Good morning! I’m long overdue on a reading recap, so I decided to lump all of my recent summer reads into one post. From the literary classic-in-the-making Where the Crawdads Sing to the epic final installment of the Throne of Glass series that has taken me most of the year to read, let’s grab our cups of coffee and chat about these books one by one…
Kingdom of Ash // Sarah J. Maas
So if you’ve been following my blog for a while now, you’ll know that I’ve been slowly but steadily making my way through the Throne of Glass series since last February—which, if you do the math, is an embarrassing one novel per month. I finished Tower of Dawn in July and the seventh and final installment, Kingdom of Ash, about mid-August.
The series got better with every book, and the seventh was the best yet. It was cinematically written and there were scenes (i.e. The Thirteen’s showdown) that had me gasping. I’m trying to keep this spoiler-free, so I can’t really say much about the climax except that I felt it was rather anticlimactic given that the series had built up such high stakes. Despite that, this is a great series if you’re looking for adult fantasy. On a scale of Inheritance cycle to Lord of the Rings, Throne of Glass is somewhere in the middle.
All The Bright Places // by Jennifer Nivan
They tell you not to judge a book by its cover. But can I admit something to you, honestly? I do judge books by their covers. I’m pretty sure we all do. And the cover is the reason I bought All The Bright Places. I mean, look at it. It’s a bright cheerful blue, and it has little post-it notes on it, and it’s just so cute.
The story is equally lovely, which you wouldn’t expect from a book about two suicidal teenagers. But this felt different than most YA fiction, because the suicidal characters don’t actually want to die, for a change. They want to live. They help each other get through hard times and start enjoying their lives. It’s another one of the tragic doomed teenage love story books, but it’s definitely worth the read.
The Wednesday Wars // Gary D. Schmidt
I stole this book from my sister’s pile of library books in my post-Throne of Glass craving for a lighthearted read. Wednesday Wars opens up with seventh-grade Holling Hoodhood, who has gotten on his teacher’s bad side. If this sounds like it’s just a fluffy middle-school read, get ready for some whiplash…because while we’re dealing with escaped rats and chalk-dusted cream puffs, we’re simultaneously tackling topics like the Vietnam War, religious dissension, racism, the hippie movement, and the turbulent 1960’s, all in a lighthearted coming-of-age story packed full of Shakespeare references. In short: cute, fun, probably won’t read it again but it was a fun ride.
The Ladies of Grace Adieu // Susanna Clarke
I also borrowed The Ladies of Grace Adieu from my sister’s pile of library books. It’s a collection of short stories placed in the same fantastical history of Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell. But rather than following our two favorite practical English magicians, these short stories retell “historical” encounters with faeries. As usual, Susanna Clarke nailed it with the dry wit and dark imaginative use of magic in history. I really liked this book, perhaps because I was so delighted to find a sequel of sorts to her first (which rates, on the aforementioned fantasy scale, as an amazing seven or eight). But read Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norrell first, otherwise The Ladies of Grace Adieu probably won’t make much sense.
The Girls of Ennismore // Patricia Falvey
When I picked up this lovely paperback from The Tattered Cover bookstore in Colorado, I was hoping for a Kate Morton-style historical mystery, rich with depth and subplots. It ended up being an Irish spinoff of Downton Abbey. In essence, the novel follows two girls, Rosie and Valentine, who become unlikely friends despite being from different social classes.
I’ll be honest and say I wasn’t impressed with this novel. The characters felt flat, the writing dull, and the story cliche. But I kept reading for the historical intrigue. A year ago, I was studying the 1916 Easter Rising in Dublin, visiting Kilmainham Gaol where the leaders were executed, so it was fascinating to watch a fictional account of the years leading up to the Rising itself. If you’re interested in learning more about early 20th century Irish history, this is a decent one-time read.
Where the Crawdads Sing // Delia Owens
And now, the book that’s been popping up in all the Bookstagram pages and Pinterest feeds this year! Delia Owen’s novel, Where the Crawdads Sing, tells the story of the “Marsh Girl,” Kya, as she grows up in the isolated marsh near Barkley Cove, North Carolina. It’s a coming-of-age story, observation of the natural world, murder mystery, court drama, and literary historical fiction book all at once—in short, a classic in the making. I read this with my local book club over the month of August, and the only book we could think to compare it to is To Kill a Mockingbird, but with a teaspoon of Kate Morton and maybe a pinch of Huckleberry Finn because of the Southernness and the marsh. All in all, this is my favorite read of the summer by far. It has the taste of a modern classic.
There you have it! Looking back, I got a lot more reading done this summer than I thought I did. The only trouble is that it was mostly all fluffy books. Now that we’re on the road to autumn, I’m looking forward to settling down with some more brooding, thoughtful, rich stories. Here’s what is up next on my TBR list:
- Bridge of Clay // Markus Zusak
- Anne of Green Gables // Lucy Maud Montgomery
- Six of Crows // Leigh Bardugo
- Mere Christianity // C.S. Lewis
- Orthodoxy // G.K. Chesterton
What were your favorite reads of the summer?
<3 Olivia Grace
