This was by far my most successful reading season of the year so far, if not the last several. I participated in an audiobook reading challenge hosted by Libro.fm, so I had to read as many books as possible while that lasted. You’ll probably be able to guess when you start scrolling, but it took place in July, so I got an unprecedented amount of reading done over that month! Let’s see the books I read this summer:
June
A House In the Country by Jocelyn Playfair
In a Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson
Locally Laid by Lucie B. Amundsen
I enjoyed all of these. Growing Goats and Girls and A House in the Country I didn’t end up reviewing, mostly because I lost my grasp on sufficient detail by the time I sat down to try, so I just gave up. I enjoyed both of them, the first is a memoir about a family who move to a farm that they then live on throughout the childhoods of their children, and what they get up to during that time. It’s lovely and wholesome and has lots about animals and nature if that’s your jam. The latter was my second Persephone Classic, and it is one that I still think about. I have forgotten names of characters, which is the main reason I didn’t review it. It’s set during WWII and is really a simple premise – it follows the lives of people who all live in a house in the country that is opened up as lodgings. We see them go through loss, love, we see some who are absurdly out of touch and others who are intimately familiar with the cost of the war. It’s delicately written, very emotional, and incredibly intelligent in its ability to evoke disparate experiences of the same period in time. I would definitely recommend it. In a Sunburned Country was a re-read, and as with all of Bryson’s books, it was entertaining and funny by turns. Locally Laid is about a family who start an egg company, and what is involved in that process. I found it interesting as it’s not an industry I really knew much about, and I hadn’t realized just how grueling it can be to start a kinder type of egg farming endeavour.
July
The Story of Arthur Truluv by Elizabeth Berg
All the Ugly and Wonderful Things by Bryn Greenwood
The Lonely Hearts Book Club by Lucy Gilmore
I may only be in my 40s, but thanks to various medical issues, my life expectancy is only another twenty five years or so (if I’m lucky). I’m already downing a dramatic number of pills each day, plus the inhalers and injections… I’ve reached the point where I can’t even take cold meds because the interact with a bunch of other meds I’m taking. My body has been in pain since I was in my 20s and I’m constantly ending up much sicker than those around me with the same virus. So I’ve spent more time than most people my age, I imagine, thinking about age and infirmity and the end of life. So Growing Old was an interesting read because it’s about these very topics. I liked it, though I didn’t necessarily see eye-to-eye with the author on every point. Arthur Truluv is a sweet story about intergenerational friendship, love, found family, community and how to deal with grief. All the Ugly and Wonderful Things is a book that challenges our morals and ideas of right and wrong in ways that cause intense discomfort, but in a way that makes your mind stretch a bit. I still don’t know what I think about the issues raised in it, but I am glad I read it. The Lonely Hearts Book Club was an enjoyable drama type story about a group of people who are kind of accidentally brought together, but who end up forming a book club that draws them closer to one another and opens up their lives in ways each needed. I have forgotten all the details, hence no review, but it’s a quick read that’s got some feels, so if that’s your jam give it a go.
Chronic by Rebecca Dimyan
Bomb Shelter by Mary Laura Philpott
I’ll Show Myself Out by Jessi Klein
A Vicious Circle was Amanda Craig’s first book, I believe, and it’s a satirical look at the intersection between journalists and Britain’s elite during the late 20th century. It’s an excellent (if icky) exploration of the class system, flawed characters, the pain people cause one another and often extreme selfishness. It’s clever and insightful, if not a pleasant read. It’s the first in a few books she wrote that are loosely interconnected, so if you’re a fan of hers it’s worth reading for that reason as well. Chronic is Dimyan’s memoir of her journey through dealing with endometriosis and how the chronic pain, dismissal by doctors and inability to find adequate help affected all areas of her life. Bomb Shelter is a mother’s memoir of her family and dealing with her son’s medical emergency-turned-chronic medical condition and how that affected all of the members of the family. She shares her emotional journey and the ways she coped with it. I’ll Show Myself Out is an incisive look at modern motherhood’s pressures and pitfalls, the rawness of the early days of becoming a mother and the emotional impact it has on new moms and their sense of self. It’s funny, smart and very relatable.
Is This Anything? by Jerry Seinfeld
The Lost Bookshop by Evie Woods
Splinters by Leslie Jamison
Wrong Place Wrong Time is a clever thriller that’s structured unlike any other I’ve ever read. I loved the experience of reading it because it’s surprising and unexpected. I still guessed some of the twists, but not all of them and it was very well done. Worth the hype, I’d say. I’m not a huge fan of Jerry Seinfeld or his type of standup, but I still enjoyed reading this. It didn’t all hit, but enough did that it was worth it. The Lost Bookshop is another one that was good when I read it, but that faded too quickly for me to manage the review. It’s a complex story, but well written and an enjoyable read. Lots of ups and downs, some intrigue and good character development. That’s all I remember. Splinters is another account of motherhood, but from the perspective of a woman who has just gone through a divorce and is trying to figure out where her life will go from there, and how she is going to balance her career, relationships, mental health and parenting. I didn’t love this one, mostly because I didn’t really connect with some of her decisions and found it hard to relate to. It’s not a bad book, but just wasn’t really for me. Came across as a bit self-centred and immature in some ways, though that might just be my own baggage.
