We’re halfway through the year and I’m halfway to my goal of 100 books! If you want to pick up any of these reads I recommend Brookline Booksmith and Harvard Bookstore locally. And Amazon and ThriftBooks online for deals. These are the titles that kept me reading late into the night this month. Thank you Random House for gifting me these books, noted with a star!
Umami
Laia Jufresa
I stumbled on Laia by accident and I’m so happy I did. Her writing is beautiful. This book peaks into the lives of each occupant of an apartment in a small complex. Laia uses the death of a child in the neighborhood as a catalyst to explore the emotional burdens of each resident. I highly recommend, easy to read and full of gorgeous language.
Daughters of the Stone
Dahlma Llanos-Figueroa
This one’s definitely a tearjerker, at least it did me in! In Daughters of the Stone the reader follows five generations of women in a Puerto Rican family. As the generations go on what remains the same is the strength of the women and the support they find in their female ancestors. It’s a powerful meditation on black and Latinx female strength.
Notes to Self*
Emilie Pine
This came in a package of books from Random House so it’s not necessarily something I would’ve reached for myself. It’s a series of personal essays on the human condition through the lens of important moments in Pine’s life, like her efforts to get pregnant and her father’s illness. Well written and thought provoking.
The Last Pirate of New York
Rich Cohen
The Last Pirate tells the story of the last man hanged for piracy in the state of New York. It depicts an early days NYC where you could, literally, get away with murder. I thought this was an interesting read although it’s really more about crime than actual piracy. Definitely a nonfiction piece though, not a narrative.
Fire at the Grove
John Esposito
We read this for my book club and it is HORRIFYING. I mean, it’s great, I highly recommend reading it but damn. It delves into the 1940s fire at Cocoanut Grove nightclub here in Boston. 500 people died in 8 minutes thanks to some shady business practices that made the fire exists inaccessible. It’s WILD. And now I check my fire exits everywhere I go. Highly, highly, highly recommend for history buffs and Bostonians.
Heartbreaker
Maryse Meijer
Found this collection of short stories on sale at Harvard Bookstore and bought it on a whim. It’s a really eerie set of stories delving into the often violent landscape of human relationships. What can loneliness make us do? I really enjoyed these vignettes but they’re not for everyone. It’s definitely a dark, literary fiction situation, not a good fit for New York Times bestseller readers.
The Poet X
Elizabeth Acevedo
Elizabeth Acevedo is a big Latinx poetry star right now and after reading this I can see why! It’s a teen narrative told through poems about a girl trying to find a place in her world through slam poetry performances. It’s BEAUTIFUL. Maybe I related to it extra because I’ve been a teen girl and known that struggle, but wow, feels. I cried like a maniac in the park when I finished it. Highly recommend, it’s a very quick but stunning read.