Oy.
June came, and it went, and it was… June.
In the midst of everything else going on in the world, I sort of lost my reading momentum. It’s so hard to hide in a book when real life is too much. How ironic is that? Typically I do exactly that- hide in a book from the world… but my brain just wasn’t up for it this month.
And that’s okay.
It’s important to refocus, it’s important to educate yourself on current events, it’s important to just try. So while my attention was shifted elsewhere, I managed to read a grand total of 3 books!
I’ll be honest, I’m pretty pleased with that!
And Then There Were None by Agatha Christie
Another Christie Classic under my belt, and I am so happy to report that I loved it! Christie has an amazing and inherent ability to create an atmosphere of foreboding and trickery.
I honestly enjoyed every minute of this book, as one by the one our 12 characters fell to their demise. It was excellent and I reveled in the spooky sensations of a creepy, magnificent house that may be haunted, but definitely is haunted after the events of this story take place.
Delightfully eerie, I would highly recommend this book with all my heart! But sadly I cannot recommend the 1945 movie adaptation. While I am a huge fan of romance, I felt that the way they forced a romance into the story line derailed the whole movie for me. My husband was astounded when I told him the story was better without the HEA, something he was positive he would never hear me say.
What can I say? I am a hopeless romantic unless everyone might die, in which case, I want everyone to die.
As you may know, the title of this book has evolved over the years… many times. But I will say, I think the rhyme did quite well as “Ten Little Soldier Boys” and if I hadn’t looked it up I wouldn’t have thought anything of it. The simple rhyme in tandem with the gruesome murders was pleasantly spooky, not to mention how the little figurines kept disappearing one by one.
I rated this book 4.5 stars, on a technicality at the end of the book that I didn’t like. But truly- this book was near-perfect, and if you’re looking for a good classic mystery, there is no better place to start than with this one.
Self Made by A’Lelia Bundles
Madam C.J. Walker is practically a household name, and in light of the Netflix special I wanted first to read “Self Made”, a biography and historical narrative written by Walker’s descendant, A’Lelia Bundles.
I thought it was such a good narrative on the life of this determined and brilliant entrepreneur, who worked her way to be one of the wealthiest people in the U.S. well before women often owned businesses, let alone earned their own money. She was a woman ahead of her time!
I ended up giving the book 3 stars, mostly because the formatting was a little confusing (it was often told by topic rather than chronologically), and sometimes it got a little dry, but this is a story every woman should know. This is a name everybody should know.
Pet by Akwaeke Emezi
I just… I just need everyone to read this book right now. Please please please take a look at my full review of “Pet” and leave a comment if you’ve read it or want to read it!
The author will soon be coming out with another book called “The Death of Vivek Oji“, and while it sounds quite different from “Pet”, I will definitely need to keep my eye out for that one. Emezi has my devoted attention.
Leap to Fly 