July, how you surprised me! What a month I had when it came to reading! I was locked in and found myself immersed in several (fictional) towns across America and Europe. It was wonderful! I’m hoping August provides more of the same. Onwards we plough into the books that I adored, liked and bored me to tears!
I started listening to The Road to Tender Hearts back in March and knew from the first hour of listening that I was going to absolutely adore this book. So I pressed pause, waiting until I could find the perfect opportunity to revisit it. And my god - what a book. What an audiobook.
Annie Hartnett has the ability to make you roar laughing in a single sentence, and then half a page later leave you broken with another single sentence. What a talent. Seriously, Annie Hartnett has written a book that is an absolute joy from start to finish. Journey with PJ and his newly acquired cat, Pancakes, as he discovers that his former girlfriend, Michelle Cobb (from 45 years ago), has recently been widowed. At the same time, PJ discovers he is the sole relation left to take care of two orphaned children, Luna and Ollie. At 63 years old, PJ’s not sure he’s capable of looking after two small children, a cat and a crippling alcohol problem.
Rather than face his problems, PJ ropes in his daughter Sophie, and they make the drive across the US to tell Michelle Cobb that she was the love of his life.
Hilarious, joyous and one of the best audiobooks I’ve ever listened to. I dragged The Road to Tender Hearts out for as long as possible, unwilling to be parted from PJ, Pancakes and the rest of the family. Easily one of my top recommendations of the year.
5 Stars
When Jenny Jackson released her debut, Pineapple Street, I gobbled it up in a few sittings and placed it on my Summer Reading List. It stayed there for a year or two before eventually being replaced with some other title. If you’re a fan of The Wedding People by Alison Espach, you’ll love The Shampoo Effect, her latest novel, released in July.
Caroline Lash has won a prestigious writing residency in a small Massachuset coast. She meets local boy Van, an environmentalist with a big heart and a close group of childhood friends. Bailey, Augusta, Colin, Fran & RJ have been friends since they were small, and are particularly aghast when Van brings Caroline into their group dynamics. It doesn’t help that Bailey is pregnant with Van’s baby. It’s messy and so real as the group navigate being parents to their children, as well as their own parents, and the complicated dynamics within the group.
Jenny Jackson writes characters that soar from the page, and the complicated relationships within the childhood friends feel uncomfortably real at times. There is a part of The Shampoo Effect, almost 2/3rds of the way through, that I audibly gasped out loud, ‘No way’ before racing onwards, hand firmly clasped over my mouth.
If you like messy friendship groups, gorgeous people, and books set in a small wealthy coastal town, you’ll enjoy The Shampoo Effect.
4.25 Stars
Someone find this book an editor. Stat.
Where to start besides the outrageous length? Look, the positives of Into the Blue are that AJ & Noah have chemistry. It’s toxic af, but they most certainly have chemistry.
Thrown together in their small town, AJ & Noah become scene partners during the summer of 2000. AJ has big plans to write and escape the town, and working with acting dynasty Noah Drew looks like it may be her ticket out. Over the summer, under the guidance of Noah’s aunt, Eudora, they develop an unmistakable bond that ignites their desire. The reader spends the next 450+ pages on the set of a Sci-Fi show, a comic-con convention and a stage production, waiting for these two to get together.
Throw in several dozen pages of sex (in a row), and by the time I reached the final page, I was completely done with this book. The book’s length never seemed to end. The characters never seemed to learn. And Noah Drew is toxic AF.
Sharpening and whittling it down to the 300-page mark could have made this book so much more enjoyable.
3 Stars (I’m being really generous)
Ok, wow. Wow, wow, wow. What a quiet little book. I went to bed with 50 pages left, knowing it was a dangerous decision to make. I could feel it in the storytelling that I was going to come undone.
Daphne and her husband Jonathan are walking around the Met when they notice an older gentleman following in their wake. Upon speaking to the man, they learn that he is Daphne’s former stepfather, Eddie Triplett, a man who was briefly in her life as a child and had a remarkable impact on her world.
