2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge - Update #1

 

Happy Sunday everyone and welcome to my first 2025 Popsugar Reading Challenge update with mini reviews!   In January, I somehow managed to complete 13 books out of a total 50 books. Wow!  That's progress!  Keep reading to see my thoughts on the books I read in January:

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The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot is a must read and I'm glad I finally decided to take all of the recommendations and read it. It's fascinating read, but absolutely terrifying. I'm glad her name is more known now at least.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Well, The Thieves of Ostia (The Roman Mysteries #1) by Caroline Lawrence was a fun little adventure. I wish I'd read this back when it was brand new. I'm sure I would have loved it even more. I'm glad glad I decided to take all of the recommendations I've gotten for this over the years even if I got to it about 23 years after its release. I think I'll have to continue this MG series.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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I really liked the art style and the premise of Loving, Ohio by Matthew Erman and Sam Beck, but the story and characters ended up pretty underwhelming for me.  I might try more from this author in the future though.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Lycanthropy and Other Chronic Illnesses by Kristen O'Neal is a solid YA fantasy werewolf read. It took a bit too long to get going, but once it did I'm glad I decided to stick with it.  I can't speak on the representation elements, but it was interesting to compare werewolves and chronic illness.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph. 

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I absolutely loved the Netflix limited series Bodies (2023), so I was hoping against hope after seeing the ratings and reviews of the graphic novel that inspired it, Bodies by Si Spencer, that I would at least like the source material. That said, this just sucked. It has moments where it could be a good, but it wastes it. Definitely one of those situations where the adaptation is far, far better than the source material. I feel like I should do a rewatch get this out of my head.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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I'm a year older than Clara's dad in The Way You Make Me Feel by Maurene Goo  and I'm sure that if I had to deal with a kid like her all day every day I would have aged about 1,000 years. Clara is one of the most grating and irritating YA characters I've read in awhile. Sure, she does grow a bit by the ending but it's microscopic. If I were Rose, I would have just flat out served the suspension and repaid in full the entire amount of damage caused by Clara's prank. I would have worked just about anywhere else because I wouldn't have been able to work for the entire summer season on a food truck with her, especially with her cross contaminating dishes. I think would have much preferred this if her dad, Adrian, was the lead character and it was all about making a name for himself and his food truck KoBra.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Woman on the Edge of Time by Marge Piercy wasn't quite what I was hoping for.  I wasn't invested in the story, the characters, or their world nearly as much as I should have been. I'm glad I listened to the audiobook because otherwise I might have had to put this down just due to lack of interest.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Radio Silence (Osemanverse #9) by Alice Oseman isn't my favorite from the Osemanverse (since the bar is so high), but I did enjoy it. Plus, it gets bonus points for the Welcome to Night Vale reference. I like that podcast too.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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It's been awhile since I read book one, but it was still good to come back to this series with Finders Keepers (Bill Hodges Trilogy #2) by Stephen King. I'll have to read book three soon with less of a gap this time.  One day I'd like to eventually try the tv adaption.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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Quiet as a Nun (Jemina Shore #1) by Antonia Fraser was fine, but I don't think I'll be back for more of this series.  I definitely was more interested in the first half in comparison to rest.  It's also not terribly memorable either.  

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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I know Blue Lock, Vol. 1 by Muneyuki Kaneshiro (and the whole series) is very popular, but I'm definitely not the target audience of this. I'm not a soccer person - generally just not a sports person at all. The art is good and I like how it shows action, but I just didn't quite get this. It wasn't bad, but it just wasn't for me. I won't be back for more. I'm just not that interested.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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I loved Passing Strange by Ellen Klages, but I do wish it was solely set in the early 1940s rather than including the present day bookends. I also wish there was a bit more of a magical fantasy element.  Otherwise, though, this was perfect. I would like to read more books like this and more from this author in the future.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

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My Buckeye Lake Story: A Memorable History of "The Playground of Ohio" by Donna Fisher Braig was absolutely fascinating. I'm not too far from Buckeye Lake and I knew some of this information going in, but I loved/ was disturbed finding out a lot more details that I didn't know at all. I was especially interested in the early years of the lake from the Ohio Canal times to when it was "the Playground of Ohio", an amusement park that had its heyday in the 1940s-1950s. What I learned about about the Interurban: it was an electric tram system that was fast, clean, and ran all over the state and into Indiana. The most surprising part of all of that was finding out that it went 70-80mph!! The system was dismantled completely by 1929 after around 30-40 years in service.

What I learned about Licking County, Ohio and Newark (the county seat) (plus Knox and Muskingum Counties): they were major strongholds of the Ku Klux Klan and were at their height in the 1920s. Buckeye Lake held two major rallies. One in June 1923 with 75,000 attendees and then in 1925 with 500,000. Those rallies were called the "Ohio Konklave" of the "Invisible Empire". Here's a direct quote from this book: "Part of the explanation of belonging to the Klan in those days was stated as being that the American businessmen who dressed in gray flannel suits, could add excitement to their lives by dressing up in sheets and addressing fellow Klansmen, not with mundane names as president or secretary, but rather with Imperial Wizard, Kaliff, Klokard, Kludd, Klaber, Klezer, and Kleagle. The Newark Advocate (a local newspaper which is still in publication today) stated that Newark businessmen joined because 'it was the thing to do'." Also, it mentions that the Grand Dragon of the Klan who spoke at the 1925 rally was was the Mayor of Newark, Ohio and that "'Crosses were burned and many speeches given, and the meeting ended with the spectacle, 'Sodom and Gomorrah', with 200 singers, 25 dancing girls and brilliant music.'" The book mentions that the head of the Ohio Konklave was David C. 'Steve' Stephenson who had a summer home on Buckeye Lake and worked with the Mayor of Newark to set up rallies. The author wrote that he was convicted of 2nd degree manslaughter and was sent to prison shortly after. I looked up Stephenson and found he has an entire Ohio Capitol Journal, Columbus Monthly, and The Newark Advocate. I don't know about you, but it seems important to remember this piece of our history especially now.

Furthermore, here are some things I learned about the Crystal Ballroom and other locations at the park/ Buckeye Lake itself: the author remembers when she was a kid in the 1930s she had to ask her parents what the "Caucasians Only!" signs meant. If Black people wanted to swim, the "Park Company developed a 'sign-in' area, and you had to 'join the Swim Club' in order to swim." If you were Black, the club, as you might be able to guess, was not accepting any more members. The park had a "Colored Day" which sounds like it was the only day of the year that the park was officially completely opened to Black people and that was on the 1st Thursday in August. Except for the pool, of course, which was always closed. Eventually, this came to an end when some came "to join the club". "The Park Company had been warned that this would happen and that day all whites stayed out of the pool. The Advocate printed a photo of one black family in the huge pool, all alone. The rest of the summer it was touch and go, but segregation ended at last."

There's a lot more I could say about Buckeye Lake that I learned from this memoir, but I'll leave it here. If you're interested in local Ohio history and memoirs, this is quite a little book. Buckeye Lake is quite different now - I didn't realize just how much it's changed in the last 35-40 years.

My review is also on Goodreads and The StoryGraph.

Have you read any of these books?  Are you taking part in this challenge?  As always, thanks for visiting my blog and perhaps even commenting down below!