Here’s a quick summary of what I’ve been reading through the first part of the summer, written from a new location! (I moved away from Arizona.) As I finish this up, I am on my way to the airport to head to Japan for two weeks, so expect the exact same timeliness next month!
Notes on june + july reads
The Ruins / Scott Smith
A summer vacation from hell as the worst people you’ve ever met ignore warnings from the locals and find themselves stuck on some ancient ruins overrun by Satan’s pothos. Once things get going, it is unrelentingly brutal, but it is also such a fun time and one of the most inventive modern horror masterpieces. I’m so glad I finally read this one.
All Hallows / Christopher Golden
Now why on earth did I read a Halloween novel in June? Better question: why did they publish a Halloween novel in January? I have liked SOME of Christopher Golden’s books over the years, but this one was a disappointment. The main issue with it is that there were just way too many characters. It leads to a high body count, but it also leaves the reader a bit lost. I don’t know, I might revisit this one eventually.
The Spite House / Johnny Compton
This one surprised me! It was published without much fanfare earlier this year, and its Goodreads rating is relatively low, but I found myself impressed with what this slim novel takes on. A man on the run takes a job as the caretaker of an obviously haunted house, and it’s a very vibrant haunting at that! There’s a lot of ideas here, and Johnny Compton navigates the thematic threads admirably. I was quite satisfied with the ending, too! A fun debut that promises more to come.
Lolita / Vladimir Nabokov
Lolita makes this list thanks to my Machiavellian plot to get my book club to read it. My third attempt at reading it was the charm, and this go-round I found myself enjoying it. The biggest surprise is – give me some grace here – how funny pieces of this novel are?? Humbert is an undeniable monster, but he’s also a bit of a sassy bitch. Anyway, it’s a classic for a reason and the prose is just gobsmacking.
Lolita in the Afterlife / edited by Jenny Minton Quigley
Since I was leading the discussion of Lolita, I really over-prepared. This essay collection brings together numerous writers and their experiences, analyses, and takes on Nabokov’s infamous novel. This was a nice supplementary read that helped me look at the novel in many different ways.
Final Cuts / edited by Ellen Datlow
I’m a pushover when it comes to horror anthologies, but even I was. a bit let down by this movie-themed anthology. Some standouts were DRUNK PHYSICS by Kelly Armstrong, SNUFF IN 6 SCENES by Richard Kadrey, and A BEN EVANS FILM by Josh Malerman.
The Old Place / Bobby Finger
I’m a Wholigan, and if that means anything to you then you need no introduction to Bobby Finger (host of the podcast Who? Weekly). The Old Place is a story about friendship and secrets in a small Texas town, with plenty of biting laughs along the way. It’s a warm-hearted novel about grief and broken dreams, and if you dug The Guncle this should absolutely be your next read.
The Guest / Emma Cline
The hot girl novel of summer 2023, very few things have given me as much anxiety as Emma Cline’s masterful The Guest. A sex worker gets kicked to the curb by her client, and decides to hang around the Hamptons for a week, certain that there has been a huge misunderstanding. Cline is truly a generational talent, and The Guest is her best yet. The perfect book for the Labor Day weekend ahead.
The White Tiger / Aravind Adiga
I had been meaning to read Aravind Adiga’s Booker Prize-winning novel The White Tiger for years and years, and not even an Oscar-nominated film adaptation in 2021 was able to convince me. I picked it up on a whim in June and was thoroughly impressed. The entire story is told through letters that our main character is writing to the president of China, detailing how he became successful despite his lower-class upbringing. It’s a fascinating novel structurally, gets quite dark at points, and it kept me riveted the whole way through.
Tell Me I’m Worthless / Alison Rumfit
Horror fiction is in such a fascinating place, and the publishing imprint Tor Nightfire has been releasing some envelope-pushing horror novels since its launch in 2021. Tell Me I’m Worthless is a state-of-the-UK-as-horror novel, and Rumfit found connective tissue between the current rise of transphobia and the country’s xenophobic and colonial past. The social messages never feel preachy, and are often presented with nuance. That being said, there are moments in the book that absolutely deflate terf ideology so thoroughly, it’s quite satisfying.
The Loop / Jeremy Robert Johnson
This Stranger Things knockoff is b-movie levels of fun, but it is so surface level and plodding that you kind of can’t wait for it to get to its point. It sticks the landing, but is in a constant state of flailing before that.
Is It Hot in Here? Or Am I Suffering for All Eternity for the Sins I Committed on Earth? / Zach Zimmerman
A collection of personal essays that asks “what if a writer had nothing to say?”
A Court of Thorns and Roses / Sarah J. Maas
Thanks to my book club, I have finally read the biggest book of the past few years, and it was just okay! It’s a riff on Beauty and the Beast, and develops a romance semi-successfully, but my goodness the pacing of this thing was just too slow for enjoyment. Nothing happens for 80% of it, and then EVERYTHING happens.
The Latecomer / Jean Hanff Korelitz
I love a generational family saga, and Jean Hanff Korelitz has written a literary-lite version of the multi-POV family tale. I was so wrapped up in this novel from start to finish, following an unhappy Brooklyn family and the ups and downs in their lives. I genuinely couldn’t put it down. It’s not winning any awards, but it’s such a fun, delicious journey.
The Salt Grows Heavy / Cassandra Khaw
Cassandra Khaw wrote Nothing But Blackened Teeth, one of my least-favorite reads in recent years, and has followed it up with this novella about bloodthirsty mermaids. It was marginally better.
In the Time of the Butterflies / Julia Alvarez
Julia Alvarez’s modern classic In the Time of the Butterflies more than deserves its place in the canon, a tale of sisters during the Trujilo dictatorship in the Dominican Republic. Alvarez shows her hand early, but that doesn’t make the ending any less devastating. Its epilogue is one for the ages.
Episode Thirteen / Craig DiLouie
I had mediocre luck with horror this summer, and Episode Thirteen was indicative of that. This novel about a film crew in a haunted house is told through narrative, transcripts, and production notes, but its conclusion was not wholly satisfying. DiLouie avoids any ambiguity with the conclusion, and I think the entire thing would’ve been a lot scarier if there was some left.
The Third Rainbow Girl / Emma Copley Eisenberg
This one is tough to summarize my thoughts on. It’s a hybrid true crime-memoir, through the lens of West Virginian cultural history, and there are many sections that are really great. But the narrative lulls were too frequent to ignore, and it left a lukewarm feeling by the end. The deep affection the author feels for West Virginia and its people is felt throughout, and it’s one of the book’s highlights.
Nick and Charlie / Alice Oseman
This pre-Heartstopper novella featuring Nick and Charlie took me an hour to read and it was unnecessary but unoffensive.
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