Best Books of July
As I say every month, I’m shamelessly stealing this idea from Jessica Lahey. She has a recurring monthly date where she reviews all the books she read that month. Book reviews are important for authors, and I want to get better about doing this.
So. I’m going to review them here and also online, but I’m going to do it a little differently. I’m only going to review the stuff I really liked. I don’t see a reason to spend my time writing about something I didn’t love; it’s just using up more of my energy. So only positive reviews.
These are the books I liked (or mostly liked) from July.
Rivals (Katharine McGee): I thought this series wrapped with the last book, so I was extremely happy to see that she decided to continue the story. The characters are great, the alternate history is fun. The book is like literary potato chips; you won’t feel like your life is enriched by reading the story, but who cares because it tastes/reads so good.
Death and Croissants (Ian Moore): This is up there as one of my favourite books of 2022. We aren’t getting the paper version in the US until this spring, but you can get the e-book version right now on all platforms. (And Blackwells ships for “free” to the US in the sense that the price you see on the site includes shipping. So it’s $10.97 for the book and shipping. The publisher’s site – Farrago – also has buying options for the US so we don’t have to wait). It is so much fun. It’s in the same vein as the Thursday Murder Club — clever, lighthearted mystery that makes you laugh and tilt your head to the side in sympathy for the characters at the same time. It’s set in the Loire Valley, mixing real places (that boat where you go through Chateau de Chenonceau) with a fictional B&B town. It’s funny. It’s sweet. And I loved it so much from the first chapter that I dragged my family to 12 different bookstores in London looking for the second book in the series. More on that next month…
Magpie (Elizabeth Day): I have never felt more seen by a book. She captures infertility perfectly, probably because the author has lived it. And far from being a painful read, it was like spending time with a friend who got it. While it wasn’t the best thriller — I figured out the twist 11% of the way through the book — it was an excellent novel. And I would gladly read whatever she writes next.
What did you read last month?
5 comments
I read This Is How It Always Is and Every Summer After. Neither are books I would typically read but both came well recommended. I don’t know that I’ll go out of my way to read others by these authors, like I would with
books I’ve truly loved, but I’m glad I read them both. TIHIAI really made me think and ESA was light and emotional in a way I could handle, and just right for summer.
Oooh, Magpie sounds good. And so fun when you can get a book from overseas earlier than the US release date!
July was a great reading month for me — 8 books. I already wrote about my absolute favorite, The Book of Delights by Ross Gay, but other notables were For the Wolf and For the Throne by Hannah Whitten (fun YA fantasy that was immersive and thoroughly enjoyable with a splash of romance), and The Aosawa Murders by Riku Onda. That one was fascinating because it was translated from Japanese and slowly unraveled a mystery where 17 people died of poisoning at a birthday party, through interviews and multiple perspectives that go back and forth in time. I really enjoyed it.
July was a good reading month for me too. I read eight books, but six of them were genre easy reading books that aren’t worth listing. However, I loved a memoir After the Tampa by Abbas Nazari, an Afghani refugee to NZ, and Maggie Shipstead’s The Great Circle, which unexpectedly also had a New Zealand element, about a female pioneer aviator. It’s a sweeping tale covering decades, but kept me interested the whole way.
July was not a good reading month for me — just two books finished, both of then book club/group selections. Too many distraction! They were:
* Anne of Green Gables” by L.M. Montgomery. My LMM Readathon Facebook group began reading & discussing this book on July 4th, chapter by chapter (two chapters per week). I will count this book as a re-read when we’re done in November. I first read this book when I was about 8 or 9 and hadn’t done a re-read in years… and I was reminded all over again why I loved/love it,, why it’s a classic, and what a genuis of a writer LMM was. 🙂
* “Anna and her Daughters” by D.E. Stevenson (in advance of my DES group read, which started July 11th. I will count this as a re-read when we’re done in late August). I enjoyed the premise and the main character/narrator, but the way the plot winds up didn’t sit well with me.
I’m already doing better for August. 😉
“Magpie” is in my TBR pile, as is a non-fiction book by Elizabeth Day called “How to Fail.” I believe she has a podcast of the same name. She is childless not by choice.
Ugh, typos! Sorry… I am on my laptop, but I’m typing at a desk instead of on my lapdesk, and it’s a different experience…!