July 2022 Reading Round-Up
The best and worst of my reading month
Welcome to the July 2022 Reading Round-Up. Each month I write about the books I've read and rank them from worst to best.
As is fitting for July, this list includes a good selection of beach reads, which can be enjoyable in July. If you haven’t yet read my 2022 summer reading guide you can find that here.
Otherwise, please enjoy my reviews for the top 11 books I read this month! There are some incredible 9/10s and a 10/10 below.
16. The ARC - Tory Henwood Hoen
Fiction, 340 pages
If there was a matchmaking company that could guarantee you the perfect relationship for a fee of $50,000, would you pay it? In The ARC, two adults with a history of failed relationships decide to take the gamble, participating in a week long immersive study run by The Arc, a secretive company with a proprietary formula designed to guarantee love. In the beginning, the relationship appears to be a success, but after a small argument prompts The Arc to inform the couple that they made a mistake, the two must determine if their connection can be quantified. I thought that this book was based on an interesting premise and reminded me in many ways of my favorite reality TV show, Married at First Sight. The writing, however, left a bit to be desired, creating scenes that dragged on for far too long.
Rating: 7/10
15. God Spare the Girls - Kelsey McKinney
Fiction, 305 pages
Hope Church in northwest Texas is a mega Southern Baptist church led by Pastor Luke Nolan, a young heavyweight who made his name preaching family values and abstinence. At the start of the book, Abigail and Caroline, Luke’s daughters, learn that their father has been having an affair for the past year and lying about it. The news comes as Abigail is preparing for her own wedding, causing ripples across the community. To deal with their shock, Abigail and Caroline retreat to a ranch bequeathed to them by their grandmother. Although very different, the two sisters grow closer throughout the summer as they watch their church community fall in line behind their father and shun his mistress without adequately acknowledging his culpability, which causes them both to rethink their relationship with their father and God.
The plot points in this book had a lot of potential, but unfortunately it fell short for me. While I fully understand the betrayal Caroline and Abigail felt, it just did not seem fully realistic that the two sisters would adjust their feelings so drastically and quickly after the indoctrinated life they had experienced growing up. Further, McKinney spent a lot of time dissecting and explaining exactly how an interaction made a character feel instead of showing the reactions in a more subtle manner. The result was writing of average quality in a book that could have been tweaked to be so much more.
Rating: 7.5/10
14. By the Book - Jasmine Guillory
Fiction/Romance, 320 pages
Jasmine Guillory is a well established romance writer known mostly for her Party of Two collection, which I enjoyed so much that now whenever I see something new by Guillory I have to pick it up. By the Book is the start of a new romance series based on Disney classics. This is a modern retelling of Beauty and the Beast with young editorial assistant Isabelle in the role of Belle and brooding actor Beau in the role of Beast. Beau has a contract to write a memoir with Isabelle’s publishing house but has not only missed every deadline set for him, but has also stopped responding to all attempts at contact. One night during a work event in California, Isabelle volunteers to drive out to Beau’s mansion in Santa Barbara to see what is going on. She hopes that if she can return with even a chapter, she might be considered for a long overdue promotion. One thing leads to another and Isabelle is invited to stay in the house to offer writing advice and get Beau on track. Like in Beauty and the Beast, an initially confrontational relationship develops into a romance as Isabelle draws Beau out of his shell while dealing with professional challenges of her own. My favorite part about all of Guillory’s books are that her leads are always accomplished professionals who happen to also experience a romantic subplot. I enjoyed By the Book and think it achieved what it was supposed to. It was cute, fun, and an enjoyable twist on a classic story.
