june books
what i've read in the month of june
June saw me reading a lot of books with yellow on the cover which was accidental but also quite nice. I have managed to read five books, one of which ended up being a five star read. Here’s what I’ve read:
Forbidden notebook by Alba de Céspedes, translated by Ann Goldstein, published by Pushkin Press
Whilst out on an errand one Sunday morning, Valeria Cossati buys a small black notebook in which she starts to write diary entries which she keeps in secret from her family. In it she describes her worries about her daughter and son as well as talks herself through her marriage and her role as a wife and mother.
I have first heard about this book on the Literally Friction podcast and being a huge fan of diary-based books was delighted to find it in a charity shop. I did not get on with it at first but as I read on, what bothered me about this book—the seemingly backward thinking of some characters—soon became the very thing that made this book enjoyable. Valeria, the narrator of the story, grows in character throughout the story and though I didn’t always agree with everything she said, I found her quite relatable in certain aspects. I loved the repetition of her worries and how her confidence in her role as a woman in post war Rome grew as the book went on. It wasn’t the perfect book I was hoping for but I did enjoy it.
Open water by Caleb Azumah Nelson, published by Viking Press
This very short book written in second person follows two young Black British people who meet in a pub and fall in love as their newly formed friendship develops over time. But it is much more than a love story. At the heart of it, it is a story about race and masculinity and growing up Black in Britain.
Whilst I wasn’t a big fan of reading in second person perspective, the writing itself is so stunning and poetic in this book—I’m definitely interested to read more of Azumah Nelson’s work.
Black girl from Pyongyang by Monica Macias, published by Duckworth Publishing
This memoir by the daughter of the first president of the newly independent Equatorial Guinea, tells the story of having two home nations and not truly belonging to either one. Monica, who aged five was moved to North Korea with her siblings following the uproar of her father’s presidency, grows up gaining a new identity—whilst she may not look like her peers, she considers herself Korean. Once she’s an adult, she’s desperate to learn more about her family and immerse herself into the forbidden Western world. We follow her as she moves to Equatorial Guinea, Spain, New York and London, all the while grappling with her two identities.
Anyone who knows me, knows that I love books set in North Korea so I was very excited to read this one and sadly, it felt so flat for me. I found it very surface level, with the timeline going too fast, meaning that there was little space for going deep into how the details of the everyday lives of anyone mentioned in the book or indeed, the author’s feelings. The overwhelming theme of this book was the necessity to always seek the truth about a person or people or a place rather than believing only one story but what this book has then failed to show was the different lives of North Koreans, focusing mainly on the privileged and not acknowledging it. An interesting read for sure but one that has left me with more questions than answers.
The bee sting by Paul Murray, published by Hamish Hamilton
The story follows the Barnes family whose once successful car business is on the brink of going under. Written in the perspectives of the family members, we first hear from sixteen year old Cass who’s binge-drinking her way to her final exams, twelve year old PJ who’s plotting to run away from home, Imelda who’s forced to sell her precious possessions on eBay and finally Dickie who’s running away from the problems of the failing car business by building an apocalypse-proof bunker in his garden. With over 650 pages, we get to spend a lot of time with each character as well as meet plenty of secondary ones too which allows us to really get to know them in depth. This in turn brings out a series of family secrets before the book builds up to a boiling point at the end.
I absolutely loved this book. Whilst I typically favour shorter reads, I thoroughly enjoyed my time getting to know these characters and the building suspense throughout had me gripped to the pages. It’s one of those books that I would love to read again for the first time.
Enchantment by Katherine May, published by Faber & Faber
Divided into several sections, this book is a collection of short essays about reawakening wonder in the everyday after the global pandemic.
If I’m completely honest, the cover of this book is one of very few things I liked about this book. I really struggled to get through it for some reason which is a shame because the premise of it sounded like something I would enjoy. And looking at some reviews on StoryGraph, it seems I wasn't the only one. I’m still excited to read May’s previous book, Wintering, in the next few months.
And that wraps up my bookish month of June.