What I read this summer
Well this summer certainly didn’t go as planned. I thought maybe the reading would taper off as things began to reopen and we returned to our “new normal.” (Show of hands, who is already sick of that term?) And I was completely wrong.
Spring rolled right through summer and I became one of those people who basically reads a book a week (I won’t brag about it though, promise). The good news about this development is that I can recommend SO MANY more books now, and oh man, did I strike gold this summer.
If you haven’t read any of my previous book blogs, you may scroll through this one and get the impression that I give stars like Oprah gives away cars. This is not the case at all. I just hit a summer of literary awesomeness, which I’ll take given everything else going wrong in the world.
This year, I h̶a̶v̶e̶ had a goal to read 40 books, which I surpassed in August (yay). You can see everything I’ve read so far (beyond 2020 too) on Goodreads. Catch up on my 2020 winter reads here and my spring reads here.
Since I’m often asked for book recommendations, I thought I would put together more frequent posts about what I’ve recently read. Below is everything I read in June, July and August, along with a quick synopsis and general thoughts.
Five Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐
The Southern Book Club’s Guide to Slaying Vampires
Grady Hendrix
Stats: Horror, 400 pages
Quick summary
Set in the 90s, Patricia is trying her hardest to be a good wife and mother, adhering to the rules of Southern charm. Her book club is her respite, reading trashy true crime novels month after month. Things change when James Harris moves to town to take care of his great aunt and children start to go missing. Everyone loves James, but there’s something about him that’s not quite right and Patricia is determined to solve the case, with or without help.
What I thought:
Delicious. I haven’t torn through a book in quite some time, but Southern Book Club was everything I needed. Billed as Fried Green Tomatoes and Steel Magnolias meet Dracula, it definitely read more like True Blood… except Sookie is a housewife and Bill is way more murderous.
Who should read it:
People who miss True Blood.
Born a Crime: Stories from a South African Childhood
Trevor Noah
Stats: Memoir, 264 pages
Quick summary
In apartheid South Africa, Noah was literally born a crime — the child of a black Xhosa mother and white Swiss father — earning the label of colored. Through his stories, you see the consequences of not belonging in a country racially divided.
What I thought:
I’ll admit, I was sad when Jon Stewart left The Daily Show. Over the years, I’ve grown to love Trevor Noah for his unique insight on the problems Americans are currently facing. The best part of this book, and Noah in general honestly, is he is able to speak about such difficult topics like racism with the perfect balance of poignancy and humor.
Who should read it:
Everyone. This is one of the best memoirs I’ve ever read. Pro tip: Noah narrates the audiobook and he may be the best natural narrator of our time.
Atomic Habits
James Clear
Stats: Self Help, 319 pages
Quick summary
A clear guide on how to break bad habits and build new habits that align with your goals.
What I thought:
Yes. This is it. Clear gives a brief overview of how the brain works to create habits (both good and bad) and how we can interrupt the undesirable while fostering the desired. What I loved about this book was how concrete the steps were. If you’re ready to do the work, this book has the steps to reach your goals. (Hint: falling short of goals means your systems are failing you and this will help you troubleshoot).
Who should read it:
Anyone who has ever had a goal or dreamed for something different.
The Power of Habit
Charles Duhigg
Stats: Psychology, 375 pages
Quick summary
This book explores how habits drive everything from how Target can successfully predict and market to pregnant women to increase sales, to how they shaped the civil rights movement led by Martin Luther King Jr. By looking at case studies, we can see how habits affect individuals, companies and societies.
What I thought:
I know what you’re thinking, another habit book? I read Atomic while Mark read Power and then we swapped. And you know what? They’re both great for completely different reasons. In fact, I think they complement each other. While Atomic is mostly framework driven, Power explores the neuroscience and psychology of habits. I felt like I was back in my undergrad classes (swoon) reading case studies. This book is much more about the why of habits and not so much the do-it-yourself steps. There is an appendix in the back that gives some framework, but it feels like an afterthought.
Who should read it:
People who wonder how Target gets you to spend all your money there. This book talks about it.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo
Taylor Jenkins Reid
Stats: Historical Fiction, 391 pages
Quick summary
Young journalist, Monique Grant, is personally requested by reclusive film siren, Evelyn Hugo, to write her life biography for reasons unknown. Notorious for her seven husbands, Hugo finally reveals her true story over the course of several afternoons in her mansion. As the meetings go on, Grant discovers a duality to Hugo the world has never known.
What I thought:
This is the first book I’ve ever gotten from a Free Little Library (which are so cute). Something about old Hollywood just does something for me. Also, the reveal of her relationships took the story to places I didn’t think it would (no spoilers, you’ll love it, trust me).
Who should read it:
People who also love old Hollywood.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone
Lori Gottlieb
Stats: Nonfiction, 413 pages
Quick summary
Gottlieb is a therapist in the throws of mental turmoil following the breakup of a relationship she thought would last a lifetime. So she starts taking some of her own medicine and begins therapy with Wendell. This is their story, her story and the story of her patients.
What I thought:
Four nonfictions in my top slot, who am I?! Again, as a psychology major, I found this memoir fascinating. Gottlieb holds nothing back. She talks about what therapists think about when their clients are speaking (OMG they’re human and not always focused on you) and the different techniques she may use based on the client’s history, as well as weaving in her own revelations as a patient. Told this way, you could see the revelations being made by all clients from session to session.
