When I publish my list of reads each month (okay, I know it hasn’t always been monthly, but go with me on this), I’m often going back through my list of library and Kobo downloads and looking on my night table to actually build the list. I suppose I should build the list and my mini-reviews as I go, but it’s interesting to see what sticks with me even just a few weeks after reading.
Sometimes I remember plots, characters, specific moments, and even passages or turns of phrases quite vividly even months later, and sometimes I need to need the book blurb to open up my memory of the book. Once in a while even with that prompt, I come up with a near blank. To some extent, my memory depends on how much my brain was juggling while I was reading, sure, but the vividness with which I remember provides a great indicator of how engaged my imagination was by the book. Though in absolutely fairness, sometimes I vividly remember a book for how it irritated me… so I guess memorability is not the best way to assess the pleasure a book provides. Ah well, on to July’s pages.
The Retreat by Elisabeth de Mariaf. This novel is a well-written psychological thriller crossed with a dumb-dumb horror movie where there is no earthly reason for any of the characters to go out in the woods or down to the basement or wherever but they do and they die because if they didn’t, there would be no story. This is that.
Little Lost Secrets by Cheryl Bradshaw. This novel is the second in the series, and I think I may have enjoyed it more if I read the first beforehand. The main character has a tragic backstory that I suspect was explored in the first installment, and it likely would have allowed me to be more immersed in her world and understand her motivations. Or perhaps I’m giving too much thought? Anyway, it was fine.
The Mystery of Mrs. Christie by Marie Benedict. Renowned mystery writer Agatha Christie really did go missing for 11 days in 1926. What really happened during that time has never been fully uncovered. This novel is the fictional exploration of what might have happened, and it is excellent.
Big Little Lies by Lianne Moriarty. Such a good read. I watched the HBO series based on this novel a few years ago, and its excellent cast influenced the way I pictured the characters as I read the book. As usual between page and screen, the stories are not identical, but they are very close. I’m confident if you enjoy the series, you’ll love the book and vice versa. I did!
Human Face by Aline Templeton. This is the first in the series in which Devil’s Garden (reviewed last most) occurs later. I suppose I should make more effort to read serial novels in order, but both of these stand on their own quite nicely.
The Bomber Mafia by Malcolm Gladwell. As with many of Gladwell’s books, this one taught me a great deal about a topic I hadn’t previously paid much attention to. He has such a gift of contagious curiosity. In this case, he’s discussing the early visionaries around using airplanes in combat for precision bombing––and as always, he’s looking at it from multiple angles and a wider cultural, historical, and ethical lens. I’m not usually attracted to learning about war or weaponry, but I found this book to be fascinating.
305 Lost Buildings of Canada by Raymond Biesinger. Grabbed this book on a whim as well because it’s definitely outside of my usual wheelhouse. Organized by province, this book offers elegant illustrations and conversational descriptions of interesting bygone buildings in cities across Canada. There is no uniting rhyme or reason that I could discern as to why a building would be included or not, other than the author thinking, “hey, this one is interesting!,” and that is part of the book’s charm.
The Case of the Tangled Maypole by Anna Castle.
The Case of the Miscast Curse by Anna Castle. This and the listing above are second and third in a series that I began a couple of months ago, so yay! I actually do read things in order sometimes. I am really enjoying this series, which stars a “cunning woman” (healer) in the sixteenth century who gets called upon in her village to figure out mysteries.
A Lethal Lesson by Iona Whishaw. Another in a series about a female former WWII English spy who has now settled in British Columbia who keeps stumbling upon dead bodies and other mysteries to solve. Clearly, very much in my usual wheelhouse.
On the Pod:
One podcast I follow that I haven’t mentioned before is Sawbones: A Marital Tour of Misguided Medicine. Physician Dr. Sydnee McElroy and her husband Justin McElroy discuss both current and historical medical issues from Monkeypox (the latest episode I listened to) to the Green Children of Woolpit to, of course, Covid in several episodes. Down-to-earth expert Sydnee and Justin as the smart-but-goofy, layman questioner deliver a highly entertaining and highly informative show – plus I love their theme song, Medicines by The Taxpayers.
