Here is where an introduction ought to go, but since I am going to make this snappy, this sentence will have to do.
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What I Read This Summer (Books)
-Austen at Sea by Natalie Jenner, which I reviewed here.
-You Have a Calling by Karen Swallow Prior, which I reviewed here.
-Jane and Dan at the End of the World by Colleen Oakley
A fun and light novel which was a bit surreal at times (the main plot events are ridiculous! A terrorist/activist group inspired by a novel written by the main character takes an upscale restaurant hostage!) but also talked about marriage and long-term, committed relationships in a down-to-earth and forgiving way that I found refreshing. There are so many books about rediscovering yourself apart from your first relationship— as someone who is married to my first serious boyfriend and hopes to continue so for many more years, I enjoy reading about love that stands the test of time. Sorry if that’s a bit of a spoiler. I still think you’ll enjoy the book anyway if you can suspend disbelief (and logic) a bit. I listened to the audio read by Hillary Huber.
-Small Things Like These by Claire Keegan
At first blush, this is the sort of fiction that seems… I don’t know, unremarkable? But the longer I sat with it, the better I liked it. I think the unremarkability is the point. It’s about Bill Furlong, a working-class man in mid-20th-century Ireland, who has a humble and somewhat disreputable past (illegitimate child of a maid at the “big house”) and who has never known his father. The kindness of his late mother’s employer gave him a childhood and education, and now he has a wife and five daughters and a business selling coal. Then one day he encounters a young girl at the local convent who is begging for help. I won’t spoil it, but I hope that if you read it it will stay with you as poignantly as it did for me.
-The Women by Kristin Hannah
My first Kristin Hannah novel and though it likely won’t be my last (The Nightingale is sitting on my shelf, waiting) I was underwhelmed. I like historical fiction, I like reading about women in the medical field, I didn’t know much about the Vietnam war and was eager to know more, but this book just really fell flat for me. It felt like less of a novel tracking character development and more like a dumping ground for the (extensive! admirable!) research Hannah had done on women in Vietnam. At the close of every chapter, a bit more trauma got sprinkled in to the mix. I was sympathetic, but also annoyed at the choices the main character kept making and the improbability of several… shall we say, lucky escapes. I know Kristin Hannah is a popular book club choice but I hope her other titles are more engaging/sympathetic.
-Where’d You Go, Bernadette by Maria Semple (a re-read)`
I can’t say enough good things about this novel in such a short roundup. But I’ll just say I really love it, despite some quibbles about the ending, and I think anyone who wants an irreverent, laugh-out-loud, ridiculous book with a semi-unreliable narrator should pick this one up. I think I’m going to write a whole piece later this fall on my favorite books with unreliable narrators.
-All of the Ramona Quimby books by Beverly Cleary, as read by Stockard Channing in the big audiobook collection (thanks Libby!). My four-year-old and I listened to these together in the car, and what a treat it was to revisit such a happy place from my own childhood. I’m not entirely sure how much he absorbed, being younger than Ramona in her youngest Pest era, but he really enjoyed some of the funnier anecdotes and was sympathetic to such events as (spoilers!) the death of Picky-picky. I have a feeling these stories will be on a frequent rotation in our home.
-Every Elmo book our library has in stock, a billion times, at the non-negotiable request of my two-year-old.
What I Read This Summer (Articles)
This piece by Beth Allison Barr is both chilling and vital. Please read it if you’re vaccine hesitant. Please read it if you’re pro-vaccine. Please read it if you’re RFK Jr. and you somehow drunkenly stumbled on my Substack, idk. Everyone should read this. We cannot go back.
I’m an unashamed fangirl of just about anything
writes, but this piece on Jane Austen’s Rogues was top-tier. It’s inspiring me to finish my own long-languishing draft on why Mr. Darcy is not the dreamboat that pop culture wants him to be.
If you’ve seen my posts on social media for any length of time, you’ll know I’m vehemently against the use of, indeed the idea of, generative AI. I really enjoyed this thoughtful piece by Linda Caroll.
’s piece on why the beach is magical all by itself really struck a chord with me. It's so easy to feel as if you aren't doing enough for your kids, especially with the highlight reels on social media that sometimes seem bent on outdoing each other with extravagant gestures. I'd rather slow down and look for shark teeth.
I laughed out loud several times at this brutally honest account by
, and I really do mean that, not just the snorted-air-through-my-nose-a-little-louder-than-usual that usually passes for an LOL. is generally a satire writer and I opened this piece on John MacArthur’s legacy thinking it would be in that vein, but I was pleasantly surprised—and moved— to find it quite thoughtful and sincere. It is not an easy read, but I think it is an important one.
I loved reading the Ramona books with my son this summer, but I don’t think I’m going to write about them in much detail here, because Kathryn Barbash did it so well in this piece!
What I Wrote This Summer
My Kids Don’t Sleep, But Neither Did I for The Pomegranate
twelve hours of search history (in between vomits) for HAD
Do the Hard Things In Public for The Pomegranate
My McSweeney’s (!) debut with Reviews of New Food: Panera Strawberry Basil Fresca Lemonade
Every Parenting Website’s Baby Registry Recommendations for The Pomegranate
Who I Interviewed This Summer
I did a 12-part series featuring an eclectic group of writers I’ve gotten to know through the Internet. You can find them all here, because I am too tired to hyperlink each name individually, but I shall list them because I appreciate each one!
Beccy Sharley
Jeannie Prinsen
Amy Mantravadi
Julie Vick
Kristen Mulrooney
Gina Dalfonzo
Rachel Darnall
Melody Schwarting
Ruth Buchanan
Karen Swallow Prior
Shannon Sanders
Devoney Looser
And, as a lovely little bonus, I was interviewed by Ryan Teague Beckwith at Your First Byline! You can read that here.
Thanks for coming to this roundup! What did you read, write, and enjoy this summer?
Love this recap, Amy! I too have The Nightingale sitting on my shelf waiting to be read .... come to think of it, I also have The Women on my shelf waiting to be read.
I loved Small Things Like These. The movie was beautiful too. You might really enjoy Keegan's novel Foster, which was also made into a movie -- an Irish-language film called The Quiet Girl. That one was so lovely (the movie made me cry!). Sometimes I am just in the mood for smaller, more impactful books rather than sweeping sagas.
I'm very intrigued by that "Austen's rogues" article -- gonna bookmark that one!
Love this! Eagerly awaiting your Mr. Darcy post whenever it is ready. I really did not like him at all the first time I saw the 1995 adaptation and read the book. He’s not a dreamboat at the beginning for me.
I loved Small Things Like These too! And Foster, maybe even more. Her collection Antarctica haunts me (not always in a good way) but I love how Claire Keegan can be so compelling in so few pages. There have been books 10x that size that haven’t stayed with me so long.