Who should read it:
People who live to learn what makes someone tick.
Beach Read
Emily Henry
Stats: Romance, 384 pages
Quick summary
Following the death of her father, January Andrews, a romance novelist, learns of a secret cabin he had with a woman other than her mother. Now unable to write in their cabin that she has inherited, she strikes up a friendly competition with the writer who lives next door — her arch rival from college, Augustus Everett. He’ll write a rom-com and she’ll write the next Great American novel, winner determined by sales. What neither wagered on was how this bet would affect them over the course of a summer.
What I thought:
If you’ve read my other book blogs, you know this isn’t my usual flavor. I don’t gravitate toward romance… in fact, this may be the first I’ve read. And it was wonderful. Was it predictable? Yes. Was it bordering on cheesy at times? Oh sure. Was it light and fun and a good break? Also, yes. Do I regret reading it? Not one bit.
Who should read it:
The title says it all. You need a beach read? Add this to your queue.
Recursion
Blake Crouch
Stats: Science Fiction, 336 pages
Quick summary
Helena is a brilliant scientist researching ways to preserve memories. Barry is NYC cop who happens to be in the vicinity for a suicide call, the victim suffering from FMS, or False Memory Syndrome. Following the call, Barry searches for answers about the disease leading to alternate timelines and futures he wasn’t prepared for.
What I thought:
Reading Crouch is an absolute mindf*ck. My introduction to his work was Dark Matter (also excellent), and Recursion did not disappoint. As I voraciously turned each page, I found myself murmuring, ‘what the hell’ over and over again. This book absolutely flew and is science fiction at its best.
Who should read it:
People who muse about a life that could have been.
Four Stars ⭐⭐⭐⭐
A Man Called Ove
Fredrik Backman
Stats: Fiction, 353 pages
Quick summary
Ove is a grumpy old man. Everything and everyone bothers him. He’s been forced into retirement and is ready to leave this earth behind when a family with two children back their U-Haul over his mailbox. Over the course of the next few years, the family draws Ove back into society and a neighborhood that had all but written him off.
What I thought:
My cold dead heart. If you’re a crier, this one will do it. The first part of the book was rather slow and a bit repetitive (we get it, he’s a miserable old man), but the second half and the ending more than made up for it.
Who should read it:
People who ugly cried through St. Vincent.
Me and White Supremacy
Layla F. Saad
Stats: Race, 258 pages
Quick summary
A workbook that takes you through different levels of racism, challenging you to think about how what you say and do may be harmful (think: not seeing color and white savorism) to BIPOC.
What I thought:
This was the first of many on my list regarding anti-racism spurred by the Black Lives Matter protests this summer. It is not an easy read for white people. It will make you reflect just how deeply racism is rooted in specifically the United States, and how you more than likely have not been a good ancestor. Many of us aren’t overt racists (I hope), but Saad does a wonderful job of exploring more subtle racism.
Who should read it:
White people. Period.
Station Eleven
Emily St. John Mandel
Stats: Science Fiction, 354 pages
Quick summary
There are two worlds, the world before the Georgia Flu wiped out 99% of the world population and the world after. Much like The Walking Dead, sometimes the greatest threat isn’t the disease.
What I thought:
I had this on my reading list for awhile and my library hold finally came up… in the midst of a pandemic. I’m torn as to whether or not this made a story labeled as science fiction feel more like a non-fiction.
Who should read it:
People who love a good dystopian fiction.
Three Stars ⭐⭐⭐
We Are Never Meeting in Real Life
Samantha Irby
Stats: Essays, 272 pages
Quick summary
Irby, comedian and a creator of Bitches Gotta Eat, humorously takes us through the ups and downs of her life. No subject is off limits — the debacle of scattering her dads ashes, dating, her love/hate relationship with the cat she didn’t want, her IBD.
What I thought:
This was a rollercoaster honestly. There were some stories I literally laughed out loud (specifically My Bachelorette application and A Christmas carol) and others were so dark and sad, hidden under layers of sarcasm and self-deprecation. Her writing style is unique, but sometimes hard to follow as it morphs more toward stream of conscious and less actual sentence structure.
Who should read it:
People who need a break from their own life.
Oona Out of Order
Margarita Montimore
Stats: Science Fiction, 352 pages
Quick summary
It’s New Years Eve and Oona is counting down to the new year and her nineteenth birthday, ready to spend it with her boyfriend, the love of her life. As the clock strikes midnight, she wakes up disoriented in the future… the far future. She learns that every New Years Eve she’ll make another jump to a year of her life undetermined.
What I thought:
Man, I had high hopes for this one. It sounded so original and different from anything I had read so far and it just fell flat. I didn’t hate it, but I didn’t love it. It was just there.
Who should read it:
People needing a pool read.
Two Stars ⭐⭐
The Dutch House
Ann Patchett
Stats: Fiction, 352 pages
Quick summary
Siblings Danny and Maeve move into the Dutch House, an architectural behemoth built by the VanHoebeek family in the Philadelphia suburbs in the 1920s. As told by Danny, this is the story of the mother who abandoned them, the stepmother who exiled them and the family they built over five decades.
What I thought:
This was a book club pick by the Happier podcast (which I love) and it bored me to death. I’m capable of enjoying a slow burn (see: A Man Called Ove), but time crawled with The Dutch House. It felt so long for so little to happen.
Who should read it:
If you read the reviews, I’m in the minority. If slow, generational books are your jam, you may like it.