Hello everyone! I apologize that it’s been a while since my last post — life has gotten away from me, or at least my to-do list! So, let’s catch up with what I’ve been reading so far this summer. It hasn’t been an incredibly productive reading summer so far, but I’m OK with that. Since the Summer Solstice, I have read five books, which I’ll detail here: This Man Confessed; Every Day; From the Corner of the Oval; Daisy Jones & The Six; and finally, American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment.

This Man Confessed

I had found the This Man series some time ago while browsing for books on my kindle. It’s a romance series and should be judged as such, meaning it’s repetitive, contains a lot of lusty scenes and isn’t meant for its literary merit. However, they are entertaining and I enjoy them from time to time. They are a great pallet cleanser between heavy books, for instance. Anyway, I read the first two in the series fairly quickly, but stopped before diving into the third one. This summer felt like a great time to pick it up, and I’m glad I did.

Every Day

This one was very heavy! For a YA novel I did not think it was going to be quite so heavy, but I enjoyed it thoroughly, so much so that I believe I hauled up in my apartment and simply read for a whole day until it was finished. This book came to me courtesy of my friend Rachel, who is a grade school teacher. I believe it’s going to be made into a movie! Additionally, I believe it is the first in a series. Honestly, the book kind of broke my heart so I’m uncertain if I’ll continue on in the series. Stay tuned to find out.

From the Corner of the Oval

Love, love, loved this book. I’ve raved about it to a number of people and gotten at least one other to read it at this point (hey, Nicole!). Beck Dorey Stein is an amazing writer who provides vignettes of her time as white house stenographer under the Obama administration to us. What particularly struck me, as I look back to “simpler times” than this, is the efficiency with which the White House runs and the sheer number of people who need to do their jobs in order for it to do so. But, I digress. This book was part of the Girls Night in Book Club, it’s June read, and I attended a meeting for the first time. The meeting was excellent, I met a lot of amazing women from my city who enjoy reading, and the cherry on top, Beck was there. She signed my book, which was actually the library’s as well as my bookmark, so I have something to keep!

Daisy Jones & The Six

From the author who wrote Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo, Daisy Jones & The Six is a unique tail intertwining the lives and stories of more than seven people who made music together in the 70s. It is written as though it’s a documentary, a unique technique I thoroughly enjoyed. There are twists and turns that I did not anticipate, something I always look forward to in a book. Quite simply, it’s the perfect summer read and if you take nothing else away from this blog post, I hope it’s that.

American Prison: A Reporter’s Undercover Journey into the Business of Punishment

This book is on the New York Times top 10 for 2018, which I’m a bit behind on at this point, but alas, the in-depth look at punishment in the United States will make you cringe, cry and feel sorry for the sad state we have gotten ourselves in. Private prisons can trace their roots back to reconstructionist times in the South and have grown out from there, it seems. It’s a shame to read about the men, specifically black men, and women whose lives were treated as though they were nothing while imprisoned. I’d like to think and hope and pray that we’ve come far from that time, but as more and more immigrants are being detained and as the prison population stays high, I’m really not sure.

Four books behind

According to Goodreads, I’m four books behind in attempting to make my goal of 48 books on the year, which is about an entire month. Here’s hoping I can power some out, while also enjoying them obviously, it’s not all a numbers game, to reach my goal this year! How are you doing with your reading goal? What summer reading have you done that you’d recommend?