Summer reads + meeting my favourite author

Strictly speaking I’m on a book-buying ban, but sometimes things happen that are simply beyond one’s control. I recently went to see David Sedaris live at the Southbank Centre. David Sedaris is known for his long, chatty book signings. I had brought my own copy of his most recent release, so I wasn’t planning on buying anything at the venue. That was until I walked in and spotted another book: *Villa Coco by Andrew Sean Greer. I loved [Less](https://uk.bookshop.org/a/17971/9780349143590) *by the same author and had been going back and forth on whether I wanted this new one physically or not. It’s set in Tuscany and that’s where I want to read it, so although I really liked the cover, the suitcase-friendly option was to get the ebook. I had seen it in several bookshops and had resisted the temptation every time.

But then the guy who was managing the book stand enthusiastically started pitching Villa Coco to me and at the same time, David Sedaris himself also came over. It all got a little overwhelming, so I caved. It then turned out that Andrew Sean Greer was the support act that night (is this the term if it’s a book reading and not a concert?) and that during the book signing afterwards, they let everyone who had purchased *Villa Coco *skip the queue. This made me highly unpopular with everyone else in line, but any discomfort I felt at being escorted to the front soon melted away at being greeted by both authors.

Moral of the story is that sometimes a book will let you know when the right moment to buy it has arrived, and when that happens, who are you to refuse? Here are the books I crossed paths with last month!

Magpie Murders by Anthony Horowitz

Rating: 4.5/5 Format: audio

This has to be one of the most enjoyable books I’ve ever consumed. My friend Tim told me he was listening to this and it sounded so fascinating, so I immediately joined him and then became the annoying friend who finished it first. You would have had to delete all my audiobook apps and hidden my headphones for me to stop listening to this.

It’s a story within a story and it’s done in the most satisfying way. In present day London, editor Susan finds herself in a strange situation: The most famous author of the publishing house she works for, their absolute cash cow, has died under strange circumstances and the last chapter of his latest manuscript is missing. And then you dive into that manuscript which is also a murder mystery, but this one is very Agatha Christie so the vibes are entirely different. It’s so well done that you completely forget that the manuscript story is fiction and that the real story is taking place outside of that, but then of course the present day story is fiction as well so actually neither of them are real, but they both feel so real!!

Read, listen, absorb this now. It’s SO GOOD and it’s the first in a series!

The Grapevine by Kate Kemp

Rating: 4/5 Format: ebook

Living in a small town where everyone knows (or think they know) each other’s business? Hell on earth. Reading about life in a small village where everyone knows (or think they know) each other’s business? Heavenly.

The tea in this book is so piping hot. It’s set in 70s Australia and all the characters live on the same street. When one of them is murdered, 12-year-old Tammy tries to find out what happened. Big *The List of Suspicious Things *vibes! The interesting thing here is that you find out who’s involved from the first page, but that doesn’t make the tension any less. As more and more secrets were exposed, I was gobbling it all up. It’s a bit too neatly wrapped up in the end, but I had such a good time with this.

What better place to get through my summer TBR than a London lido?

Sleep by Honor Jones Rating: 3.25/5 Format: audio

The premise really spoke to me: a dual timeline that on the one hand follows Margaret as a young girl who experiences a traumatic event, and on the other hand shows Margaret as an adult with children of her own, trying to break cycles and still navigating those same difficult family dynamics. This book is quiet and soft in how it portrays pain so there are no big displays of emotion or confrontations. Part of me liked this because it made it seem realistic, but unfortunately that meant it also didn’t go beyond the surface. I wanted to know more about how Margaret was feeling or what she was thinking. If it hadn’t been so short I probably would have stopped listening.

This is more of a general point, but does anyone else absolutely despise when audiobook narrators put on a child’s voice, specifically in scenes where a child is throwing a tantrum? It just fills me with an unnatural amount of rage. I listened to another book a few months ago, and in that story there was a point where a child was refusing to eat their dinner. She kept screaming bloody murder while the mum was trying to reason with her and the audiobook narrator was just wailing in my ears in the most infuriating high-pitched voice. Suddenly, the father in the book stood up and roared at the child to sit down and shut up. From the plot it was obvious that he was the bad guy and that you were supposed to feel like his reaction was completely out of proportion, but I felt nothing but deep satisfaction at someone finally telling that child to stop.