Rating: 7.5/10
13. Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? - Lizzie Damilola Blackburn
Fiction, 365 pages
At 31-years-old Yinka, the daughter of Nigerian immigrants, feels like she is behind in life. She was recently laid off from the investment bank where she worked and has remained single even as her sister and cousins get married and have babies. Every time she sees her mother and aunts she is asked when she is going to get married - hence the title of the book - and Yinka is beginning to think there is something wrong with her. When her cousin Rachel gets engaged, Yinka sets a goal to have a date for the wedding, creating spreadsheets and googling tips on how to get this done in a formulaic fashion. Caught up in doing what she thinks are the proper steps to become desirable, Yinka slowly loses herself, becoming unrecognizable to those around her. Yinka, Where is Your Huzband? is both a rom-com and a story about identity, filled with an interesting cast of characters that provide a wonderful peek into Nigerian-British culture.
Rating: 7.5/10
12. Nora Goes Off Script - Annabel Monaghan
Fiction/Romance, 272 pages
Nora Hamilton is a romance screenwriter known for her ability to churn out formulaic scripts for Hallmark channel-style films. Her career is ironic, however, given that her husband has just left her and her two young children after years of a loveless marriage. Reacting to her divorce, Nora writes a new screenplay about her experience, deviating fully from her typical genre. The script is picked up by a major producer who is able to get big stars in the lead roles. Portions of the film are even filmed in Nora's backyard, which is how she meets and gets to know the star Leo Vance, who after filming wraps up, remains in Nora's home in a desperate bid for a taste of normal life. When Leo leaves to film a major action movie and stops communicating with Nora, she is left to wonder if what she had was way too good to be true.
This romance novel deviates slightly from the standard formula utilized by the genre because the required "break-up" before the happily-ever-after (which typically takes place in the final quarter of the book), occurs right in the middle, allowing Monaghan to develop Nora as a character independent of her romantic interests. Annie Jones of the Bookshelf (my favorite books podcast) absolutely raved about this book, admitting to having read it twice in the span of four months. I'm not sure I was as blown away as she was, but I can attest that the book was fast-paced, entertaining, and cute - definitely an ideal summer read.
Rating: 8/10
Thank you to Penguin Group Putnam for the advance reader copy of this book!
11. In a New York Minute - Kate Spencer
Fiction, 306 pages
Franny is having a no-good, terrible, bad day. She was just laid off from her job and on her way back home the back of her dress gets ripped in the doors of a subway car, exposing her backside to every commuter on the Q line. Amidst the chaos, a man offers his suit jacket to her, which is caught on camera and subsequently goes viral. Franny exits the subway without catching the man’s name, but somehow they keep running into one another and discover that their interaction may have been meant to be. This is an example of an excellent rom-com, full of delightful supporting characters and a well-thought through main plot line. If you want to read this book, I recommend listening to it in audio format. The two narrators did a fantastic job bringing the book to life, transforming a cute story into an entertaining one.
Rating: 8/10
10. In the Margins - Elena Ferrante
Non-Fiction/Lectures, 110 pages
At the start of 2020, Elena Ferrante was asked to give three public lectures in Bologna, Italy on a topic of her choosing. By the time the date came for her to present, however, COVID had hit and there were no public gatherings. In November 2021, Ferrante’s lectures were finally presented. Given Ferrante’s famous anonymity, an actor was hired to deliver the lectures as written and now, months after their performance, they have been translated and published in a slim book for readers to enjoy. The lectures are broadly about Ferrante’s relationship with reading and writing, including topics ranging from the lessons in her childhood to the development of her voice as an author. To me, the most interesting passages were when Ferrante discussed the evolution of her understanding of how to write and be respected as a woman in a field in which work written by men is considered the comparative gold standard. While the lectures offer vaguely practical tips for approaching writing and reading, I found the book to be heavy in philosophy, theory, and literary reference. The book is technical, and perhaps because it is a lecture series meant to be delivered in Italian but instead rendered in English on the page, I felt some of the book’s weight might have been lost in translation.
