My first ever book haul is covering three months of book purchases! To ensure the post doesn’t go on forever I’m going to split my hard copy and kindle purchases between this post and my August monthly wrap. In this haul, I am featuring all of the books I’ve purchased in hard copy!
Overview
My haul of hardback books comes to a total of 20 novels, six of which are nonfiction.
Most Anticipated? I feel like so many of these have been sitting on my shelf for so long that I forgot why I was excited to read them in the first place. Now, after revisiting each book, I’m so excited to read all of these. However, I think I’m most excited to read The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett. I’ve read so many good reviews that I’m thinking it might be one of my best reads this year.
Longest? Sisters of Song and Sword by Rebecca Ross at 432 pages.
Shortest? How to Get Over A Boy by Chidera Eogerue at 240 pages.
I paid full price for all these books… although by the time Midnight Sun came out the price dropped to $25 from its pre-order price of $30.
After discussing the themes of this haul, I split the haul into three stacks based on their binding colour. This is mainly because the Instagram posts for this post are three images of the three different coloured stacks. Hopefully, it makes it easier to find a book from the Instagram post.
Prevalent Themes
🌻 Feminism (I think from now on this theme will be in most of the books I read, to some degree)
🌻 Challenging conventional culture’s definition of pretty (thin, striking, etc.)
🌻 Sisterhood (Many books in this haul also explore the relationship between twin sisters)
🌻 Uncovering of secrets (this theme occurs in many of the books below)
🌻 Memoirs
🌻 Nonfiction novels
🌻 Historical Fiction (Apparently the 1950s are popular in this haul)
Pink, Red and White Stack
The Vanishing Half by Brit Bennett
🏷 Sisterhood
🏷 Historical Fiction (starting in 1938 with their birth and follows the sisters for 40 years)
🏷 Explores passing (as white)
How to Get Over a Boy by Chidera Eggerue
🏷 Feminism
🏷 Self-love
🏷 A reframing of romantic relationships
If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
🏷 Feminism
🏷 Stories of different women
🏷 Challenging the worth of women being synonymous with pretty
Mrs. Everything by Jennifer Weiner
🏷 Historical Fiction (1950s Detroit)
🏷 Sisterhood
🏷 Mother-daughter relationship
🏷 lgbtqia+
The Body Politic by Brian Platzer
🏷 A look at the U.S. after two huge cultural shifts: Post 9/11 and post President Trump election
🏷 Strong character development (which I love)
🏷 Covers the friendship of 4 people over 15 years
The Henna Artist by Alka Joshi
🏷 Historical fiction (1950s in Jaipur, India)
🏷 The synopsis–to me–frames the book under feminism because it focuses on a main character who gains power and influence in a country that would give her none
Green, Blue and Black Stack
Thin Girls by Diana Clarke
🏷 Sisterhood
🏷 Queerness
🏷 Challenging “thin” being a prerequisite to pretty
The Secret Women by Sheila Williams
🏷 Mother-daughter relationships
🏷 Grief
🏷 Friendship
🏷 Uncovering of secrets
Searching for Sylvie Lee by Jean Kwok
🏷 Mystery
🏷 Sisterhood
🏷 Immigrating from China to U.S.
🏷 Obligations to family
🏷 Uncovering of secrets
Dear Edward by Ann Napolitano
🏷 Family
🏷 Coming of Age
🏷 Tragedy and Healing
🏷 Friendship
Sisters of Sword and Song by Rebecca Ross
🏷 Sisterhood
🏷 Mythology
🏷 High Fantasy
🏷 Young Adult
🏷 Strong FMCs
Know My Name by Chanel Miller
🏷 Memoir
🏷 Feminism
🏷 Rape culture
🏷 Power of words
Purple Stack
Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
🏷 Mystery
🏷 Secret keeping
🏷 Obligation to family
🏷 Own Voice
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
🏷 Rape culture, specifically the complexity of consent
🏷 Feminism
🏷 Confronting trauma
Books I Already Read But Are Technically Part of the Haul
Some of the books in this haul I didn’t include above because I’ve already read them. Now you know why my TBR list is so long since this haul doesn’t even include my Kindle, KU or my hard copy books I purchased a long while ago (years) that are still unread.
I did want to include a list of not imaged books in this 3-month overview. It also appears that I’ve reviewed every single one 😅.
💫 Midnight Sun by Stephenie Meyer
💫 Sex and World Peace by Valerie Hudson, et al.
💫 What We Talk About When We Talk About Rape by Sohaila Abdulali
💫 Women Don’t Owe You Pretty by Florence Given
💫 The Grace Year by Kim Liggett
💫 The Two Lives of Lydia Bird by Josie Silver
💫 When You Were Everything by Ashley Woodfolk
💫 The Dreamers by Karen Thompson Walker
Book Feature and What to Look Forward To
I wanted to specifically focus on The Skin We’re In by Desmond Cole. I’ve talked on Instagram about how I’m making sure to include both fiction and nonfiction novels in my reading lists that also have representation and diversity.
However, I’ve noticed most of the antiracism books I’ve purchased (and read) specifically talk about the history of America. I wanted to educate myself on the role Canada has played and continues to play in contributing to systemic racism. Enter The Skin We’re In. I think it’s really important Canada doesn’t hide behind the ‘polite, nice people’ stereotype.
Also, I’ll be releasing another book review this weekend, so keep an eye out for that! And, don’t forget my weekly wrap on Monday.
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