I am decidedly not someone who tolerates hot weather well. I love the atmosphere and events that come with summer in Chicago, and you will find me sitting by the lake or at street festivals every chance I can get. But this month’s heat wave kept me inside a bit with a big stack of books. Though I may have said something similar in winter… On to this month’s stack!
This Country: Searching for Home in (Very) Rural America by Navied Mahdavian
This Country is a graphic novel memoir about a couple moving from San Fransisco to off-the-grid in rural Idaho. It’s sweet, funny, and also serious as it deals with racism he faced in his new adopted home and other culture shock. I really liked this; the format enhanced the story well.
Light from Uncommon Stars by Ryka Aoki
This novel was gifted to me with the description “It’s got space aliens, violin, and good things happening to queer people, you’re going to love it.” And that was spot on! It’s a completely charming but emotional book centered around a teenage trans girl, a violin teacher nicknamed “The Queen of Hell,” and a family of literal aliens who run a donut shop. This kind of book is either your jam or not, but it’s executed terrifically.
Hateship, Friendship, Courtship, Loveship, Marriage by Alice Munro
Nobel Prize winner Alice Munro died last month at the age of 92, and I highly encourage you to pick up one of her story collections if you haven’t before. She writes about everyday life and particularly women’s experiences, but so many of these stories left me with a “woah” and needing time to process the emotional impact as I finished each.
Ruin by Cara Hoffman
This very short collection of short stories was varied, interesting, and beautifully written. My favorite is about a little girl deciding to go through life as an old man, and all of these are surprising and surreal.
The Last Delivery by Evan Dahm
This is a super weird, dark graphic novel with beautiful illustrations. The main character is trying desperately to deliver a package to the resident of a castle while getting sucked in to an increasingly unhinged “party.” An entirely unique read.
None of This is True by Lisa Jewell
Mixed feelings about this one; it’s a Gone Girl-style thriller that I couldn’t put down. But despite it being fiction, it still felt too much like trauma porn. It relied on the shock of actions being extreme rather than just building suspense well.
Monsters: A Fan’s Dilemma by Claire Dederer
This book is about grappling with problematic artists and their art, focused on the emotional and intellectual experiences of the fans doing so. It was engaging and thought provoking but also a bit disjointed. I wish I had read maybe just half of these as essays over time instead of the whole book, but I keep mulling over the ideas in this too.
On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
Vuong’s novel is written as a letter from a young man to his mother, delving into their family trauma and the formation of his identity as a gay, Vietnamese American kid. Vuong is a poet, and the exquisite writing is what made the book for me. Some of the structure is non-traditional and even calling it a “novel” doesn’t feel quite right, but I loved sitting with every sentence of this.
The kittens were much more into summer naps than reading this month and would like me to quiet down about it already.
What are you reading? What do you like to read one the beach, in the park, or on vacation in summer?
As a rabid non-fiction reader, probably no surprise to you that my favorite book discovery so far this summer is Steinbecks “Travels with Charley” as it reads like a novel of stories but is still, not fiction. 😄
Love this short story kick your on