June Reads: A Teensy Weensy Book Review

I’m kind of appalled that I only read four books in the month of June. Last year, that would have been just fine with me. But now that I’m a bona fide reading machine, I’m embarrassed to even let you see this puny book review.

But what the heck, you’re already here . . .

 

Hamlet by William Shakespeare ♥♥♥

If you want to read Shakespeare but are intimidated by the inter-century language barrier, try the No Fear Shakespeare series. It turns flowery, confusing Renaissance-era English into something you can actually understand. The original text is on the left page, and the modern text is on the right. After you read the play all the way through in plain English, you can go back and try the crazy English for some intellectual exercise. It’s what word nerds do for fun (I heard).

 

Best American Short Stories of 2007 edited by Heidi Pitlor and Stephen King ♥♥♥

St. Lucy’s Home for Girls Raised by Wolves. Hands down, the best story I have read, ever. Can someone please put a spell on Karen Russell so she lives forever and keeps writing new stories every year for the rest of our lives? The other story I really enjoyed in this anthology was The Toga Party by John Barth. It’s about an older couple who wonder whether they should face their old age or make a quick escape to avoid “the crappy last lap.” Oddly enough, I found it more comforting than depressing.

 

Something in the Water by Catherine Steadman (Fiction) ♥♥♥

This book wasn’t great, but it was good enough to snag my attention for a couple days. A honeymooning couple finds a bag full of cash and diamonds floating in the South Pacific, and things get complicated (and dangerous) quickly when they decide to keep it. After a slow start, this book became a fast-paced thriller. Hold up, replace “fast-paced” with steady and “thriller” with mildly captivating story.

 

The Witches by Roald Dahl ♥♥♥

Re-read of a classic. Isn’t it interesting the small details that stick in our minds while the main plot points fly away like dandelion puffs? All I could remember from reading this as a kid was that the witches have square feet with no toes, but I forgot all about how the main character is turned into a mouse! A fun story and quick read. Which makes you wonder why I couldn’t fit in more than four books this month, right?

 

Exciting news for future (beefier) book reviews: Kevin Wilson and Ann Patchett both have new books coming out! 

5 thoughts on “June Reads: A Teensy Weensy Book Review

  1. Hi Jessica

    Just read some great books that I am curious if you have read.

    Flight Behavior by Barbara Kingsolver Nickel and Dimed Barbara Ehrenreich Purple Hibiscus Chimamanda Ngozi Adiche

    Love getting your blog Vicki

    Sent from my iPhone

    >

    Like

    1. Hi Vicki!

      I’ve read Flight Behavior . . . that’s the one with the monarchs, right? I love Barbara Kingsolver. Right now Eve and I are listening to my favorite book of all time, The Poisonwood Bible.

      I am adding the other two books you mentioned to my To Be Read list right now. Thanks for the tip!

      ~jessica

      Like

  2. Enjoyed your reviews. I love Dickens and just read Great Expectations again.

    Sent from Xfinity Connect App

    Like

  3. Loved your review. I’m pretty sure you didn’t just “heard” that’s what nerds do… I personally know for a fact that’s what I do!

    On Tue, Jul 2, 2019, 2:18 PM The Land of Silk & Honey wrote:

    > jessica posted: “I’m kind of appalled that I only read four books in the > month of June. Last year, that would have been just fine with me. But now > that I’m a bona fide reading machine, I’m embarrassed to even let you see > this puny book review. But what the heck, you’re a” >

    Like

Leave a Reply

Fill in your details below or click an icon to log in:

WordPress.com Logo

You are commenting using your WordPress.com account. Log Out /  Change )

Facebook photo

You are commenting using your Facebook account. Log Out /  Change )

Connecting to %s