Monthly Wrap Up: August and July Reads

Hello everyone, it's Cari here, and welcome to my monthly wrap up video! As you can see, we're all working from home in this household, so I've had to get creative with our workspace. Kurt is working off to the side, using my chair as a tripod, which is why you'll notice some dramatic lighting in this video.

As for what's new around here, let me tell you that this month was a bit different from usual. For the most part, I've been reading books that I previously discussed in my reading recommendation challenge, which I did about two weeks ago. If you're interested in hearing more about those reads, I'll make sure to link them up for you later on.

However, I decided to branch out this month and explore different genres beyond Young Adult fiction and fantasy. And let me tell you, it's been a great experience! There are still a few YA books in here, but overall, I've been enjoying the change of pace.

Let's start with Uprooted by Naomi Novik. This book had a unique premise that drew me in from the beginning. We follow our main character, Agnieszka, who lives in a village and is chosen to be the Dragon's protector every 10 years. The Dragon lives in a little tower, which makes sense, given his role as a guardian of the village. Every 10 years, he comes down to the village, picks the prettiest and most talented girl, and takes her to his castle for 10 years.

The premise is simple, but it's also complex, with layers that are slowly revealed throughout the book. Agnieszka is not what she expected, and neither is the Dragon. There's a lot of world-building, with a beautiful library in the tower that feels like a character in its own right. The writing is enchanting, reminiscent of fairy tales, but that's where my enthusiasm for the book ended.

Unfortunately, I didn't connect with the characters as much as I would have liked. The relationship between Agnieszka and the Dragon felt forced, and I never really warmed up to either character. By the time action started to pick up, I wasn't invested enough in their emotional journey. Despite this, many people have praised the book, so I'm willing to give Naomi Novik another chance with her other works. Spinning Silver is next on my list.

Next up was Pet by Akwaeke Emezi. This book was much anticipated for me, but it exceeded my expectations in every way. It's a shorter read than I expected, and the tone is darker than I anticipated. I'm not sure what I was expecting going into this book, but whatever it was, it wasn't Pet.

We follow our main character, Jam, who lives with her parents and is an artist herself. She finishes a piece of art that she's been working on feverishly, and when she finally sees it, she wants to see more. So, she sneaks into her mom's studio to check it out, and something crawls out of the art. I don't want to give away any spoilers, but let's just say that this world is full of surprises.

The writing in Pet is atmospheric and evocative, drawing you into a world that feels both familiar and unsettling. The story is a slow burn, building tension as Jam delves deeper into the mysteries of her art and the world around her. I found myself becoming more and more invested in Jam's emotional journey as the book progressed.

Overall, Pet was a great read for me, despite my initial hesitation. It's a unique blend of fantasy and mystery that kept me on the edge of my seat until the very end. If you're looking for something new to try, I highly recommend checking out Akwaeke Emezi's work.

