How is it August already? This summer has had this weird feeling of being both slow and fast. Gretchen Rubin says, “The days are long but the years are short.” I think that holds true for this summer. The days feel long, but the months have been fast.
But slow, fast, or in between, July was a great reading (and listening) month! So, I thought I’d pass along some of my faves to you today.
Read
As I mentioned in last month’s Read/Watch/Listen post, my summer reading has leaned more dark than frothy, but this month I do have a few more light options mixed in as well. :) Let’s get started!
The Roommate by Rosie Danan
About the book:
House Rules:
Do your own dishes
Knock before entering the bathroom
Never look up your roommate online
The Wheatons are infamous among the east coast elite for their lack of impulse control, except for their daughter Clara. She’s the consummate socialite: over-achieving, well-mannered, predictable. But every Wheaton has their weakness. When Clara’s childhood crush invites her to move cross-country, the offer is too tempting to resist. Unfortunately, it’s also too good to be true.
After a bait-and-switch, Clara finds herself sharing a lease with a charming stranger. Josh might be a bit too perceptive—not to mention handsome—for comfort, but there’s a good chance he and Clara could have survived sharing a summer sublet if she hadn’t looked him up on the Internet...
Once she learns how Josh has made a name for himself, Clara realizes living with him might make her the Wheaton’s most scandalous story yet. His professional prowess inspires her to take tackling the stigma against female desire into her own hands. They may not agree on much, but Josh and Clara both believe women deserve better sex. What they decide to do about it will change both of their lives, and if they’re lucky, they’ll help everyone else get lucky too.
My thoughts:
So this one was a pure delight. As a reader, I’m very tough on romances these days. It’s hard for me to turn off my writer brain, and I find myself analyzing things instead of just getting lost in a story. That was not the case here. I was able to fall into this fun story and simply enjoy the ride. The premise was frothy, light-hearted, and sex-positive. And don’t be fooled by the cartoonish cover. This one is steamy in content—if not in frequency. If you’re looking for a page-turning, sexy rom com, grab this one!
***
Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult
About the book:
Jodi Picoult, bestselling author of My Sister's Keeper and Small Great Things pens her most riveting book yet, with a startling and poignant story about the devastating aftermath of a small-town tragedy.
Sterling is an ordinary New Hampshire town where nothing ever happens--until the day its complacency is shattered by a school shooting. Josie Cormier, the daughter of the judge sitting on the case, should be the state's best witness, but she can't remember what happened before her very own eyes--or can she? As the trial progresses, fault lines between the high school and the adult community begin to show--destroying the closest of friendships and families. Nineteen Minutes asks what it means to be different in our society, who has the right to judge someone else, and whether anyone is ever really who they seem to be.
My thoughts:
Confession: I’d never read Jodi Picoult before. I think early on when she first became a big thing, people warned me that her books were tragic and sad. Back then, I didn’t read sad books ever. My reading tastes have evolved, though, and after hearing a recommendation for this one (from the podcast I mention below), I decided to give it a try.
As many of you know, I wrote a romance series with a school shooting as the main backstory (The Ones Who Got Away) so books about school shootings are a particular interest of mine. This one was so well done and was my favorite read of the month. It was heartbreaking and emotional with well-drawn characters that made me ache for everyone involved—including the perpetrator(s) [don’t want to spoil anything]. I also liked the courtroom aspects.
Don’t expect a happy read, but expect one that will stick with you.
***
I Miss You When I Blink by Mary Laura Philpott
About the book:
A charmingly relatable and wise memoir-in-essays by acclaimed writer and bookseller Mary Laura Philpott, “the modern day reincarnation of…Nora Ephron, Erma Bombeck, Jean Kerr, and Laurie Colwin—all rolled into one” (The Washington Post), about what happened after she checked off all the boxes on a successful life’s to-do list and realized she might need to reinvent the list—and herself.
Mary Laura Philpott thought she’d cracked the code: Always be right, and you’ll always be happy.
But once she’d completed her life’s to-do list (job, spouse, house, babies—check!), she found that instead of feeling content and successful, she felt anxious. Lost. Stuck in a daily grind of overflowing calendars, grueling small talk, and sprawling traffic. She’d done everything “right” but still felt all wrong. What’s the worse failure, she wondered: smiling and staying the course, or blowing it all up and running away? And are those the only options?
