This summer is flying by! I know that for many people, summer doesn’t really kick off until the end of June, but around here school starts in early August, so for us summer is already half over. In June we went on a family trip to Colorado and the kids had lots of activities, but I did manage to read some great books.
Here’s my June reading round-up.
Fiction
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus. Elizabeth Zott is a talented, intelligent scientist… but it’s the early 1960s and women aren’t exactly encouraged to be leaders in research and academia. Despite trauma, discrimination, and harassment, Zott works hard to keep her head down and work as a scientist at Hastings Research Institute. There, she meets Calvin Evans, another brilliant scientist, and they fall in love. A few years later Zott’s life has changed dramatically; she’s a single mother of a precocious daughter and the beloved yet controversial host of a cooking show, Supper at Six. This is a book that contains multitudes—commentary on sexism and discrimination (that may have been more prevalent in the 1960s but is clearly still a thing), a story of found family and friendship, and a portrait of two of the most memorable characters I’ve encountered in a while: Elizabeth Zott and her dog, Six-Thirty. This book made me laugh several times, while also touching on sad and difficult themes. Overall though, it left me feeling warm and fuzzy. This was a book I wanted to hug, which is why it ended up being a 5-star read for me. My rating: 5/5 stars.
This Time Tomorrow by Emma Straub. Alice Stern is content with, if not overjoyed by, her life. As she gets older though, she often wonders if there could be more. She is also struggling to face the declining health of her father, a renowned writer with whom she’s always had a close relationship. On the eve of her fortieth birthday, she has a few too many drinks, and when she wakes up she is surprised to find herself in her childhood bedroom, and even more surprising, in her sixteen-year-old body. What is most astonishing to Alice though, is how young and healthy her father is, and as she develops an understanding of the strange “new” world she finds herself in, she tries to soak up as much time with her father as she can. I absolutely loved this. It reminded me a little of The Midnight Library, although the time travel element was much different, with touches of The Middle Place by Kelly Corrigan (which is a memoir). The father-daughter relationship is what took this one from good to great for me, it was both relatable and so endearing. My rating: 4.5/5 stars.
Like a House on Fire by Lauren McBrayer. Merit, the mother of two young sons, has spent the last few years painting and raising her children. Feeling pressure from her husband to help contribute financially, she decides to return to the workforce as an architect. She’s hired by Jane, the lead architect at a well-known firm, and she soon develops an intense friendship with her. This is the story of both the relationship between the two women, but also Merit’s inner struggle of balancing her own desires with the expectations—both society’s and her own—of what it means to be a good mother. This book was intense and extremely compelling; I didn’t want to put it down. I walked away conflicted about how I felt about it though. I think it would make a great book club book because there was so much to discuss! It’s one I keep thinking about, and I definitely recommend if you like an intense relationship story that pushes boundaries—think The Idea of You or The Paper Palace (but with less trauma). My rating: 4/5 stars.
The Love of My Life by Rosie Walsh. Leo and Emma are deeply in love and have a child together. When Emma, a well-known marine biologist, receives a troubling medical diagnosis, Leo, an obituary writer, finds solace in researching her life. However, the more he looks into his wife’s past, the more he realizes that Emma isn’t at all who she says she is. Does that mean their life together is a lie as well? While this sounds like the plot of a domestic thriller, I found this to be more quiet and reflective, but in a good way. While the mystery of Emma’s identity did keep me engrossed in the story, the well-developed characters and excellent writing made it a much more memorable reading experience. My rating: 4/5 stars.
Nonfiction
The Lazy Genius Kitchen by Kendra Adachi. Kendra Adachi, aka The Lazy Genius, is all about helping you be a genius about what matters and be lazy about what doesn’t. In this hard-to-categorize but easy-to-use guidebook, she helps you take that philosophy to one of the most-used rooms of the house: the kitchen. She walks you through her five-step process for “lazy genius-ing” your kitchen, from storage to meal prep, and while her advice is prescriptive, she’s not telling you how to do it HER way, but instead showing you how to do it YOUR way. I took copious notes as I read this book (I read a library copy so obviously had to keep my highlighter far away) and although I walked away wanting to overhaul my kitchen, Adachi reminded me to instead, start small (a “Lazy Genius Principle”). This book was useful and informative, but also fun to read, and I recommend for anyone who wants to love their kitchen a little bit (or a lot) more. My rating: 4.5/5 stars.
Finding Me by Viola Davis. This is a memoir I read for book club, and I’m so glad they gave me the nudge I needed to pick it up. Davis tells her story of growing up in extreme poverty in a place where she was often overlooked and undervalued. In the description, she states, “This is the path I took to finding my purpose but also my voice in a world that didn’t always see me.” Her story is raw and vulnerable; I see Viola Davis as a woman who is strong, beautiful, and clearly extremely talented, yet it took her a long time to ever see herself that way. If you like a celebrity memoir that skews more “deep” than “dishy,” this one is for you. My rating: 4/5 stars.
Here for It by R. Eric Thomas. Through essays that are (truly) laugh out loud funny, R. Eric Thomas reflects on his self-discovery journey, from his experience as one of the few Black students at his suburban high school to his struggle to find middle ground between accepting his sexuality and identifying as a Christian. Beneath his humor though, his reflections are honest and relatable, and I found this to be a joy to read. My rating: 4/5 stars.
Bread and Wine: A Love Letter to Life Around the Table by Shauna Niequist. The subtitle of this memoir sums it up perfectly; it really does feel like a love letter to food and life around the table. Niequist shares stories about how food has played a starring role in her life—cooking it, eating it, sharing it—and the way meals can nourish others beyond their physical hunger. As a fellow food-lover, I connected with a lot of her enthusiasm over flavors and recipes, although I couldn’t relate as much with her drive to entertain (something I wish I were better at). This memoir does contain recipes, but since I listened to it on audio I haven’t checked them out (and thankfully they weren’t read aloud, step by step). Overall I enjoyed this, and recommend to anyone who has a passion for food and sharing a table with loved ones. Do note that Niequist is a Christian and her faith often comes up in this memoir. My rating: 3.75/5 stars.
Tell Me Everything by Erika Krouse. Erika Krouse opens her memoir by telling the reader that she has “one of those faces” that people feel compelled to share their secrets with. This quality is what eventually lands her a job as a private investigator for a lawyer working on a university sexual assault case involving a football team. Within Tell Me Everything, Krouse shares her experience working on this intense, often disturbing, case, as well as her personal history, which is also fraught with abuse and trauma. I found the investigation part of this memoir extremely compelling, and while I can’t say I was completely surprised by the story—I know that money covers up a LOT of terrible behavior when it comes to college athletics—I still found myself shaking my head in disbelief at times. However, the way Krouse wove in her own personal narrative felt jarring at times, and made the story sometimes feel a little disjointed. I can see how her past shaped her broadly as a person (obviously), as well as more specifically when it came to taking on this case, but for me the juxtaposition of her reflections on her trauma and family relationships with the investigation didn’t always feel cohesive. My rating: 3.5/5 stars.
What have you read recently?
