Okay so May and June have gone by in a complete blur. Another season on the farm has begun and I’ve been busy helping my husband prep the fields and plant. As I write this the corn’s silks are emerging and our baby pumpkin and squashes are sprouting.
Considering everything that has been going on, I feel very proud that I managed to read 7 books in the past two months. Now, granted it should have been 9, but I’m only ten pages away from finishing one book and the other is an audio, so I feel very confident that I’ll make up these goals.
But while I hit my reading goals in May I did fall into a book slump. And then I had the brilliant idea of reading genres I don’t typically read (usually because I don’t like them) in the hopes that they will pull me out of my reading funk. Not surprisingly, this further entrenched me in my book slump and I had a hard time pulling myself out. Thus, spiraling me into not wanting to read in June.
I think the number one thing I’ve learned from this book slump is that I hate characters who have no agency! A main character must be making decisions and moving the plot forward. I will not lie, I’m cringing as I write this because I know that I committed this awful offence in a draft I wrote last year. I think it’s easy to fall into the idealistic security that a plot is enough to pull a character through, but it’s not. Character’s desires and actions are far more important and way more interesting than any cool plot devices.
I did find two books that I highly recommend: Circe by Madeline Miller and Once and Future by A. R. Capetta & Cori McCarthy. First, a quick shout out to Callie and Bean’s Books Youtube channel. Callie recommended these books in her video Fun retellings. I am so thankful I watched this video because it finally pulled me out of my book slump. Circe I think was my favorite of the two, although the books were so different they are hard to compare. Circe was so beautifully written, Miller’s way with words was pure magic and pulled me right in. I love the fact that Circe was so flawed and made so many mistakes, but she kept trying to make things right and worked hard to heal and accept herself. She was truly a character that will stay with me forever. And to further prove that Miller is amazing and you must read this book: her character was an exile on an island for almost the whole book and the plot never sagged, not once!
Once and Future was just fun. The writing is hilarious and I laughed out loud several times. I loved following this retelling and trying to figure out how things will play out. Merlin’s aging backwards was such a unique idea which really added to the fun of the novel. I also really enjoyed Morgana’s development through Act 2 and 3 (I don’t want to say too much, but I really enjoyed it). If you are looking for books with great LBGTQ representation then this is a must on your reading list. The friends were so diverse and amazing, but also felt completely natural and worked well with the story’s arc. Definitely worth a read!
