What I Read This Summer, Part 1
It’s been a good summer for reading. To date, I’ve read 25 books — and with one week still to go before the unofficial end of the season, I’ll likely add a few more. I thought I’d recap them for you in a two-part What I Read This Summer series.
Little Matches: A Memoir of Grief and Light by Maryanne O’Hara (Harper One, 2021) A simply astonishing, eloquent memoir of the extraordinary life and loss of Maryanne’s daughter Caitlin who passed away at 33 after a lifelong struggle with cystic fibrosis. She died only two days after receiving a double-lung transplant, one that required her and her mother to move from Boston to Pittsburgh (the only medical center in the country that agreed to do the transplant) for what became a two year wait. Maryanne beautifully weaves Caitlin’s own thoughts and words through this book via texts and emails and reflections, making this a powerfully moving meditation on the meaning of life and what comes afterwards. This will be among my favorite books of 2021. 5 out of 5 stars.
Flow: The Life and Times of Philadelphia’s Schuylkill River by Beth Kephart (Temple University Press, 2007)
A genre-defying chronicle and history of Philadelphia, as observed, experienced and narrated from the perspective of the city’s Schuylkill River. Kephart, like myself, is a Philadelphia native and unabashed champion of all things City of Brotherly Love. Thoughtfully rendered in Kephart’s trademark poetic prose, Flow made me nostalgic and a bit wistful for my hometown and the view of the river at night along Boathouse Row. 4 out of 5 stars.
Night Sky with Exit Wounds by Ocean Vuong (Copper Canyon Press, 2016) Many of these poems seem to focus on Vuong’s father (he’s never met him, according to some interviews) along with familiar themes from his other works — war, violence, family, love, death. I read On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous and liked it, and was curious about his poetry. While I appreciated the language and Vuong’s gorgeous phrasing, I didn’t always connect with the poems. Read my full review here. 3 out of 5 stars.
Beautiful Things by Hunter Biden (Gallery Books, 2021)
An honest, forthright, shocking and no-holds-barred memoir that shatters every misconception one might have of Hunter Biden from the headlines. He writes candidly about the close relationship with his brother Beau, the deep grief from his death, and his drug addiction. Surprisingly good and moving memoir about family, love, and survival. 4 out of 5 stars.
Obit by Victoria Chang (Copper Canyon Press, 2020)
Chang’s poetry collection uses the format of a newspaper obituary to memorialize all that has been lost (“civility,” “language,” “the future”) in the aftermath of her mother’s death. I appreciated the inventiveness of this, but most of the poems were a little lost on me. 3 out of 5 stars.
A Promised Land by Barack Obama (Crown, 2020)
I love you, Barack, but man…you are a wordy guy. This was a very, very detailed book. And this is only volume one of your memoirs, taking us up to the killing of Bin Laden. (Good job with that, by the way.) Your personal stories about your family and your reflections on various events are the best parts of this book, which I listened to on audio because you narrate it, but it gets way too in the weeds with everything else. That said, there’s a pretty good chance I’m going to read volume two. 3 out of 5 stars.
Dusk Night Dawn: On Revival and Courage by Anne Lamott (Riverhead Books, 2021)
Anne Lamott is in the “third third of her life,” newly married, and struggling to make sense of the same questions and issues that we’re all wresting with in this current moment — climate change, COVID, the collective aftermath of having a madman in The White House. Longtime readers won’t be surprised that she returns to familiar themes — sobriety, forgiveness, religion — to offer some comfort and perspective. It mostly works but if you’ve been reading Lamott for while, at times it can feel repetitive. Then again, maybe that’s okay. 3 out of 5 stars.
People of the Book by Geraldine Brooks (Viking, 2008) is an expansive novel that centers on the ancient Sarajevo Haggadah, a priceless volume that has existed for more than 500 years. It begins in 1996 when Hannah Heath, an Australian rare book expert, receives an extraordinary opportunity to appraise and conserve the Haggadah. She discovers small artifacts within its pages; from there, Brooks takes her reader on a trip back through centuries, countries, religions, and history from 1996 to 1460, tracing the connections among the people who treasured and protected the Haggadah. This was a fascinating read and will likely be among my favorites this year. 5 out of 5 stars.
In the Dream House by Carmen Maria Machado (Graywolf Press, 2019) Whoa. This is an intense, occasionally terrifying, gripping, raw, and candid memoir about Machado’s abusive relationship with an unnamed, emotionally unstable woman while in grad school. She takes us through the beginning of their relationship and gradually ratchets up the tension. I found myself utterly fearful for Machado’s safety at several points. We have the perception that domestic violence doesn’t exist in same-sex relationships; through her own experience and literary references, Machado shows that it absolutely does and that’s what makes this an important book. 5 out of 5 stars.
Broken Horses by Brandi Carlile (Crown Publishing, 2021). I like Brandi Carlile’s music but didn’t know much about her. She writes about her Seattle upbringing in a dysfunctional yet musical family (they had issues, but I didn’t think they were excessively dysfunctional…or maybe I’ve read too many dysfunctional family memoirs that the Carliles seemed tame), breaking through as a woman in music, coming out as gay, meeting her now-wife Catherine and becoming a mother to two girls. Enjoyable, average read. 3 out of 5 stars.
Malibu Rising by Taylor Jenkins Reid (Ballentine Books, 2021)
I wrote a whole review on why I intensely disliked this book, one that everyone is reading and raving about this summer. You can read it here. Barely 1 out of 5 stars.
The Story of More: How We Got to Climate Change and Where to Go From Hereby Hope Jahren (Vintage, 2020)
There are too many of us, we’re consuming too much, and we have a very short amount of time to take action. Jahren deconstructs the many changes with climate, technology, society, agriculture and more that have occurred within the past 50 years. Written in a personal and approachable style, Jahren discusses these issues succinctly yet informative enough as to not be overwhelming. Read my full review here. 3.5 out of 5 stars.
XOXY by Kimberly M. Zieselman (Jessica Kingsley Publishers, 2020)
At age 41, Kimberly Zieselman discovered that she was born intersex. This memoir is her journey from learning that the surgery she had when she was 15 wasn’t, as she and her parents were told, a hysterectomy to remove undeveloped organs — the surgeon actually removed testes and never disclosed this information — to proudly identifying as intersex and becoming a prominent and powerful advocate for the intersex community. I related to a lot of this memoir, which is written in a straightforward, informative manner. 4 out of 5 stars.
Weather by Jenny Offill (Knopf, 2020)
Lizzie embodies a feeling we’ve all experienced in recent years: a sense of being unsettled and bracing for impending doom, whether that’s political upheaval, climate change, the fracturing of society’s safety net or some combination thereof. She sees these factors up close with her brother, her husband, the patrons at the academic library where she works and in the side gig she accepts with her mentor, host of a popular podcast, Hell and High Water. Offill writes in a fragmented style and is adept at capturing little moments that reflect great angst. A quick read that is relatable and current. 4 out of 5 stars.