Welcome to my June wrap up! June was a fantastic reading month for me in terms of quality. With Pride Month and the heightened emphasis on prioritising more BIPOC authors, I ended up reading some truly incredible books thanks to recommendations from various bookstagrammers.
It’s been great to see white bookstagrammers change up their TBRs to be more inclusive, and I’m excited to see this continue always, not just for the next two months.
I’ve written a separate post on the audiobooks I listened to in June – you can find that here!
Please note, titles with an asterisk* were gifted by the publisher in exchange for an honest review. I’m an affiliate for Blackwell’s, so this post contains affiliate links to their site.
Let’s dive in to the highlights of my June wrap up!
June Wrap Up Standouts
A Brief History of Seven Killings by Marlon James
I bought this book last year and it definitely had the title of ‘most intimidating book’ on my TBR. But the Read Caribbean initiative which is hosted by Cindy at @bookofcinz finally gave me the nudge I needed to pick it up!
I spent a full week with this book, which is a very long time for me, and I loved every minute of it. While it definitely is a challenging read, it’s also more than worth the effort. This sprawling saga explores the event and aftermath of the attempted assassination of Bob Marley in Jamaica 1976.
With an epic cast of characters, James tackles a startling abundance of themes within this novel. But some of the most compelling are definitely the exploration of colourism in Jamaica and homophobia. Some male characters have this homophobia so deeply ingrained in them that they can’t accept their own sexuality, even when in relationships with other men.
This is truly a masterpiece of a book that will stay with you long after you finish it.
Buy a Brief History of Seven Killings at Blackwell’s
The Vanishing Half* by Brit Bennett
I’d say this is probably the most-talked-about book on Instagram at the minute, and with good reason! The Vanishing Half deserves every inch of praise it’s receiving – and more.
We follow the lives of two identical twins, Desiree and Stella, whose lives take vastly different paths. The girls leave their hometown (where colourism runs rampant) at a young age for New Orleans, determined to make it on their own. But here their paths diverge, as one ends up marrying a dark-skinned Black man whole the other starts ‘passing’ as white and marries a white man.
I read almost the whole book in one day as I could not put it down. Bennett’s writing is smooth and flawless, and she explores a myriad of pertinent themes and topics. It’s exactly the kind of family saga that sucks you in and doesn’t spit you out until you’ve devoured every last page.
Not only a highlight of my June wrap up, but of 2020 as a whole.
Buy The Vanishing Half at Blackwell’s
Patsy by Nicole Dennis-Benn
Nicole Dennis-Benn has been on my radar for a while now, but it was again Read Caribbean which gave me the kick up the butt to finally order one of her books.
I went for Patsy, her second novel, first, as I’m always down for a tale involving motherhood – the more unconventional the better. And Patsy is definitely a rather unconventional mother, as she leaves her five-year-old daughter Tru behind in Jamaica while she moves to America. Patsy is on the hunt for new beginnings, but she also hopes to rekindle her romance with her childhood best friend Cicely.
The LGBTQ+ representation in this book is everything. Patsy is an older queer woman, and I loved reading about her complex relationships with the women in her life. Meanwhile her daughter Tru, as she grows older, is figuring out her own sexuality and gender identity. Dennis-Benn also documents Patsy’s experiences as an undocumented immigrant in America, the ups and downs and everything in between.
I highly recommend this one for a book club pick, as there is just so much to discuss! Everyone will have completely different reactions to Patsy and her choices, so it will lead to some brilliant conversations, I’m sure.
People From My Neighbourhood* by Hiromi Kawakami (tr. Ted Goossen)
This is a collection of micro-fiction from the author of Strange Weather in Tokyo, and it is delightfully strange! Although the first few stories left me underwhelmed, I was soon swept up in the goings-on of the neighbourhood. You’ll soon realise it isn’t as benign as it might appear.
Deftly translated by Ted Goossen, this collection sees people undergoing avian transformations, citizens being left without gravity for a day, and a new shapeshifting baby seeking a new home. All of the stories are written in this brilliantly calm and collected manner. There is no fanfare, everything simply is.
People From My Neighbourhood is not out until August in the UK, but you can preorder it at Blackwell’s.
Preorder People From My Neighbourhood at Blackwell’s
Other books I highly recommend from June include Pet by Akwaeke Emezi, The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon, and Afterlife by Julia Alvarez. These last two were audiobooks and my thoughts on those can be found here!
June Reading Stats
Total books read: 17
Physical books: 13
Audiobooks: 4
Pages read: 4867
Audiobooks – check out my audiobook wrap up post for my thoughts on these! I was able to listen to complimentary listening copies of these titles through LibroFM’s ALC programme.
- Little Family by Ishmael Beah (narrated by Dion Graham)
- The Boyfriend Project by Farrah Rochon (narrated by Je Nie Fleming)
- Afterlife by Julia Alvarez (narrated by Alma Cuervo)
- Me & White Supremacy by Layla F. Saad (narrated by the author)
LibroFM have also given me an affiliate code for you to use. Follow my link or use ABREADS to get two audiobooks for the price of one when you sign up for a monthly membership.
I only visited one new country for my reading the world project in June, which is a bit disappointing but I can always catch up!
- Haiti (An Untamed State by Roxane Gay)
I made return visits to the following countries:
- Argentina
- Jamaica
- US
- Japan
- Chile
- China/Singapore
- Romania
You can keep up with my reading the world efforts on Instagram by looking under my hashtag #AbReadsAroundTheWorld.
In terms of translations, I was again slightly disappointed by my own efforts this month. Most of what I read was translated from Spanish, whereas usually I have a bigger mix!
- Japanese (Hiromi Kawakami, tr. Ted Goossen)
- Four Spanish (Jorge Consiglio tr. Carolina Orloff & Fionn Petch; Isabel Allende tr. Margaret Sayers Peden; Gabriela Cabezón Cámara tr. Frances Riddle; Andrés Barba tr. Lisa Dillman)
- Romanian (Mihail Sebastian tr. Philip Ó Ceallaigh)
That’s it for my June wrap up! I post reviews for most books I read on Instagram, on The StoryGraph, and Goodreads.
I’ve been putting off A brief history of seven killings for ages.
I did too, Resh! But it was definitely worth the wait – and the amount of time it actually took to read it, ha!
Wonderful to see your reading month broken down like this and not be hampered with Instagrams word count. Good luck with your website. ?
Aww thank you, Siobhan! That pesky word count gets me every time, I like to ramble! x