I loved this post so much. So sweet to hear about you love story! I am so curious about this 8 hour flight from Frankfurt to Seattle. Is this the Concord?
I feel like I’m not lit enough to even consider a “book of the summer”.
For July I’m reading Crush by Ada Calhoun, I who have never known men and I’m about to finish What you make of me (your rec from last month which I loved!). Two releases im excited about: Moderation (spec fic) and Salty (rom com)
It WAS concord! The absolute worst omg hate them. What do you think of Crush? Been hearing about it a bunch. And moderation is on my list but back in storage in Germany. Lmk how you find it please :)
how you stay on top of all the new releases are beyond me but I mad respect it haha. I read your Endling review and am really looking forward to that one
cassandra at the wedding sounds similar to I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue, which is def more modern but very laugh out loud funny and depressing at the same time
another novel to try is The Names by Florence Knapp it gives small things like these but very very very VERY worth the storylines, domestic abuse grief, beauty of everything healing with time xx
I've been seeing a lot about The Names everywhere the storyline itself doesn't grip me but the reviews ive heard have me really curious so maybe I'll check it out!
I loved the Paper Palace, so I think I need to check out Sleep! And also, I'm right there with you, I think I read less in summer! I am much more likely to read during the quiet of fall or winter than on a beach!!
Gosh I’m glad I’m not alone on that. Slowly picking up my rhythm but fall/winter reading is where it’s at for sure. Also lmk your verdict on Sleep once you get to it :)
I have also been wondering what the book of the summer is…maybe Great Black Hope? It doesn’t feel like like there’s a book EVERYONE is talking about like past years
Another person here who just finished Brideshead a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it was rather slow going so I completely relate to your thoughts. Also, as one of your older American readers who grew up in a former colony, I will fully acknowledge that this is the type of book I avoided when I was in my 20s (or dismissed as empire-worshiping colonialist nostalgia).
What warmed me to it was the miniseries with Jeremy Irons and the fact that it was such an influence on the Bennington school of writers (which generated a podcast series by Lili Anolik). I’m reading the Secret History by Donna Tartt now and the influence is so clear, so situating Brideshead within a broader cultural context has given it more cachet with me beyond the surface appeal of Waugh’s writing.
It was a journey to get to this point: one thing Covid did was it got me entering more online book clubs/classes where I engaged with the type of classics I bypassed when I was younger. So I’ve immersed myself in Middlemarch and many other Big Books, and I’m at a place in my life where those books resonate (and it’s helped to talk to others about those books as opposed to trying to tackle them by myself).
I’m so sorry it taken me so long to this. So thoughtful! I have shelved the book as keep for later because I also think it was the wrong choice for summer and being unsettled. But yes its influence is so so far reaching and I’m thankful for that. I enjoy Waughs work because I love to read about those kinds of worlds honestly. I will give it another read in a year or two and I have a feeling I’ll enjoy it way more
thank you Ochuko, you're a star with a lot on your plate so I'm pleasantly surprised and grateful you made time to reply, no matter the time frame! I hope you do get back to the book eventually, it's worth it.
(also, I'm currently in a summer reading groove because of the time I have in recovery from a minor medical procedure -- I used your 100 pages/day pace as a goal for myself, it's working well for me so far!)
I also recently read Brideshead Revisited! I am still not sure what I think of it. I had already seen the film so I knew where it was going and the overall themes, and thank god. There were some really beautiful bits but most of it felt a bit pointless to me. If you have the edition that is in your picture, I think you would have also had Evelyn Waugh's preface, and that helped contextualise it for me: it was written in "a bleak period of present privation and threatening disaster – the period of soya beans and Basic English, and in consequence the book is infused with a kind of gluttony for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language, which now with a full stomach I find distasteful." That even the author seems confused about his novel was really interesting to me.
Commenting on my own comment to recommend The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (if you haven't already read it), also published in 1945: the two authors moved in the same circles and knew each other, and I find it so interesting how different the novels are. It might reconcile you with the classics!
Have you watched the show for that?! Starring lily james? At the time I didn’t even know to was a book but thanks for reminding me. Check out the show if you haven’t !
I had also watched the movie which I loved so I knew what was coming. And that’s what kept me plodding along for a while tbh. It was meandering in a way I didn’t have patience for in that moment. And gosh I really need to start reading forwards lol
This is so funny “actively rooting for one of the characters to die” 😂😂😂. I’ve been there ngl. DNFs are rough I end up feeling both relived and irritated
I loved the Unwilding - actually one of my favourite reads of last year! It has this mellow melancholy vibe that I really enjoy during the summer and is a great combination of complicated but nostalgic childhood memories and the present day.
I loved this post so much. So sweet to hear about you love story! I am so curious about this 8 hour flight from Frankfurt to Seattle. Is this the Concord?
I feel like I’m not lit enough to even consider a “book of the summer”.
For July I’m reading Crush by Ada Calhoun, I who have never known men and I’m about to finish What you make of me (your rec from last month which I loved!). Two releases im excited about: Moderation (spec fic) and Salty (rom com)
It WAS concord! The absolute worst omg hate them. What do you think of Crush? Been hearing about it a bunch. And moderation is on my list but back in storage in Germany. Lmk how you find it please :)
I didn’t love Crush but it was a cool version of the All Fours “let’s experiment with polyamory in our late 40s” tale.
