So I decided to mood read in June and
read uh three books so...
Hi booktube, I am a Rebecca without my Sarah and with no memory apparently of I'm supposed to set
this up. I think the cameras all crooked,
it's not frame the way I want it I'm *sigh*
I'm here that's you know that's a
step. it's been a good month. Yeah. I read uh
I read about three books in June, so it's
probably gonna be a pretty a pretty short wrap-up
especially cuz, I don't really, to be
honest I don't have a lot to say about
most of them. The first book I finished
in June is Good Omens by Neil Gaiman and
Terry Pratchett. I don't think y'all need
me to tell you the plot of this book.
I read it because the TV show is coming
out and my friend Deb wanted to read it and we
were buddy reading together. I was
hesitating because while I love Neil
Gaiman as a human being so much, I don't tend to like his novels. I like some of
them but for the most part his umm his writing's not for me. Really my problem has been
with his characters. I don't tend to like
them and that's what happened with Good Omens.
When I finished it I gave it two stars,
and then I was talking to Deb about it
and I was like well I didn't dislike this
nearly as much as American
Gods, and then I realized I gave American
Gods two stars, and I was like I can't
give both of these two stars they're
like completely different experiences. American Gods like made me kind of
mad, whereas like Good Omens it just-- I
totally understand why people love it
and some of it I found very funny and
very good, but for the most part it just
wasn't was it my thing. So I did raise 
my rating to three stars.
Mostly I just... I just don't really care
about anyone, and I liked uhh Crowley, and
then like he's I don't know he's not in
like this part of the book really like
the whole chunk in the middle there. I'm
like where's Crowley I don't care about
this dumb Antichrist kid or his dumbass
friends. His dogs kind of funny? I didn't
tend to enjoy the kind of rambling
British humor, and I thought I was
someone who liked British humor. I tend to,
and I kind of can like rambly humor but,
this just wasn't the kind that I liked.
There was a part I was just like
skipping footnotes cuz there's so many
footnotes in this book and it's supposed
to like add to the
joke, and I was like what are you even
talking about? It's a book that kind of
genuinely made me feel very stupid.
I wasn't getting the references, and I
don't like books that make me feel
stupid so I didn't really like this. But
I get why people do,and I haven't watched the
show yet, but I'm really excited. I think
I'm gonna really really love the TV show.
So yeah. Cool. Cool beans!
I haven'tsaid that a while
Next up I finished Where am I Now by... Mara Wilson. I almost just said Matilda.
I have been wanting to read this for a while. I actually think
I'm really feeling on fiction right now
I might pick up more soon, but I don't
know. She's so wonderful. This was-- it was
what I expected. It was what I wanted. It
it's just about Mara Wilson and her
being a child actress and eventually
it's kind of stopping that and how her
career as an actress kind of fell apart.
I don't wanna say Fell Apart because that seems harsh,
but it kind of like she slowed down. It
didn't halt
suddenly it was something that she
gradually realized wasn't really working
for her anymore,
and she talks about being super awkward
and great. And I related to a lot of this book.
It meant a lot to me because I
credit-- I often credit Matilda as being
the first fictional character that I
felt like I really related to. I've
actually never read the book Matilda, but
I loved the movie growing up like-- like
a lot, and I will watch it now. I watched
it like last year. This isn't a movie I
saw as a kid and it's gone from my life,
like I still genuinely really love this
movie, and ah, to know I still
kind of feel connected with Mara Wilson
in a lot of ways was just great and
brilliant. I cried a couple of times,
particularly when she talked about Robin
Williams at the end. And just a couple of
other times, I think...
So this was really wonderful if you ever
felt a connection with Mara Wilson or
any of her characters growing up I think
that you'll really like this one.
The third and final book I read I don't have
because my husband has it right now.
I had gotten like a chapter into this, not
even, I was like three pages into this
book, and I was like, "honey you have to
fucking read this when I'm done because I
really think you're gonna like it",
and I start taking notes and I gave it
to him and I now he's reading it, and it's great
And I'm talking about the book in other
by Sarah Rees Brennan. Kathy Trithardt 
did like this massive buddy read for
her birthday
months ago, and I picked it up and I
started reading it. Really loved it like
I was laughing out loud,
I was really connecting with everyone,
and and then I put it down and I was like
having trouble picking it up, which has
been happening to me a lot last couple
months, so I didn't pick it up again for
a while. And then, but Deb and I decided
to buddy read it together. For this wrap up, I have to books
I read with Deb, which never happens, but
we finished In Other Lands so
fucking fast that we were like, I
think there was a week between us
talking about Good Omens
and us talking about In Other Lands.
