Reading Round-Up: July 2020

July has come to an end!!! Let's round-up the books I read this month!

July 2020: 

The List:

• Ao Haru Ride / アオハライド Volumes 1-11 by Io Sakisaka / 咲坂伊緒
• Rampokan: 1. Java by Peter Van Dongen
• Tarkin by James Luceno
• Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
• More Scary Stories to Tell in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz
• Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones by Alvin Schwartz
• Queen's Shadow by E. K. Johnston
• Fear Street Saga #1: The Betrayal by R. L. Stine
• Fear Street Saga #2: The Secret by R. L. Stine
• Darth Bane #1: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn
• A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle
• A Real Stretch: An Elastigirl Prequel Story by Carla Jablonski
• Hamlet by William Shakespeare

Ao Haru Ride is a manga series by Io Sakisaka. I included the Japanese forms of both the manga and the author above. It tells the story of a girl in high school who liked a boy back in middle school that miraculously disappeared, but is about to reappear in her life, which is pretty typical of shojo manga. They made plans to meet at a festival when they were in middle school, but he never showed because he misunderstood something she said to somebody else, which led him to think she wasn't into him. Now he's back, but he's different. He has a different name and is more aloof. The series is basically a will they-won't they end up together kind of story, that also focuses on the importance of enjoying your youth and growing as a person. The characters are great, I like the art, and so far I'm enjoying the arc that each character is going through. I'm waiting for the last two volumes to be published by Viz so that I can read them and finish up this series completely. It's cute. Nothing super revolutionary, but I'm enjoying it. I binge read it once I was able to get my hands on some copies, and was able to get through 11 volumes in just under a quarter or a third of a day. I have a lot of practice reading manga and I have a tendency to blast through them when I get a solid block of time set aside to just focus on reading, so long as they're interesting. Goodreads has been recommending this series to me for a while so I figured I'd give it a shot. 

Rampokan: 1. Java is a graphic novel by Peter Van Dongen. This was a review copy available through Netgalley. It is a mature story that revolves around military and political conflicts between the Dutch, Japanese, and Indonesian people in 1946. I reviewed this book on Netgalley and Goodreads, but will not review it here since it is more mature than what my viewing audience tends to read. However, it was very interesting and if you want to see my review, you can click here to do so: Goodreads Review 

This is not a conflict that I know a lot about (or anything really), so it was interesting to learn more about it. It was originally published in 1998, but in Dutch. It was published in English last month by Europe Comics. 

Tarkin by James Luceno is a canon novel in the Star Wars expanded universe. It focuses on Governor (later Grand Moff) Tarkin. It details his history and an investigation he goes on with Darth Vader for the Empire. It is entertaining and enjoyable. I already reviewed this for Force Friday. You can read it here: Tarkin Review

Scary Stories to Read in the Dark by Alvin Schwartz is a compilation of horror stories for children that was published in 1989. I'm hoping to use this and its sequels (More Scary Stories to Read in the Dark & Scary Stories 3: More Tales to Chill Your Bones) for a series of Halloween-centric posts in October...so most likely, we will talk about them then. 

Queen's Shadow by E. K. Johnston is a Star Wars canon novel that focuses on Padmé as she begins a new occupation: Galactic Senator. After completing her term as Queen of Naboo, she is recomended for the position of Senator for Naboo. I reviewed this one already, so you can read about it here: Queen's Shadow Review

The Fear Street Saga #1: The Betrayal by R. L. Stine is obviously the first book in the Fear Street origin series. This is the first of a trilogy that explains why so many things happen on Fear Street. This book shows the initial conflict that arises between the Goode family and the Fier family. I'm planning to use this one for Halloween, so you can read more about it later, when the spooky season is upon us.

The Fear Street Saga #2: The Secret by R. L. Stine is the sequel to The Betrayal. It continues the story of the years long feud between the Fier and Goode family. This shows what the next generation did involving the curse, and how it was buried, but then came back many years later. You'll be seeing this one back at Halloween!

Darth Bane #1: Path of Destruction by Drew Karpyshyn is the first book in a trilogy surrounding Darth Bane. This book takes place at least a thousand years before Episode I and while no longer canon, it is very interesting. This book tells Darth Bane's origin story, from childhood flashbacks and adulthood, to formal Sith training and identity formation as a Sith Lord. We talked about this one in a review during July, so you can check that out here: Darth Bane Review

A Wrinkle in Time by Madeleine L'Engle is the first book in the Time Quintet. This is the third time I have read this book. I had actually read it last year, but with the pandemic starting earlier, I decided to check out the other books in the series. I felt I should re-read it again, just to be sure I don't forget any details that may prove important going forward with the series. 

we'll discuss this book in the near-future.

A Real Stretch: An Elastigirl Prequel Story by Carla Jablonski is exactly what it says. It is an Incredibles 2 inspired novel that tells an all-new story. This is the story of Elastigirl, before she was married and had kids. This book focuses on the lives of Supers before they became illegal, so the story takes place before the events of the first movie. We'll talk about it later.

Hamlet by William Shakespeare is a classic play from the 1600s. It tells the story of a prince in Denmark whose father is murdered by his uncle. The prince, Hamlet Jr., seeks out revenge for his father's murder. This is a play that I love and it is the first play by Shakespeare that I am actually doing a full review for. It went up earlier today, so here is the link to it if you want to check that out: Hamlet Review

This concludes the Round-Up for July 2020. I'll see you at the end of August for another one! Happy reading everyone!