Merry Misfits Book Club September: Aida by Leontyne Price

September's theme was fairy tales.  Now, that's pretty broad... and since I was so behind with the reading challenge, I decided to go ahead and pick something short and simple.  I saw this picture book version of Giuseppe Verdi's Aida (adapted by opera singer Leontyne Price, who was famous for playing the title role) at the library and had to check it out.  It is a children's book, so very short... debatably cheating, but reading is reading.  And I know what you're thinking... is this really a fairy tale?  According to the Dewey Decimal system, yes... it was shelved with the likes of Hans Christian Andersen and the Brothers Grimm.  Plus it's about a princess, true love, and adventure in a foreign land, so...

This was a good book.  I admit, I didn't really know the story of Aida -- I know next to nothing about opera -- so it was a good story to pick up and read in a condensed form.  The story was beautiful, the art was stunning, and it kind of made me want to go listen to the music from the show.  As I mentioned, it's about a princess and true love... but (SPOILER ALERT) since it's based on an opera, it does not have a happily ever after ending, and that would be the one place it differs from what we think of as fairy tales.  But the atmosphere of magic and romance was very fairy tale, and our heroine is brave as she suffers through everything life throws at her just like you'd expect of a fairy tale princes.  I don't really have much to say, other than the fact that kids' books are almost always better than adults' books, and I don't regret choosing this.

I didn't end up reviewing this one on Goodreads because I didn't really have anything to say, but here's the book on Goodreads and here's my profile.  Mark it as "to read" and then follow me, lol.

I read this book on Septermber 22, making me technically on track for that one day, lol.  I finished it before the August book I just posted about, but I didn't want to post out of order.

Would I recommend this book?  Sure!  It's a quick read but it's a good one, and I think it'd be at home in any library of children's books.

DYRC 19: August: Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure by Cecil Castelucci and Jason Frey

I am aware it is October.  Yes, I'm a little behind, lol.  Anyways, the DYRC theme for August was sci-fi, so I decided to read Moving Target: A Princess Leia Adventure, which was a book I got for free as a prize for finishing the library's summer reading challenge.  Now, it's debatable whether or not choosing a junior Star Wars novel is cheating, but ¯\_(ツ)_/¯.  On with the show.

I enjoyed this book.  It's a story that takes place between Empire Strikes Back and Return of the Jedi, and we follow a Leia who is dealing with a lot.  She's struggling with feelings of survivor's guilt and probably some PTSD... and she's incredibly worried about Han, who is at this point still frozen in carbonite.  Her characterization is true to the films, but very realistic and well rounded.  She plays well with the other characters that make up her team for this mission.  We don't get to know all of them as well as I would have liked, but they're written well enough that you can easily get attached.  The story is good and exciting, takes a lot of turns and I wouldn't call it predictable.  Plus the Phil Noto art is a really nice touch... I love his work. And because this book is a part of the Journey to The Force Awakens line of books and comics released to coincide with the release of Episode VII (my favorite modern Star Wars film), the epilogue ties into that movie beautifully and it made me happy.

Here's my Goodreads review.  Follow me there to see me add a bunch of children's books to my shelves and to read observations I think are pithy but are really tired.

I read this book between September 22 and October 19.  It only took me that long because I didn't get to dedicate a lot of time to it.  It's not super long and it's a pretty quick read.

Would I recommend this book?  To Star Wars fans only.  It's an enjoyable book, but it won't convert you into a fan if you aren't one already.

i'm only a million behind

I'm so determined to get caught up on my reading challenge, but I don't know when/if I will be able to.  Here's what I'm working on though:

August: (theme sci-fi) Moving Target
September: (theme nonfic) Burning Up
September: (theme fairytale) Aida (finished this one, just don't want to post it out of order)
October: (theme a book from another country) The Phantom of the Opera
October: (theme young adult) tbd YA book lol

Hoping to have August and September finished soon.  I hate being this far behind... I hate that having a full time job now prevents me from doing the most minor amount of reading.  Sigh...

fatigue

I've been feeling especially worn down lately.  Just from life, from stuff related to work, just... everything.  I've been going in to work at 6 am, which is just fucking awful, lol.  I'm supposed to get back to my normal hours next week (fingers crossed that for once something works out like work tells me it will), and hopefully things will be less uncomfortable for me. And maybe I'll be less unhappy.

