Yes, it’s July, but I’m new here on Substack and it seemed a shame to leave out the best reading month of my year so far. So you’ll be getting everything I read in May AND June this week! For some unknown reason, April is my worst reading month every. single. year - so after finishing zero books this April, I am happy to say May redeemed the spring for me.
As I’m getting started on my Substack journey, you may be receiving more emails than usual from me while I flesh out the content on my page. Thanks for reading, engaging, and for being patient - I’m so happy you’re here and hope you’ll stick around!
Since we’re still getting to know each other, I’ll give you a little glimpse into what kind of books I enjoy and a few all time favorites for context. I mostly read lit fic and contemporary fiction, though I like to sprinkle in a thriller or horror here and there. I’m actually cultivating a growing affinity for sci-fi right now, particularly speculative fiction and near future/dystopian novels. Across genres, I love robust characterization, a family saga spanning generations, food in fiction, infusion of historical context, NYC/ New England settings, and anything that takes place over a long period of time. Here’s a short list of some of my favorite reads of the last couple years, in no particular order.
On The Savage Side by Tiffany McDaniels
Real Americans by Rachel Khong
Big Girl by Mecca Jamilah Sullivan
Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir (wild card!)
The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai
Land of Milk and Honey by Pam C Zhang
The Reformatory by Tananarive Due
Berry Pickers by Amanda Peters
I read 2 of these books in May - so let’s get into it! This month’s reads were a mix of new releases and back catalogue books, which always feels like a win to me. From multigenerational family sagas with a lot to say, to palate cleansing thrillers, to heartbreaking historical fiction, I covered a lot of bases this month that I’m excited to share with you in my very first monthly reading round up.
This month’s breakdown:
GENRE: 2 thrillers / 2 lit fic / 1 historical fiction / 1 horror
FORMAT: 1 physical books from my personal collection / 5 digital copies from the library
AVERAGE STAR RATING: 4.46 thanks to two 5 star reads (I find star ratings a flawed way to gauge books but haven’t come up with anything better, so stars it is!)
PAGES READ: 2628 (Important: I know some people are stressed by stats like this so -reading is not a competition and ALL reading is good reading - it should be FUN, relaxing, and never stressful. I personally enjoy tracking pages read rather than only books read, but you may prefer not tracking at all. Make it work for you!)
THE ARSONISTS’ CITY | HALA ALYAN | Would recommend
“A rich family story, a personal look at the legacy of war in the Middle East, and an indelible rendering of how we hold on to the people and places we call home”
This is an expansive family story told over many years and several generations (get used to this theme!) set largely in Lebanon and Syria against the backdrop of violence as political conflict rages over decades. My personal favorite parts of the book followed the matriarch of the family, a once aspiring young actress, and the story of how she met her husband and the losses they endured over time. Over the course of the book, you get to know their three children in present day America and follow the family as they all return to Beirut after a family tragedy brings them together once again. Alyan brings humanity and family to the forefront, reminding us to look beyond our own lived experiences and into those of others with more empathy and understanding.
THE REFORMATORY | TANANARIVE DUE | A must read
“A gripping, page-turning novel set in Jim Crow Florida that follows Robert Stephens Jr. as he’s sent to a segregated reform school that is a chamber of terrors where he sees the horrors of racism and injustice, for the living, and the dead”
This is one of my three 5 star reads of the year so far. I was so drawn in to this story with characters that felt so viscerally real. 576 pages felt like nothing - I could have kept reading and reading. This is a painful and gripping account of real, historical cruelty mixed with a little magical realism, which is not usually my favorite but was done so impeccably well. Young Robbie is only 12 when he is discriminatorily sentenced to 6 months at Gracetown School For Boys, effectively a prison for children from which many do not return, after kicking the young white son of a wealthy landowner in defense of his sister Gloria. We follow him through unimaginable horrors and encounters with both earthly and spiritual enemies, while simultaneously following Gloria’s desperate journey to get him out before he meets the same fate as so many young Black boys buried on the “school’s” grounds. There’s so much to be said about this novel, but I cannot recommend it enough. I was holding my breath, dropping my jaw, staying up past my bedtime, and crying more times than I can count while rooting for Robbie’s freedom and reunion with his family.
