July Reviews

July had some really high highs and some very low lows, but I'm sitting beside an open window, the sun shining and the wind blowing and the neighborhood kids are playing soccer in the grass outside, and I'm so grateful and so sad at the same time, but the biggest thing I am is loved.

I was also very fortunate to read a lot of really good books this month, so let's jump on into that.

Remarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van Pelt

I cannot for the life of me remember who recommended this book to me, but I grabbed it on sale somewhere and devoured it in like two days (I actually finished this one in June, but it's not part of the rainbow so we'll just shuffle it to July).

Tova Sullivan has been working at the aquarium for years, befriending the giant pacific octopus, Marcellus, as she grieves the death of her husband and disappearance of her son 30 years ago. Cameron is just trying to find a place where he fits-- smart but aimless, he ends up in Washington at the aquarium. Marcellus knows he only had a short time left in his life, but he's going to use everything moment he has left to give Tova and Cameron the closure they need.

This was such a good and sweet read

 It feels small town coastal and generational is a refreshing and humorous way. Marcellus the octopus is a standout, and his perspective is written brilliantly-- all three of our narrators have such unique voices, even as their stories begin to collide and intertwine.

It's ultimately a story about letting go and finding peace, about knowing you're not alone, and life has a way of bringing you exactly what you need-- or at least a giant pacific octopus does. 

I really loved the character spread and writing in this story as well as the overarching plot, that felt like it meandered with just the right amount of urgency before all coming together. 

The Husbands by Holly Gramazio

This was such a wild delight of a book, one I'm so glad I read.

Lauren gets back late from her best friend's bachelorette party to find her husband in her flat-- only, she wasn't married before she left. Turns out her attic can produce any number of husbands, one at a time as they climb in and out. Now struck with new lives and new choices, Lauren has to decide what she's willing to stick with, or if the power of choice will be too alluring to stop.

This is a book about the maybes and what ifs-- all the lives and husbands that could be. It's a look at how different things play out or sometimes not different at all. Each husband and subsequent life are so fascinating to see, even as Lauren has to navigate what each new world brings for her-- both good and bad.

It's a fantastic premise, one that also could easily become overwhelming too quickly, but Gramazio does a great job balancing humor with that growing desperation for some aspect of control that isn't dependent on a man. 

I don't know what more to say about this book, because it has a great premise, a great main character, and a wild story that twists with every new husband. Would recommend.

Gentlest of Wild Things by Sarah Underwood

I've read one of Sarah Underwood's books before and it was fine-- I really wanted a Greek based story though because I've been listening to a lot of Epic The Musical and that's really got me in A Mood.

Eirene has been watching her village and the young women within it fall to the Desires of cunning and beautiful Leandros-- and when his gaze falls on her twin, Phoebe, she'll do anything to protect her sister, including a series of impossible seeming tasks. Leandros' daughter, Lamia, has been raised alone and hidden away, and finds herself helping Eirene with her tasks. As they work together, feelings bloom between them, and it will take everything they have to make it through alive.

I thought this was a creative look at the idea of inheritance, free will, and the sometimes destructive power of beauty. The mythos used was interesting, and the story itself was a compelling one of both sibling and saphic love. 

There were parts of it i started to skim more through-- some of the descriptions sometimes felt like they dragged on a bit, but I think that may just be a stylistic preference for me. The characters were strong willed, even if their determination seemed to be their biggest character feature. The love story was fine, not the highlight for me, but I did like Lamia's reckoning with her history and the mystery that built up to that.

Overall this was fine-- it didn't really scratch the itch I wanted it to, but it was still a good story.

Moonrise by Sarah Crossan

Holy shit. I got this book from a friend who was downsizing her library, and holy shit did I not know what to expect.

Joe Moon was seven was his brother was convicted of killing a cop and locked away on death row. Ten years later he's been given an execution date, and Joe has a summer to get to know his brother before losing him altogether. 

Written in poetic stanzas and vignettes, every word of this story packs such a punch. Every beat feels intentional, and the weight of it is almost crushing. You can feel Joe's grief, his hurt, his anger. The injustice of it all hides between each line, and by the end I was trying desperately not to weep on my couch at work. 

