2023 Monthly Reading Wrap-Up: July
June was a fluke, May was a drag, but July saw my reading getting back to where I usually am. I finished 11 books, with the hopes of finishing 13 but on the eve of August, instead of reading, I spent time with my husband. So 11 books it is. Summer will be winding down soon, and dark academia and spooky books will soon be on the agenda. While I always love good reads for the seasons, I'm always a little sad to bid farewell (or think about bidding farewell) to hot, humid, sweaty summer.
Here are the stats and reviews!
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelves: Chick Lit, Romance
Review: Emily Henry's writing is fantastic and I think this was such an ambitious story for being her debut, or at least being the book that put her on the map in the contemporary romance/women's fiction genres. The story about writers having writer's block and switching genres was compelling and I enjoyed reading about them and their processes for writing their books.
However, I have a lot of complicated feelings about a lot of the topics in this book. It's marketed as a romance, which I don't think it is. The cover is deceptive (hardly any time is spent on a beach, and the cartoon cover certainly doesn't convey the deep-rooted trauma our characters are dealing with). I also didn't really jive with the cult storyline. It just felt over-the-top and so unnecessary.
I won't talk in detail about my issues with Gus, but he detracted from the story with some of his actions. Namely, his lack of communication and then seriously considering (even if it was for the briefest of moments) staying with his wife, who cheated on him and who he cheated on, after everything that happened. If this was your first Emily Henry book, I can understand why you would love it or feel a strong connection to it. I personally think the other books I've read by her are better.
I can say I read it, but honestly, I probably could have done without. I enjoyed more about it than I disliked but the parts I disliked I definitely felt more strongly about.
Alone with You in the Ether by Olivie Blake
Rating: ⭐️⭐️.75
Shelves: Modern Literature
Review: Out of the gate, even though this is subtitled as a love story, I wouldn't consider this book to be a romance. And there is a difference between the two, which people should be aware of going into this. It is literary fiction, in my opinion, about a woman who is dealing with a severe mental illness and a man who has struggled with addiction, and their story of meeting one another and falling in love. This felt manic (which I think was the whole point), and the writing style made it difficult for me to feel connected to at least Regan for most of the book. Maybe it was also just the way the characters were written in general too.
By nature, since one main character is a math Ph.D student/professor and the other is a docent/artist at the Art Institute of Chicago, it's going to read pretentious to most people. That's fine for me, but paired with the overall content and decisions mostly made by the FMC, the reading experience was more stressful than enjoyable for me. I ended up not being invested in the outcome of the story and sort of hoped they didn't end up together by the end. The author's note helped with the story's implications of medication for those with mental illnesses, but I would still be cautious going into this if that's a sensitive topic for you.
I can 100% see why people would love this. It just wasn't the book for me, which I'm surprised and disappointed about. There were a lot of pretty one-liners though. And I appreciated the reasons why Olivie Blake wrote this book.
Firekeeper's Daughter by Angeline Boulley
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Shelves: All-Time Favorites, Historical Fiction, Mystery, Young Adult
Review: I loved pretty much everything about this book from the reason the author wrote it to the setting to the characters. Even though it felt a bit long at times, the overall pacing (especially toward the end) had me wanting to keep reading. There are a lot of difficult topics that this book tackles, specifically within indigenous communities, but I thought they were handled really well. Not to mention, our main heroine is a bad ass.
I loved the ways the author wrote about the power of community. It showed how necessary and healing it can be, even if it's imperfect. Even though this is a YA, borderline NA, novel, the reading level/language felt a bit older which is probably why I enjoyed it a bit more. The heightened and more mature awareness that the main character had throughout the book lended itself to that well. I also loved that hockey was an element here, and I loved that our main character played with the boys in high school! A bad ass!
I am excited to read what Angeline Boulley puts out in the future, and think her voice is an important one for indigenous communities and the readers who wish to know more about them.
The Food Explorer: The True Adventures of the Globe-Trotting Botanist Who Transformed What America Eats by Daniel Stone
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelves: History, Memoir-Biography, Nonfiction, Science
Review: The Food Explorer is about the botanist David Fairchild and his food "discoveries" across the globe. It's a biography that's easily accessible and easy to read, and brings together the connections of people in US history during the late 1800s and early 1900s (like, Fairchild married Alexander Graham Bell's daughter--who knew?? Not me!). For a history nerd like me, I really enjoyed it. But I do think you need to have a passion or interest for the subject and/or the person to really get something from this. Otherwise, I could definitely see someone getting bored with it.
The major flaw, for me, with books like this though is that it's centered on a white dude who is essentially acknowledged for "finding" something he didn't find. John Muir and Yosemite. Darwin and the finches of the Galapagos. Alexander Humboldt and the plants and animals of South America. These places, foods, plants, and animals all existed for indigenous and native peoples, but these were the first European or American men to write them down or bring them back to "civilization" and so are therefore credited with their finds and contributions to our societies. There are a lot of problematic attitudes surrounding these things, but I did think the book did its best to navigate them and the author called these issues out when he could.
