After I posted my March reading list earlier this year my travel schedule spiraled out of control and I fell behind on my reading recaps. But we’re back! Here’s a sampling of what I read during the spring and summer. Thank you Random House for gifting me these books, noted with a star!
If I Had Your Face
Frances Cha
This novel follows several different women living separate lives in the same apartment building in Seoul. I really enjoyed it. It probes both the dramatic differences in female experiences and the way women look at each other, sometimes making incorrect assumptions in the process.
What Are You Going Through
Sigrid Nunez
In this loose narrative, a woman acts as a companion to a female friend during her last few months of life before cancer overtakes her. The piece is full of dry humor but it probes the impact and nuances of human relationships as the two women bond, while knowing their friendship has an expiration date.
Malibu Rising*
Taylor Jenkins Reid
This was as fun, easy read about the children of a famous rockstar. After their father abandoned them and their mother passed on, the children had to bond together to create their own family unit. Now they’re all adults and they’re uncovering their own secrets and reckoning with their own demons.
Bodega
Su Hwang
“Bodega” is a beautiful book of poetry. Told from the perspective of a Korean girl coming of age in her parents bodega in 90’s Los Angeles, it utilizes at once powerful and lovely language to paint a portrait of a neighborhood and the people living in it. I highly recommend this piece.
My Broken Language*
Quiara Alegria Hudes
I loved, loved, loved this book. Hudes wrote the book for “In the Heights” and the screenplay for the movie musical version that recently came out. This is her memoir. She delves into her experiences growing up split between time with her Puerto Rican mother in a diverse, urban section of Philadelphia and with her father, a white man living in the suburbs with his new family. As she searches for her identity split between these two worlds she finds music, and in it, her voice. I can’t recommend this book enough.
Drive Your Plow Over the Bones of the Dead
Olga Takarczuk
In this piece an elderly woman living in a seasonal town in Poland begins to investigate a series of murders in town. She believes that the murders are animals getting revenge on those who have wronged them, and she won’t stop until she proves it. I loved this book. It’s literary fiction, so not a light read, but beautifully written and gripping until the end.
Hola Papi
John Paul Beamer
Thanks to Christina at All She Wrote Books, I snagged this memoir by writer John Paul Beamer. It’s a hilarious, but poignant, telling of his experience growing up gay and Latino in the Midwest. It was not an easy journey but he tackles the topic with humor and perspective.
Voyage of Mercy
Stephen Puleo
This was my book club book for one of the months this summer, forgive me, I’ve already forgotten which. It’s an interesting nonfiction piece about aid sent from Boston, and other Northeast cities, to Ireland during the potato famine. The mission, which was the first even humanitarian mission established by the United States, was developed by a sea captain from Boston. This was a very interesting read.
Widow Cliquot
Tilar Mazzeo
“Widow Clicquot” tells the story of Barbe-Nicole Ponsardin Clicquot who married into the Clicquot family and was responsible for building the champagne empire we know today. I’m never surprised, but always delighted, to hear that women are secretly responsible for huge historical events and business empires. This riveting book explains how Clicquot took the business from a side venture to one of the wealthiest and best known champagne brands in the world.
Variations on the Body
Maria Ospina
In this book the author weaves together a series of stories of women in Bogotá, Colombia. The stories are all lightly interconnected but showcase different experiences in the city and challenges in interpersonal relationships. This was a beautifully written book, I highly recommend.
Women and Other Monsters
Jess Zimmerman
In this analytical piece Zimmerman looks at global myths and how the female monsters in them are used to demonize feminine qualities. It was a fascinating read and connects to the long lineage of the patriarchy. Despite the heady topic it’s easy to read. I recommend for a new way of looking at Medusa and her cohorts.