Reading Wrap-Up: Quiet, Something Close to Magic, A Psalm for the Wild-Built
Quiet by Susan Cain (Nonfiction: Psychology)
I finished my first book of 2024…and loved it. I’m so excited to start the year with a 5/5 star read!
I’ve had this book on my shelf for years. I originally picked it up because I am undoubtedly an introvert, and I love learning more about psychology in general, but also about psychology that applies to me. Like many, I love learning to better understand myself. However, kept putting it off because I sort of thought, “How does one write an entire book about introverts and make it interesting?”
Finally, I listened to the audiobook, and it was not only interesting, but validating, expansive, and worthwhile. I learned not only about myself, but about how and why both introverts and extroverts contribute to the world in distinctive, but no less meaningful ways.
If you enjoy nonfiction about psychology, I highly recommend this, whether you’re an introvert or not.
Something Close to Magic by Emma Mills (YA Fantasy)
I picked this book up for one reason and one reason only: the blurb said it was for fans of Gail Carson Levine.
Overall, I’d say this book delivered on that promise! It was a fun read. Whimsical, enchanting, heartwarming. There were princes and trolls and magical forests. These are the things my ultimate child-at-heart craves from the stories I read.
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers (Science Fiction)
This book I picked up because I was promised a cozy read. Again, I’m happy to say I got what was promised. The basis of the story is a charming friendship between a tea monk and a robot in a utopian society set many years in the future.
It’s a novella, not a full novel, so it didn’t have the full impact I think might have come from a more developed story, but ultimately, I still enjoyed my time in this world and with these characters.
