back into my bad habit of not updating this frequently enough! here we go...here's what i read in july:
a very large expanse of sea, by tahereh mafi (a decent but not exceptional YA book about a muslim-american girl right after 9/11. my new school actually picked it as the all-freshman read, but as an adult who likes YA i wasn't blown away.)
no one tells you this: a memoir, by glynnis macnicol (now this i was blown away by. a memoir of a woman around her 40th birthday, confronting being single / does she want children and also struggling with her mother's chronic illness. that sounds super depressing, but the writing was gorgeous and i could relate so much to the situation the author was in (minus the ill mother). i was recommending this left and right to women around my age!)
me and earl and the dying girl, by jesse andrews (another decent but not exceptional YA book. this one is set in pittsburgh, which is why i read it. i think i read the whole thing on the flight from london to pittsburgh on my way back from my european trip. i'd recommend it for a similar situation!)
thirteen ways of looking, by colum mccann (i loved this - short stories from an author i really enjoy. i got this at a used bookstore and was so pleased to finally read it.)
the sun also rises, by ernest hemingway (uh, guys? this didn't do it for me. i know other people adore it and i have loved other hemingway works - and really enjoyed some autobiographical stuff he wrote - but this felt very dated. pro-bullriding, pro-alcoholism, problematic language and discussions about people of other races. this is not hemingway at his best in terms of character. which is maybe me asking too much of him?)
heavy, by kiese laymon (adored this memoir. a must-read for you all. it's a memoir of growing up black in the south and also of growing up overweight. i found a lot that spoke to my own experience with the voices in my head about my weight, but a lot that was a window into a totally different world and experience. he's a GORGEOUS writer, and he read the audiobook. so if you have an opportunity to read the book that way i'd highly recommend it!)
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