Your summer 2023 reading list
What is summer for if not reading books by the beach? And, given it’s six months since I wrote my last ‘what to read’ round-up, I thought I’d share some of the books I’ve loved since then. These are not all new releases, and there’s a mix of fiction and non-fiction, because that’s just the kind of eclectic gal I am.
Please leave your recommendations in the comments at the end!
At The Table - Claire Powell
Considering the name of this book, it took me an embarrassingly long time to realise that every scene takes place with people meeting to eat/drink together, often round a - you guessed it - table. My excuse is I was distracted by the intricate relationship drama taking place; divorcing parents, a tense mother/daughter relationship, workplace politics, it’s got it all - plus plenty of humour too.
Domestic Bliss and Other Disasters – Jane Ions
A recommendation from Esther Walker’s newsletter, this book is a real hoot. It centres around Sally Forth, a semi-retired teacher who is looking forward to a quiet life, only for her adult children Dan (who moves back in) and Laura (who has a baby) to cause her no end of bother. She also suffers from having a high-profile politician husband, complete mad neighbour and competitive mate called Judith. It’s fab.
Same Old Girl – Sylvia Patterson
I recently met up with my cousin and told her I’d spent the whole two-hour walk to East Dulwich listening to ‘a breast cancer book’ on Audible. Then I stood over her and made her download it too. Why? Because music journo Sylvia Patterson has managed to write an account of cancer that is unflinching but pretty life-affirming. She is brutally honest about the side effects of chemo – many of which I was completely unaware of – but writes about it all with a wisdom and humour that makes the whole thing gripping. I recommend the audiobook for her lovely Scottish accent alone.
Offset - Anna Trompetas
I sometimes find dystopian fiction a bit mad, but this is sobering rather than silly - a glimpse 20 years into the future when the realities of climate change are fully starting to bite in London. The concept is very clever: with every UK individual held to a strict carbon allowance, the rich in society start paying for poorer people to offset extravagances such as their swimming pools, parties and trips abroad, leading to hideous consequences for those at the bottom. The drama centres around two women from either side of the divide – Alice and Sam – and a fascinating, tense dynamic unfurls as they enter a cautious friendship, resulting in serious moral questions for both.
Is This Ok? – Harriet Gibsone
Pressed into my palms by my lovely pal Miranda, this is a Guardian writer’s memoir about coming of age in the internet era. Of course there’s the inevitable (and often funny) MSN madness, and details of the weird blokes she met on forums in the Noughties. What I loved most of all though was Gibsone’s account of trying (and failing) to enter the cool crowd on Twitter, while memories of raising her newborn son in the first year of covid were painfully relatable (code for I had a little cry on the plane, but in a good way).
Small Things Like These – Claire Keegan
Any book that’s only 114 pages long has immediately won my heart (thanks Edd for the reco!), but this one is quite bewitching. The protagonist, Bill Furlong, lives in Ireland with his wife and five daughters. At the edge of town is a convent, where ‘girls of low character’ are hidden away after giving birth (it is based on the Magdalene laundries, where an estimated 30,000 women were incarcerated between the 18th and 20th centuries). After being faced with confirmation of the terrible conditions these girls endure, Bill faces a major dilemma – will he help out and risk losing everything, or not?
The Heart’s Invisible Furies – John Boyne
Another novel set in Ireland with young girls being cast out of their homes for illegitimate pregnancies – this time 16-year-old Catherine Goggin. However, the narrative that follows manages to balance a well-justified fury at the Catholic church with comedy. It focuses around Catherine’s son, Cyril, who is adopted by a hilarious novelist and goes on to live a life that is full of both love and frustration. I adored the whole thing.
The Paris Apartment – Lucy Foley
A real classic, easy-to-read beach novel – and I don’t mean that to sound belittling, because it takes a lot of skill to create a page-turner like this, and Lucy Foley continuously to nail it. The story focuses on Jess, a young woman escaping problems in England to stay with her charismatic half-brother Ben in Paris. However, when she arrives at the luxury apartment block where he lives, Ben is missing. The other residents of the block are certainly not helpful in her efforts to locate him – and some are downright hostile. As Jess struggles to piece together the events surrounding Ben’s disappearance, she also begins to uncover some shady secrets about the residents of 12 Rue des Amants…
What shall I read next? Comments below please!