"WEBVTTKind: captionsLanguage: en'What Remains of Edith Finch,' and Twilight,also mixed with Hocus Pocus.It's kind of that kind of feel which soundsweird but it was actually quite good.Hi everyone, it's Cari and it is already thattime for another monthly wrap up video sothis is going to be what I have read in Augustand the couple stragglers in July.The reason I'm in a different space than myusual place is because we're actually allworking from home in this household so ifyou hear any little like *tick tick tick*Kurt is working off to the side and he's onmy chair that I usually use as a tripod soI have to - we're making it work!So excuse the dramatic lighting, but it kindof goes along with the theme of this month.So for a big hunk of the books that I readduring this month, I actually talked aboutthem in a reading recommendation challengethat I did about two weeks ago so if you'reinterested in hearing about those I will putthat link up here or up here wherever it goes.For the rest of the books I'm going to betalking about, I actually branched into differentgenres, I have left the YA fiction, or theYA fantasy bubble and it feels good.But there still are a few in here, so thatbeing said, let's just dive in.So first up is Uprooted by Naomi Novik.And we follow our main character Agnieskawho lives in a village and every 10 yearsthis protector of the village I guess, theyjust call him the Dragon, he lives in thislittle tower so it makes sense.Every 10 years he comes down to the villageand he picks the prettiest most talented girland takes her to his castle and she has tostay there for 10 years and then he lets hergo.That's the premise.No real spoilers here but our main charactergets picked and throughout the book we realizethat the Dragon is not what she expected andshe is not what she expected.Of course there is more to the story, of coursethere is something a lot bigger at play.There's lots of forestry, they live in thisone giant tower with a really beautiful library,that kind of book.So I feel like I kind of have an unpopularopinion based on the feedback I've gottenfrom you guys.I actually didn't like it at all.I know in a lot of fantasy books we have thiscase of an immortal or very old male characterfalling in love with a young female characterand for the sake of fantasy a lot of timesyou can brush that aside or try to forgetas much as you can but this one I felt likeevery chance they could, they talked aboutit.Like how extremely old he was and how extremelyyoung she was.And I never really warmed to any of the characters.By the time there started to be more actionand you were like required to have an emotionalconnection to the characters, I didn't havethat.I wasn't invested in any of them to be honest.I thought that the writing was great, likevery much a true fairy tale, like I said alot of magical forests, magical library kindof imagery going on.But I just for the life of me could not getinto it and I'm sad because so many peoplesaid it was really great.I will definitely give her other book SpinningSilver I think it's called.I will give her other work a try because Idid like her writing style I just didn't likethe story she happened to be telling in thisone.So that's just my hot take on that one.Uprooted by Naomi Novik.My next read was much anticipated.It was Pet by Akwaeke Emezi.It was shorter than I expected, it was darkerthan I expected, I don't really know whatI was expecting going into it but whateverit was it wasn't this.We follow our main character named Jam.And she's young, I forget exactly how oldshe is.She lives with her parents and her motheris an artist and she is working feverishlyon this piece of art.When she finally finishes it, Jam is like'man, I really want to see it' so she sneaksinto her mom's studio to check it out andsomething crawls out of it, is the best thatI can say.In the world that we are given, we are toldthat there are no more \"monsters\" and whatmonsters are is never really very clearlydefined but it seems to be corrupt people,bad people, they talk a lot about politiciansand mayors and stuff like that.Their town, apparently, has eradicated them.No more monsters in the town of Lucille.But this thing that has crawled out of thepainting, which I only pictured as the deathgod from Death Note.This thing who wants to be called Pet, tellsJam that there actually is a monster and sheneeds to help Pet capture it, kill it, whatever.And that's when it takes a turn that I wasn'texpecting.It does go quite dark.Just as a pure content warning, it does involvechild abuse.It's not explicitly shown or talked aboutbut it is mentioned and it just wasn't whereI was expecting it to go.I didn't necessarily enjoy the story but Idid really appreciate the author's writingstyle.I thought that it was so different and soengaging for such a short story.I wouldn't say it was the favorite thing thatI had read this month but I do think it isa very interesting read and I'm really excitedfor the rest of their work, I think they justcame out with a brand new book and I can'twait for that.So that is Pet by Akwaeke Emezi.Next up, oh my god, I'm so excited to talkabout this one.This was my favorite book of the month byfar.I don't want to say for the year but it'shigh on the list.And it is, This is How You Lose The Time War.And it is actually by two different authors,it is by Max Gladstone and Amar El Mohtar.They wrote the book 50/50 which I think isso hard