Joe is trying so hard, and each new thing we learn about him or his brother and family just makes it all the more clear how much he's been carrying this thing with him, waiting and searching. And the characters he meets through the process are so clear and real. 

And the writing! Oh my god the writing! The last line took me out at my fucking knees, the whole thing is littered with moments that just make you Feel.

I really really liked this book, and if you can handle the subject matter you should absolutely read it.

Of Monsters and Mainframes by Barbara Truelove

This was a weird a wild book that I absolutely adored and came to me at the perfect time. 

Demeter is a high power economy class transport making a regular trip from Earth to Alpha Centauri and just wants to do her job. Unfortunately, her humans keep dying from paranormal events, beginning with the cruel and ancient vampire, Dracula. Demeter's voyages only become more perilous, until she decides that she must kill Dracula. Teaming up with a strange motley crew, Cemetery must ultimately decide if she'll be driven by her programing or by love.

This is such a queer (in both the gay and strange sense) and lovely book that also happens to be incredibly violent and completely science fiction. Demeter is such an interesting narrator, and while the novel jumps to several other perspectives throughout the course of the story, Demeter is the heart or it all. 

The writing is funny in places and tragic in others, things timed perfectly for the maximum effect for both, and I loved the twisty unexpectedness of it all. It's not a retelling, more like an imaginative revamping (pun intended) that features twists on the original Bram Stoker characters, along with several other monsters reimagined to fit the setting.

I had a tough personal thing happen while I was reading this book, but it didn't impact the triumph of it, and ultimately I really really enjoyed this story. It was a light through some sadness, and I will always be thankful for it.

The Last True Poets of the Sea by Julia Drake

I love this book so much. I read it once years ago and fell in love with it, and honestly it was painful but exactly what I needed right now.

This is the second book I've chosen for my little pass the book book club, where I write notes in the margins and mail it off to my friend, who writes her own and mails it to another, before it finds it's way back home to me, full of love and little letters from my friends. And maybe I was quiet and sad and minimal with my notes, but that's okay. Just reading this book made me feel a little bit better.

Violet Larkin is a disaster, descended from a shipwreck survivor and shipped off to spend the summer in Lyric, Maine, after her brother's attempted suicide. There, she meets kind Orion and brilliant Liv, and decides to uncover the mystery of her ancestors shipwreck, finding more about herself along the way.

In a loose but still accurate sense, this is somewhat of a retelling of Shakespeare's Twelfth Night, which is one of my absolute favorites. It has some new twists, but it brings along enough of the original that pieces of it are recognizable in the story. 

I adore the writing in this-- Violet is young and impulsive and introspective and trying so, so hard to be something, maybe better, maybe less, maybe more. And she finds, maybe not what she's looking for, but what she needed to find. 

This book is full of fun and silly moments but also really serious ones, and I appreciate the tonal shifts and balances, how Drake tells such a beautiful and character driven story without losing the whimsy of the place and the allure of the shipwreck. Drake is witty and intentional and I just love love love this book.

I hope my friends like this one as much as I do.

The Boy Who Hit Play by Chloe Dayton

This was a weird one. Granted, I've been in a weird and bad headspace while reading it, but it was also just a weird little guy of a book.

Elvis was found under a newspaper on a bench in a zoo. Now, at twelve years old, he wants to know where he came from. He'll travel across the world with his dad, weird Lloyd, and a newspaper to find where he's from, and a few other things along the way.

This was another book from my friend purging her library, and I figured it would be a sweet and maybe touching search for self coming of age type of thing. And it was partly that, don't get me wrong, but it also had some weird mysteries surrounding weird adult man friend Lloyd, that ultimately came together enough in the end, but was also just a weird and wild ride. 

Definitely a middle grade book but I knew that going in, and I liked the different writing style and Elvis' voice. It's written in almost vignette style chapters, poetic in places.

Overall this was a cute read about family being what you make it and how dangerous secrets can be. 

I had a very strong month for books, and I'm so thankful for the stories that shaped me and distracted me and inspired me, and I hope that your month (and lives, really) are full of books that do the same.

See you next time.

Literary recommendation: Another book I considered for my little book club is Bone Gap by Laura Ruby, which I may just reread anyways

Media recommendation: Epic, the Musical has really got me locked in, and I highly recommend it