Hey there! It's Olivia-Savannah here from Olivia’s Catastrophe. And today I’m here to give you
my May wrap-up of all the books that I read in May. I read eight things in May. I took it a bit
slower from last month. And I have to say five of those were graphic novels which I’ve already
talked about in my graphic novel reading vlog. So what I’m going to do is start with the three
novels that I read and then after that I’ll be moving on to the five graphic novels. So
if you've already watched the reading vlog and don't want to hear those opinions you can end
watching the video there. But for now, let's get right down to the books. I also forgot to mention
that I’ll have content warnings for all the books that I’ve read down below in the description box.
The first book that I read was Mythos by Stephen Fry. And I buddy read this with my friend Luna
who I know in real life. And this one is the Greek myths retold by Stephen Fry. So it's just
the mythology and it's focused on the Greek gods themselves and things to do with them.
Any stories that have to do with the heroes and demigods I think, is in another book.
And I didn't know that before I read this one which would have been nice to know.
I read this one physically and I thought it was the good side of okay. I didn't realise how many
of these stories I would already be familiar with because I do -- I have read and researched quite
a bit into Greek mythology myself. And I knew, I have to say, a good 75% of these stories.
But nonetheless, I did enjoy reading this collection. They were told very very well.
I do think there were some footnotes that didn't necessarily need to be footnotes
or could have been integrated into the text which bothered me a little bit while reading,
structurally. And I feel like Stephen Fry had the habit -- especially in the beginning -- of saying
we'll get back to this later or remember this because it will become handy later.
And that frustrated me a bit. Just let us get there ourselves. We don't need that constant
repetition of wait for it, because we're reading a book we will get there. And I think he did a good
job of like fictionalising what information we have so it can read like a story. In the beginning
it felt a bit like reading the Bible, I have to admit. Because there was quite a lot of Zeus
had this child and then this child had this child and that child had this child. And it was just an
avalanche of names and I didn't particularly care about any of that because it wasn't
a story. It didn't have a narrative to it. It was more so just a tracking. But I understand this is
non-fiction. That was part of the deal with this book. But I was here more so for the stories which
I really liked and really enjoyed. There were some that I wasn't familiar with and those fascinated
me the most. And what actually fascinated me the most was seeing which words from the mythology
actually exist in our everyday lives and have contributed to the English language. I found
those connections absolutely fascinating and such a joy to learn about. So for this book I did have
a prediction rating from my TBR and I predicted that I would give this one four stars. And I over
predicted because in the end I gave this one three stars. I do have the suspicion that if I read this
as an audiobook it might have been a four stars because I have heard that the audiobook experience
is very good. But unfortunately that was not my own experience. I read Black Water Sister by Zen
Cho and thank you to book break for sending me a review copy of this book. And the one I’m going
to be talking about next. So this is a very hard book to describe but I will describe it as Jess,
who is a university graduate who's unemployed. And she is a lesbian she lives with her parents
who are currently in Malaysia. They've just moved there because of some money issues that they were
having. And she is American Chinese and she has a lot of extended family in Malaysia. But when
she gets to Malaysia she finds out that her Ah Ma is speaking to her, who is her grandmother.
But her grandmother is dead. And her grandmother is speaking to her because she wants Jess to get
some revenge on a tycoon who is ruining a temple to a goddess that she worshipped when she was
alive. That is the synopsis. This book goes on a wild ride. I really really enjoyed this. I think
it was one of those fantasy books that was just so much fun. And I feel like I don't read enough
books that are just pure enjoyment pure fun all the way through. And this was definitely that.
I had a lot of things that I really really liked about this one. I think it did the discussions
that it touches on about being American Chinese, being of two identities and two ethnicities
but also being in Malaysia which is somewhere different, and being part of the American Chinese
or the Chinese community that lives in Malaysia, very very well. I like seeing all of that. It
talks about being an immigrant quite a bit. And there's just small moments where it touches on
that but never eclipses the story. It's just something that's included. I appreciated that.
I think it does the lesbian representation well. I can't speak on it because I’m not own voices.
