book ends

have you read your P.G. Wodehouse of the year?

Hellllooo!

Is this thing on? Do I remember how to string words together? Summer is blazing by in a blur and it’s been lovely and I haven’t had a chance to write in weeks but I’m going to write now or else it’s mopping my floor. Easy choice!

Here are my quick book reviews of what I read last month:

Gift From the Sea by Anne Morrow Lindbergh

The final book of the year for Well Read Mom book club, this is a thoughtful, almost meditative look at the interior life of a modern woman. And of course I read it during one of the most hectic times of the year. Which I think did not lend to absorbing as much of the wisdom as I could have. I appreciated the way Lindbergh wrote about the beauty and business of being a mother, a woman living in the modern landscape of many pulls on her time, and the desperate necessity of solitude that seems all but extinct. I also appreciated that she wrote this book in the 50s in a time before the wearies of social media and constant connectivity, and even more scrutiny put upon what women do because it expresses so many truths that women on blogs, and podcasts, and self help books proclaim to be newly found ideas. And they are important to be newly found, but I always jerk back at the idea that somehow we’re the first to think something about thousands of years of human civilization. But what characterizes women more so now than at any other point in history, is our complete disconnection from female wisdom that came before us. It is good to read that wisdom, to hear it for the first time from a podcast or instagram post, but it’s even more profound to realize we’re not the first or only or unique special snowflake to encounter the difficulties of life as a woman.

Wow, I did not see all that coming.

The Luck of the Bodkins by P.G. Wodehouse

I’m a firm believer that one should read P.G. Wodehouse every year to maintain a sense of humour. Probably living in the era of Twitter we should all be reading two Wodehouse books a year. A sense of humour is an endangered species. This book is not a Jeeves novel, but part of the Bodkins series which still includes some valets and lots of characters who are rich, poor, and romantically confused. It also takes place on a cross-Atlantic ship which, I think, is one of the best settings for a book. Or movie. Lots of fun.

No Two Persons by Erica Bauermeister

I like Erica Bauermeister’s writing, so when I saw her new novel was out I wanted to give it a try. It is the stories of many different characters, and a slice of their stories, hung together by how they are affected by a book. At first I liked the premise, a chapter about the author’s life, the woman at the publisher who reads it for the first time, but as the book goes on and the characters begin to feel more and more pat I just lost my interest and enjoyment. It is well written, and if you’re looking for a book to read quickly on a flight or by the beach this could be the answer. It’s not stupid or insipid, it just doesn’t live up to its potential.

What Happened to Sophie Wilder by Christopher Beha

Beha’s debut novel, this story about a young woman and her encounter and experience with faith told through both her eyes and the point of view of a friend from college who falls in love with her is very, very good. The writing and structure of the book are fantastic, and I think if I reread it I would enjoy that aspect of the book even more. The characters aren’t exactly likeable, but realistically drawn if still a bit fantastical, similar to Donna Tartt’s characters. But the weaving of faith and its consequences on a life is perfectly done. You’ll be thinking of this novel for a long time after, and pondering the effects of sin and it’s true cost.

I also finished a few audiobooks in June. With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson, a thriller that I disliked so much I finished it because I had to give myself the satisfaction of disliking it in its entirety. The Scarlett Letter; my first time rereading it since I passionately hated it in high school. So many good things about this book, and so many more things to think about than I presumed. And seeing Hawthorne’s writing through his maybe Catholicism is fascinating. The Guilty Ones by Joy Ellis, I’ve mostly listened to this series because it’s narrated by Richard Armitage. It was a decent police mystery, but as this is at least the third book I’ve read by Ellis I would say she tends to rely on psychopaths a bit too heavily.

And that’s it. I honestly thought I read more in June but June was so packed full that I’m not really surprised. Let me know if you’ve read any of these and what you thought!