June 2023 BookSnacks

BookSnacks Vol. 6, Adult Summering

Welcome to BookSnacks! If you arrived here via a friend or an algorithm and haven’t subscribed, go ahead and hit that pretty blue button up there so you don’t miss out on future issues!

Listen, summer is great. It’s great. However, summer as an adult and a parent of young children has felt much busier this time around. I feel like I’m spending my weekdays doing laundry, packing, and prepping for the next weekend and to be honest, I’m not sure I like it. In my head, previously, I believed we should fill our summer with trips and camping and fun and late nights, but y’all, I’m tired. I need some days of doing a few things for myself. I want to just sit and feel the sun or swim in some water or maybe even just be alone for a minute. I do see a small light at the end of the tunnel but it is still a good three weekends away and I’m not sure I’m going to make it without some casualties of my sanity and peace.

I also tend to get overwhelmed by the amount of good books out there, especially in the summer as everyone is ‘summer reading,’ but I try to remind myself that not every book is for me and it will be okay if I don’t read all of them. Wow. See what I mean? I need some adults to talk to or a podcast no one listens to so I can get my feelings out. ANYWAY, on to the books!

Currently Reading

Okay, maybe I’m not taking my own advice about not reading all the books because I’m currently reading what feels like 30 books. But let’s list them all out so we know exactly how many.

I’m a couple of chapters into A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Backman.

I’m also a few chapters into the audiobook of The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton.

I also started Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler.

And I picked up a fifty cent book from our library off their clean out shelves that intrigued and I’ve started that one, too.

So four. FOUR. Four is better than thirty, I suppose. I normally don’t do this but I just felt like I needed to read all of them at the same time so I will report back how it goes.

I guess the one I’d like to talk about more in depth is The Sun Does Shine by Anthony Ray Hinton

I read Bryan Stevenson’s book years ago, Just Mercy. He was the lawyer who eventually helped Hinton be released from death row in Alabama. Hinton spent 30 years on death row before finally being set free. There was also a movie made about what Bryan Stevenson did to help him, which I haven’t seen, called Just Mercy. I loved that book and was so moved by Bryan’s telling of his story with Hinton. I’m only a few chapters in, but am loving Hinton’s book so far. I can’t wait to finish it.

Just Finished Reading

Well, I did it. I finished The Great Believers by Rebecca Makkai. An 18-hour audio book. Wow. What a story. What I loved most about this book was probably the author’s voice. I loved the way the story was dynamic and fast-paced at times but then quite zeroed in on a single moment or conversation at other times. The story is heartbreaking and beautiful and gave me an appreciation for a world that I had never been exposed to. It is a long book, but worth it in my opinion.

For the Kids(and sometimes adults, too)

Oh boys and girls do I have some cutie books for you this month. First we have this very old book we found at the library. It’s called the Lost House by B.b. Cronin.

It’s like an I Spy book but an old one. It’s so cute. I love the old illustrations and characters. It is on Amazon but also on Thriftbooks and Book Outlet and other secondhand bookstores online.

And a couple of books that we got from the library that we’ve been liking:

• Carmela Full of Wishes by Matt de la Peña and illustrated by Christian Robinson A charming story about a little girl making wishes for her friends and family all throughout her day with her older brother. This author and illustrator also wrote The Last Stop on Market Street which I loved.

• Trashy Town by Andrea Zimmerman and David Clemesha and illustrated by Dan Yaccarino. This book is very cute and has a fun little twist at the end which my four-year-old loved.

Vintage Read

With the second season of The Summer I Turned Pretty coming out soon, I grabbed the first book in the series to finally read. From the age of about 17 until 25 I basically didn’t read. I read college textbooks and books assigned in my college English and teaching courses but didn’t read outside of that. So sad. So I missed the Jenny Han train and didn’t discover her until All the Boys I’ve Loved Before had its moment a few years back. I have been saving TSITP TV series because I really wanted to read the books first and well after all that here we are.

I liked it. I would have LOVED it if I were 17. The 17-year-old me who wanted to fall in love with a random boy on our family summer vacation would have loved these books, I’m sure. And because of the ending of that first book I’ll definitely be reading the rest!

Snacks To-Go

(A new section, wherein I give you quick, one(ish) sentence reviews of books I read that aren’t the highlight for this month, but worth mentioning)

Not much for you here in this section, though, in The Crumbs this month I’ll have a few things I want to mention to you.

A Digital Snack for You

Guessss what film I got back last week? Film from my last trip to New York. Wanna see??

So pretty, right?

And that’s it! Thanks for reading and also for reading! (get it? cause you read this and you also read books? Yea, you get it.) Hit reply or leave a comment and let me know what you’re reading right now, I’d love to add to my infinite ‘to-read’ list. Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!

Talk soon,

Adri