Summer Mama Reads

[rooftop bar reading. That's how cool I am.]

Pre-Bea, the thing that I loved most about summer holidays, even more than sun, swims in the freezing ocean and gin in a beer garden, was spending a day and a night and as long as it took to read a new book. It wasn't unusual for me to cancel evening plans at the last minute because I was up to the critical chapter (sorry friends).

Now, I never have the time to read for hours on end, but over Christmas, while the Bea was busy with cousins and grandparents, I had some time to catch up on my reading. Ahh, it was heaven.

Here's the three that I got through and recommend for your own summer read (and a fourth I'm desperate to start)!

The Mothers, by Brit Bennett

“Oh girl, we have known littlebit love. That littlebit of honey left in an empty jar that traps the sweetness in your mouth long enough to mask your hunger. We have run tongues over teeth to savor that last littlebit as long as we could, and in all our living, nothing has starved us more.” 

The book was so great - moving and, as only the very best books can, left me thinking for days after. The Mothers tells the story of Nadia, Luke and Aubrey, and how one decision in their teenage years goes on to influence the rest of their lives.

It's about first love and wanting more from life and how no matter how far you've come, how much you've achieved and changed, the community you live in has a way of bringing you back to who you once were. This is a timely book - right now politicians in America are rolling back women's reproductive rights and access to sex education and birth control - and that's something we should all be angry about.

It also (and I'm very aware of how white-privilege middle income white woman I sound) gave me an insight into what it's like to be an African American. A couple of lines gave me such a jolt as I read (“Reckless white boys became politicians and bankers, reckless black boys became dead.”). It offered a stark reminder at times of what different (and unfair) lives people lead, simply because of the colour of their skin.

The Nest, by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

“This was the part she hated, the part of a relationship that always nudged her to bail, the part where someone else’s misery or expectations or neediness crept into her carefully prescribed world. It was such a burden, other people’s lives.”

The Plumb siblings have a problem. When they were children, their father set up a modest trust fund to be shared when the youngest Plumb turned 40. Through a few quirks of the market, the modest fund became significant and each sibling had come to depend on receiving the money to bail them out.

Months from the date at which they'll finally get what's theirs, Leo, the oldest Plumb, makes a stupid decision (not his first) and puts all of their futures in jeopardy. Funny in parts, tragic in others, this had me giggling and moved throughout. It's a good one if only to remind you that you're not the only one with nutty relatives (I mean that in the most loving of ways, my family).

Modern Lovers, by Emma Straub

"This was not the face of propriety. This was not the face of marriage. This was one man, midlife, losing his shit." 

I loved this book from the first page, mostly because I saw myself, popping over to a friends house, salad and champagne in hand. Elizabeth, Zoe, Jane and Andrew have grown up through their 20's together and live close (almost stifling so) both emotionally and physically. Over one summer, as their teenage children come of age, their adult lives start to unravel and secrets from long ago rear their heads.

Witty and sharply observant, I enjoyed this book as a (slightly terrifying) window into what the teens may bring. It made me whimsical for my own teenage years - the thrill of first love, the promise of your 20's - but also dreaming about what the future could be if I was brave enough to give it a go.

And finally, now on my nightstand, is The Fate of the Tearling, by Erika Johansen.

“Even a book can be dangerous in the wrong hands, and when that happens, you blame the hands, but you also read the book.”

Is anyone else totally devoted to this series? A friend of mine suggested it a year ago now, as we headed off on a girls weekend away and we've both been waiting an entire year(!!!) for the final book in the trilogy.

Queen of the Tearling is the first in the trilogy and tells the story of Kelsea Raleigh, who was put into hiding as a young girl when her mother, the Queen, passed away. Now she has turned nineteen, and must return to claim her kingdom and defeat the evil Red Queen and her conspirators.

Ok, ok, I've made it sound like a total nerdfest. And there are numerous sword fights and magic and fantasy. But it's good you guys! There's quite a twist to keep an eye out for in there...

Read it, you won't regret it (and Emma Watson has signed on for the movie version, so you'll be able to say you read it first).

the book and the bea x

(pics via goodreads)