Reviewing every book I read this summer
Naomi Stephenson
This summer, I traveled a lot, which meant a good amount of time spent on planes and trains. And what does one do while in transit? Read, of course! I did an article like this last year and found it was a good way to keep a record of what I’d read, so here are mini-reviews for all 42 books I read this summer, in the order that I read them.
The Bandit Queens – On a flight to Amsterdam, I decided a book about wives killing their abusive husbands was the light entertainment I needed. This was an engaging look at a group of women in rural India and what they do to get by. There was a cute romance plot, plus some awesome twists. 4/5
Lessons in Chemistry – I can’t believe it took me so long to get around to reading this. In my opinion, it is worth the hype. It’s a slightly simplistic depiction of the past, but the feminist themes are excellent, I loved the main character, and I especially loved every moment from the dog’s perspective. Yay women in STEM! 4.5/5
Happy Hour – This was billed as a feel-good novel, so of course I picked it up. It’s about two socialites spending a summer in New York, and all the ups and downs that come with that. It’s fun, but not much happens. I also found the two main characters extremely annoying, and not in an interesting literary way. 3/5.
The Paris Novel – Since I’m studying abroad in Paris this semester, a popular book about Paris by one of my favorite food writers seemed like an obvious reading choice. As expected, the descriptions of food were fantastic. The novel reads like a fairytale, but I didn’t mind. It was fun, diverting and an excellent airplane read. 4/5
What’s Eating Jackie Oh? – After the Paris Novel, I was on the hunt for another book about food. This book continues the grand tradition of stories about complex Asian mother/daughter relationships—plus a cooking show! How fun! The book was predictable but enjoyable, with a main character who is very easy to root for. 3.5/5
Love, Theoretically – Hoot Staff Writer Mandy Feuerman got me on the Ali Hazelwood train, and I have no plans to get off. This was my fourth Ali Hazelwood book, and it was what I’d come to expect: a fun romcom with an embedded lesson about feminism and STEM. I could see the twists coming from a mile away but that didn’t mean that it wasn’t a fun read. 3.5/5
The Ministry of Time – After several lighter books in a row, I was ready for some depressing sci-fi. And boy did I get it. I loved this book, particularly its Wasian lead (representation!), its take on time travel and the jaw-dropping twist at the end. I can’t describe this book as a good time, but it was certainly impactful and made me tear up at the end. 4.5/5
Maya’s Laws of Love – My tolerance for heavy books only went so far this summer, so I went right back to romcoms. The premise of this one—Maya falls in love with her fiance’s brother on her flight to her wedding—was a bit much for me to get behind, even if the main couple was cute. 3/5
Great Circle – Because the vast majority of my reading this summer was done on airplanes, I decided I had to read at least one book about airplanes. This is a historical fiction novel about a woman who tried to circumvent the world in an airplane, and a woman playing her in a movie. Despite the promising concept, I found this fairly forgettable, and the dual timelines felt unnecessary. 3/5
Fly Girl – Another airplane book! This time, a memoir of a TWA flight attendant. It was a cool exploration of aviation history, and the writing style was strong and engaging, but after that, it didn’t make too much of an impact. 3/5
Loathe to Love You – This is a collection of Ali Hazelwood novellas, which I mostly read for the sake of completion. It follows a trio of friends and how they each get together with their partners—all of whom are large, Adam Driver-esque men. Hey, she has a brand to maintain. It was fine but I’d be lying if I said I remembered any of the characters’ names. 2.5/5
The Still Point – I’m a former ballet kid, and this is a thriller about a ballet school. Think “Dance Moms” but only ballet, plus a house gets set on fire. For me it was a pretty accurate depiction of a ballet school, with the stakes dialed up to eleven. If you haven’t been in the world of ballet, I’m not sure if it would be quite as enjoyable, but I liked it. 3.5/5.