In Sleep, whenever we spend time with one of the main character’s children she’s flying off the handle or not listening to anything her mother tells her, which makes it difficult as a reader to feel any sort of connection with that child. Especially when it’s an audiobook so every time the child speaks you’re wincing because of the shrill voice you’re being subjected to.

Sunset by Jessie Cave

Rating: 3.75/5 Format: physical

We follow Ruth, a young woman who’s trying to make sense of her life after her sister, who was also her main source of stability and comfort, unexpectedly died when the two were on holiday.

Jessie Cave captures the messiness, confusion, anger and devastation of grief in a phenomenal way. About a third into this Ruth had already started feeling like someone who could easily be my friend or co-worker, that’s how real she felt. This was a beautiful read, but it was a bit too long for me. I know the point of the story is very much how our main character feels aimless and is going through the motions, but the reading experience got a little repetitive after a while. Still, I think for anyone who is going through similar things, this book can feel like a hug from someone who understands.

When your nails match your current read

Saturday Requiem by Nicci French (Frieda Klein series #6) Rating: 4/5 Format: physical

There’s absolutely nothing I can say about this series anymore that I haven’t said about the previous five parts. I do think story-wise I preferred some of the others over this one, but still very very enjoyable. Awwww, there’s only two left now! :( I think I want to save them for autumn.

Getting Away by Kate Sawyer

Rating: 3/5 Format: audio

The only way this can be read is during the summer, preferably on holiday. It’s a novel that follows one family for 100 years, but you only spend time with them when they’re on vacation. As the characters get older and go through social change, you also see how they cope with several family secrets.

I wanted a read that would give me all the summer vibes and that’s what I got. Interesting concept as well! I am starting to suspect that perhaps I don’t love novels with bigger time jumps. In this one, the children in one chapter were adults the next with a new generation of children of their own, which made it difficult for me to really connect to any of them apart from Elizabeth and Margaret, who are the heart of the story. All the other characters I kept getting confused.

Despite this seeming like a lighthearted summer read very big, serious things happen, but they’re basically not discussed at all. I think the most interesting aspect of this book is how the world changes around this family (e.g., the first holiday being a day trip to the beach paid for by an employer vs 100 years later when one of the characters is a travel blogger), but some of that went over my head because I kept focusing on how so many things were just brushed over.

The Persians by Sanam Mahloudji

Rating: DNF Format: audio

One of the coolest cover I’ve ever seen, but for some reason I just couldn’t get into this story. One day I paused it and just didn’t put it back on. Not sure if it was the book or if it was simply the wrong time for me to read this.

My Friends by Fredrik Backman (translated from the Danish by Neil Smith)

Rating: DNF Format: audio

There is no way this is meant to be a book for adults? I’ve read several of Backman’s books and the writing has always felt very young adult to me, but that was absolutely fine. I enjoyed them. With his previous work I also didn’t mind his very unique writing style, but man, with this one he just cranked it up to the highest level and I just couldn’t.

The one word I would use to describe this is overwritten. Every single sentence is an attempt at either a funny joke (if you find fart jokes funny, that is), or some incredibly profound insight. I found myself rolling my eyes every ten seconds.

The Land and its People by David Sedaris

Rating: 4.75/5 Format: physical

The man. The myth. The GOAT of essay writing. My personal idol David Sedaris does it again. Not quite five stars purely because I read his previous collection right before this and loved that a little bit more, but is that even fair because that’s just him getting beaten by his own genius?

For anyone who thinks that they wouldn’t enjoy essays (why are you on Substack?), I think the term sometimes makes people think of dry think pieces you would read in highbrow magazines, but this is the furthest thing from that. In a weird way the people in Sedaris’ life feel so familiar to me now that his books might as well be one big fiction series. I will be reading and go ‘Oh haha, that’s such a Gretchen thing to say!’ about someone who is real but who I’ve never met. I’m still processing the part in this collection where he casually mentions that he walked 91,000 steps in one day. Like…what?

And that’s a wrap on July’s wrap-up! What have your favourite reads been so far this summer? Also, if you end up buying one of these books via the links in this post (not sure why you would be inspired to get the ones I rated quite low but maybe our tastes are very different and you use these posts so you can avoid the ones I love and read the ones I don’t?) you support my favourite independent bookshop Gay’s the Word, and I get 10%. Look at me being a book influencer?!