BYE, BABY | CAROLA LOVERING | Would recommend
“On a brisk fall night in a New York apartment, 35-year-old Billie West hears terrified screams. It's her lifelong best friend Cassie Barnwell, one floor above, and she's just realized her infant daughter has gone missing. Billie is shaken as she looks down into her own arms to see the baby, remembering—with a jolt of fear—that she is responsible for the kidnapping that has instantly shattered Cassie’s world”
I am a fan of many of Carola Lovering’s books - Can’t Look Away was a favorite for me in 2022. This one fell pretty solidly in the middle of her work for me - I preferred it to Tell Me Lies, but not as much as Can’t Look Away. I thought the story was propulsive and while the main character was untrustworthy and frustrating, it made for good reading. It was a unique concept unlike anything I’ve read, and there were twists that genuinely surprised me. The long-term female friendship between Billie and Cassie will feel familiar to anyone with a life long best friend in some ways, and (hopefully) completely unrelatable in its dark and twisted nature. I would recommend to fans of thrillers and Lovering - it’s worth a read if this genre is your jam.
WHEN WE LOST OUR HEADS | HEATHER O’NEILL | Would recommend
“One is born into privilege, the heiress to a sugar factory, and wants for nothing. The other belongs to a family whose patriarch is a social climber, owner of an expensive house but without much else to their name. The two girls forge an unlikely friendship until an accident causes their families to tear them apart”
Set in 19th century Montreal, this is a singularly unique story about two friends, Marie Antoine and Sadie Arnett, both living in the affluent neighborhood of The Golden Mile. They are each others’ opposite and yet are drawn to each other inexplicably. This book is quite outside my usual reading scope, but I actually chose it for a book club I recently joined as I thought the group would enjoy it - and to my delight, they did! When We Lost Our Heads is a story of girlhood, of romantic love, of power, of loyalty. The novel explores class divides, sexuality, feminism and what it means to be a woman, and how where you’re born and to whom determines your fate. It posits the question - if you had power and money, would you be willing to sacrifice it for the greater good? For a better future for all women, would you trade your own?
REAL AMERICANS | RACHEL KHONG | A must read
“How far would you go to shape your own destiny? An exhilarating novel of American identity that spans three generations in one family and asks: What makes us who we are? And how inevitable are our futures?”
Another novel that explores how our lineage and circumstances define our future, Real Americans wormed its way into the deepest parts of my brain and has not left. I think about these characters regularly and fondly, and I believed their stories as if they were sitting right next to me. Once again, we have a multigenerational story, but done in a way I’ve never quite read. This book has three narrators and each one experiences a sort of coming-of-age at different stages in their lives, spanning from the 1960s to present day. Lily, daughter of Chinese immigrants falls in love with an All-American heir to a Pharma empire with whom she has a son. We follow her love story in NYC at Y2K, her son’s journey to find himself in the Pacific Northwest in present day, and her mother’s brutally challenging years living in China during Mao’s Cultural Revolution in the 60s. The novel asks so many thought provoking questions - what do we inherit from our families and what do we determine ourselves? Is sadness inherited? Loneliness? Are there inherited traits we would eliminate given the opportunity? And should we? Exploring themes of privilege, race, class, fate and pure luck, you’re left to ultimately wonder what influences who we become and how much of it is in our control. Read this book. Please.
LOCK EVERY DOOR | RILEY SAGER | Would recommend
“No visitors. No nights spent away from the apartment. No disturbing the other residents, all of whom are rich or famous or both. These are the only rules for Jules Larsen's new job as an apartment sitter at the Bartholomew, one of Manhattan's most high-profile and mysterious buildings”
I read a Riley Sager novel every few months when they become available to borrow on Libby, and I think this may be my favorite one so far. I thought the concept was fresh and interesting, and it kept me guessing through the end. Jules moves into the Bartholomew, a storied and elite building for the ultra-rich. The rules are strict, but she's desperate and has very little going for her at the time, so she accepts them without thinking twice for a chance to cosplay luxury. Not long after she moves in, she starts to notice that things are amiss and people are going missing. This book would make a great movie adaptation with its twists and turns and ensemble cast. Think Clue the board game but comprised of the 1% with a killer view of Central Park. Once again if you enjoy thrillers and rich people doing rich people things, I think you’ll enjoy this.
And that’s everything!
If you’ve read any of these or are now planning to add any to your TBR, I’d love to hear your thoughts in the comments. Talking about books with other book people is the reason I’m here. Everything I read in June coming very soon, along with some of my most anticipated July releases.
If you haven't already, you should read Pachinko and the Parable of the Sower! Pachinko is a truly epic generation-spanning saga and Parable of the Sower is a near-future dystopian read (not usually my thing, but I really enjoyed it, especially considering how relevant it is despite being written in the 90s).
Definitely adding a bunch of these recs to my list :) Great Believers has been on my bookshelf for years...I have to finally get around to reading it!!