Happy August! I hope you're soaking up the last bit of summer. July is Disability Pride Month, so I'll start with my read for that and then jump into the other books I read in July. In case you don't want to read the whole post, or want to skip ahead to a certain mini review, here are the covers (in the order of which I'll be talking about them). All covers are linked to Goodreads.
Disability Pride Month
The Call of the Wrens, by Jenni L. Walsh
Genre: Historical Fiction
The Call of the Wrens is a dual POV historical fiction about two women who join the Women's Royal Naval Service during two wars as motorcycle dispatch riders. I chose this for Disability Pride Month because the main character, Marion, has selective mutism and the other, Evelyn, was born with a clubfoot that was corrected through many childhood surgeries, but still affects her life.
The writing was adequate, and I liked learning about the Wrens (Women's Royal Naval Service), especially the motorcycle dispatch riders. I also didn't know that pigeons were used in WWII. However, while I liked Marion's character, I didn't find Evelyn compelling. She read more like a 16- or 17-year old than a 21-year-old to me. Her sneaking out to see Percy reminded me of Harry Potter (not in a good way). I liked the idea of the dual timeline (which eventually merged into one), but I was always annoyed when we switched from Marion's POV back to Evelyn's. Overall, this was a solid three stars for me. I'm glad I read it, but I wouldn't read it again, and I wouldn't seek out more books by this author.
Other Books I Read in July 2024
Class, by Stephanie Land
★★.5
Genre: Memoir
Content warnings: Descriptive sex, abortion
"From the New York Times bestselling author who inspired the hit Netflix series about a struggling mother barely making ends meet as a housecleaner—a gripping memoir about college, motherhood, poverty, and life after Maid." (From Goodreads)
I enjoyed Maid, and I picked up Class wanting to know what happened to Stephanie and Mia next. I have to say, I was disappointed. I can't imagine making any of the decisions Stephanie made in this book, but I also can't imagine living in her situation either–struggling to make ends meet below the poverty line while working, going to school, and raising a child full-time without the support of a coparent, spouse, or even immediate family members. So, I'm really trying to be compassionate and at the same time I'm just in disbelief.
Resurrection Hope and the Death of Death, by Mitchell L. Chase
★★★
Genre: Christian Theology
This was the women's summer study book at my church. It's part of a series of Biblical theology books, which means that it takes one theme in Scripture and traces it throughout the entire Bible. The theme of this book, of course, was resurrection. I found it encouraging, but not highly engaging, if that makes sense. The instances of resurrection hope were presented a little woodenly, in my opinion, one after another, and I felt that some of the instances were a bit of a stretch. Also, there were a good number of footnotes, and often the footnote was a quote that said what the author was trying to say better than he had just paraphrased it.
The Accidental Tourist, by Anne Tyler
★★★
Genre: Literary Fiction
Content warning: Murder
"Macon Leary is a travel writer who hates both travel and anything out of the ordinary. He is grounded by loneliness and an unwillingness to compromise his creature comforts when he meets Muriel, a deliciously peculiar dog-obedience trainer who up-ends Macon’s insular world and thrusts him headlong into a remarkable engagement with life." (From Goodreads)
This book was published in 1985, and Baltimore was a very different place then. I was born a couple decades after the 80's, and I live near Baltimore, so the combination of these two things made this read almost magical. Even though this isn't technically historical fiction, things have definitely changed since the 80's, both for better and for worse, and I loved getting a glimpse into Baltimore as it was almost 40 years ago. As for the story itself, I enjoyed the slow pace of it, the day-to-day snapshots of Macon's life as he grieves and heals, almost unbeknownst to himself. I'm still not sure I like the ending, though. The whole thing was a little depressing, to be honest, but I enjoyed it nonetheless.
Dial A for Aunties, by Jesse Q. Sutanto
★★★.5
Genre: Romantic Comedy
Content warning: Murder
"What happens when you mix 1 (accidental) murder with 2 thousand wedding guests, and then toss in a possible curse on 3 generations of an immigrant Chinese-Indonesian family? You get 4 meddling Asian aunties coming to the rescue!" (From Goodreads)
While the premise is definitely dark, Jesse Sutanto somehow made this story hilarious (probably more than it should have been, given the subject matter...). I laughed out loud multiple times while reading this book, but at the same time, I found it hard to get through because I was so stressed on behalf of Meddy and her aunties about what they were going to do with the body! The whole enormity of the situation was just a little overwhelming for me, despite (or perhaps because of) how far-fetched the scenario was. I loved watching Meddy find her voice throughout the story, though. The ending was almost too perfect, but at that point I was just relieved that they got away with everything and everyone got a happy ending.
What You Wish For, by Katherine Center
★★★★
Genre: Romance
Content warnings: Death of a loved one, epilepsy, school shooting, PTSD
"Samantha Casey is a school librarian who loves her job, the kids, and her school family with passion and joy for living. But she wasn’t always that way. Duncan Carpenter is the new school principal who lives by rules and regulations, guided by the knowledge that bad things can happen. But he wasn’t always that way." (From Goodreads)
Despite all the content warnings, this was a cozy and fun romantic read. My only complaint was that there wasn't more kissing. Not only did I love the main character, Sam, I loved the side characters too: Babette, Alice, Clay, and of course, Duncan. I look forward to picking up more Katherine Center books in the near future!
Really Very Crunchy, by Emily Morrow
★★★★
Genre: Nonfiction
I've been watching Emily's videos on Instagram for a while now, so when I saw that she had a book coming out, I had to read it! My parents gave this to me for my birthday and I devoured it within a week. Emily's self-deprecating sense of humor comes through strongly in this book, and while I would have enjoyed more recipes and crunchy tips (it really did feel like every topic she covered could have been its own book), I did appreciate that her focus was so strongly on giving yourself grace to be imperfectly crunchy. I hope she'll write more books in the future–maybe a book of crunchy recipes!
It looks like July was a solid three-star month for me. I'm hoping for more four-star reads in August! What was your favorite book you read in July?
Comments
Post a Comment