow Country by Yasunari Kawabata (translated by Edward G. Seidensticker)
Genre: Classics, Literary Fiction, Adult 
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3 out of 5 / 5.29
Page count: 175 pages
Day(s) read: 6.11 - 6.15
Goodreads thoughts: The imagery was beautiful but the whole story was rather abrupt. I feel as though I had watched a movie but on fast forward, so I only saw glimpses of the actual story. I’m probably going to need to read some analysis or essay on this book in order to really grasp what happened.

5. Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean
Genre: Contemporary, Romance, YA
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 5 out of 5 / 9.57
Page count: 336 pages
Day(s) read: 6.16 - 6.17
Goodreads thoughts: Aaahhhhh this was absolutely perfect!! I love the direction all the characters went in this sequel, it made me so happy. My one gripe is that I like Ekiru more than Akio but I mean there’s really nothing I can do about that. I love that Izumi finally got reconciliation with Akiko and Noriko, and I also love how she really stepped into her role as princess in this book. It felt very natural to her character. I don’t think we’re getting more books in this series, but I definitely wouldn’t say no to more!

6. Siren Queen by Nghi Vo
Genre: Historical Fantasy, Queer Romance, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3.5 out of 5 / 5.86
Page count: 288 pages
Day(s) read: 6.19 - 6.22
Goodreads thoughts: Gorgeous prose and compelling characters but the magic made ZERO sense to me. It combined so many things, from aspects of the goblin market to Fae-realm rules, alongside something that is entirely new, and I didn’t understand a lick of it. I almost wish there was a key or a breakdown of it that I could have referred to. Something I really liked were the small interruptions of the narrative from the future selves of the characters that popped up every once in a while.

7. The Phantom of the Opera by Gaston Leroux (translated by Isabel Roche)
Genre: Classics, Horror, Romance, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 4 out of 5 / 7.71
Page count: 288 pages
Day(s) read: 6.22 - 6.23
Goodreads thoughts: This was so good!! I’m glad that I read it now as opposed to years ago, because I appreciate both classics and horror much more than I did before, so I think I enjoyed this as much as I could possibly have enjoyed it. I’m not gonna lie though I thought there would be much more focus on romance (since the Broadway musical is definitely a romance first, and that’s the only way I knew this story) so I’m extra glad that it wasn’t the focal point, or even a major plot point in general. The phantom’s heart is so interesting, capable of both terrible deeds and the strongest compassion. I kind of want to write an essay on the subject.

8. Into the Drowning Deep by Mira Grant
Genre: Horror, Science Fiction, Queer Fiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 5 out of 5 / 9.00
Page count: 440 pages
Day(s) read: 6.24 - 6.27
Goodreads thoughts: That was brilliant and horrifying. It has all the qualities of a slasher film—an isolated setting with people getting picked off one by one—while maintaining the creepy atmosphere of a sci-fi horror novel. Also I will say one thing that won’t make sense unless you know: How to Train Your Dragon, but on steroids.

9. Nettle & Bone by T. Kingfisher
Genre: Fantasy, Horror, Romance, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3.5 out of 5 / 5.86
Page count: 256 pages
Day(s) read: 6.29 - 6.30
Goodreads thoughts: I thought this was a very unique story, despite pulling from several fairy tales—The Goblin Market, Rumplestiltskin, the Princess and the Pea, to name a few—it managed to be something almost entirely original. I didn’t feel very attached to any of the characters (aside from Bonedog, because hello, it’s a DOG) but I admired their resilience and their determination. As far as an introduction to T. Kingfisher’s writing, I’d say it was successful. I’ll definitely be reading more from her in the future.

Anthologies

1. All Out: The No-Longer-Secret Stories of Queer Teens Throughout the Ages edited by Saundra Mitchell
Genre: Anthology, Queer Romance, YA
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3.5 out of 5 / 5.86
Page count: 368 pages
Day(s) read: 6.11 - 6.17
Goodreads thoughts: Anthologies are so hard to rate bc there're so many different authors, writing styles, characters, etc. I liked Tessa Gratton's, Tehlor Kay Mejia's, A.M. McLemore's, and Malinda Lo's stories the best. Actually Malinda Lo's story is a precursor to her novel "Last Night at the Telegraph Club" so that was cool. They all had their faults and they all had good moments.

Nonfiction

1. In Defense of Witches: the Legacy of the Witch Hunts and Why Women Are Still on Trial by Mona Chollet
Genre: History, Feminism, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: 3 out of 5 / 5.43
Page count: 320 pages
Day(s) read: 6.01 - 6.05
Goodreads thoughts: This was interesting but honestly I think a little misleading. I went into this thinking it was going to be a history of the witch-trials and the impact they have on todays society, and while it certainly has those aspects, it’s more about the feminist movement and the ways that women are oppressed, using some examples of the witch trials to support these claims. So I’m not gonna lie, I’m a little disappointed that there wasn’t much discussion on the actual trials.

2. In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Marchado (ONE DAY READ)
Genre: Memoir, Queer Nonfiction, Adult
Star rating/CAWPILE score: N/A
Page count: 247 pages
Day(s) read: 6.18
Goodreads thoughts: As usual I don’t feel comfortable giving this a rating, as it is a personal memoir and that feels kind of ick to take someone’s personal accounts and give them a rating. But I will say that this was a masterpiece, truly. I felt so many emotions while reading this, anger and sadness and fear and so many others. I think Carmen is extremely brave not only for writing down her abuse and confronting it day after day in order to finish this book, but then to have it published, have other people read about her life, open up for judgement and criticism, I couldn’t imagine doing something like that.

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Total page count: 3,824 pages

Favorite book of June: Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean
                                        In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Marchado

DNF'd books this month: Yerba Buena by Nina LaCour

No unfinished books this month

June book haul: Fierce Fairytales by Nikita Gill
                            Tokyo Dreaming by Emiko Jean
                            The Complete Poems of Sappho translated by Willis Barnstone

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Alright, there you have it! Like I said, kind of a slow month, but I did read some really great books. I've found a few favorites, even! I hope I can carry this energy into July. I know it seems weird to say since I read so much, but I would rather read a single book and have it be amazing, than read 20 mediocre books. So I'm glad that this was such a good month for me!

What was your favorite book of June? Let me know in the comments or tweet at me @AllyEmReads. 

Until next time!