Some people may consider a May wrap-up posted in the early days of June a little late, but better late than never. Funnily enough I already had this pre-written (mini reviewing them a little bit as I slugged along) but I accidentally deleted the entire thing. Yup. This is a common occurrence in my college, too., even with the added detail of saving them on back-up USB's. Shit just happens to me.
Anywho, here is my late but still beefy (can vegetarians say beefy?) wrap-up.
The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce.
Pretty much exactly what you would expect from a book with Harold and Pilgrimage in the title, this is about an old man trekking across the whole of the UK to get to his lost friend from years ago, Queenie. She had sent him a letter to explain that she was dying of cancer, and like a normal person he did aim for a post box to reply...and ended up never stopping. He had this child philosophy that if he could walk across the whole of the UK to get to Queenie before her death, she would survive cancer.
It's a very heart-warming story, got a little in depth about the way we live our life and how other people live theirs. Most importantly, it focused on how we are all going through something difficult and we are all fighting a battle - we're just all fighting different ones. I thought it was beautifully written. Could have done with a few pages being cut off, but the writing style was great, it was funny and sad and philosophical (in an entertaining, un-boring way). If you've been considering it, do check it out.
The Kite Runner by Khaled Hosseini.
If by chance you have no idea what this book is about (where do you live, on the island that all these vegans keep getting sent to?), then I am here to tell you. Amir is a little boy, I think 12. He is the son of a rich man, and this rich man is best friends with a poor man who is on the side of Muslims that are looked down upon for who they are. He has a poor son. I forgot their names, if you couldn't tell. A month is a long enough time period for all of that to blur, despite it being a really memorable and heart-warming book that my broken black hole still hasn't recovered from. Amir and The Poor Son are best best best friends. The Poor Son will do anything for Amir - not that Amir can say the same back. One day, The Poor Son goes through something dreadful (that Amir had the power to stop) around about the same time the Talibans come to Afghanistan. It all goes shit-hit-the-fan after that.
I expected this book to be very deeply informative, have a lot of background history and unnecessary descriptions - it didn't. The writing style was great. It focused on something incredibly important. Not that I was every against helping refugees, but this book would have made me change my mind if I was. It was simply awesome.
The Many Worlds of Albie Bright by Christopher Edge
Oh, no! The good reading month does not end there. While in a supermarket the other day, I spotted this very beautiful book (of which you can read my short little review on here) for pretty cheap. It's about a little boy called Albie, who has scientists for parents. One day, his mother dies of cancer and Albie aspires to try his best to find her through the magic of parallel world teleportation. It's funny, cute, and a little sad in some parts. Do go read it, you won't regret it. (the author himself read by review and commented about it on Twitter, as a by the way, still screaming)
The Lie Tree by Frances Hardinge
Again, if you want something a little bit more in depth, I also did a review of this book here - see, mum, I've been somewhat productive outside of college.
This is about a girl called Frances who is a feminist superhero, really. Little did I know that this is historical-fiction (and I'm glad I didn't know, because there's a very small chance I would have picked it up otherwise). It was based around the death/murder of Frances' father (a natural scientist). Nobody will believe anything she says because A) she is a child and B) she is a female child. She goes into the course of action by herself. She also discovers that her father has been hiding secrets of his own.
I adored the shit out of this book. I thought it was odd, well woven together, fantastic character development and depth, amazing writing style. It was just a really good book, and a book I definitely did not regret.
Shatter Me by Tahereh Mafi
I think everyone knows about what this book is about. It's a YA book of a girl who is locked away because she can kill people with her touch. It's basically a romance story, very little dystopian, but it has so many YA traits that I felt really annoyed with it. The writing style was really really good and I finished it in two days with ease, but the actual content was hit and miss. I still don't know what I feel about it and whether or not I will continue with the series, but it's leaning more on the probably not side for me. I am curious about why everyone loves Warner, though.
The Vegetarian by Han Kang.
I still need to write a review on this but guess who keeps forgetting. It was a very weird weird book, but it was absolutely incredibly and quickly one of my favourite reads of the year - maybe even ever. It follows a girl who's name I have already forgotten, married to a bit of a dick. She's very, very normal. Painstakingly normal. One day, she has an odd dream and turns vegetarian but this bizarre event doesn't stop there - she falls down the rabbit hole of mental illness, told in an honest and beautiful way. If you haven't, please do consider reading this. It was gold.
Room by Emma Donoghue.
Everyone got to this little gem before me, regretfully so! This is the tale of a woman, "ma" (and in the movie, she was named Joy), who was stolen at the age of 19 and kept captive by Old Nick and raped - she gave birth to a baby boy named Jack, who is the narrator of the story. It's rare that I read books narrated by children, so I found that prospect interesting in itself. It was funny in parts, really sad in other parts. Gloriously entertaining, I finished this quickly. I want to re-read it and I only just put it down.
Liesl and Po by Lauren Oliver
This follows a little girl named Liesl who was trapped in an attic by her vicious stepmother after the death of her father. One day, a mysterious ghost appears named Po and neither one of them know why. It soon becomes clear that mystery and magic lies underneath everything they know, and they're determined to find it out together. After finding out why Lauren wrote the book (and if you want to know, do ask in the comments, but I would prefer not to know these details beforehand so I won't do so to anyone else), I found this story even more beautiful and heartbreaking. I gave this a 5/5 and highly recommend it (even though it does have flaws, like every other book out there).
Thank you ever so much for reading, what did you read this month? I would love to know. Check back in with you soon. Probably.
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