what I actually read this summer

I had a long list of books I planned to read this summer (see here), which included the literature I’d selected for my kid’s 6th grade year.

This summer certainly played out differently than it had in my head (isn’t that always the case). My book club announced a summer reading bingo challenge, which I wanted to attempt to complete. Writerly Love bingo was also on my radar but I was a little brain dead this summer and found it harder to pay attention to those little nuggets which would have answered the prompts (I did complete a few squares!). I think Kortney had the right approach for that challenge, in using a book of poetry. At the end of the day, I still read a lot. Some where on my summer reading list, some were not.

The Last Bear by Hannah Gold. 3/5; first novel study for the homeschool year (and the only thing I managed to pre-read all summer long). meh. I think this book tries to be a lot of things and doesn’t quite get there. I had already purchased the curriculum for it so my kid did read it as well- I was worried he wouldn’t like it (it’s a little more juvenile than I thought it would be) but he finished with no complaints.

Lost and Lassoed, Swift and Saddled, Wild and Wrangled by Lyla Sage. I finished off the Rebel Blue series after reading Done and Dusted earlier in the year. Overall, highly recommend if you’re a contemporary romance fan. Some of the books are funnier than others. I’ll admit I’m disappointed the author’s next series is paranormal romance, which is a no-go for me.

Problematic Summer Romance by Ali Hazelwood. 4/5; I DNF’d the book this one is a spin-off of, but I was hopeful. The beginning dragged a bit but about halfway through things picked up. I think it was trying too hard to be rom-commy, some of the characters are too over the top (I think this style is fine if that’s what you’re into, but I feel it departs from Hazelwood’s tone in her earlier books, which are, imho, perfect)

Set Piece by Lana Schwartz. 3/5 I’m really enjoying 831 Stories as a publisher and can count of their books to be smart, sexy, quick reads. This one the characters went back and forth a couple too many times for my taste.

Permission by Elissa Altman. 5/5, wanted to highlight the whole book. Must read if you write memoir, particularly anything involving family.

Sandwich by Catherine Newman. 5/5, a good companion to Pete and Alice in Maine, looking forward to the sequel, Wreck.

Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum. 4/5 deep dive into the invention of reality TV. I remember watching Survivor and Big Brother in a friend’s basement in 8th grade and it felt like the dawn of a new era of TV. In a way, I guess it was, but this book traces the origins of reality TV back to the radio days so also, not really.

Reading the Waves by Lidia Yuknavitch. 5/5; Yuknavitch is a master of story and form. Another must-read for memoirists.

First-Time Caller by BK Borison. 3/5; wanted to like this more than I did. Character development felt off and it was really slow until the last third.

Fuel by Naomi Shihab Nye. 3/5; most of the poems didn’t do much for me but there are a few favorites in here.

The Last Mrs. Parrish by Liv Constantine. Book club pick for June. Awful. 0 stars. My book club previously read The Housemaid and there are SO MANY similarities between the two books that it can’t be coincidental. The Housemaid, which was published after The Last Mrs. Parrish, is slightly better written (which isn’t saying much). It’s also a movie? I just don’t understand how there hasn’t been a plagiarism scandal regarding these titles. I have so many questions. Either way, don’t read either.

This is the Story of a Happy Marriage by Ann Patchett. 4/5. I generally like Patchett’s essay collections but haven’t been able to get into her novels yet.

Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Book club pick for July. 5/5 I’ve had this on my shelf for forever and can’t believe I hadn’t read it until now. Loved every second of it, even the parts that gutted me (iykyk).

Jessica’s Guide to Dating on the Dark Side by Beth Fantaskey. 5/5; a grad-school-era re-read because I needed a romantasy square for bingo. A teen in rural Pennsylvania discovers she’s a vampire princess when the guy she is betrothed to shows up unexpectedly. It’s cute and funny.

Until it Fades by KA Tucker. 5/5; this has been on my reading list before, one of my favorite romances.

The Andy Cohen Diaries by Andy Cohen. 4/5; selected for the possibility of John Mayer appearances and it didn’t disappoint. This was my audiobook for bingo

The Hating Game by Sally Thorne. see also: Until it Fades.

The Bones Beneath my Skin by TJ Klune. 4/5; August book club pick. This book did not get my vote so I was surprised I liked it more than I thought I would. The first third was a little slow.

Wrath of the Triple Goddess by Rick Riordan. Still reading Percy Jackson, check back in a couple of years when I’ve maybe reached the end of Riordan’s back list.

The Best of Me by David Sedaris. 4/5; a mix of Sedaris’ essays and fiction over the years. I don’t think I’d read any of his fiction before and I can’t say I’m a fan. His essays, though, especially the more recent ones exploring grief, are excellent. (Also, always delighted to read one of his books and see a reference to Binghamton, New York, which is where Sedaris was born and the “metro” (I use the term loosely) area where I grew up.)

