Books I Read this summer—
Hi! Listing the Books I read this summer
in reverse order!
Couplets by Maggie Millner
Holy hell, I read this on a Saturday. Recommended multiple times by my brilliant co booksellers at First Light within the first weeks of stacking the shelves, I felt pulled to claw it's beautiful red and pink pop cover too, opening it up to read and reread the intro 'prome' page and 1.1, and basically foaming at the mouth. We sold out of the copies on hand for the opening weekend quick! when I saw the new stock, walking in on a Friday night–an old solo romance of mine, I found a corner to keep reading. And enjoyed reading in total. Don't be afraid of 'a love story'
Fun Home: A Family Tragicomic by Alison Bechdel
Borrowed from my friend, Maddie, in swap for a short stack of my favorite graphic novels. I liked it! Happy I read it! RIYL The Addams family and identified your family like the Addams' too. Queer! with dad stuff, but centered more on the generational cycle of our personal identities and secrets in our homes. Read quickly in a day over a few sittings, after over 3 patient months on my coffee table, lol
The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector
Of all of the books I added on my Notes app list from the weeks leading up to my first purchase @ firstlightbooks, I didn't expect it to be you. A shiny copy of Clarice Lispector, an author I usually hunt for on secondhand shelves, an author I'd never read but wanted to. Something slim and weird, my special formula for picking fiction this summer. Her sentences are crazy, good stream of consciousness writing
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury
Borrowed from a close friend's shelf, to read as if it were my required summer reading assignment, since I missed it in High School. This book is exactly what you think it is, no hidden message or meaning. I don't know what else to add to the internet about it; if you read it and feel passionate about it, I'd love to hear it
One Piece Vol. 1
Borrowed from a reader who is current with the manga. Borrowed to read to be in the know about the title, and truly had no clue it was coming out as a live action when I read it haha and No, I’m not reading all of them
Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Currently reading! here and there in chunks, all summer, currently in Book 2! Feels like I’m spending time in the characters' world when I’m reading it in hours, I recommend it!
They by Kay Dick
Picked because it was on the slim quadrant of McNally Jackson’s Summer matrix last summer, and I gifted a copy to a close friend last summer too. Read mostly poolside in short bursts of its chaotic scenes as chapters. Confusing for the first read, and really quick storytelling in short sentences, which I really liked. What’s going on? Very cool short book.
Heartburn by Nora Ephron
I restarted it again, for the third or fourth time in the last few weeks after carrying it with me, on the night after I interviewed to be a bookseller at First Light Books. I read it in June in waiting, with my self facing the the sun at Shipe, and finished it on the Friday night I accepted my offer on my patio step, where I’ve been reading, writing, looking out, waiting–I purchased my copy of Heartburn on January 1, 2022, from BookPeople during their annual customer appreciation day sale, a personal to me book on that day. Reading it when I was ready now, wow, I laughed so much, and I needed to laugh so much. Truly GOOD writing, which caused good thinking from me, and a quick read, if you’re looking for something with good heart, and/or to ail yours.
Unexhausted Time by Emily Berry
Picked up at McNally on Prince St. end of last summer, with my Mannheimer book. GOOD poetry collection, good newish to me, modern poet. I seriously don’t know how we learn or know about any good working modern poets without simply being overly engaged in poetry being published and hunting for it constantly, picking up what looks cool, and checking the publishing details for year, location and press. I read this at the start of summer, opening to its first pages on my first trip to Barton Springs with friends, and finishing the collection at home.
I just read Consider the Oyster by MFK Fisher. I’m thinking about it—
I’ll write soon,
Colore