I can’t believe it’s already the end of June—this summer is flying by! We’ve been busy with travel and lots of activities, but when we do have some down time I am trying to read as much as I can. I need that to recharge my batteries so that I can continue to go, go, go!
For me, summer reading is about balancing my TBR list and my library holds as much as anything. This seems to be the season where I have a billion things on hold and it’s impossible to predict what will become available when.
So, while my July reading list does have a few “must reads,” for some of these I’m at the mercy of my library. Honestly though, there’s nowhere I’d rather be.
Sea of Tranquility by Emily St. John Mandel. I read and loved Station Eleven several years ago, but haven’t read anything else by this author since. I don’t know a lot about this one, but it is described as “a novel of time travel and metaphysics that precisely captures the reality of our current moment.” While time travel isn’t something that makes me pick up a book, in St. John Mandel’s hands I’m definitely intrigued. Despite being out for a few months I still haven’t heard too much about this one, but I can’t wait to pick it up.
Make Your Kid a Money Genius by Beth Kobliner. I heard about this book on the Edit Your Life podcast, and added it to my nonfiction list for the year. The key word for me was the subtitle, “Even if You’re Not,” which is reassuring (and bonus points if the book turns me into a money genius too). I want to help my kids be responsible with money, but there is so much conflicting advice out there—tie chores to money or not, give kids an allowance but make them put it into different “buckets” or not… I need guidance here for sure, and this book seems like a great place to start.
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez. I’ve had this historical novel on my list for a while—I’ve heard nothing but great things about it. Civil Townsend is newly out of nursing school and eager to to make a difference in her African American community. She takes a job at a family planning clinic, and she is surprised to learn that her first patients are young girls—and that she is supposed to put them on birth control because they are Black and poor. Civil’s story, and that of the girls and their family, is based on true events. I love learning about history, especially history that is unfamiliar to me, through fiction.
Maybe You Should Talk to Someone by Lori Gottlieb. Pretty much every person I know who has read this has loved it, and tell me it’s a must read. I don’t know why I still haven’t read it, but I hope to pick it up this month. Gottlieb is a therapist, and in this memoir she shares glimpses of what she hears from her patients, but also what she brings to her own therapist, as a patient herself.
The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict and Victoria Christopher Murray. This is the August pick for the Bliss bookstore book club I’m part of. This is a historical novel about Belle da Costa Greene, the personal librarian for J. P. Morgan. Greene has a secret that she has to keep to protect her livelihood (as well as her life); her real name is Belle Marion Greener and she is African American, but she has light skin and passed as white to obtain her position. I’m interested in both the story of the challenges Greene faced to protect her identity in a racist society, and also in learning more about what she did in her role as personal librarian. All in all, this sounds fascinating!
Flying Solo by Linda Holmes. Honestly, I knew absolutely nothing about this one before I added it to my TBR list. It’s by the same author as Evvie Drake Starts Over, which I adored, so that was enough for me. It’s about a woman whose wedding was recently canceled, who is handling the estate of her great-aunt Dot, who recently died at the age of 93. She finds a mysterious wooden duck hidden among Dot’s belongings, and it surprisingly kicks off an adventure.
What will you be reading this month?
