I've been trying to write reviews of the books I've read in February and for whatever reason (I'm mostly blaming bookshop crawl come down) it's just not happening, so I thought instead of that I'd just post a quick reading wrap up here to keep track of what I've been reading for the Indie Challenge.
This month has been really kids & YA heavy and also quite a slow month for reading as the first part was devoted to Bookshop Crawl planning and then there was half term, during which I was out and about doing stuff with the kids. It's also been beautiful weather so I've been in the allotment lots and planting all sorts of stuff!
Books Finished:
On the Come Up by Angie Thomas (Walker Books) *****
Galloglass by Scarlett Thomas (Canongate) *****
Books Started:
A Burglary by Amy Dilwyn (Honno Press)
Your Silence Will Not Protect You by Audre Lorde (Silver Press)
All three of the books I finished were 5 star books that I'll be keeping and recommending to everyone I talk to. Are We all Lemmings and Snowflakes? is staying in my library because it's a brilliant, realistic and thoughtful portrayal of mental illness and I want my kids to read it when they're older. On the Come Up is a book I'll definitely re-read and I'd say it (and Angie Thomas's first novel The Hate U Give) are essential reading for everyone - teen or non - who has any kind of desire for social justice. Galloglass is of course the next installment in the Worldquake series and it's just as full of magic and adventure as the first two books were, but the story goes a bit deeper and explores more themes than the second novel did. You can pre-order it from us (signed! dedicated! glow in the dark!) and the rest of the series too if you'd like...
Your Silence will Not Protect You is a really inspiring collection of Audre Lorde's work. It's three quarters her essays and the last part is her poetry. I'm still in the essays at the moment and I'm finding her thoughts on racism and intersectional feminism really fascinating. She asks us (especially white women 'us') to challenge the way that we think and to think about why we think the way we think. She calls for women to work together and to recognise and accept each others' differences of experience based on race, class and poverty levels. Her writing is motivating and extremely well put together - every word serves a purpose and I'd really recommend this book to anyone who is at all interested in feminism and its' history. I'm definitely going to be suggesting this for Ninja Book Club polls in the future and hoping it gets picked as it would give us tonnes to talk about.
A Burglary by Amy Dilwyn is also really enjoyable. It's a classic, which is something that I don't come across a lot outside of Persephone Books while reading for the box, book club and the Indie Challenge, and so the language at the beginning took a little getting used to, but it's a really lovely story full of headstrong women, dastardly men posing as respectable gentlemen and people trying to reconcile their sense of morality with the way they live on a day to day basis in the world.
I'm planning to finish up the two I'm still reading and then crack on with some more Indie Challenge reading. Apologies for the lack of Indie Challenge recommendations post this month, time has run away from me!
What have you read this month?