Books I Read in June

At some point in this pregnancy, I expect to get some sort of groove going. Despite my best efforts to eat well and exercise and get (plenty) of sleep, I just feel thwarted. First there was the thyroid issues in my first trimester that made everything just so much more terrible, but gratefully my hormones have settled down and we're mostly past all those problems. Then there was that little hiccup of being anemic (which might explain why the unusual exhaustion is dragging on into the third trimester), but hopefully the recent addition of iron supplements will fix that soon. And I'm just coming to terms with the fact that this little baby doesn't like sugar, and as tragic as that fact is it's probably best for both of us. So now that I'm done with my family reunioning and travels for the summer (thus the blog absence for the past few weeks) and I'm back in control of my diet and sleep schedule, I have real hopes that the rest of this summer will start shaping up in terms of not feeling like a zombie all the time.

Here's to a positive outlook!

Anyway, somewhere in the past month (and by that, I mean sometime in June, even though June ended nine days ago) I finished three books. As pathetic as that might sound for a book blogger, this is a record for me this year (not counting the books I read for school). It's been a rough one on the pleasure reading front, but I'm feeling my old itch again to start scratching these titles off my to-read list, so hopefully the steam only builds from here.

Words of Radiance by Brandon Sanderson

Yay! I actually finished this behemoth. You guys, as much as I love me my Brandon Sanderson, this Stormlight Archive series is not for the faint of heart. You must be a dedicated, hardcore, nerdy fantasy fan. You have been warned.

That being said, wow is Sanderson incredible at crafting a story. It was when I found myself comparing the themes in this book to Crime and Punishment that I really appreciated the complexity Sanderson is creating here. This is straight up great fantasy.

Cress by Marissa Meyer

I finished this one in two days, and it felt so good to allow myself the indulgence of such a fun, light, consuming read. So, I adore this Lunar Chronicle series, and while I don't think Cress is nearly my favorite (definitely suffered from some middle book syndrome dragging) I still enjoyed every minute of it. Such fun fairy-tale retellings.

All Joy and No Fun: The Paradox of Modern Parenthood by Jennifer Senior

I added this to my to-read list after reading Amy's review of this book, and then was pleasantly surprised to find it on the "New Non-Fiction" display at my library the very next week. So I snagged it, and subsequently devoured it. I could probably write a super long post analyzing all the thoughts and feelings I had while reading this book, but for now I'll just say that I highly recommend this book to anyone who is or might become a parent. I found it fascinating. It's not a typical parenting book, as in there is no real advice (do x, y, and z and you'll have happy, healthy, successful children), but it does provide a broad historical background on how parenting as a cultural concept has evolved over the past century or so, and I found that perspective vastly illuminating. This one gave me and my husband a lot to discuss, and I love books like that. Also, I cried all the way through her last chapter about the "joy" side of this parenting business (but that just might be the pregnancy hormones). Good stuff.