Taking on the conflicting pressures of modern adulthood, Philpott provides a “frank and funny look at what happens when, in the midst of a tidy life, there occur impossible-to-ignore tugs toward creativity, meaning, and the possibility of something more” (Southern Living). She offers up her own stories to show that identity crises don’t happen just once or only at midlife and reassures us that small, recurring personal re-inventions are both normal and necessary. Most of all, in this “warm embrace of a life lived imperfectly” (Esquire), Philpott shows that when you stop feeling satisfied with your life, you don’t have to burn it all down. You can call upon your many selves to figure out who you are, who you’re not, and where you belong. Who among us isn’t trying to do that?
My thoughts:
I love a good essay collection/memoir, and this one had me nodding along for much of it. If you lean toward the overachiever side of things, you’ll find a lot to relate to here. I found myself highlighting many different passages in my Kindle version, and as soon as I finished, I ordered a print copy to keep on my shelf. I can’t think of a better endorsement than that!
***
My Dark Vanessa by Kate Elizabeth Russell
About the book:
Exploring the psychological dynamics of the relationship between a precocious yet naïve teenage girl and her magnetic and manipulative teacher, a brilliant, all-consuming read that marks the explosive debut of an extraordinary new writer.
2000. Bright, ambitious, and yearning for adulthood, fifteen-year-old Vanessa Wye becomes entangled in an affair with Jacob Strane, her magnetic and guileful forty-two-year-old English teacher.
2017. Amid the rising wave of allegations against powerful men, a reckoning is coming due. Strane has been accused of sexual abuse by a former student, who reaches out to Vanessa, and now Vanessa suddenly finds herself facing an impossible choice: remain silent, firm in the belief that her teenage self willingly engaged in this relationship, or redefine herself and the events of her past. But how can Vanessa reject her first love, the man who fundamentally transformed her and has been a persistent presence in her life? Is it possible that the man she loved as a teenager—and who professed to worship only her—may be far different from what she has always believed?
Alternating between Vanessa’s present and her past, My Dark Vanessa juxtaposes memory and trauma with the breathless excitement of a teenage girl discovering the power her own body can wield. Thought-provoking and impossible to put down, this is a masterful portrayal of troubled adolescence and its repercussions that raises vital questions about agency, consent, complicity, and victimhood. Written with the haunting intimacy of The Girls and the creeping intensity of Room, My Dark Vanessa is an era-defining novel that brilliantly captures and reflects the shifting cultural mores transforming our relationships and society itself.
My thoughts:
If you think the premise of Nineteen Minutes is dark, My Dark Vanessa says, “Hold my beer.” This book is not for everyone, y’all. And I will say that I was supremely uncomfortable reading a lot of it. All the trigger warnings, okay? The way that the teacher manipulates the young woman in the book is just so hard to read and witness. You can see the strings he’s pulling, but Vanessa is too young and vulnerable to see them. This book is a tragedy. I’m glad I read it but wouldn’t want to read it again. I think it’s a case study for anyone who ever thinks that a “relationship” between a grown adult and an under-aged girl is consensual. It’s not. And this is what it looks like when someone manipulates a child into thinking it was their idea. Dark dark dark. And sad. You’ve been warned.
Watch
In June, I was on a search for a new teen show to binge. In July, I found it—and a few other things!
Gossip Girl
The original Gossip Girl came out when I had just had a baby, so I missed the boat completely. I was spending those years watching Barney and Toy Story 3 on repeat. However, I’m glad that I now have a big pile of gloriously glittery seasons of Gossip Girl to binge.
I had to sign 750 books this month for the Brenda Novak book boxes. (Yay!) But signing all of those took about 8 hours over two days. Who kept me company during all that signing and packing of book boxes? Dan and Serena, Blair and Bass, Nate and Vanessa. I’m only in season 3 but I have enjoyed the over the top plots, the glitzy Upper East Side, and all the switching of relationships.
My happy TV place is soapy teen shows, and this totally fits the bill. Also, it’s fun to see Penn Badgley play someone who is NOT a serial killer like he does on YOU (though I do love his rendition of Joe.)
