June was a slow month leading up to our move. I was distracted and busy and finished a grand total of…four books. Reader, that’s better than I did in August, ha! However, they were all really good books!
- I started the month strong, with my top book of the year and my second novel by Douglas Stuart, John of John. Everyone should read this book. It was recently short listed for the Booker Prize and it’s a beautifully told story of queer love, generational love, family history, and also happens to be a lovely look into life in the western Scottish Isles. I was lucky enough to see Stuart’s talk at the Edinburgh International Book Festival and have him sign my copy of John of John, and hearing him talk about the time he spent living on Harris, was very cool.
- A significant pivot after that to the next Cleopatra Fox mystery from CJ Archer, Murder and The Missing Treasure was a fun and light read, as usual, with an interesting little twist in the mystery. It wasn’t as predictable as I’ve come to find Archer (I do find comfort in that! These are definitely nice fun comfort reads for me) which was nice.
- Pivoting back to a more serious topic, this was a strong month for repeat authors and I returned to another favorite, Marie Benedict (also currently listening to her right now as well!) and her A Pair of Aces which is co-written with Victoria Christopher Murray and focuses on the life of historic black female ADA, Eunice Carter and renowned NYC madam, Polly Adler. The story focuses on Carter and her involvement in helping take down the mob boss, Lucky Luciano by focusing on their involvement in prostitution, instead of drugs or money laundering.
- My last book for the month was to prep for our trip! Alexander McCall Smith is a very prolific Scottish writer who lives here in Edinburgh. Although better known for his detective series, The No. 1 Ladies Detective Agency (which includes 27!! books and counting), he is equally as invested in his 44 Scotland Street series (17 books and counting!) and my fourth read in June was the first novel in the series, of the same name. It follows the delightful characters living at (fictional!) 44 Scotland Street and their lives. It’s delightfully British and Scottish and funny and very telling of human nature. I also saw his talk (though virtually because tickets went fast!) at the Edinburgh International Film Festival and he was funny and intellectual and great to hear speak.
So there you have it. July wasn’t much better but I’ll get it posted ASAP. August was a wash for finishing books but I started several! What are you reading? What did you read in June?
-M
