July Reading Receipt

I'm going to admit that Netflix got the better of me this month.  I had put Orange is the New Black in my queue way back, and then one day early in July I was like, "I'll just watch the first episode of that." One week later and halfway through Season Two, I realized this was starting to feel a bit like the summer I got sucked into watching all the seasons of Weeds available on Netflix. It was definitely enjoyable but also definitely not productive.  (This makes perfect sense, by the way, because Jenji Kohan created both shows. Also, when I was watching both of these shows, I walked around with their theme songs - "Little Boxes" by Malvina Reynolds and "You've Got Time" by Regina Spektor- in my head all day.  I love both of these songs but seriously - all day.)  I stopped right there in the middle of Season Two, gave my head a quick shake, and got back on the reading train.

First up this month was Don't You Cry by Mary Kubica.  I only just read The Good Girl last month and enjoyed it.  Don't You Cry was even better, I felt.  She has one book I haven't read yet, Pretty Baby, that I'll get around to one of these days.

The Swans of Fifth Avenue by Melanie Benjamin was excellent!  I've noticed lately that I really enjoy fictionalized accounts based on real events - The Girls, from June, and now this.  The characters in this book were real people: Truman Capote, Barbara "Babe" Paley, William S. Paley to name a few.  There were also events in the story that actually took place: the publication and success of Breakfast at Tiffany's, Capote's Black and White Ball, and the zenith of Capote's career, the publication of In Cold Blood, as well as Capote's fictional "tell-all" about Paley and her high society friends in Esquire magazine.  Benjamin imagines how these relationships developed and deteriorated over time.  I can't get enough of this kind of writing.

Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam was my Book of the Month choice for July.  I ended up kind of liking this, but I really felt like the characters were pretty one dimensional.  I felt like Alam reduced them to the title  One was rich; one was pretty as one of the main characters overhears a boy in high school say to a friend about a double date, "You take Rich.  I'll take Pretty." I realize this was probably supposed to be the trick.  He meant to show there was more to them than that.  I'm not convinced he was successful in that.  Some male authors do an amazing job of writing women.  I can't say that I felt this one did.

I had the exact opposite reaction to my last book of July, Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty.  I identified with every character in this book.  And speaking of someone who can write for the opposite sex, Moriarty always does a great job of making her male characters multi-dimensional and real.  I won't say much about the plot because I don't want to ruin it for others ( and there are ALWAYS twists and surprises in Moriarty's books.) except that I LOVED it.  Of course.  But now, no more books from Moriarty for at least a year.  I could have easily read this in a day but purposefully did not because I wanted to savor having it waiting for me at the end of the day.

We also went on vacation this month, and although I always have grand dreams about reading all day while floating in a pool, this never happens.  At least not with kids.  Speaking of kids, I really couldn't get excited about Harry Potter and the Cursed Child even though I read and loved all the Harry Potter books. Get back to work on another Cormoran Strike mystery, Rowling!  Or Galbraith!  Whatever you want to be called!

Kim