***
Fear Street 1994 - Part 1
If you are of a certain age like I am, the words Fear Street conjure up images of rows of teen horror paperbacks lined up in the back of Waldenbooks or B. Dalton at the mall. I was a big fan of the Fear Street books and Point Horror and all those fun teen horror novels with scary titles like The Wrong Number and The Stepsister.
I’m hoping horror is making a comeback in fiction. I know it’s still out there, but it used to be one of THE genres in the 80s and 90s. So, I was excited to see that Netflix was doing a trilogy of movies inspired by the Fear Street books. I’ve only watched the first one, set in 1994, and I thought it was a fun and campy homage to the kind of horror in those books. And if you watch closely, you’ll notice that they gave nods to a number of premises from the books in the movie. Like starting the opening in Shadyside Mall. Fun times. :)
***
Where’d You Go, Bernadette?
I didn’t read the book that this movie is based on, but when I read a review that said the movie is better than the book, I decided to give it a try. I’m really glad I did.
The premise is about a mom who used to be a famous, promising genius architect but then stepped away from that when she had a child. Now her child is a teen and Bernadette is getting overwhelmed by the mundanity of her life—annoying school moms, a house that will never finish being remodeled, etc. When things get to a breaking point, she makes a rash decision.
This movie is over the top and requires a good dose of suspension of disbelief, but I had a fun time watching it. And honestly, if you’ve ever been that mom who just can’t deal with one more thing, the thought of a temporary escape does hold a lot of appeal lol.
***
The Olympics
I would’ve watched more things this month but…the Olympics. Every time, I’m like, meh, maybe I’ll skip watching this time. Then I start and I’m instantly hooked and find myself watching weird sports I didn’t even know existed. Artistic swimming, anyone?
Listen
I have been doing A LOT of driving of the kiddo around to various camps and appointments and band rehearsals and ALL THE THINGS. I feel like school starting will actually feel like a break. But the good news is that with all that driving comes a lot of listening time!
This Will Only Hurt a Little by Busy Phillips
About the book:
A collection of humorous autobiographical essays by the beloved comedic actress known for her roles on Freaks and Geeks, Dawson’s Creek, and Cougartown who has become “[T]he breakout star on Instagram stories.... [I]magine I Love Lucy mixed with a modern lifestyle guru” (The New Yorker).
Busy Philipps’ autobiographical audiobook offers the same unfiltered and candid storytelling that her Instagram followers have come to know and love, from growing up in Scottsdale, Arizona, and her painful and painfully funny teen years to her life as a working actress, mother, and famous best friend.
Busy is the rare entertainer whose impressive arsenal of talents as an actress is equally matched by her storytelling ability, sense of humor, and sharp observations about life, love, and motherhood. Her conversational writing reminds us what we love about her on screens large and small. From film to television to Instagram, Busy delightfully showcases her wry humor and her willingness to bare it all.
“I’ve been waiting my whole life to write this book. I’m just so grateful someone asked. Otherwise, what was the point of any of it?”
My thoughts:
This was recommeded on a few different bookish podcasts I listen to, and it was something I don’t think I ever would’ve sought out, but when I heard it existed, I realized—hey, I like Busy Phillips in everything I’ve ever watched her in and I’ve watched a lot of her stuff!
I’m so glad I gave this one a shot. Definitely go audiobook here so that you can get Busy’s narration. I loved her honesty, her humor, and her complete lack of filter. She’s that friend who’s always a little too much but you love that about them. I liked that the essays weren’t an attempt at blatant humor. Some were funny, some were poignant (and you can hear the tears in her voice), all felt real. And she’s not afraid to name names, so that’s always fun.
If you want something to get you through your commute, Busy will keep you good company!
***
Sarah’s Bookshelves Live podcast
I love a good bookish podcast, but it’s rare for me to find one with a host whose reading tastes align so closely to mine—at least in some categories. Sarah doesn’t read a lot of romance, so if you’re looking for that, this isn’t the podcast for you. But if you’d like recommendations on character-driven contemporary fiction, thrillers, literary fiction, non-fiction, and dark books, she’s got a lot of great episodes.
I’ve binged the entire list of episodes and have joined her Patreon to get more. So I’m definitely a fan! (A number of the books above were recommended on her podcast. Listening has caused me to spend a lot of book-buying money this month, lol.)
Alright, that’s it for this month! What have you read/watched/listened to lately that you loved?