everything i read in july

beach reads where everybody dies

Reading in July felt like a fever dream. Corners snatched in between making endless rounds of mac and cheese, an audiobook parsed over many short car trips to the grocery store, and staying up much too late to “find out who did it” only to pay the price in the morning.

The only thing I have less time for than reading is writing, so I’ve been consoling myself with books. Actually, it’s best not to pretend I don’t always turn to books in an emotional crisis. If you’re here on Substack, I’m assuming you know what I’m talking about. Anyway.

Usually my monthly reading round ups are free to read, but like everything else this month, it’s being paywalled as a “thank you” to my paid subscribers! August will be paywalled as well, and then it’ll be back to usual programming starting in September— one weekly free post, one weekly paid. Today is the last day of my summer subscription sale!

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Zero Days by Ruth Ware (2023)

My version of a beach read is a Ruth Ware book. They’re page-turning, entertaining, all with happy-ish, resolved endings. Because I knew I’d be struggling to carve out time to read, I decided I’d plow through a few of her books because they’re easily digestible. No, they’re gulp-able. Zero Days is about Jack and her husband Gabe, a thief and hacker couple who get hired by corporations to test their security.

One night after a fairly routine job, Jack comes home to find her husband dead in their living room, and all the evidence points directly at her. Jack goes on the run to find out who had a motive to murder her husband before the police close in on her.

I read the reviews for this book, like I always do, after I finished it and felt like people were taking it far too seriously. It’s an action, whodunnit, hacker flick! It reminded me of the OG Mission Impossible movies, or one of my absolute favorite 90s films Sneakers with Robert Redford and a team of professional hackers who accidentally hack into the government database. I thought it was great! It felt like “reading a movie” in the best way.

It’s not going to win any Pulitzers, but I kind of think that’s not the point? I really enjoyed this book a lot and actually it’s made me want to read more books in the espionage, cyber security, action realm.

North Woods by Daniel Mason (2023)

Hard pivot genre-wise! Except, I don’t even know what genre I’d put this book in. The book follows the multi-century story of a cabin deep in the woods of Massachusetts, and the plot of land it sits on. Built by Puritan-era lovers who run away from their village, we follow along as humans come and go from the land, but the house remains, homing all the secrets and fears of its residents.

I’ve been trying to decide if I liked this book. It felt slow at parts in the way literary fiction often does, and genius in others.

The genius parts: So many threads of stories were started and found their way to resolution by the end in clever and subtle ways. I’ve never read any of Mason’s other work, but it does not surprise me that he’s won all sorts of awards for short stories for, that’s what this book is: a collection of short stories woven together. His ability to endear you to characters in a few short pages is brilliant, his is writing diverse and punchy.

And yet, I think ultimately this book wasn’t for me. I can appreciate all the attributes that made this book a Pulitzer finalist, but at the end of the day I don’t know if I enjoyed reading it.

Animal Dreams by Barbara Kingsolver (1990)

After revealing in Prodigal Summer, I decided to go back into the Kingsolver archives. Someone on Substack recommended this novel as their favorite so I downloaded the audiobook. It’s narrated by Barbara Kingsolver and she does a beautiful job, the accents of the characters are clearly native to her.

The story follows a bit of an anti-hero, Codi Noline, a woman on the run from her past, but who returns to the village she grew up in after her father, the town doctor, is diagnosed with dementia. She takes up a temporary teaching role, but ends up learning so much more from the community she originally turned her back on. Neither a true love story nor mystery, Animal Dreams is about a woman who is put back together by love, while also connecting the dots of her belonging and solving the mystery of her family origin.

Like all of Kingsolver’s writing I’ve experienced so far, the imagery is vivid and electric. You can see the pueblos and desert landscape of Arizona, you can hear the rain dances, you can taste the cold beers. I want this one to be a movie. I would cast Dakota Johnson as Codi because they’re the same age, and Dakota has that wide-eyed aloofness I think Codi is meant to emulate.

One Perfect Couple by Ruth Ware (2024)

I couldn’t put this one down. The clock read 2am when I finally put my kindle on my bedside table. The story follows a couple (I can’t remember their names)— a female scientist and her actor boyfriend— who get cast to be on the pilot season of a new dating show. They, along with six other couples, tell their friends and family goodbye, turn in their cellphones, and check into a resort on a private island off the coast Bali where all hell breaks loose.

Without giving too much away, this story is kind of like if the shows Survivor and Love Island had a baby— with a mystery surprise ending. While I inhaled this book, I still preferred Zero Days, which I think comes entirely down to setting: I’m not a tropical island gal. But I thought this one was far more gripping and definitely fits the concept of being a “beach read”, if only with a dark twist.

Easy Wins by Anna Jones (2024)

I usually read at least one non-fiction (usually in the memoir or biography category), but this month I’ve been cooking my way through Easy Wins. Although not designed to be “a summer cookbook”, it is vegetarian which is all I ever feel like during these hot summer Tennessee days. If we live on a coast I might be into seafood, but we’re hundreds of miles away from that. So vegetables it is. Everything I’ve made from this book has been a win and immediately repeated. Last night I made the blanched almond gazpacho and it was the perfect way to finish a long hot July day— sipping ice-cold soup alone in my kitchen at night. I think after a modern way to eat, this is my favorite Anna Jones cookbook. Quickly becoming my go-to source of summer meal inspiration!

Okay folks that’s all from me! Thanks for being here! What have you been reading lately? Loving? Hating? Tell me everything.

love

g xx