What follows is a beautiful story of recollection and how relationships shape and change us, even if they’re brief. Whistler is a hug in a book, and I will always remember Eddie Triplett, his kindness, love and adoration for a long time.
We ride at dawn for Eddie Triplett.
4.75 Stars
Hmmm. I’m really not sure what to make of The Things We Never Say.
I’ve been sitting thinking about my feelings around reading this book, and I’m honestly a little bamboozled. Artie Dam is a high school history teacher who lives a very ordinary life. He has a wife, Evie and a grown-up son, Rob. He is surrounded by people, and yet he feels terribly lonely. The political situation in the US isn’t helping his depression. When Artie discovers something monumentally life-changing, he has to make a decision about its impact.
And therein lies the title of the book, The Things We Never Say. Can we really know a person despite spending 35 years in their orbit? How well do we know each other? And why don’t people speak the truth? How much capacity do we have for one another?
A series of profound questions.
I’ll admit, going into the book, I didn’t think it would be as heavy a topic as it turned out to be. A lot of the complaints online have been about its political nature, and that wasn’t the issue for me. I found it to be overwhelmingly depressing. With little hope for optimism. It also made me glad that I no longer have a role in the classroom; the students that Artie teaches are painfully real.
I don’t know who I would recommend this to. I’m fairly confident that it wasn’t for me. And I’m struggling with a rating; I didn’t hate it, nor did I love it. So somewhere in the middle.
3 Stars (???)
After watching The Odyssey, I yearned for something Greek-ish. Having sat on my bookshelf for far too long, I finally made my way through Glorious Exploits by Ferdia Lennon.
Firstly, Ferdia Lennon is an incredible writer. Some of the freshest sentences and paragraphs I’ve read in some time. It feels so effortless. I even bought a pencil so I could underline some of his fantastic words. Consider me a huge fan of his work. I can’t wait to see what he writes in the future.
Glorious Exploits is such a fun story, and perhaps I enjoyed it even more because the characters, despite being from Syracuse, Sicily, all have strong Dublin accents. And why the fuck not? It’s so simple and yet staggeringly genius.
Set in 412 B.C, we follow Lampo and his best mate Gelon as they attempt to stage the works of Euripides with captured Athenians. The Athenians are being held in the quarries of Syracuse after losing their war against the Syracusans. Lampo is a flawed character, drinks and spends too much and says hurtful remarks to those he cares about. Yet, despite the cruelty of his words and actions, Lampo has deep pockets of empathy that push our characters and story forward.
I gobbled up Glorious Exploits over 3 days and cannot wait for what Ferdia Lennon will write next.
4 stars
The thing that gets most people talking about Good People is how ambiguous the story is. Patmeena Sabit has created a story told entirely through eyewitnesses, family friends, neighbours, lawyers and miscellaneous others in the case of the Sharaf family.
The Sharaf family arrived in the US from Afghanistan with just the clothes on their backs. Over the years that passed, they pulled themselves up and lived out the American Dream. By the time their eldest daughter Zorah dies, the Sharaf family are living in one of the most exclusive areas in Washington, DC, attending prestigious schools and living with a wealth that is envied by other members of the Afghani community in the area.
Zorah’s death, depending on who you speak to, was either a terrible tragedy or something more sinister. And that is up to the reader to determine who exactly is telling the truth, who is seeking retribution and whether you can assimilate into a culture and leave the old one behind.
I really enjoyed Good People, and the questions that arose from reading it. I’m still not sure where I stand on the death of Zorah, but I’d love to hear other people’s thoughts on it!
4 stars
A stunning month of reading. Highs and lows across the board. I really loved Whistler and The Road to Tender Hearts as some of my standouts from the month.
How was your month of reading in July? Anything great that you read or enjoyed? Leave a comment below and let me know!
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