Oh I love this post so much. Also, for July, I’ve loved Necessary Fiction, The Other Wife and Endling. Got my eye on Grand Hotel now!
how you stay on top of all the new releases are beyond me but I mad respect it haha. I read your Endling review and am really looking forward to that one
cassandra at the wedding sounds similar to I Hope This Finds You Well by Natalie Sue, which is def more modern but very laugh out loud funny and depressing at the same time
another novel to try is The Names by Florence Knapp it gives small things like these but very very very VERY worth the storylines, domestic abuse grief, beauty of everything healing with time xx
I've been seeing a lot about The Names everywhere the storyline itself doesn't grip me but the reviews ive heard have me really curious so maybe I'll check it out!
It’s very emosh
BEAUTIFUL. love your recs as always, can’t wait to pick some of these up 😍
Let me know what you decided to get girl xo
I loved the Paper Palace, so I think I need to check out Sleep! And also, I'm right there with you, I think I read less in summer! I am much more likely to read during the quiet of fall or winter than on a beach!!
Gosh I’m glad I’m not alone on that. Slowly picking up my rhythm but fall/winter reading is where it’s at for sure. Also lmk your verdict on Sleep once you get to it :)
Loved the concept of the compound but thought the execution was not compelling at all — want to hear your thoughts, O!
I don’t expect it to be my thing because that sort of thing never is. But we’ll see 🤷🏾♀️
I have also been wondering what the book of the summer is…maybe Great Black Hope? It doesn’t feel like like there’s a book EVERYONE is talking about like past years
I agree about fresh black hope which I just read and rather liked. Took me a while to get into it but the writing is sublime!!
Oooh, let's read some Barbara Comyn together!
Oh what’s on your hit list ???? I LOVED the vets daughter
Another person here who just finished Brideshead a couple of weeks ago. I enjoyed it quite a bit, though it was rather slow going so I completely relate to your thoughts. Also, as one of your older American readers who grew up in a former colony, I will fully acknowledge that this is the type of book I avoided when I was in my 20s (or dismissed as empire-worshiping colonialist nostalgia).
What warmed me to it was the miniseries with Jeremy Irons and the fact that it was such an influence on the Bennington school of writers (which generated a podcast series by Lili Anolik). I’m reading the Secret History by Donna Tartt now and the influence is so clear, so situating Brideshead within a broader cultural context has given it more cachet with me beyond the surface appeal of Waugh’s writing.
It was a journey to get to this point: one thing Covid did was it got me entering more online book clubs/classes where I engaged with the type of classics I bypassed when I was younger. So I’ve immersed myself in Middlemarch and many other Big Books, and I’m at a place in my life where those books resonate (and it’s helped to talk to others about those books as opposed to trying to tackle them by myself).
I’m so sorry it taken me so long to this. So thoughtful! I have shelved the book as keep for later because I also think it was the wrong choice for summer and being unsettled. But yes its influence is so so far reaching and I’m thankful for that. I enjoy Waughs work because I love to read about those kinds of worlds honestly. I will give it another read in a year or two and I have a feeling I’ll enjoy it way more
thank you Ochuko, you're a star with a lot on your plate so I'm pleasantly surprised and grateful you made time to reply, no matter the time frame! I hope you do get back to the book eventually, it's worth it.
(also, I'm currently in a summer reading groove because of the time I have in recovery from a minor medical procedure -- I used your 100 pages/day pace as a goal for myself, it's working well for me so far!)
I also recently read Brideshead Revisited! I am still not sure what I think of it. I had already seen the film so I knew where it was going and the overall themes, and thank god. There were some really beautiful bits but most of it felt a bit pointless to me. If you have the edition that is in your picture, I think you would have also had Evelyn Waugh's preface, and that helped contextualise it for me: it was written in "a bleak period of present privation and threatening disaster – the period of soya beans and Basic English, and in consequence the book is infused with a kind of gluttony for food and wine, for the splendours of the recent past, and for rhetorical and ornamental language, which now with a full stomach I find distasteful." That even the author seems confused about his novel was really interesting to me.
Commenting on my own comment to recommend The Pursuit of Love by Nancy Mitford (if you haven't already read it), also published in 1945: the two authors moved in the same circles and knew each other, and I find it so interesting how different the novels are. It might reconcile you with the classics!
Have you watched the show for that?! Starring lily james? At the time I didn’t even know to was a book but thanks for reminding me. Check out the show if you haven’t !
I had also watched the movie which I loved so I knew what was coming. And that’s what kept me plodding along for a while tbh. It was meandering in a way I didn’t have patience for in that moment. And gosh I really need to start reading forwards lol
I’m currently reading Perfume by Patrick Süskind and Send Nudes by Saba Sams
Ooooooo I have send nudes but haven’t read. What’s your verdict.?
Can't wait to read Necessary Fiction w you! God bless Kiran funding the NYRB love
He’s a man after my own heart haha
Congrats on the Pinterest sponsorship!
I had my first DNF ever last month - Fates and Furies by Lauren Groff. (spoilers below)
It was so pretentions to me. I was actively rooting for one of the characters to die, and then when they did, the book somehow became worse.
I'm a pretty slow reader so a bad book really throws me off my game. Not sure what to pick up now.
This is so funny “actively rooting for one of the characters to die” 😂😂😂. I’ve been there ngl. DNFs are rough I end up feeling both relived and irritated
I loved the Unwilding - actually one of my favourite reads of last year! It has this mellow melancholy vibe that I really enjoy during the summer and is a great combination of complicated but nostalgic childhood memories and the present day.
Cannot wait to get to this! It’s on my list for this month or next but definitely sth I want to get to in the sticky sun. I’ve heard only GREAT things
Judging a book by a cover, what are we into lately? I sort of like the dramatic cover of The Bombshell but am feeling a little ennui re: book covers.
oooo say more. whats your fave era for book covers. also how did you feel about the bombshell? Its on my radar
Is it possibly too early for book of the summer?
no way. its July!!! but maybe 👀