Rating: 8/10
9. The Poet's House - Jean Thompson
Fiction, 304 pages
Carla is a young woman in her late-twenties living in California and working as a landscaper. She enjoys the work and is content for the time being, but is not so sure what her future looks like. After completing a job at the home of Viridian, a poet with a certain gravitas, Carla gets drawn into the lives of Viridian and her friends in the poetry community. While Carla is becoming more involved with this group, she never exists as more than a young helper - a free assistant at a poetry magazine and a coordinator for a local poetry retreat - further exacerbating her questioning of self.
The Poet's House received a rave review on NPR, which propelled this book to the top of my pile. The book is being advertised as similar to Lily King's Writers and Lovers which is one of my favorites. While there are some similarities - both follow young women attempting to find themselves and both take place on the fringes of the literary world - I personally liked Writers and Lovers much more, mostly because I cared more about the stakes of the story and the characters contained therein. The Poet's House is certainly well-written, but I was not particularly attached to any of the characters or the central conflict.
Rating: 8/10
Thank you to Workman and Algonquin for the advanced reader copy of this book!
8. The Loneliest Americans - Jay Caspian Kang
Non-Fiction/Memoir, 272 pages
The Loneliest Americans is both a memoir as well as a musing on the vagueness of the term “Asian American” and the ways in which personal identity defines American society. Jay Caspian Kang draws on his family history, including his parent’s immigration from Korea to the United States in the 1960s, his childhood in Massachusetts and North Carolina, and his experience as a father with a biracial daughter in Berkeley, California, to write beautifully about the conflicts between striving and expectations. Kang argues that the term “Asian American” is so broad as to be erasing, particularly given the disparate experiences of people with varying socio-economic, national, and cultural backgrounds. Throughout the book, Kang explores the idea that to achieve the American dream is to fully assimilate into the dominant culture, which in America means an assimilation into whiteness, and the way that this goal and the disruption of identity has created a pervasive sense of loneliness in himself and those around him. Kang is a writer for The New York Times Magazine, and his writing talent is on full display in this book. Kang writes thoughtfully and provocatively with heart and history to back up his claims.
Rating: 8/10
7. Musical Chairs - Amy Poeppel
Fiction, 400 pages
The Forsyth Trio, comprised of Bridget on the cello and Will on the piano, is looking for a violinist. The trio, down a member, has played together with varying degrees of success since Bridget and Will met at Juilliard, nearly thirty years ago. In the thirty years that have passed Bridget and Will have developed an almost inseparable, yet never romantic, friendship and Will has stood by Bridget’s side as she underwent IVF to give birth and raise twins as a single mother. Now, with her twins grown and living their adult lives, Bridget is looking forward to a quiet summer in her Connecticut home with her new boyfriend. That is, until Bridget receives an email from said boyfriend breaking up with her (at the request of his ex-wife), and then one after the other her twins return home with personal crises of their own. At the same time, her father, the famous composer and conductor Edward Stratton, who has a mansion of his own in the same town, announces that at the ripe age of 90 he is getting remarried and will be embarking on a world tour shortly thereafter. Bridget’s quiet summer quickly devolves into chaos, as she and Will grapple with the crossroads of their professional careers while putting out the fires of their loved ones. Musical Chairs is a charming book with a large cast of characters who all, delightfully and expectedly, eventually all connect with one another like the conclusion of a jigsaw puzzle. It is a great summer read with compelling characters and plot points that don’t make you work too hard.
Rating: 8/10
6. The Disappearing Act - Catherine Steadman
Mystery/Thriller, 352 pages
Mia is a British actress who comes to Los Angeles for "pilot season," a series of high-stress auditions where actors and actresses hoping to make it in the industry try out for a slate of upcoming roles. While waiting for her turn at one audition, Mia meets Emily. Right before Emily's turn, she asks Mia to top up her parking meter, handing over her keys in the process. When Mia returns, Emily is gone. After a few days of silence, she receives a text from Emily's number asking if she can come by Mia's apartment and get her items. Relieved, Mia says yes. But when she opens the door it's not Emily standing there but someone impersonating her. What happened to Emily? Where did she go? And how far does the conspiracy go? As Mia works to answer these questions she finds herself falling down a dramatic rabbit hole bigger than herself, uncovering the tension between scandal and ambition ever present in a city of people trying to make a name for themselves regardless of the cost.
