What I Read in June 2020

My reading wrap-up post is late and I’ve only got three books to tell you about this month. My day job tasks have been such that I can’t listen to audiobooks while completing them, so that’s one reason why it’s taking me forever to read The Well of Ascension. I’m on my second borrow of it and probably won’t finish it this time around either lol! So given the lack of book content for this post, I’ll uplift a booktuber whose channel I’ve recently found.

So, here’s what I read in June!

The Last Olympian by Rick Riordan

First series finished! Overall, it was a great ending and even though I had some issues with the execution, there was still enough that I didn’t see coming. 

Chronos is completing his rise to power and launches his invasion of New York City. Percy and the other demigods fight a long battle against them, loosing many to save Olympus. 

So my primary issue is the over reliance on the dream exposition device. Percy passes out or sleeps like 20 times so we can get a significant amount of backstory for other characters. Even in a series where using dreams as exposition is valid, this was way too much. I also didn’t care about many of the minor characters, so I wasn’t too hung up when some of them died. 

But I did like pretty much everything else and that’s all I’m gonna say because spoilers! I’ll be reading the next series but I’m gonna take a break from PJO for a bit. 

Also, I think I might try reading the books instead of the audiobooks if it’s the same narrator for the next series. This narrator uses the stupidest voices for some of the characters and I’m wondering if that’s part of why I can’t connect to them. I can tolerate it when the characters are little kids, but now they’re 16 and they need to stop sounding like caricatures. Also, he often puts very bad accents on POC when the text never actually says they have an accent. I’m not into that at all.

We Are Okay by Nina Lacour

Marin left for college without telling anyone because she had to leave. When death or mystery comes to take away your last anchor, you just want to start over. But your grief doesn’t let go as much as you want it to. So Marin gears up to spend Christmas alone on campus because she has no one to go home too, but her ex-girlfriend and best friend Mabel is flying 3,000 miles to spend three snowed-in days with her where Marin will finally tell the truth and remember. 

I have so many feelings. This book gave me the same nostalgic loneliness I get when a sad lofi hip hop track reaches into my soul. College was an extremely lonely and painful time for me too, and even though my details are different, I can pinpoint specific experiences that parallel the relationships in this book. I loved it so much. And I’m not usually a fan of books making the characters clear fans of literature, mostly because they always seem to choose Jane Austen, but THIS book engages Jane Eyre and I am HERE 👏🏻 FOR 👏🏻 IT👏🏻. Also! Mabel is Mexican and aside from one scene that Marin instantly calls out near the beginning of the book, I didn’t get the impression that she’s exotified in any way. 

Listen, this book contains the 3 S’s: sad, sweet, and sapphic. It’s an entire mood.

A Black Theology of Liberation by James H. Cone

I’ve been fed Black liberation theology and other liberative theologies since college and especially during my time in the United Church of Christ, but I’ve finally read an entire source for it front to back for myself and I have to say that the entire thing is relevant today, which is both sad and profound. Sad because it came out in 1970 but profound because it’s talking about God’s work of liberation. James Cone recontextualizes Christian theology to remove its oppressive and colonizing elements and show how the gospel is about liberation for Black people. Much of Cone’s work in this book is provocative and if you’ve never encountered liberation theology before, you might find a lot of it shocking, especially if you’re white. But I think it’s a highly important read to begin seeing what anti-racist work looks like specifically in Christianity. 

I picked up my copy from a clearing out of the late Rev. John Deckenback’s library. Long-time UCC people may know him well. I’m sad that I only got to meet him a few times before his sudden death, and that I didn’t get a chance to work on the CAC Board of Directors with him, but his library was full of liberation theology and he really lived into what he believed. 

I think it’s funny that James Cone said “the caucasity” in 1970. 😂 There’s a section where he mentions two white authors who wrote whole books about how Black people should secure their rights and the root of the problems for Black people or something like that and Cone said “the white audacity!” in response.

Although I think you can understand this book without much background knowledge, you might find it helpful to get a quick primer on liberation theology in general. So I recommend Liberation Theology for Armchair Theologians for that. It’s pretty short and it has pictures. It gives an overview of the history of liberation theology and different writers from different contexts who have done that work.

