I have your summer beach reads for you. As long as your definition of a summer beach read is something you can easily follow while morning drunk.
I was the kind of child who would not eat the chocolate bar. If every kid on the school bus was gifted a chocolate bar, I was the kid who would squirrel it away and hide it until the right time.
Horse by Geraldine Brooks has been on my "next to read" list for months. I'll get to it. I'm doing that thing where you don't read a book because you're convinced you're going to love it so much that you don't want the experience to end and the best way to achieve that is to not let the experience begin. These are your issues and you're fine with them. So yeah, I'm saving it.
I've held off on reading Benediction, the 3rd in a trilogy from Kent Haruf since 2018.
For anyone new, you can reference this list that outlines what my tastes in books, television and movies are so you can gauge if our tastes align at all.
When last we met I was reading ...
I have very high expectations when it comes to deformed protagonists for all the reasons I list in the middle of this post. The Museum of Extraordinary Things just wasn't enough for me.
In what may be the most basic review of a book ever; I just didn't feel invested. I didn't feel anything extraordinary.
For an extra extraordinary circus book, read Geek Love.
★★★☆☆
However, don't be deterred if this book on your list of books to read. I am in the MINORITY with my opinion. Goodreads readers give it 3.8/5 stars and 86% of Google readers liked it.
BUY or read more about The Museum of Extraordinary Things
Table of Contents
Summer Thrillers
READING IT
I'VE READ IT
Six minutes after takeoff, Flight 1421 crashes into the Pacific Ocean. During the evacuation, an engine explodes and the plane is flooded. Those still alive are forced to close the doors—but it’s too late. The plane sinks to the bottom with twelve passengers trapped inside.
☆☆☆☆☆ (I will rate once finished)
When she stumbles across an ad for a live-in nannying post with a staggeringly generous salary Rowan Caine applies. She arrives at the secluded Heatherbrae House & is smitten by the Scottish Highland home and its perfect family.
What she doesn’t know is that she’s stepping into a nightmare—one that will end with a child dead and herself in prison awaiting trial for murder.
.
★★★★☆
I'm only at the beginning of this second novel by flight attendant turned novelist T.J. Newman but it's the EPITOME of a summer read.
A genuinely thrilling thriller that'll keep you up at night.
BEST ENJOYED WITH BEER & A BURGER.
More suspense than thriller, the entire story is told through a letter the main characters writes to her lawyer from prison.
If you don't like epistolary narratives (books that are a series of back and forth letters) don't fret. It reads just like a novel, not a series of letters.
THE FOREST OF VANISHING STARS
(reader recommended)
MARY JANE
(reader recommended)
US AGAINST YOU
WANT TO READ
WANT TO READ
WANT TO READ
After being stolen from her wealthy German parents and raised in the unforgiving wilderness of eastern Europe, a young woman finds herself alone in 1941 after her kidnapper dies. Her solitary existence is interrupted, however, when she happens upon a group of Jews fleeing the Nazi terror.
In 1970s Baltimore, fourteen-year-old Mary Jane loves cooking with her mother, singing in her church choir, and enjoying her family’s subscription to the Broadway Showtunes of the Month record club. Shy, quiet, and bookish, she’s glad when she lands a summer job as a nanny for the daughter of a local doctor. A respectable job, Mary Jane’s mother says. In a respectable house.
After everything that the citizens of Beartown have gone through, they are struck yet another blow when they hear that their beloved local junior hockey team will soon be disbanded. What makes it worse is the obvious satisfaction that all the former Beartown players, who now play for a rival team in Hed, take in that fact. As the tension between the two towns simmers, a surprising newcomer is handpicked to try to save the Beartown club.
BUT FIRST read Beartown
Movies
Are You There God, It's Me Margaret
I met Judy Blume while I was in the makeup chair of a television studio. I was getting ready to tape my show and she was in the station for an interview with someone else.
She popped her head into the makeup room to see if it was free, I locked eyes on her from the makeup chair and proceeded to speak in tongue.
This reaction wasn't new to her so I only managed to expel a few nonsensical noises before she smiled calmly and said thank you.
She knew what I was trying to say.
Are You There, God? It's Me, Margaret is an excellent adaptation of the book.
Bird Box (I'm late to the blindfold party)
I started Bird Box the week it came out in 2018. I made it 15 seconds into the film, stood up, declared it unfit for viewing and stormed out of the room in a very quiet way because I was wearing slippers.
Almost 4 years later, I tried it again. HOW could I have stopped watching this at any point?
It was so thrilling I took my heart rate in the middle of watching it. It should have been my typical resting heart rate between 59 and 63 BPM because I was laying on the sofa not moving. Instead it was 75 BPM.
Television
THE BEAR (Season 2)
PS Did you notice the red "play" button makes Jeremy Allen White look like he has a clown nose on?
If you haven't watched Season 1 of The Bear (Hulu/Apple TV/Disney+) watch it. It's really good. But the main reason you should watch it is so you can then watch Season 2.
Season 2 of The Bear is, in my opinion, one of the best seasons of any television show ever.
That's all I have to say about that. The end.
H/JACK (miniseries)
In keeping with the plane crash theme this month ...
Hijack is a movie about a plane that gets hijacked after takeoff and stars my former boyfriend Idris Elba. There is nothing more that you need to know.
Andddddddd commence your recommendations for July ...
I agree with your comments on The Bear. But, hey c'mon, let's not forget The Derry Girls are right up there with it.