More July Reading

All the Lonely People by Mike Gayle

People compared this one to Ove, but honestly, I think I liked this story better! Hubert tells the story of his life as a Jamaican immigrant to England, his marriage, his work, his friends, his family. His past is woven through his current life of loneliness, as a widower waiting for his daughter's visit. As Hubert tries to make friends to keep his daughter happy, he creates a group of eclectic humans who also want to combat their own loneliness, as well as the town's where they live. Ultimately, it is a thoughtful look at the disease of loneliness, a disease that kills in and of itself. The audio is exceptional - highly recommend:)

The Rose Code by Kate Quinn

Are you like me, tired of WWII novels? If so, this book is worth the exception. It tells a unique story, of the women who worked as code breakers at Bletchley Park in the UK, during the war years. (think Hidden Figures meets The Imitation Game, and yes, Alan Turing makes a guest appearance). The research done by Quinn is exceptional - when I took issue with Prince Phillip being made a character, I learned that YES, he did date a suspected codebreaker during the war. I mean, who knew?? This was a fascinating read.

Boundary Waters and Purgatory Ridge (Cork O'Connor, #2 and #3) by William Kent Krueger

If you're looking for a new mystery series, look no further - this one from the author of Ordinary Grace and This Tender Land is a WINNER! And just like the Louise Penny series, each book is better than the last. Boundary Waters is an incredibly tense odyssey through the lakes district as a diverse crew of Native, family, and law men search for a famous young woman. And Purgatory Ridge was literally un-put-downable, combining the story of a decades old ship wreck, eco-terrorism, and deadly love. Each book has Native lore and characters woven through, and the character of Cork O'Connor is a brilliantly flawed lead man.

An Emotion of Great Delight by Tahereh Mafi, Darius the Great is Not Okay by Adib Khorram, and Everything Sad is Untrue by Daniel Nayeri

Okay, it might be weird to put three separate books by varied authors in one review, but trust me here. All three are young adult, written by Persian authors, and each tells the story of Iranian immigrants through a young person's eyes. Emotion focuses on the teen daughter, who is struggling with how to be accepted when wearing a hijab, how to accept the young love in front of her, and how her family deals with great tragedy. In Darius, we meet a teenage boy, struggling with clinical depression in the midst of his first trip to Iran to see his mother's family. It is a thoughtful look at mental health, as well as dealing with peer pressure. And finally, in Everything, we meet a younger Iranian boy who acts as Scheherazade to his classroom, spinning tales of his ancestors in Iran as well as making his parents into storybook heroes. I laughed out loud over some poop stories, and fell in love with this memoir. What a wonderful group of diverse books for any young person in your life!

The Secret Keeper of Jaipur (The Henna Artist) by Alka Joshi

If you liked The Henna Artist, I suspect you will like this sequel. I did - not as much as the first, but it's a worthy follow up. Years later, we meet the entire cast of characters from Henna, as Lakshmi has now married and works in the mountain country, Malik has been sent to learn the world of construction, and Nimmi, the tribal girl, seeks a new life with both Malik and Lakshmi. Threaded through the life story of these three, is the mysterious collapse of a movie theatre in Jaipur. I'm not sure if I would have liked it quite so much on paper, but oh my, the audio was truly spectacular.

The Premonition: A Pandemic Story by Michael Lewis

The latest book from Michael Lewis (𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘍𝘪𝘧𝘵𝘩 𝘙𝘪𝘴𝘬, 𝘛𝘩𝘦 𝘉𝘪𝘨 𝘚𝘩𝘰𝘳𝘵, 𝘔𝘰𝘯𝘦𝘺𝘣𝘢𝘭𝘭) had my full attention. As in, I could NOT put it down. This one is less about the 2020 pandemic than it is how America got where it did in dealing with it. Once again, this author writes a gripping story of facts that had my jaw dropping over and over. And Dr. Charity Dean is just simply my hero: “𝘔𝘦𝘯 𝘭𝘪𝘬𝘦 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘢𝘭𝘸𝘢𝘺𝘴 𝘶𝘯𝘥𝘦𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘵𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘵𝘦 𝘮𝘦…𝘛𝘩𝘦𝘺 𝘵𝘩𝘪𝘯𝘬 𝘮𝘺 𝘴𝘱𝘪𝘳𝘪𝘵 𝘢𝘯𝘪𝘮𝘢𝘭 𝘪𝘴 𝘢 𝘣𝘶𝘯𝘯𝘺. 𝘈𝘯𝘥 𝘪𝘵’𝘴 𝘢 𝘧𝘶𝘤𝘬𝘪𝘯𝘨 𝘥𝘳𝘢𝘨𝘰𝘯.” If you want to learn, read this book.

Detransition, Baby by Torrey Peters

A story of three people - Reese, a transexual who identifies as a woman, former lover of Amy; Ames, aka Amy, a former transexual who has detransitioned, and is now once again living life as a man; and Katrina, Ames' boss and lover, who finds herself pregnant with Ames' baby. This is a groundbreaking tale of family, gender identity, social bias, work-place culture, and sooooo much more. I struggled with this one at times, as I did not much care for the characters of Reese and Katrina, but was so invested in Ames/Amy. I wanted to stay in their story the entire time, and occasionally was resentful when it went back to the other two characters. I found myself skim reading towards the end due to my aggravation (probably not fair), but ultimately I was glad to have read such a unique book. And oh my, what a book club discussion this book would elicit!