The Best Books I’ve Read from April – June
Photo by Shiromani Kant on Unsplash
We’re halfway through the year! I’ve read so many good books in the last three months (you can see my January-March reads here). It’s hard to pick just a few.
Fiction
I read Scales of Gold and The Unicorn Hunt, the next two books in Dorothy Dunnett’s House of Niccolò series, but I’ll leave those aside because of course they’re good, and you’re probably sick of hearing me bang on about Dorothy Dunnett by now.
The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo – Taylor Jenkins Reid. This is another of Reid’s books where she takes a deep, autobiographical dive into a particular world, in this case, the Golden Age of Hollywood. It’s a dual story, actually; the titular Evelyn Hugo is recounting her glamorous life story to a ghost writer, Monique Grant, an unknown writer and unlikely candidate for the position. The two stories weave together well, and even though I figured out the big reveal long before the end, how it comes about may keep you guessing. Reid does two things so well: she creates worlds that you absolutely believe in, that are adjacent to the real one. And she creates deep characters we understand and sympathize with, even as we see their flaws and the problems that result. There‘s a reason her books are so popular, and writers can learn a lot from her grasp of character, story, and world-building.
Tomorrow and Tomorrow and Tomorrow – Gabrielle Zevin. Sam and Sadie, having formed a friendship around gaming as children, meet again in college and become wildly successful game designers. The story follows their personal and professional ups and downs, as they experience fame, tragedy, romance, and all the challenges that come with success in a cutthroat business where you’re only as good as your last idea. It’s a love story, a meditation on life and creativity, and has characters you both love and find exasperating in equal measure. Best of all, you can actually play Emily Blaster, one of the games created in the novel: https://gabriellezevin.com/emilyblastergame/.
I Have Some Questions for You – Rebecca Makkai. An unconventional mystery, this novel follows a woman who returns to the campus of the private school she attended twenty years prior, to teach a class on podcasting. In her senior year, a girl was murdered at the school, and a couple of the students in the course decide to probe the mystery via podcast. A man was convicted of the crime – but was justice served? The twists and turns do keep you guessing, and Makkai weaves in some pointed reminders of the darkness of abuse so many women face, and how they are rarely believed (or seen as deserving of it). It’s also a novel of growing up and facing the past, and reckoning with who you have become. The structure is intriguing, being in the form of a long letter to a former teacher at the school. Read this for the strong characterization (with a large cast); sense of place; and how to create a somewhat unreliable narrator (what was her real relationship with the teacher? Was she jealous? Or...?).
Nonfiction
Free Your Pen: Mind Training for Writers – Jessica Davidson. If you’re Buddhist and a writer, this book is for you. Each chapter goes through one of the 59 mind training slogans of Buddhism, with a section on applying it to daily practice, as well as a section on applying the slogan to your writing practice. A practical, plain-language introduction to the slogans that integrates them nicely with writing.
Prairie Fires: The American Dreams of Laura Ingalls Wilder – Caroline Fraser. I haven’t read Wilder’s books since I was a kid, but I found this book fascinating. Fraser tells the real story behind Laura Ingalls Wilder’s life – one much more hardscrabble and grim than the books or tv series revealed. She intersperses Laura’s story, from birth (actually pre-birth) to death with accounts of the social, political, and cultural situations of the times. It’s a fascinating history of the U.S. - especially the Western U.S. - as well as the story of one of our most beloved writers.
Educated – Tara Westover. I know, it’s been out a while! Spotted it in the library and finally got around to reading it. Her story is almost unbelievable, growing up in a strict Mormon family that was also survivalist. To say she had an unconventional (and uneducated) upbringing is an understatement. She persevered, all the way through getting her PhD from Cambridge University, but had to deal with much unresolved trauma from her family along the way. It’s a personal story, but also in today's political climate, one which gives a glimpse into religious fundamentalism and far-right ideologies.
What are the favorite books you’ve read lately? Leave a note in the comments!
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