So if you're looking for something on food and exploration, you may enjoy this. But just be aware of the historical biases that come with books like this as you're reading.
Ghosted by Amanda Quain
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelves: ARCs, Young Adult
Review: Ghosted, a Northanger Abbey gender-swapped retelling, follows Hattie Tilney, a senior in high school, as she plays the role of perfect daughter, friend, and student. When a new student on a ghost studies scholarship, Kit Morland, shows up, her plan for senior year starts to unravel.
I have never read Northanger Abbey to compare this YA novel to, but I thought it was fun! The conversations Hattie has with her friends, siblings, and love interest all felt very much like those I was having when I was in high school. They made me laugh out loud, and I liked the cast of characters a lot. I did have a hard time buying the tension between the two main characters, and I don't know if that's because Hattie kept mentioning the tension that I just didn't feel, or if I just missed something else. I thought the romance aspect was cute (definitely slow burn), but I didn't feel the chemistry that was frequently mentioned. I enjoyed the style in which the novel was written, although I think it was too lighthearted to pull off a dark academia vibe/aesthetic that I think it was trying to go for.
My main issues with this came down to the way the story was structured. For being a book about ghosts, it felt more like a book about Hattie's school project. If you're going into this hoping for it to be spooky, that doesn't really exist. The story meandered and acted like it stuck to a plot, but it didn't always hold my interest. While it was easy to read, it usually ended up putting me to sleep. In addition, if you're not a fan of the miscommunication/lack of communication trope, there is quite a lot of that in this story, mainly between Hattie and her mother.
I think this was a cute read that you could read any time of the year. I just wish it had a bit more structure. This was an advanced reader copy, so thank you to NetGalley, St. Martin's Press, and Wednesday Books. This title published July 25, 2023!
Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Shelves: All-Time Favorites, Beach Reads, LGBTQIA+, Romance, Travel
Review: Something Wild & Wonderful was a pleasant surprise and a breath of fresh air. I really enjoyed getting to know these characters as they learned about each other and themselves while hiking the Pacific Crest Trail. I liked the premise, I liked the writing style, I liked the settings, and I liked the tropes and the characters. Found family, sort-of grumpy sunshine, long distance relationships, man versus nature, and man versus himself. (I'm sure I'm missing some, but these were the first that came to mind.) We got to see two men be vulnerable with each other and fall in love, and that's always really beautiful to me.
This book dealt with heavier topics around coming out and being in a religious family/environment, but I really liked that love was at the center. I appreciated that our characters were also working on themselves while also helping each other. It was really sweet.
There were only minor things that kept it from being a perfect read for me (using character names way too frequently, a weird what felt like last-minute inclusion of autism, having a Brazilian (maybe) family and then them not having Brazilian food?? at a get together???). But otherwise, it was such a good read that ended up being very emotional for me, and good for the soul.
This was also a buddy read, and that made it way more thought-provoking and enjoyable.
This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelves: ARCs, Graphic Novels, Memoir-Biography, Nonfiction
Review: This Country follows Navied and his wife as they leave the urban and expensive living of San Francisco for a homestead in the middle of nowhere Idaho. Navied is a brown person moving to a very white, very rural part of the country where ranchers are king as are the traditional ways of doing things. Like showing John Wayne movies at the local movie theater and being off-handedly sexist and racist. It's a struggle that I'm sure most BIPOC can relate to, and an unfortunate stereotype that is sadly true in a lot of rural America.
I think the overall message of this book is good. I appreciated the honest look at the author's experience trying to build a homestead in rural Idaho, but I think the urban vs. rural mindsets wasn't represented the best. He did well to point out the positives and negatives of both environments, but there was a lot of criticism about rural life that I feel like people could take as a blanket statement for all rural environments that isn't necessarily accurate. Maybe I'm looking at it with rose-colored glasses as someone who has grown up in rural places most of my life as a white woman. Maybe we really are that bad, but I've still managed to find pockets of people with my similar beliefs (which, the author did too, but it was represented in one couple). Regardless, an important read for white folks about how BIPOC are treated in communities that can do much better at accepting people and things that are different than what they're used to.
This was an advanced reader copy, so thank you to Princeton Architectural Press/Chronicle Books and NetGalley. This title publishes September 12, 2023.
Saving Sunshine by Saadia Faruqi
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Shelves: ARCs, Children's Literature, Graphic Novels
Review: Saving Sunshine follows siblings Zara and Zeeshan as they learn to work as a team. Their mother is receiving a prestigious award in Key West for being a top pediatrician in the country, but the trip down is a nightmare as Zara and Zeeshan bicker constantly. After their phones are taken away and they're forced to bond technology-free for the entire trip, a friendship builds and a bond grows over the mission of helping save Sunshine, a leatherback turtle Zara finds in need of TLC.
I thought this was a really beautiful story about Muslim twin siblings who re-learn how to like and stick up for each other. Being children of first-generation immigrant parents from Pakistan, the messages of identity and acceptance are present, which I think are super important for the age group this is targeted for. I thought the messages were really powerful, the illustration style was great, and the characters were lovable. I highly recommend this!
