I can’t believe another month of reading has passed! It’s been a busy July for me: my first air trip since 2020 (to Alaska!) and lots of time spent in the backyard planting flowers or tending to the squash house. So I only read three physical books and listened to four audiobooks. I see monthly roundups on bookstagram all the time of 10, 15 or even more books in one month. I spend a lot of time reading, but I never really skim. I read every word and try to pay attention to what the author is trying to accomplish, not just what the characters are doing. All this to say, if you haven’t read much this summer either, it’s ok. But if you’re looking for book recommendations, read on. And as always, you can add me on Goodreads to see what I’m reading next!

Between Two Kingdoms by Suleika Jaouad

4/5 Stars

A memoir of a young woman’s battle with leukemia, its effects on her family and relationship, and her ultimate survival and re-entry into the “land of the living.”

I really valued this book's insights on grief, guilt, and renewal from the author as she goes from bright future to debilitating cancer treatment to healthy once again. The scenes of her friends that she meets in the cancer ward are heartbreakingly beautiful, hitting that perfect balance of pain and happiness. I like that the book has three distinct parts: before, during and after cancer, and the way that Suleika maintains a sense of grace and appreciation for life in all of these stages is admirable.

Ridgeline by Michael Punke

3.5/5 Stars

A post-Civil War historical novel about Lakota warrior Crazy Horse and the battle against Colonel Carrington’s army as they invade their sacred hunting grounds.

This started a bit slow for me, and while there were passages that were just exquisitely written, I never felt like we got that close to any of the many characters. I found myself wanting the scope to zoom out just a little bit, but instead we are hyper-focused on this one battle.

A big strength for this book is the emotion of dread and powerlessness that Crazy Horse feels, and the responsibility he grapples with as he hopes to lead his people to victory but knows the trajectory of history is not on his side. The dismay of seeing right before your eyes an enemy overtake your land and then destroy it is maddening, and this book is really powerful in conveying that.

American Sherlock by Kate Winkler Dawson

4/5 Stars

The story of Edward Oscar Heinrich, America’s first forensic scientist, and the birth of modern criminal investigation.

I found this book very engaging and narratively compelling about the criminologist who pioneered forensic science. The book really conveyed not only the power forensics can have in solving a case, but also the frustration in persuading the public about a new, unheard-of science that is difficult to understand.

Appleseed by Matt Bell

4.5/5 Stars

A three-part epic that explores climate change, agriculture, and humankind’s decline.

This is the best book I've read in a long while. I don't normally like sci-fi, but this book really won me over.

The writing is beautiful. The long, overpacked sentences were tough to get into in the beginning, but I eventually came to appreciate the lyrical and poetic style. I honestly feel bad for the book I'm reading after it.

The scope of this book is what makes it a masterpiece. Any of the three storylines would make a complete story on their own, but all three come together for a really satisfying epic. The myth is dreamlike, the present day is energetic, and the future is heartbreakingly desolate.

For me there was such a stinging emotional chord when the book showed a world without animals. It really nailed the tragedy that climate change will bring someday if we don't do enough to counteract it.

There were just a few things that didn't quite hit the mark for me. Eury felt very trope-y, wish she had been more complex. And in the end, the action got too abstract. There was a line that went something like "And so Chapman chooses. Or else he doesn't." So what actually happened?? I'm honestly not entirely sure how the book ended.

Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid

3/5 Stars

Four famous siblings throw an epic party to celebrate the end of the summer. But over the course of twenty-four hours, their lives will change forever.

I was looking forward to this much-hyped book, but had to return my library audiobook before I finished. Honestly, I'm not compelled to check it out and finish it.

This is not for me. I don't like books with very little front action and too much backstory. I did like the setting and the plot of finding out just who all these characters are, but by the back half of the book I had lost the threads and the shock value was wearing off (especially at the second instance of a character dropping the "I'm pregnant" bomb. Can we not use the same plot device twice in one book?).

Caste by Isabel Wilkerson

5/5 Stars

Caste examines the unspoken caste system that has shaped America and shows how our lives today are still defined by a hierarchy of human divisions.

This book needs to be taught in schools and read by every American. If you hear someone say "America isn't a racist country," give them this book. In my personal conversations with white people about racism, it is often taken as a personal accusation. For many white people, to say that America has a deeply rooted history of racism is to say that they themselves, as the dominant race and beneficiary of that racism, are racist. Decent people know it is wrong to be racist: racism = hate = bad. So if they believe "I'm not racist" then it follows in their minds that America isn't racist. But this book reframes the conversation not as race but as caste, which encompasses the power structure of America.

The book argues that Nazi Germany used the American South as inspiration for the Holocaust, dehumanizing the Jews just as Southern whites dehumanized enslaved black people. They put in place marriage restrictions, segregation, blood laws, all legal ways to discriminate and diminish the subservient class.

Lest we forget that not too long ago, white people brought their children to watch lynchings and sent postcards to friends, this book illustrates how even the Nazis were not so barbaric as the American South.

The Great Alone by Kristin Hannah

4/5 Stars

Leni and her parents move to Alaska in the 1970s due to her father’s volatile whims and ever-intensifying doomsday beliefs. They build a homestead and live off the land, and all is well the first summer, but when the long winter nights set in, her father’s darkness brings out the worst in him, and Leni and her mother learn the real dangers of living in Alaska come from inside.

I took this book on a recent trip to the Kenai Peninsula in Alaska (which I highly recommend!) and can definitely say Kristin Hannah nailed the setting and the atmosphere. The writing is very detailed and easy to imagine.

The plot is solid and dynamic. Big things happen. Characters are pushed to the edge and not let off the hook. The pages flew by for me.

The book also hits the right emotional chords at the right moments, from loving a father despite his abuse to feeling guilty for leaving loved ones behind in difficult circumstances.

Honestly, the writing style left something to be desired. It's simple and straightforward and easy to understand, but didn't wow me. Many of the descriptions were just listing twenty different things like: "She saw x and y. She saw x and y." The writing was also extremely repetitive, with like five mentions of the long summer daylight, not to mention all the times the word "dangerous" was used to describe Leni and Matthew's relationship, lest we forget. There was also an inordinate amount of rhetorical questions, as if the author needed to spell out what we should be wondering about as the reader. It just felt like handholding, like the author didn't trust that her reader would pick up what she was putting down unless she was excessive about it.