to do, and they should be commendedjust for doing that.And because of that, I can see why this bookis either a love or a hate for most people.We are not shown a whole lot of the worldbut from what we can gather, there is a timewar.We're in the future?Or we're kind of in no time at all?I don't really know.There are two factions: The Garden and TheAgency.They are using various agents to change thetimeline to fit the one that they want.So our two characters Red and Blue (Blue ispart of the Garden, Red is part of the Agency)they are constantly going back in time tomake sure that this certain person dies whenthey're supposed to or this person sees thisthing which causes them to write a poem whichcauses someone to be inspired 100 years laterwhich causes a revolution.So it's really, it's kind of like the butterflyeffect and it's almost like a game of chessto them.It's confusing and they don't really tellyou a lot but it's still very intriguing.But the story is mainly told through lettersbetween Red and Blue.So obviously they aren't supposed to be communicating.The two of them are the best of the best andso they kind of see each other as comradesor friendly nemesis.So they start a communication and its justwritten in the most I don't want to say whimsicalbut like abstract and poetic and strange way.Again, you either love it or you hate it.Even though it is so often times vague andyou don't really know what's happening, andyou really have to stretch your imaginationmuscles.By the end of it you feel for them so hardand you are rooting for them so much.And I just really really loved it.I read it in one sitting.It might not be your cup of tea, I totallyunderstand why some people don't like it butfor me it was an absolute joy to read.I felt myself wanting to underline every singleline in this book it was just beautifullywritten.I can't say enough about it.This is How You Lose The Time War.Sorcery of Thorns by Margaret Rogerson.I already talked about it in my Studio Ghiblivideo that I posted last week but just asa brief summary: We follow Elizabeth who wasraised in a library of magical books thatall have a mind of their own and they canmorph into monsters, it's very cool.It's a very cool world.But she ends up being accused of a crime whichshe didn't do and so a warlock is sent tocollect her and bring her over to her trial.And of course it turns out that her one singularcrime that she was accused of, there's a wholelot more going on and it turns out that sheactually has to save the world, as one does.And she has a sassy warlock to help her andhis weird quiet little servant friend Silaswho I also love.It was just a very nice fantasy story.It had everything I wanted in a fantasy storyand the last sentence, don't you dare skipahead and read the last sentence, but onceyou get there, just take a little pause beforeyou read it because it was great I thought,I feel like some people might not have lovedthe ending but I did and I cried.I just think that her writing is so greatfor fantasy, I think she does a wonderfuljob.I thought the way that she built the worldand introduced us to the world was reallygreat and I loved it so much more than Enchantmentof Ravens.I talked about Enchantment of Ravens maybelast month.I didn't really love it, I thought that itwas quite a bit rushed, it didn't fulfillall of my desires for a fantasy book but thisone really hit the nail on the head.I can't wait for future writing.I think she's one of those authors that we'rejust going to see get better and better andbetter so no pressure Margaret, but I'm waitingfor your third book.I'm going to be real quick about this onebecause I didn't like it.It is the Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz.It was meant to be a very typical English,small town whodunnit and I love those.I live for Agatha Christie, I live for MissMarple kind of things.But this book ended up leaving me very confusedbecause the first chapter is actually takingplace in the book publisher's office.And I, when I started reading it, I kind ofthought that it was a preface or an introductionor a forward.I typically don't read those for books, especiallyfor like a whodunnit.So I just skipped the first two or three pagesand went into the mystery.And the mystery, very very typical.We enter this quaint typical English village,small town, everybody knows each other andthey are shaken by the death of this woman.She seemed to have died in an accident, it'sa little bit suspicious but you know.And we are just along for the investigationso we get to meet all of the people who livein the village and obviously they're all secretlyhating each other and whatever.What the book essentially is is a mysterywithin a mystery.It was interrupted halfway through and I wasn'tinterested in the rest of these new characters.I just felt like I was rudely interrupted.He's setting it up for a new series I cansee but I just really didn't like how he didit and I'm sorry Anthony but you should havejust wrote one whodunnit instead of two.After that I read the Wicked Deep by SheaErnshaw and I really liked her book Winterwood,I think I read it last year.She's just really good at creating these reallygreat atmospheres and this one, even thoughit technically takes place in summertime,it felt really perfect for autumn so if you'retrying to get into that autumn mood like Halloweenis just around the corner, this is, I thought,a great book.So it takes place