July '25 Books

 Ten books read in July.

Broken Country by Clare Leslie Hall is the first book I've read by this author and a Reese's Book Club pick. I don't think of myself as an Anglophile, but it does seem that English movies, books and TV programs are smarter - better story telling than American fare. This was my favorite fiction read of the month.

All That Life Can Afford by Emily Everett is also a Reese's Book Club choice.  A Smith College scholarship graduate from a working class background moves to London to pursue a master's in literature. She falls in with the upper class. Billed as a Jane Austen inspired 'coming of age' book

Sting and Overkill are two more of the books by Sandra Brown that I'm reading my way through.

We All Live Here is the newest novel by Jojo Moyes. When I saw my first book by her, I didn't think it would have much substance. I realize I was basing that entirely on her first name. I'm so glad I read that book anyway and many more since. She is a great writer. The 'all' living in a house that is in need of much repair includes her two daughters and her step-father - then her wayward, absent for thirty-five years, father shows up. This is such a fun, serious, thoughtful read about what it means to be family.

Isola is by Allegra Goodman a new author for me. Not only a Reese's Book Club pick, it was one Bud picked that he thought I would like - based entirely on the cover - a woman standing high upon a cliff. It was a good read, inspired by the real life of a sixteenth century woman.

Bury Our Bones in the Midnight Soil is by another new author for me, V.E. Schwab. It tells the stories of three young women living in different centuries. It is not a book I would have read had I not been so far into it before realizing it was about vampires. However, it was well written and interesting and I hate to give up on a book once I've started it.

Friction is another of the many Sandra Brown books I've been reading.

Remember Us by Robert M. Edsel begins with Hitler's invasion of the Netherlands May 10, 1940 and follows the lives of twelve main characters over a six-year span mostly set in the small rural province of Limburg. This is my favorite non-fiction book this month barely edging out....  

Taking Manhattan by Russell Shorto - a book of The Extraordinary Events That Created New York and Shaped America. Also non-fiction, but not quite as well written as the previously mentioned one. 

What totally got my attention on the first page was the footnote: *There are many names for the Indigenous people native to the region, including Lenape, Munsee, Munsee Lenape, Lennie Lenape, Delaware.

Lennie Lenape - that was the name of the tribe my 7x great-grandfather was a chieftan of - which made the book even more interesting. And there he was on page 94 - Lenape chief Lapowinsa - the same photo, but in black and white, as the one I pictured on my April 27, 2024 blog "Meet My Native American 7xGreat-Grandfather".  This book was more about the Dutch and English than the native tribes but just finding this familial link made it more interesting to me. 

Incidentally, Bud picked these last two books for me, too, which reminds me - I should listen to him more often and I should be reading more non-fiction. 

It is time to head back to the library. I wonder what my August books read list will look like. 😉