That has never happened with us. I started
reading in other lands again, really got
into it, and then I got to like maybe the
halfway point or something like that and
I stayed up most of the night reading it.
I think I was up till 4:00 in the
morning which that hasn't happened to me
with the book a really long time. Maybe I
should say the plot. In Other Lands
is about this kid named Elliot, and he's
on class trip ans they ask the kids like
do you see a wall over there? And Elliot's
like, "uh yeah there's a fucking wall right there."
So they tell Elliot he has a chance to go to a school over there by
that wall if he wants to because not everyone
can see that wall. And Elliot goes and
discovers this whole magical world with
unicorns and mermaids and magic and
war and swords and it's great! And the
book-- the book itself follows Elliot
throughout from 13 to 17 I wanna say?
Yeah 13 through 17, as he's going to the
school and adjusting to this world and
at the same time saying goodbye to the
other world that he comes from, and that
he goes back to you every summer, and
acknowledging that he is gonna have to
choose one. And it's so very good, and it
was legitimately hysterically funny like
really funny and the characters were so
wonderful. Elliot is just-- you want to
punch him so bad, especially in the
beginning you're like, "I never had a
thirteen-year-old". Hopefully. I've never
hit a thirteen-year-old. Can't speak for
the rest of you fuckers, but
I've never heard a thirteen-year-old but
I kind of wanted to punch 13-year old
Elliot because
thirteen-year-old Elliot is horrendous.
And then you kind of get to know him, and
you're like okay I get it, and you're
getting less horrendous. It's such a
great arc because it's so-- it's done in a
realistic speed and they kind of give
you reasoning for why Elliot it's kind of such a
dick,
but at the same time like he's still
held accountable. Like okay there's a
reason your dick but also it's not cool
to be a dick Elliot? Like can you stop?
Please?
Plot-wise there's not like a huge amount
going on plot wise. There's not like one
real big story I guess? The story is
Elliot and these people that he's met.
And a really interesting thing about him is
that you would expect like with a
story like this you expect the character
to go in and learn to fight with a sword and
be a warrior. Elliot not down for that.
Elliot's a pacifist, and he wants to-- he's
basically like a politician. He's like
becoming a politician in this world and
making treaties, and he's very anti
violence. Creates a lot of debate
throughout the book, you know Elliot having this "violence is never okay" and
then "war sometimes necessary", this kind
of like-- OH it's so great this you know
this argument because-- I, it's so easy to
see both sides here, and it's so easy to
side with Elliot and to also...Yeah I'm
rambling, but overall it's it's about him
and finding his place here, finding his
place in this other land, and it's just
wonderful. And he's bisexual and embraces
it so well he's like, it's something that
he's kind of just always known which I
really loved about him. Not that I
think that struggling with sexuality
stories aren't important - those are
great and it's very real but there are
people who are just like, yeah like I, you
know like guys are the girls, that's just
how it's been, and I'm fine with it And that's
just kind of Elliot's approach. It's not
like -- he doesn't really wrestle with this
at all he's like he's got it, everybody.
It's so fun. So much romance that's so
good
There's so many ships to ship here.
I'd have a couple of complaints but they'd be about the end a little bit, and
it's this rare instance that I actually
would have liked the book to be a smidge
longer, even though it was already kind
of long. BI would have liked a little
tiny tiny tiny longer. But I really loved
that book, and it
actually kind of put me a reading slump.
You ever read a book that you like so much and
you're like I don't want to go? Like I
don't wanna like leave the world. I get
offended by other books, like I don't
want to do it. Yeah I keep picking up
books and I'm like what is this? Who is
this about? It's not about Elliot. You're
not Elliot. Who cares? It's kind of where
I'm at with reading right now. so trying to
crawl my way out. But yeah I really do
want to come back I really want to do
read... I really want to do read? I really
want to do read more! You know if you
read any of these, you know, any of these
massive books. If you've never read
In Other Lands please go read In Other Lands, it does not have nearly as much
attention as I was expecting it to?
It needs more love and support, and I just
kind of want to yell about it with
people still. So. Please go do that.
