What I Read in July 2020

Oh, hello end of July. How? To say time has no meaning these days would be an understatement. Some weeks feel decades long, while the months seem to slip by before I’ve even realised it. Anyone else feeling like this?

BUT I am still very much using reading for escapism so enjoyed SEVEN fantastic books this month…

My July Reviews:

(Click on book title for my full review.)

/ Rodham by Curtis Sittenfeld

/ Small Pleasures by Clare Chambers

/ Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams

/ The Mystery of Henri Pick by David Foenkinos

/ Olive by Emma Gannon

/ We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson

/ The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

The inadvertent theme of my fiction reads this month was strong, fascinating women. They may not all be confident when we meet them, but they all have ambition, desire and their own issues to work through. Which they all do in page-turning ways.

These amazing female characters were: Queenie, Olive, Hillary (Rodham), Jean (Small Pleasures) and Nora (The Midnight Library). All of their stories are definitely ones to add to your summer TBR. There’s also the highly memorable Merricat (We Have Always Lived in the Castle) who is one of Shirley Jackson’s best inventions and I also encourage you to meet her (if you haven’t already).

This only leaves The Mystery of Henri Pick, which I have to give an honourable mention to as I enjoyed every page of it. Translated from French, it has a wonderfully lyrical pace and a very intriguing story.

I also compiled a little list of 5 Summer 2020 Books You’ll Love (well, hopefully!) and keeping to the list theme, next month (perhaps a tad late) I really enjoyed looking through the books I’ve read so far this year and choosing my favourite 5 – which was actually really tricky as one good thing I can say about 2020 is that it’s been a cracking year for books.

Until next month, Happy Reading!