June 2023
I have written half blog posts for each month leading into December. It felt silly to write 6 months into one, so I will simply publish each month every day, with a final 7th post for my top 10 books of 2023.
June feels like an age ago, but it’s my birthday month, and I started the month on a trip by myself to Bournemouth. I came back relaxed, tanned and having knocked a solid few books off of my TBR. I always get quite stressed during my birthday, but I’ve found that spending the day alone is my favourite way to celebrate. I love peace! I love the sun! I love being by the sea! What a joyous way to read. :)
To old and new friends reading this blog post - THANK YOU! Again, I would write this with 0 readers but having even 1 is .. :)
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
This book has been hyped up for me since January. I saw insanely lucky people with their proof copies and I felt immediately jealous. And it was for good reason!
Yellowface is about a white author stealing her Chinese friends book, after said friend dies one night. She claims the work for her own, basks in the limelight and then struggles when social media picks up on the plagiarism. I found this book intensely compelling - it took me less than a day to read, and I could’ve easily read this in one sitting.
There are 2 points that stick out to me - the first being the very nuanced and accurate depiction of what I will loosely call cancel culture (whether this term is correct in this context is another matter and one for someone who can think harder than me). I have incredibly mixed feelings about a) the speed at which social media allows information to travel without a thought to accuracy, b) the cruelty that semi-anonymity can grant people and c) the platforms that godawful people are given. I think there’s a lot to admire in Kuang about getting all of the above correct in a way that is neither scathing nor excusatory.
The second point to stick out to me is the insight into the publishing industry. I’ve only read one other book (Another Black Girl) set in the publishing industry, which was also a sort of thriller. Both books had very poignant criticisms of publishers and publishing houses. I don’t think you need to be in the industry (I certainly am not) to get the criticisms from the book, but they’re… interesting.
Rating: ★★★★★
The Happy Couple by Naoise Dolan
I will start by saying I LOVED Dolan’s debut novel, Exciting Times. I am always hesitant to compare new authors by their previous works, and certainly not authors who have <5 books. So I tried to go in with a fresh perspective.
And so I can say - this is nothing like Exciting Times.
The Happy Couple follows 4 people - a bride, a maid of honour, a best man, and a guest in the lead up to a wedding. The chapters are set by the POV of each of these people. And each POV is centred around their connection with the groom. I found the characters to be caricatures at times, completely exaggerated to the point where it felt unbelievable - but I think this was very much the point. They are exaggerated. That’s the way they cope with their lives! The 2 POVs most interesting to me were the best man and the guest.
This book is about relationships; the complexity of unrequited love, friendship, figuring out your sexuality. It’s about doing what you think is right but realising that to do what’s right for other people is completely wrong for you. These themes are coupled with Dolan’s excellent writing - she really does not miss the mark with her criticisms of marriage, monogamy and heterosexuality.
At a push, I think I liked this, but I didn’t love it. The writing felt excellent, but the plot and the characters felt like they let me down.
Rating: ★★★☆☆
All The Houses I’ve Ever Lived In by Kieran Yates
I can say, hand on heart, I loved this book.
All The Houses I’ve Ever Lived In is a non fiction book about… well, exactly that. Almost all of the houses Yates has lived in. The book is interspersed with Yates own lived experiences of constant moving, throughout her childhood, teen years and well into adulthood. But with the descriptions of Yates’ experiences are well researched, well thought out insights and chapters of political and socioeconomic context.
So what made me love this book? I think firstly, it is well written. The contrast of lived experience vs research was well done. At a certain point, I think that it can get boring - one section will almost always be inevitably better than the other - but in this book, I felt room for both sections to shine.
Another part of this book that made me love it is that… I did actually relate to it at parts. And I did genuinely feel like I learned things. For example - my grandparents have the iconic black velvet, fake gold tissue box. Tacky! I hated it! And child, teen, and adult me had never fathomed the history behind something as simple as a tissue box. To me, they were cheap and accessible for my grandparents (and maybe that is exactly why my grandparents bought them. Who knows. But there is a history behind the manufacture of these tissue boxes that I had never thought to appreciate in the context of my own grandparents).
Rating: A well deserved★★★★★
Everything’s Fine by Cecilia Rabess
I can quite clearly recall what made me buy this book. I love romance. I love a book about two complete opposites, two people with a history, a real enemies-to-lovers trope. It's my guilty pleasure (I don’t really feel any guilt).
Jess and Josh are complete opposites. They meet in a bristly encounter on campus, then a bristly encounter at work. They realise, quickly, that they enjoy spending time with each other. But work politics, real life politics, their different races come to a head, resulting in huge differences between the two.
So… what did I enjoy about this book? I love romance! I love love! I love reading about relationships and the kind of unexpected love that makes 2 very different people come together. Rabess did this in a way that totally reels you in. You realise that perhaps love isn’t enough; how do you love someone with completely different values to you? Can love make you change your core beliefs? At what point do political differences force two people apart? Rabess writes this all without losing the concepts of romance that make this an enjoyable book.
Rating: ★★★★★
You Could Make This Place Beautiful by Maggie Smith
Do not make the mistake I did in thinking this is the Maggie Smith you think it is (unless you’re into poetry).
I loved and devoured this book. Smith writes a memoir about her relationship, marriage and divorce. She writes about the breakdown and betrayal of her marriage, but maps it to the start. How they met, how they fell in love, their marriage and the birth of their children. What it felt like to become a mother for the first time. How their relationship dynamics changed when they became parents. The stress of their work on their marriage. The small, insignificant things that built up over time.
Smith writes it all with beautiful prose, introspection and insight.
But the most poignant parts of this book are the parts where Smith begins to find herself after her marriage ends. How she navigates her break up, loses her sense of self and finds it again. When she recognises that she isn’t really bad at relationships; just that specific one. She has so many other relationships that thrive, and that’s okay. I don’t often highlight books but this is one where my pen and highlighter became my best friends. I cannot emphasise how much I love this book, how beautiful the words and how vulnerable Smith makes herself. I could not recommend this more.
Rating: A strong ★★★★★