But I liked how that was included in the story as well and her development with her identity and
her sexuality, because none of her family members know in this book. I think it did the mythology,
the Malaysian mythology, so very well. I loved hearing about all of the gods and how the spirits
could possess you. I thought it was all handled very well, all explained very well. Very clear
and made for such a fun and exciting plot all the way through. But this book is also written in the
way that the characters speak. So you've got the vernacular that the characters would use. The
Malay vernacular and Hokkien. I think she mentions Hokkien being one of the languages
that she's speaking in this. And it was so nice to see other characters speaking different languages.
Well, they're all in Malaysia. It's still a very international community. You've got Chinese
people there, you've got some people speaking in Japanese and in Malay and Hokkien and it was just
nice to see that mix. I think the choice of using the vernacular, the dialect, that the people speak
in the text itself made these characters come to life and feel all the more authentic to me.
And I think a big part of this culture is your family ties. It's very
focused on your parents and your grandparents and your duty to your familial ancestry. And
you can see that coming through in the text so much. It's not a young adult novel, I would say,
because of our main character being unemployed and done with university. Maybe a new adult fantasy
for that age range? But I love seeing how her mum and dad were so involved in the plot and the
storyline as well. As well as her grandmother. I love seeing young people interacting
with their elderly family members in books. So I think it did all of that so so very well.
I don't know what else I can say. Brilliant world building, brilliant plot, very solid character
development. I think Jess was a funny character to be around. She is sassy, she's very brave,
but she's not -- I don't feel like she's comparable to other characters that I’ve read
just because she's just so real and so honest and she cares so much for her family. You can see that
she cares about the things that are happening in the world around her but at the same time she'll
draw a line if you’re treating her badly. And she knows where to draw that line. But she's also
willing to trust people. I don't know, I really like Jess as a character too. I really recommend
this book. And then the last novel I read is a memoir and that is Brown Baby by Nikesh Shukla.
And this one is all about his memoir on home and a displacement of home as an Indian British person.
And he's also raising his child throughout this book so he's talking about what it means to be
a father. What it means to be a father of a daughter, how to raise a British Indian child
in England and also how to raise your child while trying to keep them open to you know,
the LGBT+ community, to race issues that are happening. And just to the present day issues
that are happening all around her at the same time as she's growing up. But it also focuses
on grief because in this book it talks about his loss of his mother and what it means to be
a parent as he's losing his mother. What it means to try and raise a daughter as his mother is gone.
And yeah, that's all tied up into this book. And I did enjoy this one. I don't think it was my
favourite because of the structure. I think it jumped around a bit and it was a bit it felt a
bit unstructured. I feel like I like I wanted it to have more of a backbone in the sense of
what's going to be discussed when. It kind of jumps around a lot. But at the same point
I think that's how it goes with your own mind. As you're thinking through things
you do jump around a bit. You do make connections to a topic that you might want to discuss a bit
later on and then mention it back when you get to that later on. So I think it's very realistic in
the way that it approaches its structure but it's still not the structure that I personally prefer.
But I loved the themes of the things that Nikesh Shukla talks about. He's just so wise and so open
and honest. I especially liked hearing about the parenting. I’m not a parent myself but I find it
so interesting to see parents face the challenge of raising a child in the contemporary present day
and making sure they're doing it in inclusive way but they're also not stifling their child.
But they're letting the child make their own identity in their own way while wanting to
introduce them to your culture and all of that balance. I find the way that parents
have to kind of try to navigate all of this so fascinating. And I thought that was fantastic.
Anything that he discusses on the grief, you know, those are personal emotions. You can't really
critique those. But they were raw, they were honest, and I really appreciated reading them.
And as someone who is multicultural myself and who always has a shifting concept of home I did
appreciate the parts where he talks about home as well. And now I’m going to talk a bit about
the graphic novels briefly, that I read. So I read Saga volume 3 and this is a graphic novel series
that's set in this sci-fi fantasy world where there is an extensive war going on between two
groups of people. And all the other planets are kind of caught up in this war. And there is a
couple who are both from opposing sides of the war but they fall in love and they have a baby,
which is a symbol of peace. Which means both sides of the war want to destroy their child. So that's
what this book is all about. Volume three was a very good volume but it wasn't my favourite.
It's my least favourite that I’ve read so far. It started off slow, not a lot was happening in
the very beginning half. And therefore I was a bit disconnected. But the second half was much better.
