july wrap up

Welcome to my July wrap up, dedicated to what I’ve read and enjoyed this month. It’s been quite a good month: I got a job that I’m starting in August, and I stayed over at my boyfriend’s house for a week (in the hottest week when it got up to 40°!), which was fun but it meant I didn’t read as much as I was hoping too. Anyway, here are the posts I wrote in July:

• June Wrap Up
• Stranger Things 4 Thoughts
• Holiday Book Recs
• August Anticipated Releases

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Music and Media

I wanted to add an extra section to my wrap up discussing some of the music and tv/film I’ve consumed this month too, as I probably spend more time watching TV than reading, at least this month!

These are some new album releases I’ve been loving: Household Name by Momma, Sometimes, Forever by Soccer Mommy and Gemini Rights by Steve Lacy. If you’re interested, I have a Musicboard account sharing my reviews (think Letterboxd but for music).

In terms of TV, I started The Boys and am already up to season 3. It’s crazy and gory and disgusting at times but I have been really enjoying it and I’m interested to see where it can go next. I have watched Love Island, and it’s the second season I’ve properly watched although I didn’t watch from the start. It has been fun to watch with my boyfriend mostly to laugh at but the misogyny is very real and there were a few times I didn’t want to watch because it made me angry. And then I’ve also been following the football, not as much as I wanted to but I watched the finals which was great. It’s a bummer that I could have actually gone to see some games live because there were cheap tickets at a stadium near me, but hopefully next time?

Now, onto the books!

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Reading Stats

Only took a year for me to read this ARC of Under The Whispering Door! I’m finally getting round to older ARCs I’ve forgotten about for whatever reason. I was a little apprehensive going into this because of all the love I’ve seen for T J Klune books and not knowing if it was the kind of book I’d like, but I was pleasantly surprised! It was a quiet but heart-warming story with loveable characters and some tear-jerking scenes. It was so close to 5 stars but I wasn’t completely happy with the ending which kind of went against the whole message of the book, and a character transformation. However, I’d definitely recommend and I’m so glad I finally got to this!

I’m not sure if I was a little lenient with my rating of The Women of Troy, but I did enjoy this sequel. I think it had a lot more emphasis on the women which was a lot of people’s criticisms of the Silence of the Girls. It also felt a little more contained and focused, although not quite as exciting as the storyline with Achilles and I’m not sure the writing style worked quite as well in this context. Overall though, I think it was a strong retelling with plenty of emotional scenes.

It was hard to rate Lapvona but I think 3.5 stars does it justice. It’s my first Moshfegh book and I didn’t know what to expect except depravity, and you certainly get that here. It’s brutal but also thoughtful as it explores a lot of themes like religion, and the two elements combined makes for a fantastic book, although I was bored at some points as there isn’t really a strong narrative until the end which lowered my rating.

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Thanks for reading! How was your July?

—ella♥

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