This Week (and Last Week) in Reading: March 26-April 9

Between starting the podcast and restarting written reviews, I'm still trying to figure out a rhythm and schedule for posting, so please bear with me! Also, my spring allergies hit me hard and fast last week, and so much for non-drowsy medicine to combat that. I found myself going to bed rather early instead of doing much reading, but I did do quite a bit now looking back.

If you listened to Episode 001, you know that I re-read one of my childhood favorites, The View from Saturday by E.L. Konigsburg. I adored this book during my later elementary and junior high years, and I'm so happy that it still holds up for the most part. It's easy enough to imagine that this book was written in current times, the only noticeable difference being the lack of cell phones in the story. And actually, I found that refreshing.

Next up was an advance copy of In the Lives of Puppets by TJ Klune. Oh my goodness, did this one mess with my brain, but I'm pretty sure I mean that in a good way. This futuristic, flipped, queer retelling of Pinnochio has incredible timing considering how artificial intelligence is such a big player in recent technology conversations. Here instead of a real man having a puppet to raise like a real boy, readers encounter a real boy who is being raised by an android. This book kept me up way past my bedtime during Spring Break because I HAD to know how it ended.

I also read the two books I will be featuring in my next episode of the podcast, The Wild Book by Juan Villoro as well as Maeve in America by Maeve Higgins. Both of those came into my life by way of my local public library, the first being a middle school fantasy story and the second being a collection of essays by an Irish comedian who moved to the US as an adult.

If you haven't listened to the podcast yet, please do so, like, and subscribe so you don't miss this week's episode!