This was an advanced reader copy, so thank you to First Second Books and NetGalley for this in exchange for an honest review. This title publishes September 5, 2023.
Climate Resilience: How We Keep Each Other Safe, Care for Our Communities, and Fight Back Against Climate Change by Kylie Flanagan
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️
Shelves: ARCs, Environmental, Nonfiction, Science, Short Stories
Review: Climate Resilience is an excellent read if you're looking to learn more about the ways the minority climate leaders are out doing the work to slow down the negative effects of climate change. The author was very purposeful about the people she chose to write essays, making sure every single contributor was a woman, non-binary, or gender-expansive, and came from communities of underrepresented groups.
This was a very informative read with actionable items at the end of most chapters. What I liked about the extreme amount of care and thought that went into this book was how the author addressed action in the introduction of this book. She recognized that combating climate change can feel very overwhelming and like what one person does on their own may not feel like that big of a difference, and so she challenged readers instead to assess the topics that really ignited passion as we read and to chase those issues. Rather than trying to change everything we do in order to combat climate change, pick one area that we really feel strongly about and follow the advice and action items in that chapter.
And then each chapter is an essay by an expert in that area, but an expert whose voice has likely been stifled for the majority of the US's history. This was an ambitious project, but an admirable one that I think a lot of people will find informative and approachable. Thank you to NetGalley and North Atlantic Books for giving me advanced reader access to this title. It published August 1, 2023!
They Never Learn by Layne Fargo
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️.5
Shelves: Book Club, Beach Reads, Horror-Thriller
Review: I don't read a lot of thrillers so I feel like my rating is more generous than someone who reads them often. I basically rate thrillers high if they surprise me/shock me, and the twist is good or believable, and this book managed to deliver those things for me. So much so that I had to go back through the book to make sure I wasn't losing my mind.
I 100% felt the rage of our main character, or at least understood it, and actually found myself rooting for her throughout the book (which is sick, I understand, lol). I enjoyed the setting being in academia, and would even recommend this as a dark academia thriller, which I kind of loved.
I think the only reasons I knocked it half a star were 1) the lack of consequences just felt a bit too convenient. Like, play it up, have at least a tease of a charge or something. There were tense parts, but not tense enough; and 2) there was only one good man in the whole book, and he was gay. This was a big critique that I had for another book I read earlier this year, Weyward. I understand writing a book that doesn't acknowledge good men, but is trying to be a feminist novel because the good men aren't the point. However, I still stand by that I'd like to see more good men, secondary or tertiary as they may be, in these feminist or women-empowering novels. And I didn't really get that here.
Otherwise, this kept me on my toes and kept me anxious! I wanted to know what happened next and I was overall pretty satisfied with the story. It was a good discussion with my book club, which is always a positive thing. A great thriller for the fall/start of the school year if you're looking for that kind of vibe.
The Nature Fix: Why Nature Makes Happier, Healthier, and More Creative by Florence Williams
Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.75
Shelves: Environmental, Nonfiction, Psychology, Science, Travel
Review: The premise behind this book was super fascinating to me as someone who has grown up, lived, and interacted in or around nature most of my life. I was curious what the scientific studies and other cultures would have to say about time spent outside, and I wasn't disappointed. The author presents a lot of scientific studies, both past and present, and also discusses how cultures around the world interact with nature. She talks about how urbanized areas combat the lack of green spaces, and gives easy actionable items for those who want more nature in their lives.
But, I did feel like this was partially a memoir, which I wasn't expecting. A lot of what the author included about her own life and her own experiences didn't enhance it for (which, it might and probably has enhanced it for other readers). At times, it felt like if those things had been removed, this could have made for a really interesting and punchy article rather than an entire book. In the beginning of the book, she mourns her loss of the wild landscapes of Colorado because her family has to move to Washington, D.C. (they have planes flying overhead all the time, and traffic, and less quiet greenspaces). She is consistently mentioning how much she dislikes DC, and it felt like she was looking at an orange expecting it to be broccoli. Of course, by the end of the book, she comes around a little bit, but I could have done without that, even when she used the differences to prove a point.
It was definitely interesting and I'm glad I read it. I think if you have an interest in this study/topic, you'll get something from this book!
DID NOT FINISH
Oh God, the Sun Goes by David Connor
Review: I DNF'd this book at about 59% and where I stopped, it was hanging at around a two-star rating. I was intrigued by this story at first, curious to find out what happened to the sun, but then it fell into something that felt a bit more existential and speculative than I had anticipated. When sex (and the terrible writing of it) came into the plot, it lost me once and then twice, and I stopped after the second time.
I'm sure this book will appeal to those who want to pry a deeper meaning out of this book and parallel that meaning with life, but it just didn't do it for me. I don't really care if this ended up being a commentary on one's own mind, love, or anything in between. I didn't jive with it.
This was an advanced reader copy, so thank you to NetGalley and Melville House Publishing for giving me advanced access to this. It published August 1, 2023.
