Summer Reading Wrap-Up

The last bit of my summer reading has been a big old hm… or even a what the hell? But I thought I’d share a wrap-up in case anyone else was interested in these books.

Or in case anyone has read In Watermelon Sugar and can explain it to me 🙂

Fair is fair reviews for this one have been super MIXED. I knew that going in. And I didn’t hate the mystery or the atmosphere about the murders of several students that seem to belong to this cult like group who worship a hot Professor at Cambridge.

But the main character was kind of a dumb ass who liked to talk about how great she was with her instinct while not realizing she was being stalked or by who and lying to people about things that could so easily be checked. She was maddening.

Plus I totally called the killer what I didn’t get was the motive and it was so… dark with the implications that I think the ending needed a hell of a lot more time.

Recommend: Negative. There’s got to be better murder mysteries at Cambridge.

This one bummed me out and not just because of the story. I heard about it on the Booker Prize long list and thought it sounded like a wonderful idea. It imagines the life stories of five kids who died in a bombing in 1944.

Great idea right?

Well parts of it where beautifully written especially the end of the book. I’m a sucker for following a character throughout there life and then having them look back and take stock.

But true to real life I guess most were really boring and one was a shit person anyway. The other involved in shit things. (Trigger warnings for eating disorders, severe mental health problems, racism, violent murder, drug use.) I think too boring as the book could be at times the fact that it skipped so much time was also a big old problem for me.

One character had some pretty big mental health problems cue like 15 years later oh well, he’s okay his wife really helped him. It just didn’t come together.

Recommend: Eh, like I said some parts the writing is truly beautiful but I can’t say I really found it worth it.

This book about a barren woman whose accused of witchcraft joining a group of outlaws was so hyped at the beginning of the year I was determined to pick it up and honestly…

It was fine.

I did appreciate that the main character was really driven by a purpose to find out medically what the deal was why she couldn’t have kids and help change things for other women who were often accused of witchcraft and burned at the stake for not having children.

That being said the gang itself was pretty forgettable save for the Kid and I couldn’t figure out why anyone would follow them especially in the ridiculous last heist which was so bad it was like a late season Walking Dead villain.

Recommend: Eh again. I thought it was overhyped but if you are looking for something quick and airy it’s got it’s moments.

Eve Babitz has popped up on Anya Taylor-Joy’s Instagram and she’s often compared to Joan Didion (let’s be honest I mostly gave her a go due to Anya) and this is basically about her life in LA written toward a significant other (or maybe not so significant in the end) that she’s trying to mark the relationship and reach out to.

This can be a bit rambley at times but it works with that time period and what she’s writing about but what I really loved were the LA vibes I heartily disagree with her on the Santa Ana’s but otherwise.

I don’t read a lot of LA stories where I really feel like the authors get it (like oh you know the Hollywood sign good on you!) but this is very of it’s time and place which makes it very hard to recommend.

But I’m going to pick up the author again for sure.

In Watermelon Sugar… well at least it’s a quick read.

It was originally published in 1968 and is a slice of life about post apocalyptic commune living where everything runs and is built from the processed sugar of a watermelon. That part of it I’m all for. The main character is trying to write a book the first in a while apparently and In Watermelon Sugar is just his POV of daily life.

Trigger warning its only really broken up by a suicide.

I did not like the writing. Only the burials were strangely beautiful but the rest of it was so dry and probably due to the writing I did not enjoy the main character. The thing is there’s an interesting story here it’s only hinted. So yeah not a winner for me at all.

Recommend: No.

But to be fair I read it because I saw it on one of those I Read Harry Styles (or insert whatever celebrity) Favorite Books so 50/50 on the celebrity reads 🙂