I’ve re-read the first Harry Potter. It’s been so long since I last read it. I felt that it really wasn’t poorly written. Sure it’s a children’s book but i looked reading it. And I’ve started reading flatland

Elantris, Warbreaker and started The Way of Kings, all by Brandon Sanderson. Read Mistborn Era 1 a couple years ago and loved it, finally decided to jump head in into the Cosmere.

I read The City & The City by China Mieville and some bits of Psychogeography by Will Self.

I would recommend the first one, especially if you like detective stories (and games like Disco Elysium).

I’m not sure about the second, it’s a collection of columns and the throughline isn’t as good as I’d hoped.

I have read Our Revolution by Bernie Sanders.

I can recommend it to anyone who are interested in the politics of US. Bernie talked about the main problems in the US. He talked about discrimination, the corruption, populism, wealth distribution and the negative effect of far capitalism overall.

The best bit of the book in my opinion, that you will understand why’s the society so against socialism’s ideas, even if it would significantly improve their life in many cases.

I read Factfullness by hans rosling, would recommend if you want a different outlook in these seemingly dark times

This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub - loved it

When We Were Young by Richard Roper - liked it mostly

We Were Liars by E. Lockhart - excellent

Family of Liars by E. Lockhart - good, but not as good as We Were Liars

The city and the city - China Miéville.

• Always Coming Home - Ursula K. LeGuin - I absolutely loved this book. I’m still keep thinking about the Kesh people that this book explores. Very strange read, absolutely recommended.

• The Fifth Season - N K Jemisin - Really enjoyed this book. The way it uses perspective was really great. The ending felt okay. I’m definitely going to be picking up the next one sometime soon.

Currently reading Too Like the Lightning by Ada Palmer, which has been a fascinating read thus far, but I’m only halfway through.

After that I’m planning on reading Among Others by Jo Walton (I loved her Thessaly series)

• Gardens of the moon by Steven Erickson - a reread. Finished the original 10 books a few years ago. Decides to poke around again. This time around has been such a different experience. I’m now thinking I’m gonna do the rest of the other 9 books again.

• Annihilation by Jeff VanderMeer. A really good movie. Decided to try the book. An interesting read for sure. Psychological thriller, with far realm adjacent imagery. About 70% done. Don’t think I’ll be reading the whole trilogy, though.

• Periodo Street Station by China Mieville. I don’t know what I think of this one. It seems to be sort of self masterbatory about how unique and wacky the world is. The actual story is scattered and completely lacks focus. The characterization is C+ at best. Full chapters of just wandering though the streets of the city showing small vignettes of peoplea lives from an omniscient pov, that seems to hint at a connection to the main story but is just tiresome to read. The main characters are a poor knock off of Doc Brown, and his girlfriend, a scarab beetle with a human body. I mean the head is the whole beetle legs and all. They are sort of mad scientist beetniks in socially forbidden love. This book just isn’t for me I think.

• God’s Demon by Wayne Barlow. Barlow is a concept artist who often works with Guillermo del Toro. It’s a sorry about a demon lord in hell. Aka ex-angel who fell with Lucifer. And has decided to find his way back to heaven and is leading an army to get there. It’s okay. The imagery is great. I don’t love the characters so it’s hard to get invested.

Swan Light by Phoebe Rowe - I really enjoyed this book telling two connected stories that occurred 100 years apart in parallel, centering around a lighthouse in Newfoundland that collapsed into the ocean and the search to find it.

The Weight of Air by David Poses - Autobiographical book advocating for harm reduction approaches in treating addiction. I was sad to see that the author passed away last year, it’s clear that his book has helped a lot of people.

I finished:

• The Harlem Renaissance by Cary D. Wintz
• L’Âge des low-tech by Philippe Bihouix
• High Rise by J.G. Ballard
• Elle et son chat by Makoto Shinkai
• Judaism: A Very Short Introduction
• Berlin Stories by Robert Walser

I mostly read manga so here’s what I started reading in June:

• Sousou no Frieren
• Make the Exorcist Fall in Love
• Saihate ni Madou

I also started on reading “the alchemist” in Dutch. It is one of the first books I read, which was in English, and now I am using it to learn a bit of Dutch.

Animal Farm and 1984 by George Orwell. They both describe, in a very creative way, the totalitarian regimes of the '40s, especially the soviet one. They give you an insight of what freedom should be, and what are the systems used by dictators to control the popultation: poverty, ignorance, fear, etc.

Worth reading!

It’s not like I don’t have a huge TBR list, but even so I keep getting seduced back into reading the Aubrey/Maturin series. They’re just too good and every re-read reveals a little nugget of something wonderful you missed before.

So I read Desolation Island, The Fortune Of War, The Surgeons Mate and The Ionian Mission.

-Yellowface by R.F. Kuang

-Normal People by Sally Rooney

-How High We Go in the Dark by Sequoia Nagamatsu (personal favorite for this month)!

-Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata

-I’m Glad My Mom Died by Jennette McCurdy

-Happy Place by Emily Henry

-Notes on a Silencing: A Memoir by Lacy Crawford

-The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman

-The Girl in the Mirror by Rose Carlyle

-Then She Was Gone by Lisa Jewell

-Red at the Bone by Jacqueline Woodson

-Dirty Laundry by Disha Bose

-Just Like Home by Sarah Gailey

-Such a Fun Age by Kiley Reid

-Milk Fed by Melissa Broder

-Motherthing by Ainslie Hogarth

-Shoulder Season by Christina Clancy