Books I read last month
In no particular order here are my notes/thoughts on some of my reads for July.
1. Open Water by Caleb Azumah Nelson 3⭐
Picked this book up out of curiosity because the cover looked like another book I was curious about.
The writing or narrative style is not one I’m very familiar with or used to, so initially it took a while for me to settle into it.
There is something raw about the writing, the story, the book. When they touched on grief and how one would want to express or share how they feel, but be considerate of the other person and instead decide to face it alone, I understood. When he said his father and brother wouldn’t have the words, I understood, when he said his mum would need him to be intact, I once again understood.
Trauma really can be 'considerate' in some cases. And I say this because I also know that trauma can be rather irrational.
When the fmc described dancing, I understood. I’m no dancer but I have used dance as a means to express the things I couldn’t find words for; as a means to feel myself fully, on the inside and out. So this was captured almost perfectly imo.
Again, there is a rawness to this book, that I like so much, and I think it is a good read although slow.
A few quotes:-
“To give desire a voice is to give it a body through which to breathe and live. It is to admit and submit to something which is on the outer limits of your understanding.”
“You know that to love is both to swim and to drown. You know to love is to be a whole, partial, a joint, a fracture, a heart, a bone. It is to bleed and heal. It is to be in the world, honest. It is to place someone next to your beating heart, in the absolute darkness of your inner, and trust they will hold you close. To love is to trust, to trust is to have faith. How else are you meant to love?”
“I dance to breathe but often I dance until I’m breathless and sweaty and I can feel all of me, all those parts of me I can’t always feel, I don’t feel like I’m allowed to. It’s my space. I make a little world for myself, and I live.”
2. Seven Days in June 4⭐
This was a pretty good read at the end. I think I was close to a slump when I picked it up so the first few chapters went by slowly. But I found my vibe eventually and was able to enjoy the storyline. Two people with heavy baggage as teenagers, fall in love, then lose touch. Both become writers, rewriting their lover in different worlds and timelines. They reconnect after years and they just might make it work again.
I liked how the fmc worked her way into growing and finding herself again outside of the one story she had been writing for years.
A few quotes:-
“Grown women knew better than to attach themselves to time bombs. Teenage girls couldn’t wait to be ruined.”
“He might never be fully emotionally stable. And Eva certainly wasn’t the picture of glowing mental health herself. Maybe they’d always be disasters—but couldn’t they support each other and grow together? No one was perfect! And maybe that was what real, adult love was. Being fearless enough to hold each other close no matter how catastrophic the world became.”
“I want to be the thought that lulls you to sleep. The memory that gets you off. I wanna be where all your paths end.”
3. The sky is everywhere by Jandy Nelson 3⭐
I wanted to smack the fmc a few times but I focused more or rather related more with the grief written in this book and how emotions can play out differently when one experiences loss.
Quotes:-
“all the words in the whole world that aren’t said after someone dies because they are too sad, too enraged, too devastated, too guilty to come out –
I meant that I know now how close death is. How it lurks. And who wants to know that? Who wants to know we are just one carefree breath away from the end? Who wants to know that the person you love and need the most can just vanish forever?”
“But if you’re someone who knows the worst thing can happen at any time, aren’t you also someone who knows the best thing can happen at any time too?”
4. Her last holiday by C.L.Taylor 4⭐
This was a good thriller type read. A retreat, 2 people confirmed dead, 1 missing body. The retreat kick-starts again, the missing person's sister is here under an alias, to find answers.
It took a different turn in the end and slightly surprised me with the reveal of who the actual culprit was. The mmc wasn't my favorite person though. And his partner going on to keep being who she was, picking a new victim, kind of ruffled my feathers. But I liked the book.
5. Don't let her stay by Nicola Sanders 4⭐
This was my first book by this author. Now this one had me anxious especially for the innocent baby involved. It also read like I was watching a movie series play out. I loved reading this book. It ends on a kind of open note so you're left wondering what happened next.
"I can’t believe how wrong I’ve been all this time. I thought she had come to hurt us. Meanwhile she was trying to save us."
6. Only big bumbum by Damilare kuku 3⭐
This was a light read, flowed easily as with Dami's first book Nearly all the men in Lagos are mad. I like that it touched on real life issues girls/women face and I liked that. I did want to know if Temi followed through with her initial plans or not.
7. The days of silence by Angel Patricks Amegbe 3⭐
Short, simple, a quick pass time.
