Poems from this month!
1. Voices from the Other World by James Merrill
2. The Sound of Water by Milton Bluehouse II
3. The Obligation to be Happy by Linda Pastan
4. Bees Were Better by Naomi Shihab Nye
5. I Have a Seat in the Abandoned Theater by Mahmoud Darwish
Translated by Fady Joudah
6. Mira’s Colors by Mirabai
Translated by Chloe Martinez
7. The Music That Learns Us by Rodney Terich Leonard
8. Today by Billy Collins
9. The Last Slave by Marilyn Nelson
10. The Raincoat by Ada Limón
11. On Trans by Miller Oberman
Books from this month!
1. The House of the Spirits by Isabel Allende
2. More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa
Translated by Eric Ozawa
3. There There by Tommy Orange
4. Circe by Madeline Miller
5. Red Rising by Pierce Brown
6. Golden Son by Pierce Brown
7. Morning Star by Pierce Brown
The sequel proved to be better than the first when we talk about Yagisawa’s books. I think part of it is that we know the characters already, so the slow and simple story has a little more depth. I also found the plot more stimulated. As with the first book, this was a quick read, but this story presented an opportunity to feel a bit deeper emotions. As with the first book, I believe More Days at the Morisaki Bookshop would be better appreciated in it’s original Japanese.
There There is a compelling compilation of stories about “Urban Indians” living in the US from Oakland to Oklahoma. Each chapter is a different character’s pov, from children to adults, filmmakers to recovering addicts, and slowly but surly their stories converge at a Powwow. This novel invites you to expand your perspective and understanding of the Native experience in this country. This is also a fast read, and I have already gotten in line on Libby for the second book.
Circe is a special book. I am a latecomer to this best selling story, but better late than never. The same author who brought us The Song of Achilles came back with another book inspired by Greek Mythology. While they seem similar at the surface, their stories are very different. The Song of Achilles is more focused and centers around a story I already knew, but got to look at in a new way. Circe though, that book was filled with beautiful stories about what it means to be a woman and how it feels to find your place in this world. This was a great book to read before bed because each chapter was a “story” in itself. You can read as few or many as you’d like and feel content but still eager for tomorrows pages. I very much recommend this book.
I decided to embark on a six book journey because a booktok guy said that Light Bringer was one of his all time top books, the top of the top, his fav 6/5 star reads. I downloaded the audiobook for Red Rising, the first book in the double trilogy set, and started listening Friday evening and finished the book Saturday afternoon while I built my Ikea dresser. When I tell you I was already downloading the second book before I finished the first so that I could seamlessly start the next story I tell no lies. I am INTO this series. When the dresser was complete I just sat on the jouch and stared at the wall imagining this story was playing out on a screen in front of my eyes. Golden Son is just as compelling as the first and carves deeper into this amazing post modern world that Brown has created. These are dystopian science fiction novels and 2025 is the year of science fiction for me. Darrow is our MC and he is a lowborn miner on the planet Mars who, following some tragedy in his life, ends up infiltrating the highest color (gold) of society and from there is gets epic. Class conflict, betrayal, space battles, mysteries, and more. There were moments when I literally said “holy shit” out loud after a chapter ended. I have started Morning Star, the third book, but not sure I will finish this month or not. I will say either I am binging this too fast and am too acquainted with the characters, but I have some predictions and I am 99% sure I’ll be right. Even with that being the case, I still highly recommend this series. Okay, spoiler, I did finish this one too, ha! Unfortunately, the last third of the book left things to be desired. Brown adds some things that are surprising and seem unnecessary, and also our narrator becomes somewhat unreliable. I still love this trilogy, and will for sure read the next three books, but I was hoping for a better ending in Morning Star.
Book Goal Tracker: 13/30
Madeline Daily 