June Reads

Here are the books I read this June:

A Certain Slant of Light by Laurie Whitcomb. I like to delve into YA every once in a while, and this one suited my Gothic state of mind. Helen is a ghost who has the unnerving suspicion that someone is watching her. The book begins auspiciously enough, but overall failed to really hook me. I kept waiting for something more...I don't know, more action, more development of the characters, more plot. I read this book on the recommendation of a friend, and while I can't say I didn't enjoy parts of the story, because I certainly did (the author writes beautifully of memories and the passage of time), I also couldn't say I really liked it or would recommend it, either. In every reader's life, there comes a time when, for whatever reason, a book fails to resonate with that person and this just happend to be one of those times. The trials and tribulations of reading...

The Case for Working With Your Hands (or why office work is bad for us and fixing things feels good) by Matthew Crawford. Anyone who feels tired or burned-out by their office job and who is grappling with complex questions about what they really want to do with their life would do well to read this book. Crawford's ruminations on the modern workplace really resonate and require a fair amount of soul-searching in this reader. As an added bonus, I now have more admiration for electricians and plumbers than I ever thought possible.

Up next: I'm currently in the middle of a few different books that are a little more fast-paced than what I've been reading lately. And thank heavens for that. I'm a sucker for a gripping plot, what can I say?