The Dinner Party Test: What I Read in June

Welcome back to The Dinner Party Test, my monthly reading roundup.

One of my favorite things about reading is that it gives me something interesting to think about, something new to learn, and often, something worth talking about. While I enjoy hearing what others are reading, I’ve never been particularly drawn to assigning books stars, grades, or numerical rankings.

Instead, I like to ask three simple questions:

🍽️ Would I bring it up at a dinner party?
💕 Would I recommend it to a friend?
✨ Did it change how I think?

Some books teach you something practical. Others introduce you to a different perspective, transport you somewhere new, or simply make a long flight or quiet weekend more enjoyable. Not every book is trying to accomplish the same thing, which is why these questions feel more useful to me than a score out of five.

Apparently, June became my month for books about time. I didn’t set out with that intention, but I ended up reading two excellent books that approached the topic from different angles before diving into a novel that involved going back in time that was so engrossing that it was a tough act to follow as a I tried a few other novels.

Big Time

by Laura Vanderkam

🍽️ Would I bring it up at a dinner party? Absolutely—but not because I’d be trying to diagnose or fix someone’s time management struggles. Laura’s work isn’t about squeezing more into your calendar. It’s about being intentional with the time you have. One of my favorite ideas of hers is that people are a good use of time, a philosophy that feels especially refreshing in a culture that often treats relationships as interruptions to productivity.

💕 Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely. I’ve been a fan of Laura’s work ever since her book, 168 Hours, completely changed how I think about time and priorities. I read it in 2015 the summer before law school and have been dutifully tracking my time as she recommends ever since. One of the happiest surprises this month was that Laura reached out to me, not realizing I had long admired her work, and invited me to join her podcast to chat about etiquette and my book, Was It Something I Said? We recently recorded the episode, and it was every bit as enjoyable as I’d hoped.

✨ Did it change how I think? More than anything, it reinforced why I’ve admired Laura’s work for so many years. While this book may resonate especially with entrepreneurs or parents, Laura has spent years researching how people actually spend their time, and her insights apply far beyond those audiences. I’ve also long appreciated that she doesn’t let perfectionism become a barrier to doing meaningful work or starting something new. She consistently produces thoughtful, well-researched ideas while reminding us that excellence doesn’t require waiting for perfect circumstances.

Uptime

by Laura Mae Martin

🍽️ Would I bring it up at a dinner party? Yes—but again, not as a way of telling someone how to better organize their life. I’d be much more likely to bring it up in a conversation about leadership, teamwork, or how organizations function. It offers plenty of practical advice, but what interested me most were the ideas about how people work together and manage their personal and shared time well.

💕 Would I recommend it to a friend? Absolutely, especially if you enjoy Adam Grant’s books or like learning about organizational leadership, workplace culture, and interpersonal dynamics. Laura Mae Martin writes from her experience as Google’s Executive Productivity Advisor, and her perspective feels practical without becoming overly prescriptive.

✨ Did it change how I think? It reminded me that productivity isn’t simply about getting more done. The best systems help us communicate more clearly, collaborate more effectively, and spend our time where it matters most.

Yesteryear

by Caro Claire Burke

🍽️ Would I bring it up at a dinner party? Without question. Yesteryear is a psychological thriller set in the present time but also goes back in time to the 1800s and more recent past. It features a “tradwife” style content creator and her family. Through the lens of internet culture, influencer life, and the idealization of the past, it explores questions about identity, gender, and the stories we tell ourselves online. I read it before I realized quite how popular it had become, and I suspected I might enjoy it more than the average reader because I spend so much time thinking about internet culture and the ways online conversations shape our perceptions.

💕 Would I recommend it to a friend? Yes—with one caveat: it’s dark. But it’s also captivating. In fact, after finishing it, I started several other novels and couldn’t get into any of them because Yesteryear was so thrilling by comparison.

✨ Did it change how I think? It sharpened ideas I’d already been wrestling with, particularly around the conversation surrounding “trad wives.” The term has become so clickbait-y, reductive, and unnecessarily divisive that people often aren’t even talking about the same thing anymore. I appreciated that the novel explores these cultural questions with much more nuance than most online conversations allow.

One thing I found particularly interesting was the reaction to the author herself. I saw criticism suggesting she must be an angry person because she wrote an angry female protagonist. It made me wonder whether we make the same assumption about male authors who write deeply flawed or troubled male characters. We seem much more willing to separate male authors from their protagonists than female authors.

Finally, I also started an older memoir by a well-known entrepreneur in the beauty industry. I ultimately decided not to finish it. In the spirit of this series, I’d rather spend my time recommending books than criticizing them, so I’m going to keep that title to myself this month.

What have you been reading lately? I’d love to hear what’s earned a spot at your own dinner party.