Reviewed: My July Reading (What I loved...and other things.)

 

I waited to finish this post until bedtime on the last day of July, and now I can't think of anything to say about this month. It was an okay reading month, but I think next month is going to be much better! (Details on that in the next post.)

My favorite book of the month was Navigating Early, which I recommend to anyone--male, female, young, old...I think everyone can appreciate how great this book is!

As far as ratings go, this is how I do it:

DNF = Did not finish

1/5 = I hated this book

2/5 = I didn't like this book

3/5 = I liked this book

4/5 = I really liked this book

5/5 = I loved this book

Okay, here's the list! You can click on the image of each book to be taken to its Amazon page.

Navigating Early, by Clare Vanderpool.

This was my second time reading Navigating Early, our July book club pick. I'll not beat around the bush: I love this book deeply. It's one of my favorite YA books and I recommend it to everyone. That said, here's what it's about:

When Jack Baker’s mother dies near the end of World War II, thirteen-year-old Jack is abruptly moved from his home in Kansas to a boarding school in Maine. There he meets Early Auden, a boy who comes and goes to class as he pleases, who carefully follows news about a giant black bear on the nearby Appalachian Trail, and who reads in the number pi a mythic, never-ending story.

When the other students are away for fall break, Jack and Early embark on a search for the great black bear. As they make their way through the woods of Maine, they encounter strange characters, each of them lost and searching for something themselves, some of them helpful, some of them dangerous. Are Jack and Early chasing something or running away from it? Will they find what they are looking for? And what is more important—the seeking or the finding?

Unlike most YA lit, this book contains no sexual content, no foul language, and no sensational agenda. What it does contain is a cast of unforgettable characters, many thought-provoking themes, a strong and immersive sense of place, and a heart-wrenching tale that I think everyone can relate to. I first read this book in 2018 and still think of it often. That, to me, is one of the measures of great literature. 

My rating: 5/5

The Berry Pickers, by Amanda Peters. 

I was taken immediately with the premise of this story: We're following along with a Native American family after their youngest child, Ruthie, goes missing. The story is told through two primary viewpoints: Ruthie's younger brother, Joe, and a young girl named Norma. There is a little bit of mystery in this story but not much because it's fairly obvious what's going on as the story unfolds. I enjoyed listening to this story and would recommend it except for one thing: it's a very sad story. Beginning to middle to end, it's sad all around, and there isn't really a way for it to not be. So I thought I should include that disclaimer. I hoped it would be a good summer read, but found myself feeling deflated and physically weak after finishing it. I guess that means the author did a good job of drawing me in.

My rating: 3/5

How about next we have:

"Too Many Words about a Book that Stayed With Me"

Family, Family, by Laurel Frankel.

*Note: spoilers ahead*

I normally do my "Too Many Words" sections about books that I loved, but this month that ended up not being the case. This will likely go into my "Worst Books of the Year" pile, but I did take a lot of time to think through why. Some of my thoughts are below. It does contain plot spoilers. 

This is the story of India, an aspiring actress who gets pregnant twice (once in high school and once in college), both times because she is so excited about a play that she forgets to use birth control. On both occasions she places the children up for adoption with this expressed attitude: I am not giving up being an actress no matter what. If I give them up for adoption, I get to be happy and the adoptive parent gets to be happy. Win-win! 

As an aside, the second time this situation happened felt really absurd. When the father expresses that he trusted her to continue taking her birth control and feels betrayed, she tells him that she was prepping to play a male character, and a man would never even think about taking birth control, so how can he fault her?

I made it six and a half hours into the book before quitting. I made it as far as I did because I was trying to understand the author's viewpoint. Eventually it felt like make-believe, a scenario where the author wrote the action in order to make her case. So instead of depicting how people actually do behave, she invented characters that felt false but did fit her narrative goal. 

After I stopped reading, I read a plot synopsis to see if there there was anything major coming down the line. (I often do this with books that I DNF). I learned that the author is an adoptive parent who wanted to improve views on adoption and get people to see that it shouldn't be viewed as a last resort. The exact quote is here.

Oddly, this really didn't feel like a story about adoption despite that being the central topic. It felt like the real question the author was asking had to do with who one should live for. Should we consider others before ourselves or do whatever it takes to create our own happiness? When it was dealing with the issue of adoption, I found it to be (at times) absurdly simplistic with what felt like intentional one-sidedness. 

I didn't like this book, though the writing quality and style were good. One thing I can say for this one, though, is that it made me sit and think about why I disliked it so much. In fact, I wrote out a short essay about how I fundamentally disagree with the worldview presented here, but then decided not to share it publicly. At any rate, it's good to be presented with contrary viewpoints and revisit your own internal compass to examine your beliefs. 

My rating: 1/5

You are Here, by David Nicholls.

This was a fun idea with a twist. This is the story of Michael and Marnie, strangers who are both part of a group attempting the Coast to Coast Haweswater hike. This hike is a ten-day journey from one side of the UK to the other. Each of the main characters have their flaws and hangups in this classic romcom tale. It's darker than "When Harry Met Sally" but not too much so. I liked the premise, the dialogue, and the character development. I did not like the lack of morality and found myself really not liking Marnie, so I wasn't rooting for her.

I watched the Barnes & Noble author talk with David Nicholls and found him quite interesting! I liked learning about his writing process and intentions in writing this story.

My rating: 3/5

This Other Eden, by Paul Harding.

I really wanted to like this one because the premise was so interesting, but didn't. I never invested in the characters so that made it difficult to care about the story. I started by reading the Kindle version then switched to Audible, but by the end I was just out of steam for it, ya' know? 

My rating: 2/5

The House in the Pines, by Ana Reyes

I only made it about 10% into this book before quitting. The tone and storytelling felt similar to "The Girl on the Train" and "The Woman in the Window," and I just wasn't feeling it. I probably won't go back to this one but didn't read enough to give a review.

My rating: DNF

The God of the Woods, by Liz Moore.

Whoooo! This book was a lot. This is the story of the Van Laar family, who have a summer house in the New York woods. In 1975 their daughter, Barbara, goes missing from the summer camp that is located on the property adjacent to their own (once part of their property). The entire community sets out to search for her, but immediately its clear that there is much more than meets the eye with this case--namely, a similar case that took place 12 years before, when Barbara's brother, Bear, went missing in the same woods.

This is a multi-thread story with plenty of narrators that span the years between the first and second disappearances. I did guess the ending but only a few chapters before it happened. I don't think that was because of poor storytelling--I just had the thought and it ended up being right.

Content warnings: Language, substance abuse, a few instances of sensual content, one instance of sexual violence. Plenty of unlikeable characters. For anyone wondering, I still don't understand the book's title. I guess it means the person who knows the woods the best? I'm still uncertain about who that person is but have an idea.

This is the Barnes & Noble book club pick for August. You can sign up here to watch the author talk taking place on Tuesday, August 6th at 2:00 pm MST.

My rating: 5/5  

First Lie Wins, by Ashley Elston

This is one of the audiobook holds that came through from the library this month, and it was  pretty good! A spy mystery with good character development, an interesting storyline, and a satisfying ending. I thought it was a perfect book for keeping me company while I worked. If you are a fan of changing timelines, this is a good one for you.  

Content warnings: Some language, sexual content (I skipped one scene).

My rating: 3/5

August is slated to be a big month for us and includes a week of vacation that I don't think will involve much reading, but I'm very excited about the books on my TBR. I just hope I have enough time to get to them all!