in a small town in Oregonthat has a pretty nasty history.A couple hundred years ago, the townspeopleof this town decided to drown three sisterson the basis of witchcraft and ever sincethen the town has been cursed.And the curse is dark.And we follow our girl Penny who lives onthis island with her mom.It just goes through the summer in which thecurse happens.Every year, every summer, it is is Swan Seasonas they call it.And the curse comes to life.The description of the island and the townactually really reminded me of the video game'What Remains of Edith Finch' that you guysall made me play and I was traumatized.Whenever I pictured this story taking placeit was either What Remains of Edith Finch,and Twilight, also mixed with Hocus Pocus.It's kind of that kind of feel which soundsweird but it was actually quite good.There's a plot twist that I simultaneouslyloved and hated.I feel like it was a good way to end the storybut I wish there was another way.So overall I really enjoyed the ambiance,I enjoyed most of the story.It wasn't perfection.I didn't love how Shea talked about certainfemale characters.It kind of made sense at the end, I just wantyou to read it.But it was, you know, getting in the moodof autumn, I would definitely recommend itespecially if you are interested in HocusPocus-y, Twilight-y, kind of stories.You know?One of those.And last but not least If We Were Villainsby ML Rio.And this is apparently required reading fordark academia aesthetics.And so that lead to it being compared verystrongly to The Secret History by Donna Tartt.And I'm going to be real, I this year, a couplemonths ago, tried to read The Secret Historyagain for the second time and once again couldn'tget into it which I'll talk about in a secondbut this one was more tolerable so let meexplain.Our story starts off actually in a prisoncell.We're in a prison.And our main character Oliver has been injail for 10 years for a crime that we don'tfully get told what it is.But it is the end of his sentence and he islet out.The main detective on his case comes to himand he's like 'man, i don't think you toldthe truth, i want you to tell me the truth,I'm quitting the force anyway so it's notgoing to be used against you, please justfor my sake, so I can sleep at night, tellme what really happened' and so, Oliver does.So we are taken back 10 years earlier to DellecherConservatory, I think it is.Where Oliver and his 6 classmates/best friendsare studying theatre.More specifically, Shakespeare.We basically just go through their senioryear, their 4th year at this conservatory.And it is very competitive, very high strung,emotions are running high.And they are covering Caesar, Macbeth andRomeo and Juliet.All tragedies, please note.The book subtly and then not so subtly startsto kind of follow the trajectories of thoseplays so if you know anything about thosethree plays, you can kind of understand what'sprobably going to happen.Again, they're all tragedies.The group of friends are pretty much inseparable.They really get along well and they're verydistinctive personalities.I did enjoy that the characters were all clearlyvery different people and I didn't love thembut you know, I appreciated them.They start off the year starting with JuliusCaesar.It just starts to feel weird.Everybody's kind of acting strange and itonly continues to get stranger from there.While I didn't adore the story, I did againlove the general ambiance.It was very autumn-y very academic.There was also a lot of suspense.You knew that things were going to go horriblywrong you just didn't know how or when orwho.So the issue I had with the Secret Historyis that the characters felt very exclusiveand uppity and superior.They didn't like to let new people into theircircle, but these characters were more justlike eccentric.They were open to having conversations withother people, making friends with other peopleyou know?They still definitely were a little uppitybut I think also might be my prejudice againstpeople who quote Shakespeare all the time.Like they literally just have conversationsvia Shakespeare.Kind of made my eyes roll but whatever, thereare people like that, it's fine.There is, like I said, a lot of direct quotingfrom Shakespeare especially when they areacting out the plays.I though that the author did a pretty goodjob at explaining what was going on, whatthose words actually meant.Kind of help your hand explaining Shakepseareso I, actually, thinking back on it, as I'mtalking about it more, I find myself enjoyingthe story more strangely enough...I read itin two nights, both of them we had lightningstorms so like I said, the ambiance it wasthere.It was dark it was moody, great.So I would say if you are up for a littlebit of Shakepseare, a little bit of dark academia,why not give it a try?And that is it, sorry that this video wasquite long, I ended up talking about thema little bit more than I expected.But I just got The City We Became.I've been waiting for it at the library forso long and it just came in so I'm reallyexcited to dive into that.Thank you for sticking around for this longand let me know if you have read any of these,what your thoughts are.Sorry about Uprooted, I feel like maybe Ishould give it another try I don't know.Let me know your opinions too.I always love hearing about what you're readingas well.So yes I will leave you here.Hope you guys are all doing alright, and Iwill see you next week.Bye!\n"