Seven fabulous book recs from my summer reading exploits

This summer, I’ve paid more attention to the cleansing power of nature. How early morning hours spent ripping out weeds and nurturing seedlings soothe my rumpled thoughts. How an evening walk spent listening to the wind rustle through tree leaves cleanses my mind, leaving open space for creativity and wonder. How an afternoon spent reading in the breeze of my screened porch expands my breaths and my thinking. With that extra head space, I’ve finished several books this summer, and I want to share them with you. Get ready for my summer parade of books

Inciting Joy by Ross Gay

First, the book with the most ties to nature and gardening – Inciting Joy by Ross Gay. I’m a huge fan of The Book of Delights, also by Gay, and I saw him speak at the Virginia Festival of the Book last year. He’s a careful soul, full of deep thoughts and humorous quips. Inciting Joy is a collection of 14 essays covering everything from grief to creativity to the importance of connection.

In “We Kin (The Garden: The Third Incitement),” Gay ponders the constant chatter among gardeners, “asking what you need, asking for help, asking do you have any, asking could you use this… Back and forth and back and forth and back and forth it goes.” Gay goes on to say, beautifully:

And why is this back and forth– another word for which is sharing; another phrase for which is mutual aid– the gardener’s disposition or, maybe more to the point, practice? Because a garden– a healthy, thriving garden– tells us to… We’re just emulating the garden, which is s repository of sharing…

…we should all be able to get into a garden or a forest or an orchard if we want… What would happen if we acknowledged that none of this is privilege, but rather it is as it should and could be?And what if we figured out, together, in a million different ways, how to make it so? Or to say it another way: rather than cursing the darkness, what if we planted some seeds?

The essay is an ode to the beauty of gardening, and how it can, and should, pull us closer together.

Perhaps you can sense from this quote, and all of the ellipses peppered throughout the words I shared (ellipses are those three dots that indicate I left out some words from the text), that Gay has a tendency to ramble. In the essays of Inciting Joy, Gay constantly interrupts himself, launching into digressions and run on sentences that I sometimes had to reread to understand. He also uses plenty of foot notes, some of which take up half of the page of text! So you have to pay attention, but his words are worth attending to.

I highly recommend Inciting Joy, the perfect source for an essay to read relaxing on the porch in August, especially if you love poetry, pausing, and pondering. 4/5 stars

Tom Lake by Ann Patchett

I listened to the audiobook of Tom Lake, narrated by Meryl Streep, because a friend (also a mother of several children) said Streep did an excellent job. Of course she did. Tom Lake is the first published “COVID Book” I’ve read, and it chronicles how a mother and her three adult daughters interact after the children return to the family cherry orchard during COVID lock down. While performing the tiresome work of picking cherries, the girls beg their mother to recount the details of her long ago affair with the handsome young actor (eventually turned superstar) Peter Duke.

I could relate to the protagonist, Lara, the mother of grown or nearly grown children, having her family unexpectedly back home thanks to the pandemic of 2020. Her observations hit so close to my own experience that I often laughed or teared up while listening to Tom Lake. For example, in one scene, Lara’s daughters correct her (who can relate?), telling her when she describes her old flame Peter Duke as “nuts,” that she’s using a pejorative term, and she needs to come up with a “better word.”

Maisy gives a long exhale, which means that I am old, and she can’t explain anything to me.

Raise your hand if you know that kind of exhale.

In all, Tom Lake is an entertaining book, probably better for 50+ people who are parents. I don’t see 20-30 year olds getting the humor and resonance. Tom Lake has a lot to say about appreciating what you have. 4/5 stars

What Were We Thinking by Carlos Lozada

I enjoy Lozada’s cerebral contributions to the Matter of Opinion podcast, and after he mentioned his book What Were We Thinking: A Brief Intellectual History of the Trump Era, and since Trump might again find his way into The White House, I decided to take a listen.

Around the time he wrote What Were We Thinking, Lozada worked as a non-fiction book reviewer for The Washington Post. He has since joined The New York Times opinion section. In Thinking, Lozada pulls from150 pieces- books, essays, articles- to compile this intellectual history of the Trump presidency. I found it at times horrifying, at times enlightening, and at times a little slow. Recommended for those who care about politics and the cultural and political ideas that percolated during Trump’s years as America’s president. 3/5 stars

Birnam Wood by Eleanor Catton

Birnam Wood was a nominee for best adult fiction in the 2023 Goodreads Choice Awards. My daughter recommended it to me, and I finished it (again, audio book) in less than a week. Described as a psychological thriller, Birnam Wood puts renegade squatter gardener Mira into an unlikely collaboration with a wealthy entrepreneur named Robert Lemoine. As daughter and I agreed, we didn’t necessarily like any of the characters, but their dialogue was clever and the ideas of Birnam Wood intriguing. The whole time listening, I had an uneasy sensation, kind of like I did while watching Once Upon a Time in Hollywood. And that’s where I’ll leave you… 3/5 stars

The Box in the Woods by Maureen Johnson

The Box in the Woods is book #4 of Johnson’s Truly Devious mystery series. It was nominated for a Goodreads Choice Award for YA fiction in 2021. The Box in the Woods has a particularly summer feel, as Stevie Bell, amateur sleuth, sets out to solve a cold case from 1978: four camp counselors were murdered in the woods outside of their camp in a quiet New England town where “nothing ever happens.” This short book is a nice addition to the series. I still enjoyed Stevie and her quirky friends. The mystery is interesting with out being too far fetched, and once again, I didn’t see the ending coming. Think of this solid series from Maureen Johnson as Agatha Christie for 21st century teens.

4/5 stars

All That’s Left to Say by Emery Lord

All That’s Left to Say, a YA contemporary by Emery Lord, gives another view of opioid addiction, this time through the eyes of a teen who has lost a beloved family member. Hannah MacLaren was shocked by death of her cousin Sophie and never suspected Sophie used drugs. In the wake of Sophie’s sudden and tragic death, Hannah embarks on a quest to discover who gave Sophie the pills that ended her life and why. Hannah goes to extreme efforts to solve the mystery of her cousin’s death, including transferring to a new school, changing her looks, and even using a burner phone- all while falling in love with her debate nemesis. In the process, Hannah comes to terms with some of her own flaws and learns how to process emotions in healthier ways. 

In All That’s Left to Say, author Emery Lord uses alternating timelines to keep up the suspense for readers. The story flips back and forth between Hannah’s junior year – when she was drowning in grief and struggling for answers- and her senior year, when Hannah employs more calculated efforts to reveal who is at fault for giving Sophie the pills that killed her. Some reviewers find the timeline flips confusing; I think they work to maintain tension. Lord also uses unanswered questions to keep readers turning pages:  who gave Sophie the pills? What happened between Hannah and Sophie’s best Gabby, and why aren’t they speaking any more? And, for those who like a little romance, will Hannah and Christian Daly get together?  3/5 stars

People We Meet on Vacation by Emily Henry

People We Meet on Vacation won the Goodreads Choice Award for best romance in 2021. I found it at random on my Kindle app, I think because my daughter got it. The vacation theme of this book, in which best friends travel together each summer, is fun and flirty, a quick indulgent read. Poppy is a care free writer who works for a travel magazine and delights in the unexpected. Alex, a high school teacher, prefers life predictable and quiet. They met at college and have surprisingly maintained a loyal friendship, that includes their annual vacations. But after they cross a line between friends and lovers, everything changes. This summer, Poppy wants to set things right. It’s a classic, predictable friends to lovers trope, but enjoyable. 3/5 stars

What have you read this summer? Any recommendations? Please share in the comments!

Thanks for getting nerdy with me!