Reading Recap: June 2025

Summer joy and summer sadness

June! Summer! What has June been like? A family beach trip that included riding bikes and perfect weather and naps and making friends at our resort. And also, flight delays and arguments and meltdowns. Summer camp and pool days and an overnight reading retreat. And expensive car repairs and job uncertainty and absolutely no routine. Swimming with my four-year-old and popsicles and horrific news day after day after day. I guess life has always been this full of good and bad, but I just notice it more now that I’m in my thirties and have a child? I’m obsessed with this poem by Jillian Stacia for that exact reason. I try to practice gratitude, and I cry a lot. I have come to accept that my reading life is both an enrichment for my life and an escape from it.

Here’s what I read in June:

Never Flinch by Stephen King
I wouldn’t say this was my favorite non-horror Stephen King (that’s probably Billy Summers or Holly), but you can almost never go wrong reading Stephen King on the beach, which is where I read this one. Also, the plot is eerily similar to the politically motivated murder that happened in Minnesota.

Things in Nature Merely Grow by Yiyun Li
When Traci Thomas of

Unstacked

and bookstore owner Annie B. Jones both recommend a book, I immediately add it to my TBR. They both have excellent taste. But WHEW, how do I even talk about this book!? It is a devastating memoir about the writer’s loss of both of her sons to suicide. It is both heartbreaking and unbelievable and at times funny? It felt like such a profound way to honor the memories of her children by writing about them to know them better. I can’t exactly say I liked it because it was truly so sad.

Endling by Maria Reva
Remember how Russia invaded Ukraine and they’re STILL AT WAR. Maria Reva writes about the start of the war but not at all in the way you’re imagining. I don’t even want to tell you the plot because I don’t want to give too much away! This book was so weird and brilliant, and I am still wondering what exactly happened. It was funny and devastating and Reva somehow managed to both break the fourth wall and write about war and loss in a way that was so enraging AND made me care about a snail! All the stars.

Bug Hollow by Michelle Huneven
Years ago, I read a book called Landslide by Susan Conley and I still think about the mother in that book. And this novel reminded me of that one. I loved both. This was a nostalgic family drama that wasn’t too sad but also wasn’t too cheesy. The book is dedicated to Altadena, CA, and is in fact, a love letter to California. I also loved the dad in this book even though he wasn’t perfect. Write better dads, literary fiction authors!

Notes on Infinity by Austin Taylor
If Bad Blood and The Rachel Incident had a book baby, it would sort of be Notes on Infinity. But it was definitely not as good as either of those books. I’ve seen it compared to Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow, and I have to say ABSOLUTELY NOT. The tone is completely different. The only similarity is that two college students become partners at a start-up and things go awry. I have actually a lot of thoughts about this book and why I didn’t like it. It was well written, but it was way too long, and I felt like the turmoil the characters eventually landed in was unbelievable.

Heart the Lover by Lily King
I’m sorry this doesn’t come out until October 25, BUT the good news is that it gives you plenty of time to read Writers and Lovers, the prequel to this novel that came out in 2021. This is a delightful story about first love, friendship, being young and growing up and how the decisions we make go with us for our whole life. I loved it and cried like a baby at the end.