Reading Recap: June 2023
Six books of summer.
I had such a good reading month in June! I finished 6 books, two of which were 5 stars. I am highly anticipating the new Ann Patchett book coming out on August 1st, and since there aren’t many July releases I’m excited about, I am hoping to read some of her backlist that I haven’t gotten around to.
June
The Last Animal by Ramona Ausubel
Did I think a book about a scientist who is a mom, who’s two daughters she takes with her on research trips because their father just died in a tragic accident would be a contender for my favorite book of the year? No, no I did not. These women who are all dealing with the grief of losing their husband and father in different ways stole my heart. The plot was so strange and endearing and unlike anything I’ve ever read. From the Siberian tundra to the shores of Lake Como, this book about being a daughter, being a woman, and trying to bring back the wooly mammoth was just incredible.
The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
The buzz surrounding this book got me. I am notorious for reading thrillers and then regretting it because I am not a thriller person anymore! I can see why some readers loved this— it was a serial killer story told from the prospective of the single victim he left alive (and in the shed in his back yard). What threw me off was the second person voice. It was confusing and while I understand the author’s point in using the second person voice, it just didn’t work for me.
The Dog of the North by Elizabeth McKenzie
What a zany book. I don’t know how I managed to read two books this month that I keep calling wacky, quirky, and zany, but this and The Last Animal can be described in such words! I will quote the Bookshop.org description because it is so perfect. “This slyly humorous, thoroughly winsome novel finds the purpose in life's curveballs, insisting that even when we are painfully warped by those we love most, we can be brought closer to our truest selves.” One thing I loved about it was the exclamation marks. A book just has a different vibe when exclamation marks are involved. Some literature takes itself so seriously; this book does not while also being well-written, funny, charming, and heartfelt.
Bad Summer People by Emma Rosenblum
My husband and I could not get past episode 3 of season 1 of Succession because everyone was just THE WORST. This is a lighter version of rich people being the worst, except it takes place during the summer in a Hampton’s style beach town. It starts with a dead body, and it is full of affairs, backstabbing, adults who acted like children and for some reason I just ate it up. Sarah’s Bookshelves refers to books like this as candy for your brain, and I think that is the perfect description.
Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton
Every so often I’ll read a book that I cannot give a star rating too. This is one of them. Not because it was so bad that it deserves zero stars, but because it was so chaotic and I have not been able to stop thinking about it for weeks after finishing it. Again I will defer to the Bookshop.org description because how else can you talk about a book with a group of activist gardeners (you read that correctly) and a drone-manufacturing billionaire? “A gripping psychological thriller from the Booker Prize-winning author of The Luminaries, Eleanor Catton's Birnam Wood is Shakespearean in its drama, Austenian in its wit, and, like both influences, fascinated by what makes us who we are. A brilliantly constructed study of intentions, actions, and consequences, it is a mesmerizing, unflinching consideration of the human impulse to ensure our own survival.”
Nobody Will Tell You This But Me by Bess Kalb
This book was so funny and sweet, even though it is about the loss of a grandmother. With an unusual format, “as told to me” is in the subtitle, it tries to capture the memories of Bess’s grandmother. It was a quick read and I thought it was such a beautiful and real illustration of what it means to be close to a grandparent who is an imperfect person. What does it mean to try and capture the essence of a person after they are gone? I also highly recommend following