All The Books I’ve Read This Summer

And what’s still on my shelf to read

Summer really is when I’m at my bookworm best. I find having the time (and attention span) to break the first 50-100 pages of a book in one sitting makes all the difference to how much I read, both in terms how much I read and how much I enjoy it. It’s such a luxury to have time to devour book after book and so far this summer, I’ve had a good run which has been so so nice. So here is everything I’ve read so far and what’s still left on my ‘to read’ pile for the summer season.

Dream State by Eric Puchner
This is exactly my kind of contemporary fiction - nostalgic, funny and devastating in equal measure, it really dissects what it means to truly love and forgive. It follows young soon-to-be-weds Charlie and Cece preparing to get married at his parent’s lakeside summer house in Montana. Charlie’s best friend Garrett, who dropped out of college after a breakdown to move back to Montana to look after his ailing father, has agreed to be the couples officiant, despite having never met the bride before the wedding. As Norovirus starts taking the wedding party down one by one, a match is about to be struck that will set in motion the rest of their

Shy creatures by Clare Chambers
If you haven’t read Small Pleasures by Chambers, you must. That book broke me!! It’s so quiet and simple but heart wrenching and Shy Creatures is not dissimilar. I love Chamber’s penchant for setting novels in 1960s London and Surrey suburbia - there’s something about that post-war culture of propriety and secrets that lends itself so well to quietly devastating stories. I’m making it sound very bleak but it’s actually full of heart. Chambers is one of those authors that can make houses and gardens feel like characters themselves which, growing up the likes of The Secret Garden, A Little Princess and later Jilly Cooper, I’m all for.