7.02.2019

Books I Read in June


Miracle Creek by Angie Kim
This was an utterly absorbing, stay up late turning the pages courtroom drama! Not only is it an unflinching dissection of modern parenthood, and how we can never truly understand each other’s complex experience, but a whodunnit that had me guessing until the very end. This is what I expect from thrillers, yet they don’t seem to deliver- perhaps I should read more courtroom dramas?

Almost Everything by Anne Lamott
I am admitting that, until now, I have not consumed any of Anne Lamott's work. The spiritual woo-woo is just so. not. my. bag. However, I think all of us can use a little soothing and hope in these ridiculous times and it's been a little stressful in my little corner of the world. I figured this would be as good a time as any to give her, and Notes on Hope, a shot. One of the reasons I don't jive with self-help style books is that I find them to be just stating the obvious but in a pretty way. Certainly Lamott falls into this category for me, but she was so darn funny and she states the obvious in a profound, not just pretty, way. "Expectations are resentments under construction." Dang.

The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
Circe was one of absolute favorite books last year and I'm glad I finally got around to reading her first novel! This was just as readable and compelling as Circe, and I'm beginning to think I need to read more Greek mythology. Or is it just Miller's amazing storytelling? This account of Achilles and the Trojan war from the perspective of his companion and love, Patroclus, lends so much humanity and heart to the tale. I'd say I loved Circe a smidge more for her searing one liners and inherent feminism, though!

The Perfect Fraud by Ellen LaCorte
This was a decent summer thriller, not amazing but a breezy read. Full review here.

The Best We Could Do by Thi Bui
I spotted this on the paperback picks shelf at the library and I'm so glad that I FINALLY read a graphic novel for adult readers. Certainly I have enjoyed a smattering of middle grade, and enjoyed them immensely. But this was on a completely different level, the emotions and perspective that Bui brings to her family story is downright visceral. It's a heartbreaking story about migrants, trauma, and family. I can't recommend it enough. 

From Scratch by Tembi Locke
Thanks to the buzz around this Reese's Book Club pick, I decided to listen to this audio book and it was lovely, and sad. Her vivid descriptions of young love, Italy, and food were lovely. Her story about losing her husband to cancer when their daughter was only seven broke my heart. It hit close to home, too, because I lost my own father (to a heart attack) when I was only seven. It made me ache for her daughter, for childhood me, for her as a mother, and for my own mother. The relationship with her Sicilian mother-in-law is especially touching and beautifully hopeful in the end.

City of Girls by Elizabeth Gilbert
The only other book I've read by Gilbert was Eat, Pray, Love (shocker!) and I didn't care for it, for the same reason many others did not - it screamed of privilege and I'm not big on those 'stating the obvious' type of books. (See above re: Anne Lamott.) But, oh man, I am so very glad I put that aside to read City of Girls. I have such a hard time getting into the details of why I love a book when I LOVE IT SO MUCH. All the platitudes apply: vivid characters, sweeping sense of place, a propulsive story, etc. etc. At nearly 500 pages I burned through this in just a few days. This coming of age story is reminiscent of one of my long ago favorites: Marjorie Morningstar by Herman Wouk, mashed with a recent favorite: The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. Gilbert just infuses such beautiful self awareness and 'HELL YEAH' into her characters - it's going into my all time greats, no doubt.
"When I was younger, I had wanted to be at the very center of all the action in New York, but I slowly came to realize that there is no one center. The center is everywhere - wherever people are living out their lives."

I Am, I Am, I Am by Maggie O'Farrell
I enjoyed O'Farrell's most recent fiction novel, This Must be the Place, and picked up her memoir after hearing so many (correct) rave reviews. Her 'Seventeen Brushes with Death' are harrowing, lyrical, wrenching and also life affirming. So often she brought me to tears or heart pounding fear with the terrible hardships she's suffered and I had a GREAT DEAL of righteous anger on her behalf - seriously, her story about birthing her first child is rage inducing, and the treatment by the other children when she returned to school after a life threatening illness is just terrible. I also did some googling after reading (always the sign of a great book) and she didn't set out to make this for public consumption, but an account of her life for her daughter who suffers terribly from life threatening allergies. To show her that we are all suffering in some way, so close to death an any moment. She didn't even take an advance on the book, well only one pound for legal reasons, in the event she did not want to publish. It's just all around remarkable.

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