 Hi this is Julia and welcome back to my channel. And for today's video I'm just going to be talking about some of the books that I've read recently. I did film like a January TV, not TVR, a January wrap up. However I didn't upload a February one or March one because of reasons. I don't know, there's an update video if you want to check that out which I really appreciate all the support I've gotten on that video by the way. Thank you. But for today's video I want to talk about some books that I've read in the past few months. So this year I'm probably just going to do recent reads just because who knows how much I'm going to read a month. Like it could be nothing. Like there was a month, I think it was April, I read nothing. So February and March, let's talk about what we read. First here I have Homebody by Ruby Kor. I have read all of her books so far, all of her poetry collections. This one does have some content warnings for depression, sexual assault, rape, anxiety, and abuse. So please keep that in mind before picking it up if any of those topics are sensitive to you or you don't want to read about them, then fair enough. So keep that in mind. This talked a lot about like the past and the present of oneself and then like the potential to grow as a person is what this kind of collection focused on. It was also illustrated by the author and it had some good themes in it as well. Those themes were like nature versus nurture and like light and dark kind of imagery. So that was pretty cool. I did enjoy that about this. Favorite poetry collection by her is Still the Sun and Her Flowers. I would rate like I rated that one the highest. I recommend that one the most. But this one was still good, just not as good as that one. I still enjoyed it but I'm glad I didn't buy like a physical copy just because I don't feel the need like to have a physical copy of it. It wasn't like my favorite or anything so like I'm okay with not having a physical copy but I ended up still giving it a 3.5 so it was still good. So if you're interested in it I would suggest checking it out. Next is a short story. So this is a Poe story. So this is the cast of Amantelito. I think is how you say it. Like I sometimes am not great with pronunciation but I try. This story is so fun. Like I love the atmosphere. I love being in the crypts and in the caves. It oof. Like in terms of atmosphere this story just kills it. So this was like more of a gothic tale. There was like a revenge plot. Also like just a really gullible character and someone who takes advantage of that and gets their revenge and it was it was really good. I really really enjoyed it. Plus I really love Poe's writing. I'm definitely like a big Poe fan so this was I was really happy to read this. I've read it before but I got to like study it for class which was nice. I ended up giving this one like a 4 out of 5. I still loved it so yeah. Next we have a few plays. So Oedipus at Colonus is one of them. I read Oedipus Rex in high school and thought it like I really liked it. Like if any of you were around or like you could probably find the video of me saying how much I really liked Oedipus Rex. I thought it was really interesting and I you know the Oedipus complex is very interesting in general and interesting to study but also cool to read about. So I and I really like Oedipus as a character. So this is the sequel to Oedipus Rex. I thought it was pretty solid. I don't think it was good as the first play but it was still like enjoyable. So I gave that one a 3.5. Antigon was the next one that I read which this is the third and final book in that series or play in that series. So this one does have some trigger warnings for suicide so keep that in mind. I thought this was an amazing end to the trilogy. I loved reading these plays. I love the author's like writing style and like I really enjoy reading Greek tragedies. I think they're really interesting and a lot of fun. I also just really loved Antigon's character. I thought she was phenomenal and I love seeing her grow and I I loved reading about all of the family dynamics and it was just really interesting. So I gave that one a 4 to 5. So I would recommend checking out the Oedipus series I guess. I don't know exactly what the series is called but I would recommend it. It was great. Next here I read Seven Against Thebes. So I much prefer this author's other series as opposed to like this book but this was still about Antigon and Isman and like them getting introduced to seven new people and so of course I really like Antigon so I was down for it. It was still enjoyable. It just wasn't like my favorite so like definitely preferred like the Oedipus Rex and that kind of thing. I still thought it was good. I ended up giving it a 3 out of five stars. Next up here I have Shine Your Icy Crown by Amanda Lovelace. I did get sent this by Andrews McMill Publishing. Thank you so much. They sent me a finished copy. I was very happy about that. I've read this twice now so this was a reread for me. I just really love Amanda Lovelace's work. This is the sequel to Shine the Glass Slipper one but this just has beautiful illustrations, beautiful poems. It's very feminist. It does have some trigger warnings so I'm going to just read those off to you quick but it's abuse, toxic relationships, sexual assault, eating disorders, self-harm, suicide and trauma so please keep that in mind but so deals with a lot of heavy issues but I absolutely adore Amanda Lovelace's collections like I love the little illustrations throughout them and I love like they're so simple but they're so cute. I love the illustrations. I love her poems. I like that she's a feminist and a witch and it's... I love it. It's like I will buy anything that she writes and read it so yes I give this one four to five. Next here I have Later by Stephen King so I finally read a king. I haven't read one in a little while so finally but I do have a whole review video up for this so I'll link that. I would love it if you guys would check that out. Basically this book follows a boy named Jamie who can see dead people and his mom's girlfriend is a cop so they kind of drag him along sometimes to like talk to the dead people and find out why they died and the story just kind of goes from there. It's very interesting. Again there's a lot of trigger warnings. I will... I mentioned it in the review video but I want to say it again just for people to know but it was death, bombing, self-harm, suicide, alcoholism, substance abuse, rape, abortion, motor vehicle accidents, and incest so keep that in mind. Like I find it really important to say trigger warnings or content warnings just so people are aware of what they're getting into and you know kind of what the book's gonna be about so yes I did quite like this one. I ended up giving it a four to five and I'll have that review video linked up on the screen. Okay lastly here we have The Truth of You by INS Thomas so I really like this author's poetry collections. I've read quite a few of them but this one was good. It mostly talked about like anxiety, death, and depression so that was like kind of the main focus. So just talked about relationships, romance, and mental health. I just thought these poems were kind of simple but they had a good message so like I'll read one of them. The one of them that I liked was the people who need your help are often too tired to ask for it offered anyway drowning doesn't always look like drowning. Like that's simple but just the last line that's like drowning doesn't always look like drowning I love that and that is so true with like depression and so many other mental health um and so many other mental illnesses so I really like that one and then the sunlight says sometimes you fall in love like snow falls at night gently quietly and gently covering every part of you and the next day the world looks completely different and that is how I fell in love like snow. I thought that was so cute. I dropped my phone. Well that's the end of the video anyway so that was all the books but thank you guys so much for watching. If you're new here be sure to subscribe and like this video I really appreciate it. I also have a bunch of other social media if you want to check me out on any other platform. I have been streaming a lot on Twitch, I have Instagram, Twitter, Goodreads all of that so that will all be linked down below as well including like world issue cards and Black Lives Matter information so that is all linked as well but thank you guys so much again for watching and I'll see you super soon. Bye!