I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O’Farrell
Scatter Brain by Shaparak Khorsandi
The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick
I read Instructions for a Heatwave and enjoyed it so much that I immediately went on to read Maggie O’Farrell’s memoir. She’s an excellent writer, and both of these books were beautifully written. I will say that her fiction has much stronger emotional impact than her memoir, which felt a bit cold and distant at times. It was interesting reading the two back-to-back because it allowed me to contrast her in two different types of writing. I enjoyed her memoir, and it’s one of the better ones I’ve read, but it definitely doesn’t quite hit the skill of her fiction. Scatter Brain is a memoir of late ADHD diagnosis, which is something I’ve been dealing with myself. I loved this book because it’s funny (Khorsandi is a comedian, after all) but also heartbreakingly honest and full of really important insights into what undiagnosed ADHD can do. The Messy Lives of Book People was a light, easy read about one woman’s desire to become a writer and how her life twisted and turned to make her one. It’s a light book that can be read quickly, but didn’t really hit that hard or leave a huge impression for me.
Knife by Salman Rushdie
A Piglet Called Truffle by Helen Peters
Nothing to Declare by Mary Morris
I read Just Another Missing Person because of how much I had enjoyed Wrong Place Wrong Time. It’s a decent thriller, the plot moves fast enough and there is some intrigue, but I didn’t find that it was as tightly plotted as Wrong Place, nor were the characters as well developed. And some of the plot twists are just a bit odd. Knife was my first Rushdie book, and I’m glad I started here because he uses his attack as a lens through which to look back over his life, so it introduces us to what he has been through as he sees it now. Very well done. A Piglet Called Truffle is one we read with my kid, and it’s an enjoyable kids book about a young girl whose mother is a vet, and she decides to try to save a sickly piglet whose owner has given up on it. Thoroughly heart-warming. Nothing to Declare was a re-read, and interestingly didn’t feel at all like I remembered. It’s much darker and more sinister, but still an interesting read.
August
Finding Hope by Nicola Baker
The Stranger Diaries by Elly Griffiths
Bucket List by Russell Jones
A Sheepdog Named Sky is in the same series as A Piglet Named Truffle, and very similar vibes. If you like the first book, you’ll like this one. Great for kids who like emotional connection to their books and animals. Likewise Finding Hope, which is about a city girl who goes to stay on her aunt and uncle’s farm and discovers – much to her surprise – that she actually does fit in with the farm life when she helps nurse a lamb back to health. The Stranger Diaries is the first in a mystery series, and is a good thriller. I guessed who did it pretty early on, but it almost didn’t matter because the journey was more of the point. I was interested to get to know the characters, I enjoyed the setting and premise, and I finished it wanting to continue with the series (which I did). Bucket List (recommended to me by Joanne over at Portobello Book Blog) was such a delightful book about age, mistakes and unlikely friendship.
Frank & Red by Matt Coyne
Beverly Bonnefinche Is Dead by Kristen Seeley
Strong Female Character by Fern Brady
The Mostly True Story of Tanner and Louise and Frank & Red were both stories about intergenerational friendships that were recommended to me (thank you Pam at Read! Bake! Create! and Joanne at Portobello Book Blog) and that I’m glad I got to read. Tanner and Louise has a bit of a mystery/thriller feel to it, and you find out about the past of one of the characters as it develops. Frank & Red is more about the growth of the characters and facing your own challenges – made easier when there’s someone you care about to do it for. It’s a lovely story of a friendship between a grieving older man and a young boy who has just moved into a new place and struggling to feel like he belongs. Beverly Bonnefinche is Dead is one I haven’t reviewed because honestly I don’t think I’d have much worth saying about it. It’s about a troubled young woman who’s not very likeable and how her marriage begins and is challenged. I don’t remember much about it now, and I feel like that says it all. Strong Female Character was a fantastic memoir of a woman’s discovery that she’s autistic, which explains so many of the challenges she’s been struggling with throughout her life. It’s a tough read in places – it’s not a happy story – but it’s also an important one to dispel some of the myths we have about what autism is and the people who are living with it, and it’s an important book. It’s funny in places – Fern Brady is, after all, a comedian – but it’s also got a lot of vulnerability and pain in its pages. Worth a read for sure.
So clearly summer was my reading season this year! I got through a lot of books in July, in particular (twenty! I think that’s a record) but enjoyed my reading. I’ve discovered that reading challenges are a great way for me to really focus on reading as much as I can, and while I couldn’t keep up that pace all the time (lucky my kid was in summer camp for part of that time), I do enjoy having that push from time to time.
What did you guys read this summer? Have you read any of the books I read? Any new favourites from your summer reading?