Booktube Recommendation: The Artisan Geek

I keep going down the booktube rabbit hole, but I’m glad for it because I’ve found so many cool people to watch for opinions and recs. One of them is Seji, or The Artisan Geek. She mostly focuses on classical literature and often covers obscure books or books from a variety of countries that don’t normally make it into the “Western” cannon. I’m really enjoying her channel so far, even though I don’t read a lot of classic literature myself. However, knowing about diverse classics is helpful to me in my day job because many times we need to source reading passages from the public domain. Already, Seji’s recommendations have helped me diversify a giant log of public domain resources that my company is creating. Definitely check out her channel, especially if you like classic literature.

Also, she always wears the cutest outfits and has such a pleasant voice. I feel like she should be a podcast host or narrator.

That’s it for June 2020!

What I Read in May 2020

Welcome to my first monthly reading wrap-up! In these posts, I’ll share quick thoughts about all the books I read in a given month. I post all of these to Instagram (@taylorrama) and some of them to Goodreads.

For Alison by Andy Parker

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/43402559-for-alison

This is a difficult book, not because it’s bad (it’s not) but because the subject matter is one of the most harrowing epidemics in American society. You might remember the shooting where journalist Alison Parker was murdered on live TV. Her father has since become an activist and has written this book, not only about Alison’s murder, but about the media storm, the nature of gun discourse, the politics, the non-profit turf wars, and the poison from Internet trolls. I felt angry, sad, and hopeful at various times while reading, but it’s definitely a one chapter at a time read, especially the beginning. 

I have some personal connection to the book, too. I am about 80% certain that I watched the video of Alison’s murder shortly after it happened and had a minor panic attack. Yeah, it was on a screen but it wasn’t at all like watching a movie or TV show. Now I know better. 

But there’s more. Andy Parker came to speak at my church last October, which is actually where I got the book. I even joined the group lunch we treated him to on the second day of his event. At the time, he was touring around the world to hold community forums about gun legislation and gun violence, and my pastor (who provided clergy services in the fallout of the Virginia Tech shooting) made arrangements for him to come speak at our church. We filled the churchyard with pinwheels bearing the names of everyone who, up to that point in 2019, had been a victim of gun violence in our city. It was over 300. 

The only “criticism” I really have is that Parker discusses so many people that I lost track of who most of them were and why they were important. Part of this is because it took me 6 months to read this book and the other part is that him becoming such a public face really did involve a flurry of interacting with a thousand people all the time.

So this book is a heavy read, but necessary. Parker does not mince his words. You will not feel coddled or edified. You will be disturbed and challenged. Parker even told members of my church that this book is like Schindler’s List–you only need to read it once and that’s it. That’s how raw and harrowing it is.

The Paper Magician by Charlie N. Holmberg

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/20727654-the-paper-magician

The Paper Magician follows Ceony, a young magician who becomes an apprentice in the art of paper folding, which she resents at first because it’s the least exciting type of magic. But after spending a few months with her teacher, Emery Thane, she starts to find it useful. Then, Thane is attacked by an Excisioner, the most dangerous type of magician (they deal in body parts) and Ceony has to race through Thane’s heart in order to save him.

I DNF’d this book at 68%. The premise is interesting and paper magic is really cool, but Ceony becomes a bystander in a massive flashback of Thane’s life. What’s supposed to be a tense race to save him drags and due to personal reasons, I can’t step into the place of this flat main character who is in love with her much older male teacher. If she won’t have a personality, I at least have to relate with what she’s obsessed with and I don’t. 🤷🏻‍♀️ She also keeps resenting paper magic well after she’s seen the cool things it can do and in general she feels like a 12-year-old yet she’s 19. But if historical fantasy and notice-me-sensei are your jams, this book offers an interesting take on paper magic. Not nearly as cool as Read or Die but still cool.

Also, awkward side note that when I posted this mini-review on Instagram, the author liked it. Authors can choose to engage with their reviewers as much or as little as they’d like to, but being on the other end of it feels weird to me probably because I have different boundaries between me and my reviewers.

Percy Jackson Battle of the Labyrinth by Rick Riordan

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/2120932.The_Battle_of_the_Labyrinth

A solid continuation of a solid series. The kids are 14 now so we’re getting a touch darker, a touch angstier. Percy and Annabeth journey through a maze on a new quest to stop Luke and the Titan army from invading Camp Halfblood, but plenty of distractions and teenage feelings make everything complicated. Gods and demigods die. Others are reformed (maybe) and other creatures find that destiny isn’t quite how they thought it’d be. . .

