Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Twitterature to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.
This past month was much busier than the month before and I'm also in the middle of some lengthier books, so I only have half as many mini-reviews to share this month as last month. Enjoy!
Sister Outsider: Essays and Speeches by Audre Lorde: Lots of excellent observations on culture and systemic oppression. At times I found her train of thought hard to follow, but there were enough valuable nuggets to make this worth the read.
Walk Two Moons by Sharon Creech: Good fodder for middle-grade discussions of identity and loss, with a well-done plot twist near the end. The American Indian references were oddly shoehorned in, but the story is good regardless.
Bad Feminist: Essays by Roxane Gay: A collection of essays that started off strong and then turned into a series of disconnected book reviews (and movie reviews and current events commentaries). Good thoughts, but wish it had been put together differently.
Frankenstein by Mary Shelley: Way better as an audiobook. Still suffers from the drawn-out descriptions common to early 19th century literature, but it's clear why it's survived and been retold in so many ways since its first publication. Lots to ponder and discuss.
High Fidelity by Nick Hornby: The main character was annoying, and I didn't get most of (musical, British, or 90s) references. Too narrowly focused and self-indulgent for my taste.
Spiritual Misfit: A Memoir of Uneasy Faith by Michelle DeRusha: An enjoyable and relatable story of what it's like to be a rational-minded, skeptical faith seeker. No bland platitudes here; this is an honest look at what belief means in real life.
Breath, Eyes, Memory by Edwidge Danticat: Good story, poor execution. Danticat tried to shove too much trauma in one book without delving deeply into any of it.
Pastrix: The Cranky, Beautiful Faith of a Sinner & Saint by Nadia Bolz-Weber: Fantastic, brutally honest memoir of being a Christian who doesn't fit the mold but loves Jesus too much to give it all up. Funny, relatable, piercing, highly recommended.
What have you been reading this month? Share over at Modern Mrs. Darcy!
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