A lot of exciting things happened. A lot came to fruition that had me at the end of my seat
and turning pages very quickly. The colour and the art style is bright. And I figured out that I love
all of these characters and I want no one to die. But just because I want that does not mean it's
going to happen that way. Then I read Monstress volume 4 by Marjorie Liu and Sana Takeda. And this
one is a graphic novel series that starts with us following Maika who is a disabled
multicultural person in this world. And she is trying to solve some mysteries about her mother
and what happened in her past. And in order to do that she needs to be looking for a certain mask.
And along the way of her journey, along the way of her trying to discover secrets,
she picks up a few friends as well. And I’ll keep the synopsis at that. But I really really
really enjoyed this fourth volume. I do think Maika's storyline was the least interesting one
here. She's going through a storyline that has a lot of information that you need to take on board.
A lot of knowledge that's going to be useful later. But while you're reading it it's just
an okay read. But it's okay because the chapters are interspersed with chapters from the other
characters points of view and they are going through a lot. And they are going through a lot
of exciting things so it was fun to follow them in the meanwhile. I do think these characters have
wormed their way into my heart and I adore a lot of them and I want them all to be safe. Corvin,
Kippa, Master Ren: I really like all of those characters in particular.
A great secondary side character cast. The art style in this one is absolutely stunning. In
my reading vlog I flip through the artwork so check that out if you want to see what it looks
like. But the detail is unparalleled. It's absolutely perfect and I just really enjoy
reading this series. I think the world building is fantastic. Lots of LGBT+, Asian, Black,
disabled people represented visually on page always makes my heart so happy. And I’m very
much looking forward to when I get to continue this series. March by John Lewis, Andrew Ayden
and Nate Powell. And this is the first one in a graphic novel series where John Lewis is
talking about his life and his experience. He was a pivotal person in the Civil Rights Movement and
he's talking about how he got involved in doing so in this particular volume. And his childhood
and what led him into being an active member of the Civil Rights Movement. And at the same time
it's set in the future of the timeline that we follow where Barack Obama is about to become
inaugurated as president. So it switches between those two. The artwork in this is all black and
white and I think it suits its subject matter so well. This one really built for me. By the end
of the book I was feeling emotional. I was… I was feeling very emotional, I would say.
And I think it does a good job of showing how the Civil Rights Movement is definitely
anti-racist versus racist. And also just how it was such a community movement. It was not only one
person spearheading the movement. Yes, there were some very prominent people who did a lot, who were
very much leaders in the movement. But it was very much a community effort. And this book outlines
and underlines that. I just thought it was absolutely fantastic and this is a new favourite
for me. I then read a bit of a disappointing graphic novel and that is Swamp Thing which
is written by Maggie Stiefvater and illustrated by Morgan Beem. And this one follows these two
twins who go to a swampish area for their summer. And they discover something down in that swamp.
And it's about what they discover and what goes on that summer. I think what disappointed me the most
here was how unlikable the main character was. I don't think he's as likable and sympathetic as
they're trying to give the impression that he is. I actually think his twin brother deserved a lot
more sympathy and was just a much better person. with how much he tried to include his other
brother. And I think the plot just didn't really go anywhere for a very long time. It was very slow
moving. And when things finally started to feel like they were picking up and it was all coming to
a plot the book just stopped. So I feel like that plot didn't go anywhere, the romance moved too
fast and even then the artwork was not my personal preference. But it was still nice enough artwork.
It's got a very nice colour palette as well. But it just… it wasn't the graphic novel for
me unfortunately. And last but not least I read Quarantine Comix by Rachael Smith.
And this is a comic that Rachael wrote about her daily experiences during quarantine. So it's very
much focused on the pandemic and the highs and lows of her time while she was in lockdown and in
quarantine. And it does a very good job of showing us some of the beautiful moments, the small
appreciation and joyous moments that happened during quarantine. But it also outlined some
of the more depressing and sad moments, the lonely moments that we've probably all experienced during
our time in quarantine. The artwork is mostly black and white but sometimes there are these
beautiful full colour picture pages and I really really like those. I just think this was funny,
it was enjoyable and it was very very relatable. So I had a good time reading this one as well.
Thank you to icon books for the review copy. And there you have it! Those are all the things
that I read in the month of May. Please let me know in the comment section down below:
what was your favourite read in the month of May? And have you read any of these books?
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time I have a new video. And you know what they say: onwards and upwards. Excelsior!