Practice by Rosalind Brown. 5/5; I think I saw this recommended by someone on Substack? But I don’t remember who. Anyway, I loved it so much. A shorter read that takes place over one day while Annabel is trying to write an essay. Read if you enjoyed Elif Batuman’s The Idiot or Christine Smallwood’s Life of the Mind. (I’d probably also toss Curtis Sittenfeld in there, too, as a read-a-like.)

Lily by Cindy Bonner. 4/5; another grad-school-era re-read for me. I needed a historical fiction for bingo, which isn’t typically my jam, but I remember liking this one when I read it for my adult reading interests class. Lily is a love story set in central Texas in the late 1800’s. It’s based on real events and I drove past McDade on my way to and from Houston right before I reread it, so that was fun. I devoured this and then realized there’s a sequel I hadn’t read, now out of print, and immediately tracked down a copy…

Looking after Lily by Cindy Bonner. 3.5/5; didn’t like this nearly as much as the first book, but it was fine and was a the perfect read as I reacclimatized to my life post-Squam.

The Genius of Judy by Rachelle Bergstein. 4/5; Judy Blume was a public library discovery for me; loved Starring Sally J. Freedman, Are You There, God? and Just As Long as We’re Together, among others. As a kid, I had no idea that her books were controversial (and by the mid- to late-90’s when I was reading them, I think some of that had died down), just that I loved them. This book traces her career and puts it into social and historical context. Judy Blume forever. (I met her at a library conference, she signed a copy of Sally J. for me, she’s so sweet.)

Square Waves by Alexandra Romanoff. 3/5. Honestly I don’t remember why I gave this 3 stars. It was solid but didn’t wow me.

Comedic Timing by Upsana Barath. 2/5. Least favorite of the 831 Stories so far. Didn’t connect at all with the characters and found them annoying.

Men Have Called Her Crazy by Anna Marie Tendler. 3.5/ 5. I read this entire memoir before realizing that Tender is John Mulaney’s ex. The memoir recounts Tendler’s time in a psychiatric hospital; she often states her dislike and distrust of men (and who can blame her) and flashes back to events from her teens, twenties, and dating life. It was good but I think it was lacking a bit of depth. Some men were shitty to her but unless I missed it, there wasn’t any gaslighting from men, which is what I was expecting based on the title. There could have been a bit more reflection to tie the events together more.

I read a total of 29 books this summer. I did black out my bingo card with my book club, and I won the grand prize, which was a box o’ bookish goodies carefully curated by our amazing book club organizer, Cassie.

I was not the only book club member to black out my board, but as I told my friend Lauren (fellow black out reader), I sometimes feel a little self-conscious about it. The question “how do you read so much?” gets lobbed at me and I don’t have a great answer for that. Reading is, 1000%, a coping mechanism for me. I think it saved my life when I was suffering from PPA after my second child. Romance novels were an escape and Molly Caro May’s Body Full of Stars was a mirror, an answer, and a solution. That period of time really set the stage for my reading life as it is now, and I am absolutely reading in part to cope with current stressors. I also read because I have to; for me it’s a form of stimming, and stimming is self-care.

I’ve also read more in recent years because I’ve gotten better about abandoning books that aren’t speaking to me, and I’m more likely to read on my e-reader (I think I read e-books faster, probably because I can adjust the font size). Also, whatever e-book I’m reading is probably from the library and I feel even less guilt about DNF a book I didn’t actually pay for. Audiobooks can be fun but they are also at least 3x slower for me than just reading the book (I’m not an audiobook-in-the-car-while-driving person). No shade to the audio-only readers (my dyslexic kid loves them and I’m so glad books are accessible to him that way), but I don’t think you can get through nearly as many books as you can in print.

Reading is my bedtime routine. Most nights I read a poem, a short story or essay, and then polish things off with whatever novel or non-fiction I’m currently reading. And I try to keep my e-reader fed (my library’s hold lists can be lengthy, but I’ve had good luck just browsing what’s currently available and can usually find 5-6 titles I’ve heard about and want to take a chance with) and on my person every time I leave the house. You never know when you’re going to end up waiting somewhere for 10 minutes, and in my case, I’m often waiting with kids. The younger two like to commandeer my phone (they both enjoy looking through the photos, which I suppose is the modern day equivalent of paging through the family photo album), and then I’m left twiddling my thumbs unless I’ve brought a book or knitting with me.

And any time I think I’m reading a lot, I think about an internet friend of mine who just polished off her 100th book for the year and remember I could always read more.

Any new favorites? Please drop them in the comments so I can add to my ever-lengthening TBR list.

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