Reading in the summer? Groundbreaking. Anyway here’s what I’ve been reading at the beach, at the pool, on my deck etc.
Matrix by Lauren Groff
My local library doesn't have much circulation, so I've seen the same copy of Matrix there several times, and considered reading but never did. What always intrigued me is that the book jacket gives no real hint as to the contents of the book. It reads: "Equally alive to the sacred and the profane, Matrix gathers currents of violence, sensuality, and religious ecstasy in a mesmerizing portrait of consuming passion, aberrant faith, and a woman that history moves both through and around."
The mystery worked because I did finally read it. I won't give too much of the story away (and I would argue there's not even a story to give), but it's about a convent and nuns and medieval life and death. I enjoyed it mostly for Groff's writing, which is alive and visceral, though I always feel like there's a limit to how much I can enjoy stories drawing on the culture of Christianity because I don't know anything about the Bible, really.
Four Squares by Bobby Finger
Come for Who? Weekly host Bobby Finger, stay for the tenderhearted story about an aging gay New Yorker's life before and after tragedy. The book jumps between the present, where Artie begins attending a center for LGBTQ seniors, and the past, where Artie is working on a book, falling in love, and having the time of his life with his friends.Â
I love art that honors queer people lost in the AIDS crisis, and honors elders who survived it at a huge emotional cost. This book does such a nice job of that while still feeling hopeful.
Towards Zero by Agatha ChristieÂ
I wanted to read Towards Zero because I heard it once described as a tennis murder mystery, and I love a murder mystery that's set around a specific activity or social event. There's almost no tennis in this book, but it does involve a famous tennis player, his current wife, and his ex-wife (or, Agatha Christie does Challengers). Ms. Christie was just so good at what she did, I simply never see the murderer coming. It's definitely up there in my favorites of hers.
The Husbands by Holly Gramazio
I don't often read books where I'm itching for it to get made into a movie, but The Husbands would be so perfect. The premise is simple: 30-ish-year-old Lauren is living her single girlie life in London and comes home from a night out to discover a mysterious husband in her home. She doesn't have a husband, and yet here he is in her kitchen and suddenly, as her phone background. He goes up to the attic to get something, and when he comes back down, it's a completely different husband. This continues as Lauren realizes that if she gets bored of a husband, or doesn't like his beard or his hobbies or profession, she can ask him to go into the attic and a fresh husband will come down.Â
Naturally this results in hijinks. Each time she receives a new husband, details about her life change, like her job, her friends, the decor of her apartment. Each new husband is a different possible path she could have taken in her life, and she never sticks with one for too long because there's always the possibility of a better husband. It was so fun to realize that the author of this book has a video game design background because it's so obvious how that comes into play.
Beach Read by Emily Henry
Reading Emily Henry books has the same feeling as watching a 2005 romantic comedy (complimentary). They're fun, easy to read, and predictable without being boring. What makes her books work, I think, is that she's self-aware about the genre she's writing in and the tropes that come with it. About her book Book Lovers, she said she was inspired by the classic Hallmark Channel trope of a big city girl getting sent to a small town to learn about life.
Beach Read is a rivals-to-lovers story about two writers who happen to be living in adjacent lake houses. Henry also likes to lure her readers in with a fluffy premise and then weave in much heavier topics; this one features grief, cancer, cults, abuse, divorce. Like the title says, a beach read!
Beautiful World, Where Are You by Sally Rooney
I haven't read any Sally Rooney books til now but I started with this one and loved it and will be thinking about it for a while!