I mean, it’s the second to last book of this first series. My description has to be vague lol. This book is great but for some reason I didn’t have as many giddy feelings about it as the previous book. Even so, my girl Annabeth is an emotional mess and she needs some Lego to process her feelings. Percy is a big mood with his whole “the girl I like kissed me and I don’t realize that I like her but does she like me???” thing. Also, Rachel 👏🏻 Elizabeth 👏🏻 Dare 👏🏻. 

At several points during this book, I thought of Thrice’s song “Daedalus.”

The Raven King by Maggie Steifvater

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/17378527-the-raven-king

Depending on how I start this review, it’s about me coming to the conclusion that Stiefvater pulled off the whole giving the prophecy at the beginning of book 1 and making the rest of the series satisfying. The things that really needed resolution got resolution. Everything happens as we’re promised it does and it’s all wrapped in beautiful prose. While I can’t fully wrap my head around the weird magic in this series, the reason why I think it’s good is because, as I’ve said before, the characters and their relationships. The technicalities of the magic, the search for Glendower–those are secondary to the actual story about a group of kids who become family over a weird obsession and would do anything for each other. If that element wasn’t so strong, nothing else in the book would work. 

I’m glad I read this series. It’s a great, strange story if you can buy into very weird yet very normal events. Can’t say much else without spoilers, but this series is worth your time and I personally have taken many mental notes about how Stiefvater does narration cause damn is it *chef kiss.*

I will say that I think Adam x Ronan came out of (almost) nowhere. While I saw enough hints of Ronan being some type of not-straight, I didn’t at all pick up on Adam having feelings for anyone besides Blue.

Permanent Jet Lag by A.N. Casey

https://www.goodreads.com/book/show/35648489-permanent-jet-lag

Lucas is emotionally numb and would rather take the easy way out, escaping from his small town, his friend who’s been in a coma for a year, and other difficult relationships. But summer means he’s home from college and not only is he forced to face it all again, but he also falls in love with a boy whose lease on life is greater than Lucas could ever hope to have. But when you’re 19, things aren’t always easily repaired and the bad things in life still happen. Lucas can choose to keep running away, or he can allow himself to risk happiness and vulnerability. 

This is a solid romance with all the bitter sweetness of your favorite Netflix coming of age film where not everything works out but it’s kind of okay. Lucas is in a very relatable mental state and all of the characters are interesting, memorable people. I connected with many of their emotional and relationship struggles, and overall thought the story was well-told. 

So if you’re looking for some contemporary, sad(ish) hours mlm romance, this book will creep slowly into your feels.

And that’s what I’ve read this month! Let me know in the comments if you’ve read any of these books and whether you liked them!

Goodreads Review–A Brief History of Theology

A Brief History of Theology: From the New Testament to Feminist Theology by Derek Johnston

My rating: 4 of 5 stars

In this book, Johnston presents an accessible and clear overview of dominant, Western Christian thought from Paul through 20th and 21st century thinkers. It’s a useful resource for those who are new to Christian theology and want to understand some of its major developments. In other words, it’s a starting point, and Johnston is clear that it’s not comprehensive. For what it is, this book is helpful in summarizing the thought expressed in texts that might be difficult to comprehend if read unaided, as some of these ancient and metaphysical thinkers sometimes produced dense work. After reading this book, I now have a better understanding of theologians I already knew about and I’ve been introduced to theologians I hadn’t heard of. The book taken as a whole really illustrates that Christian thought has never been the stagnant, never-changing thing that some people believe it to be. Every supposedly timeless doctrine can be traced back to a person–a person who loved God and tried to articulate what it is to experience and believe in God.

Still, I was surprised that the author did not include a chapter on liberation theology or some better exposition of theology from the margins. He mentions it in passing in the sole feminist theology chapter, but doesn’t spend much time explaining it. I really think that a book aiming to survey the history of Christian theology should include such content, as there are certainly liberation theologians in the West that the author could have chosen to introduce readers to that approach to Christianity. So for people looking for an easy-to-follow introduction to liberation theology, I recommend Liberation Theology for Armchair Theologians.

Additionally, it’s sometimes obvious which thinkers the author prefers and which ones he’s more skeptical of in sections that are just meant to summarize the theologian’s life or thought. This didn’t really deter my enjoyment of the book; it was just something I noticed. One random thing I found hilarious, though, was his statement that Charles Wesley allegedly wrote over 9,000 hymns because now I will always associate Wesley with a classic Internet meme.