Catherine Steadman is an actress herself - I know her from Downton Abbey - and she writes with authority on the subject matter. I am disappointed in myself that I received this book as an ARC almost a year ago and did not pick it up until now. This is the best kind of mystery thriller, one that I could not put down as I neared the final third of the book. There is no excessive gore or violence, but rather slow creeping suspense and tension that culminates in a dramatic and satisfying conclusion.
Rating: 8.5/10
Thank you to Ballantine Books for the advanced reader copy of this book!
5. The Catch - Alison Fairbrother
Fiction, 288 pages
James Adler has four children from three different marriages. To accommodate everyone’s schedules and to ensure quality family time, he celebrates holidays out of order - Thanksgiving in June and Christmas in July. Ellie, James’ oldest daughter, recent college graduate, and current journalist at a news startup that reminded me of Buzzfeed for its obsession with clicks and likes, has always appreciated and loved her father for his quirks. When he unexpectedly dies of a heart attack, Ellie is dismayed to discover that instead of leaving her a baseball full of sentimental value, James has instead left her with a random gingerbread tie-rack, and no one seems to understand why. Even worse, the baseball is left to the mysterious L. M. Taylor, sending Ellie on a quest to figure out what her father was thinking and who this man might be. Along the way, Ellie discovers secrets from her father’s past while also learning more about herself and her resilience. I thought this was a well-executed debut and I think I would read whatever future novels Alison Fairbrother writes. However, two weeks after finishing The Catch I’m already struggling to remember defining details, which I think separates a solid debut from an exceptional one.
Rating: 8.5/10
4. White Hot Hate - Dick Lehr
Non-Fiction/Domestic Terrorism, 380 pages
In 2016, Dan Day and his son were exercising in a local park. Looking to cool off for a minute, they walk inside their local library where Dan notices a pro-Palestine poster on the bulletin board. Surprised to see this in his small hometown of Garden City, Kansas, Dan decides to bring it to a friend he hasn’t seen in a while, but had seen posting on Facebook about the threat of Muslim terrorists and other right-wing rhetoric. The next day this friend invites Dan to a barbecue at his house, which Dan discovers is actually a recruitment meeting for a local branch of the Three Percenter militia, a right-wing, white nationalist militia. The FBI notices that the poster Dan saw has been circulating online, except now members of the militia are claiming that it is a recruitment poster for ISIS calling for terrorist attacks on American soil. The FBI approaches Dan to learn more and at the end of their meeting ask him to do something dangerous - join the group and be an informant for the FBI. Dan is a gun-toting conservative but he sees that the ideas the Three Percenters are espousing are dangerous and so, based on a pervasive feeling of patriotism, goes undercover.
Soon after joining, Dan is introduced to an even more extreme faction of people in the Kansas State Militia who see the growing population of Somali refugees and immigrants in Kansas as a plot by ISIS to destroy America. Their response, they decide, is to blow up an apartment complex primarily housing Somali refugees. What follows is the harrowing true story of Dan’s involvement with this group and his work with the FBI to foil the plot. It is a fast-paced and fascinating book, as well as a terrifying look at white nationalism and the ever-present threat that hateful ideas pose.
What struck me the most after finishing this book was the sheer luck the FBI had in cracking this case. Had it not been for a chain of events that could have very easily gone a different way, the FBI would never have been introduced to Dan. They also got incredibly lucky that Dan was who he was - a man of immense integrity willing to put himself in danger. I was alarmed that this militia group was not previously on the FBI’s radar and that if not for their luck, the terrorist plot most likely would have succeeded. To me, this speaks to a critical need to devote more resources and attention to domestic extremists and white nationalists, especially groups that hide behind the facade of free speech when in reality their words are driving violence.
