For Pride Month, I read books that focused on LGBTQ+ authors, characters, and experiences. My favorite book this month came from my themed reads: Carry On by Rainbow Rowell.
I have read and enjoyed several of Rowell’s other novels, both young adult and general fiction. Carry On is the real-world version of the novel-within-a-novel in her book Fangirl. Cath, the protagonist of Fangirl, loves reading about the adventures of boy wizard and Chosen One Simon Snow, and in Carry On, the rest of us get to join in on the fun.
On the surface, the similarities to Harry Potter are obvious: an orphaned boy goes to wizard school and is the only one who can save the magical world. As the story progresses, however, it quickly becomes clear that Rowell’s magical universe is unique, with its own rules and lore. In Simon Snow’s world, the villain is a mysterious being called the Insidious Humdrum, which is believed to be the cause of the dead spots, areas without magic, that have appeared all over the country. Simon must balance the pressure of being the Chosen One with the normal teenage stresses of school, relationship problems, and a roommate who is his sworn enemy and also most likely a vampire.
Carry On was a really fun story that I had trouble putting down. I felt there was a good balance of action, coming-of-age, and romantic elements. As a member of the Harry Potter generation, I am fully aware that I am the target audience for this book, yet I think even those who did not grow up with Harry Potter as I did would enjoy Carry On. It is also the first in a trilogy, and though I typically prefer standalone novels over series, I enjoyed Carry On enough to put the rest of the trilogy on my to-read list.
Theme reads
- Gay Girl, Good God, Jackie Hill Perry: five stars
- Dead Dead Girls, Nekesa Afia: four stars
- Carry On, Rainbow Rowell: five stars
- Here the Whole Time, Vitor Martins: four and a half stars
- Outlove, Julie Rodgers: five stars
- I’ll Give You the Sun, Jandy Nelson: four stars
- The Passing Playbook, Isaac Fitzsimons: four stars
- Openness Unhindered, Rosaria Champagne Butterfield: four stars
- God and the Gay Christian, Matthew Vines: five stars
Others
- Wilfred Owen, Guy Cuthbertson: five stars
- The Other Tudors, Philippa Jones: three stars
- Wayward Son, Rainbow Rowell: five stars
- Nuclear Family, Joseph Han: four and a half stars
- Breathe and Count Back from Ten, Natalia Sylvester: five stars
- People Love Dead Jews, Dara Horn: four stars
- Ordinary Monsters, J. M. Miro: five stars
- How to Be Eaten, Maria Adelmann: four stars
- The Woman in the Library, Sulari Gentill: four and a half stars
- The Mutual Friend, Carter Bays: five stars
- Exit West, Mohsin Hamid: four and a half stars
- We Carry Their Bones, Erin Kimmerle: five stars
- Mere Christianity, C. S. Lewis: four stars
- Rivals, Katharine McGee: three and a half stars
Moriah Sharpe 