Lastly, the book could’ve used a copy edit. I often noticed unnecessary words in some sentences and punctuation errors that impacted flow.

Despite what I’ve noted here, I still found this to be a very informative and interesting book that has piqued my interest in the Bonhoeffer and Brueggemann books already in my library that I haven’t read yet.

View all my reviews

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My blackout poetry collection, Forgive Us Our Trespasses is available as a paperback and an ebook! The poems explore faith, doubt, lament, and hope. Check it out and discover why readers have called it “pithy,” “insightful,” “visually stunning,” and “emotionally challenging.” Be sure to add the book to your Goodreads list and leave a review when you’re finished!

Also, check out select poems on Redbubble, available as prints, stickers, and many other products. They make great gifts!

Leaf & The Sky of Fire

One season after recruiting the giant beavers to build a dam on the flooded river, Leaf finds himself on the cusp of another journey. While he and his family are temporarily kicked out of their haven, he (quite literally) runs into a quirky bird and its somewhat loopy passenger–an old Twig from the North Forest. With staggered words, the Twig explains that the North Forest is dead from an infestation of bark beetles and his children are still trapped there. While Pappo takes the old Twig north to cure his illness, Leaf takes it upon himself to find the stranded Twigs and bring them back to safety. But the journey quickly becomes more dangerous than Leaf anticipated. Not only do the hoards of bark beetles threaten him and the stranded Twigs at every turn, but a forest fire rages through the dead trees and just might cut off the only path back to the South Forest.

 

Leaf & The Sky of Fire is the second book in Jo Marshall’s Twig Stories. Although there isn’t much continuity from the first book, it’s still just as enjoyable. Now that Leaf is a little bit older, he has more agency and the narrative hints at more serious matters such as death and the possibility of death. The environmental message is even more smoothly incorporated into the story than the previous book. Again, the story jumps between perspectives, but unlike the first book, I didn’t feel that any of the suspense was compromised as a result. Mashall’s prose is vivid and makes the Twig world come alive with unique language and detailed backstories. Charming creatures and other Twig friends help Leaf and his family solve yet another problem in their beautiful forest.

 

It seems to me that each new book improves on the last, and if I can enjoy these books as an adult, there’s no doubt that children will love them as well.

Leaf & The Rushing Waters:

Twigs are stick creatures that live in trees deep in the forest. They gather nuts, berries, blossoms, and other things that grow for their food and homes. Leaf is a young Twig who lives peacefully with his family in an old seeder tree, but when a massive flood suddenly changes the landscape of the forest, he has to venture off on his own to find another Twig named Rustle and ask the chompers (beavers) to build a new dam around the flood. However, the journey is more dangerous than he anticipates. Rattlesnakes, foxes, owls, and other creatures threaten Leaf and his friends at every turn. But if he wants to save his home and his family, Leaf has to be brave.

Leaf and the Rushing Waters is the first book in Jo Marshall’s Twig Stories, a series of environmentally themed fantasy/adventure books for children. The story is rich with natural imagery and feels more like a fairy tale than a story strictly about nature. The slang, although a little odd to get used to at first, adds character and an innocent charm that makes it easier to picture forest life the way the Twigs see it.

Leaf, Rustle, and Feather ward off skull faces, otherwise known as hornets.

As an adult reader, I did feel that the use of multiple perspectives took away from some of the suspense and I definitely noticed a bit of a formulaic pattern, but I honestly think it works great for children. I often found myself thinking that if I were of the target age group, I would be 110% engrossed. Of course, that’s not to say I didn’t enjoy it as a 21-year-old. While the more serious issues of climate change and environmental preservation are certainly obvious to us older readers, they’re not presented in an elitist, self-righteous way or in any manner that could be perceived as “shoving it down your throat.” I’m liberal about basically everything, but I’d be hard pressed to imagine that anyone would somehow be offended by the role of climate change in the book. That, I think, is one of the story’s greatest strengths. It weaves the message naturally into the narrative and is also about much more than environmental preservation. Leaf strikes me as a great central character for children to look up to. He’s just gained some new responsibilities and even though he acts brave, he openly admits when he’s afraid. Feather, Rustle, and the beaver family are also good side-characters.

Overall, Leaf and the Rushing Waters is a nice introduction to a series that is just as fun as its message is strong. To find out more about Twig Stories and Jo Marshall, visit http://www.twigstories.com.