Rating: 9/10
3. Oh William! - Elizabeth Strout
Fiction, 237 pages
Oh William! is narrated by Lucy Barton, who is featured in Anything is Possible and the protagonist of My Name is Lucy Barton, two novels that I loved. In Oh William! Lucy is back and narrating her life many years after the events that transpired in My Name is Lucy Barton. While you don’t necessarily need to read My Name is Lucy Barton to read Oh William!, there are subtle references that call back to the first novel and add depth to this current one. This novel, narrated by Lucy, focuses on her first husband William, who is in crisis. His third wife has recently left him with their young daughter and, at 71-years-old, he is experiencing a down-swing in his career. On top of that, a DNA test has shockingly exposed that he might have a half-sister in Maine, shattering his pre-conceived notions of his late-mother, Catherine. At his side from a distance and then slowly easing herself closer is Lucy, who is dealing with her own grief over the loss of her second husband. Along the way, Lucy reflects on her marriage with William, her relationship with their daughters, and the evolution of the two after their divorce. Oh William! is a book that explores how well a person can really know another, even if they think there is nothing more to learn. This was my favorite of the three Lucy Barton books by Elizabeth Strout, who once again writes with such elegance and beauty that I was easily able to read the book in one day.
Rating: 9/10
2. Homesickness - Colin Barrett
Fiction/Short Stories, 213 pages
Homesickness is the second short story collection written by Colin Barrett, an Irish author. Ireland is on full display in these stories, both in dialectic choices as well as the setting - most of the stories take place in County Mayo. The characters at the heart of the eight stories have problems that they are each struggling with - addiction, family trouble, mental health issues - and yet also experience a community rich in personality where money lacks. Ironically, the homesickness alluded to in the collection’s title does not refer to those who have left home, but rather those who have stayed and no longer feel satisfied. A few of the stories stay focused on one specific scene rather than jumping around in time, creating a detailed portrait of ordinary life in all its exceptionality. I was massively impressed by this collection and felt engaged with all that Barrett wrote. I will certainly read anything that he writes in the future.
Rating: 9/10
1. Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow - Gabrielle Zevin
Fiction, 416 pages
Sadie meets Sam in the mid-1980s when they are both twelve-years-old. Her sister is in the hospital receiving treatment for leukemia and while she waits, a nurse invites her to pass her time in the hospital game room. Sitting and playing Mario Cart is Sam Mauser, who has been in and out of the hospital following a devastating car crash that killed his mother and irreparably damaged his foot. Sam is withdrawn and depressed, but playing with Sadie day after day draws him out of his shell, and the two develop a friendship based on their love of video games as well as their creativity. Six years later, they both move to Cambridge, Massachusetts for college - Sadie to MIT and Sam to Harvard. A chance encounter at the train station draws them back together, and Sam, noticing Sadie’s own depression, invites her to make a video game with him and his roommate Marx during the summer between their junior and senior years. The game they create becomes an overnight success, launching the three of them onto an illustrious career path of creative partnership. However, their decades long success does not come without its challenges. While the gaming world allows for one to create whatever world they want and reboot it at will, Sadie and Sam must grapple with the unfairness and hardships associated with reality.
I was skeptical when I picked up this book because not only do I not play video games, I also know nothing about them. And while this is absolutely a book about video games and the artistic process behind them, the video games are just the backdrop for a much larger story about friendship, growing up, reinvention, and grief. It takes an author with incredible skill to be able to craft such a sweeping yet intimate story with fully formed and complicated characters. I do not have a negative thing to say about this book, contrary to what I think is an overly critical review in the New York Times. It is one of those rare novels that transports you someplace new while also connecting you with a universal story.
Rating: 10/10
Thank you to Knopf for the advance reader copy of this book!
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Want to see last month’s round up? You can find that here.