The Party Crasher by Sophie Kinsella

I've read plenty of Sophie Kinsella over the years--including all of the Shopaholic books long before I started keeping this blog--and she always has these characters that are just really zany and over the top with their own funny problems. The characters always get into the most ridiculous situations and this book was no exception--at one point Effie is hiding under the table while everyone else in her family is eating around her for hours. I always feel like so many problems in these books could be avoided by just normal adult conversations and communication--but it was still a fun book to read. It was good that it all ended up happy in the end. 

Adam of the Road by Elizabeth Janet Gray

This was purely a Newbery read and I kind of struggled through it. But I think this could have been a book I actually enjoyed when I was a kid. It tells the story of a boy in medieval times who follows his dad who is a minstrel--and ends up getting lost and losing his dog and needing to find his way back to his dad and his dog. It is a journeying story and I think it was a great book about medieval times and what it was like back then--probably the least depressing of the medieval books I've read. But it still felt a little like a slog to me at times. I thought that Adam was a great character who found joy and determination at good times and I would be happy for my kids to read this one. \]

Book Lovers by Emily Henry

I have loved both of Emily Henry's previous books that she's written (Beach Read and People We Meet on Vacation) and was super excited to hear about this new one that she wrote. I powered through this one super fast and loved the story about the hardcore literary agent and the book editor who have clashed in the past and end up falling in love in an unlikely location. Nothing super extraordinary to include about it but it was just the romance I needed.

The City We Became by N. K. Jemisin

I saw reviews and people talking about this book for years, and I kept meaning to read it. I actually checked it out from the library multiple times and kept trying to read it and just never got into it. I FINALLY did and I honestly don't know that it was worth all of the energy. I thought the premise just sounded really cool and really wanted to like it, and I did really like some of it--but I really never quite understood what was happening, or the big question of why or how. I felt like some really crucial explanation was missing and I never figured it out. The story was about how some people came to represent different boroughs of New York City as it anthropomorphizes into a living being, and how some evil force/group of people were trying to kill them to stop the city from developing fully. I liked the characters and how they figured out how to work together, and I liked the diversity among the cast of characters. I did feel like it was kind of bashing you on the head with a message, with Staten Island being cast off and being a racist white person who no one else could abide--I don't know, it felt really overt and almost obnoxious. But the overall plot was fun and interesting, but I was legitimately confused about who the bad guys were and why this city development thing was happening in the first place, and I never figured it out. 

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green

I have only read one or two of John Green's books, but they have always stuck out to me as books that I felt were really well done and really emotionally in tune and honest. So when I heard that John Green had written this book of reviews of human experiences (sounds weird but turned out great), I wanted to read it. I loved how he wrote about things like Canada geese and staph infections and described them in ways that made me able to appreciate them and understand what it's like to experience them, and he wrote really honestly about his experiences with anxiety and depression and Covid-19 and raising children, and it was really refreshing to hear about someone's real life experiences. He really made me think about how human-centric our worldview is and how we don't ever think about how tiny our little blip of world history really is. He also made me laugh out loud several times, like when he was talking about how if aliens came to our planet, they would think that we worshipped the green spots around our houses, because of how much we do to take care of these lawns--and how silly that is. 

Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince by J. K. Rowling

The boys and I finished this book in May and loved it. Loved it. My appreciation for these books keeps going up as I read them aloud, and I appreciate all of the story-building she did. Just amazing. 

The Invisible Library by Genevieve Cogman

I read this book because it was about an invisible library--OF COURSE I want to read it! And it started off so promising with lots of librarians seeking hidden books and going between worlds to collect books. And I enjoyed the book, but I honestly felt like I was lost about the big picture throughout the whole story. I never really understood the explanations of what was going on or who was behind everything--and it all felt kind of convoluted. I was tempted to read a sequel but when I found out there were like seven sequels... I kind of lost interest. I was not into the book enough to read that many. It was a 2.5 stars type of read for me.