The Bibliotaph: treasure island!!!

Early 20’s are a time of self-discovery and often of self-loss. Luckily, when it seems that no one else can understand what you’re going through, there are always books. Having gone through that awkward period of no direction and feelings of failure, I know that there are some books that can help quite a bit. Here are a few to help through this period of changes and discoveries:

The Edible Woman by Margaret Atwood - Everyone is talking about Atwood’s The Handmaid’s Tale right now (and for good reason), but for me, this book packed more of a punch. The book follows a young woman in the 1960’s as she has a mental breakdown and completely changes the direction of her life. It’s fascinating, it’s relatable, and it made me feel a lot less crazy when I was going through some tough times.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell - This was fun and quick read, but it also brought up a lot of familiar feelings for me. Cath is a college freshman who is having a difficult time adjusting, something that many of us can relate to. This book is pretty light, while still managing to address some serious issues.

Woman No. 17 by Edan Lepucki - What a dark book, but what a wonderful one. Esther is trying to figure out her next steps after graduating college and being ghosted by her college boyfriend - and turning into her mother is her newest art project. This is an interesting book about women’s relationships with each other and with their mothers. It’s also quite a bit about not knowing what you’re doing with your life after big changes.

Treasure Island!!! By Sara Levine - This book is much sillier than the others on this list and (in some ways) much more shocking. A young woman who is seeking direction after college finds inspiration in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and begins living her life after Jim Hawkins’ principles and example. It’s a good story to give directionless folks a character to relate to (and one who will make them feel better about their own position).

What books would you add to this list? What books have helped lost 20-somethings you know?

This month, I’m regretting Netgalley overzealosity (if that’s even a word). When I first started blogging, I signed up for a Netgalley account and requested everything that looked even remotely interesting. I was shocked when I got approved for most of them. Months later, I think I’ve learned my lesson. I’m barely keeping up on reading my Netgalley books before they come out and this has been a bigger source of stress than I assumed it would be. Of the 49 books I’ve been approved to read, I’ve only read 26 of them (and some of them were really not my type of book). I spent this month trying to get ahead of my Netgalley requests so that I can start working through my TBR shelf - which is completely full now. Next month, my project is to start working through that. Once I get enough books completed, I’ll reward myself by throwing a book swap to acquire even more books that I won’t read for months.

I was surprised that I read as much as I did. I’ve been able to stay ahead of school work this summer and I frequently get time to read in the afternoons after class, which has been so nice. What’s more unfortunate is that I realize I won’t be able to keep this up in the fall - with school and work and a Loverboy to pay attention to, I doubt I’ll get as much reading done as I want to. Oh well. For now, I’m relishing the time I have. And I got to read a lot of interesting books this month:

BEST

Lirael by Garth Nix - The second book in Garth Nix’s Abhorsen trilogy is fun, fantastic, and still suspenseful. A young girl finds herself helping bring down a plot against her kingdom and must team up with some unlikely characters to succeed. Lirael is my favorite Nix character so far and this book was far better than Sabriel - it was more fun and I felt more connected with the characters. Also, Lirael gets to have a lot of fun with charter magic - Nix’s magic system - and this makes the book so much more rewarding than other books I read this month. The first part of the book is a girl figuring out how to use magic and having a lot of fun doing it - and that was awesome. Also, there’s a Disreputable Dog and a prince and an evil necromancer and a twist ending - so it’s a perfect fantasy story.

Treasure Island!!! By Sara Levine - I finally got around to reading this! A young woman with no direction after her college graduation finds inspiration in Robert Louis Stevenson’s Treasure Island and begins living her life by the principles of Jim Hawkins. This book reminded me of a sillier The Edible Woman (by Margaret Atwood) - it details a young woman’s emotional breakdown, but in a much funnier and more modern way. Directionless 20-somethings will really identify with this - as will anyone who’s felt like they aren’t living up to their potential.

Arcanum Unbounded by Brandon Sanderson - I’ve been putting this book off for months, but I finally got around to reading Sanderson’s collection of Cosmere short stories. And it was BEAUTIFUL and wonderful and I highly recommend it for fantasy lovers. Keep in mind that there are so many spoilers for other Sanderson books, so put it off until you’ve read a few more.

Elric of Melnibone by Michael Moorcock - This was a very odd and interesting book that I’ve been thinking a lot about. It was recommended to me in a Matt Colville video about Dungeons & Dragons and this book definitely gave me some new ideas and settings to work into my campaigns. This classic fantasy story is about the emperor of Melinibone as he tries to protect his throne. The world building is beautiful. The story is dark, but very fun. Highly recommended for fantasy readers.

STRANGEST

The Gunslinger by Stephen King - I read this because of a friend’s recommendation (and also because of the upcoming movie adaptation) and I’m still trying to discover how I feel. In the foreword to this book, Stephen King mentioned that he wrote this when he was younger and that, in hindsight, it’s a rough book and could use some changes. In a lot of ways, I agree with him. It’s a dark fantasy story about a cowboy who’s looking for a Dark Tower for reasons that are still kind of unclear to me. King’s book moves at a snail’s pace, but the setting and the characters are interesting enough to keep you occupied. And it’s just so strange - I’m hoping the next books will help clear things up a bit.

Library books: 5

Books I bought: 3

Overdrive Audiobooks: 5

Egalleys: 7

Goodreads Giveaway wins: 0

Amazon Lending Library: 0

Free books on Kindle: 0

Gifts: 0

Borrowed from friend: 1

Book Swapped: 0

Available online: 0

Total: 21