Merry Misfits Book Club August: Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent by Thomas B. Allen

We're going to stick a pin in the fact that it's nearly the end of September and I'm only just finishing one of my August books.  I do not plan on addressing it later, lol... y'all already know.  I just had to mention it.  I know.  I'm sorry.  Anyways, the theme was non-fiction.  Nice and broad, easy to pick something interesting.  I saw this book, Harriet Tubman, Secret Agent: How Daring Slaves and Free Blacks Spied for the Union During the Civil War, and thought it looked really interesting. 

I liked this book quite a lot.  Short, well researched, interesting.  It's obviously a very important period of American history, so I was happy to see an honest but entertaining children's book about it.  Obviously it doesn't give completely in depth information about the events or about any of the historical figures it discusses, but it's a good introduction to the period... and it will hopefully inspire a young reader and budding history nerd to do further reading and research.  It would have for me as a kid.  But as it is, this book is informative and easy to digest.

Here's my Goodreads review.  Obligatory reminder that you can and should follow me there, lol.

I read this book between September 7th and September 21st.  Wouldn't have taken that long if I had had more time to dedicate to it.  I'd call it a fast read.

Would I recommend this book?  Sure, especially for someone who likes history... or someone who wants to like history but doesn't have a lot of background info yet.

Merry Misfits Book Club July: Sailor Moon Eternal Edition Vol. 4

So I didn't quite finish on time, but I was a lot closer this month than the last few, lol.  The theme for July was a sequel... which was great for me, because I've been reading these new translations of Naoko Takeuchi's Sailor Moon manga as soon as the library gets them in.  The most recent is  the fourth volume.

The fourth volume of Sailor Moon continues where the third left off.  Chibi-Usa is staying with Usagi and they're still learning to get to know one another.  I've been enjoying them very much... I unfortunately can't go into many details about this volume because I finished reading it a while ago and have since taken it back to the library.  Also spoilers, lol.  But as for the merits of the book, which I can go into, the art is gorgeous (especially the colorized pages) and the translation is really nice and reads very naturally.  I have the next volume here and I can't wait to read it!

Here's my goodreads review.

I read this book between July 24th and August 3rd (yes, over a month ago... see my previous post for an apology/explanation).

Would I recommend this book?  Do you love Sailor Moon and have you read the previous volumes?  If so, yes!  If not, maybe watch the anime and decide if you like the story enough to read the anime... and if so, start with volume 1.

where have i been?

I've been so busy with work, and when I wasn't at work I was too tired and/or depressed to write on this blog... my apologies.  This is why I didn't write about my second July book (despite finishing the book and beginning the post a waaaay long time ago) or even begin my first August book until yesterday (September 7th...).  They were basically requiring a bunch of overtime from all the employees, and that may well continue (or even get worse) with the coming new product releases.  So I just didn't have the mental energy for anything else, and I was basically miserable.  But hopefully these coming few days, at least, will be less... chaotic.  I'm. going to try and get the July book post up today and get some reading done on the first August book.  I may end up being behind on this reading challenge for the rest of the year... but I WILL finish.  And I'm going to try and do more "life" related posts too, since that's been a goal.  Ideally I'd post once a week at least on life things -- what I'm feeling, what I'm up to, maybe even a little creative writing from time to time -- and then the two book posts.  I might also post about hobbies or what have you.  I want the blog to be a snapshot of my life, and I think it's a good outlet... so I shouldn't just leave it until I'm like rushing out a book post.