The Disappearance of Astrid Bricard – Weirdly, this took me quite a while to get through. It’s a book about women in the fashion industry and how the male gaze can reverberate through the generations. It was an engaging read, but I feel like the least interesting storylines got a bit too much attention while the most interesting storyline—which looked at the French Resistance during World War II—got neglected. 4/5
The Woman with a Purple Heart – Another historical fiction novel, this looks at the head nurse during the Pearl Harbor attack. It’s a cool premise, but I ended up finding this book incredibly forgettable. It was based on a real person, meaning the storytelling capacity of the author was limited. Everything this book had to say about Japanese internment had been said before, but it’s an important story to be told. 3/5
The Miniaturist – Oh my goodness, this was so frustrating. The book spends most of the first half setting up a mystery with a miniaturist, then spends the second half providing absolutely zero information as to who she is. It’s a deeply dull book with a main character who’s helpless to stop anything happening around her. It’s grim and heavy without having any real emotional impact, which annoyed me to no end. 2/5
Welcome to the Hyunam-dong Bookshop – After being frustrated with The Miniaturist, this was exactly what I needed. It’s a cozy, wholesome novel about a bookstore in Seoul. I also read this in Seoul, which made it even more special. It’s a book about ordinary people coming into each others’ lives and improving them, and it made me feel very warm and fuzzy. 4.5/5
The Familiar – I love Leigh Bardugo, and I love books about Jewish folklore, so combining the two seemed like a match made in heaven. Unfortunately, I think this book didn’t quite live up to its potential. For one thing, the main character is very much not Jewish, despite having a gift for Ladino magic. Then there’s supposed to be a magic competition, but that falls apart quickly. And I found the main romance plot—a typical chosen one girl + dark and brooding immortal man— tiring. 3/5
The House of Fortune – What possessed me to read the sequel to the Miniaturist? Honestly, I don’t know. A tiny, deluded part of me thought that the sequel would answer all the questions set up by the Miniaturist. Was I correct? Of course I wasn’t! This had all the problems of the first book, and it was a waste of time. 2/5
Project Hail Mary – After a couple disappointments in a row, Andy Weir swooped in and saved the day. This is a quirky sci-fi buddy comedy with a fabulous core concept and amazing characters. I laughed out loud several times while reading this, and was honestly disappointed when the book ended, since I was having so much fun with it. 5/5
Bullet Train – Confession time: I mostly read this book because I liked the idea of reading a book called Bullet Train on an actual bullet train. I will admit that reading about brutal murders on the Shinkansen wasn’t quite as fun while I was actively riding the Shinkansen. I found the plot of this a touch overwrought, but the ending was extremely satisfying. 3.5/5
The Caretakers – I returned to books about Paris with this one, this time a novel about American au pairs in a wealthy Parisian suburb. One au pair is accused of murdering her host family’s son, and the story goes from there. Grim is the best word to describe this book. It’s not a fun reading experience, and it’s deeply depressing at times. I’m still on the fence as to whether it was good, but it was certainly impactful. 3/5
Not in Love – Ali Hazelwood’s newest book is less romcom and more drama. I found the romance plot to be a bit circular, as our main characters stay in the same place in their relationship for a solid 150 pages. The non-romance plot (a game whose boss is the evil one) is easy to predict, since Ali Hazelwood tends to go for the same twists. This book was fine, but not at the level of Hazelwood’s previous work. 3/5
When He Was Wicked – At this point in the summer, I’d finally finished Bridgerton Season 3, and discovered the discourse over changing Francesca’s love interest. I like to be informed when it comes to petty internet debates, so I decided to suck it up and read Francesca’s book. It was, as I expected, dreadful. It wasn’t as bad as the other Bridgerton book I’ve read, but my word, this was so boring, and mildly icky. I fully support changing Francesca’s love interest, if only to make her storyline less dumb. 1.5/5
Crazy Rich Asians – Crazy Rich Asians is one of my favorite airplane movies, which boded well for its book counterpart. Like the movie, this book is fun, fluffy and slyly satirical. I also think the book affords much more depth to its characters. It’s fun and low effort, although there are some sections that drag. 3.5/5
China Rich Girlfriend – At this point, I went ahead and committed to reading the whole Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. This is an even wackier story (the main character gets poisoned at one point) and I had so much fun! It reads like a trashy C-drama in the best possible way, and I enjoyed it immensely. 4/5
Rich People Problems – This was probably the best written of the Crazy Rich Asians trilogy. It’s a classic story about fighting over the will. It also does a great job adding depth to our main characters. This whole trilogy is ridiculous but a ton of fun, and Rich People Problems concludes it with style. 4/5
Penance – After several light reads, I decided to swing the other direction and read something insanely dark. It’s set up like a true crime novel, focused on three teenage girls who set one of their classmates on fire. The book explores the sinister, twisted side of girlhood, as well as the toxicity of true crime spaces. There’s some seriously disturbing stuff about fandoms for mass shootings (something I still struggle to comprehend the existence of). And the final twist at the end is absolutely insane. This book is great, but so difficult to read. 5/5
Bunny – What a weird book. It’s a dark academia story about a creative writing master’s program. However, most of the girls in the cohort are also in a murderous cult and share a kind of hive mind. It’s creepy, but also ridiculous. The first half is better than the second, and the main character is deeply irritating. 3/5
Lies and Weddings – I returned to Kevin Kwan after two dark books in a row. I needed Crazy Rich Asians levels of escapism, and boy did I get it. This is Kwan at his best. It’s a romance novel about a half-Asian English noble and the girl next door. There’s drama, including a literal volcanic eruption. There’s some interesting commentary on race and class. The book is primarily fun, but carries just a bit of bite, and I loved it. 5/5
Tangled Up in You – Tangled is my favorite Disney Princess movie. Now, I did read its book adaptation mostly for the bit, but I ended up really liking it. Rapunzel is transformed into a girl raised on a homestead off the grid, and Flynn Rider becomes a troubled foster kid adopted by a millionaire. They road trip across the country together, and hijinks ensue. It’s silly, but enjoyable. 3.5/5
You Deserve Each Other – I liked the premise of this—fiancés try to annoy each other into footing the wedding bill, and rekindle their dying relationship along the way—but I found it really tiring to read. The main character was so insufferable that I struggled to root for her, and I think the pacing of the book was wildly off. 2/5
Can’t Spell Treason Without Tea – This book was advertised as being in the tradition of Legends and Lattes, one of my all-time favorite books. It doesn’t quite hit the highs of Legends and Lattes, mostly because it contains just a bit too much drama. I want low stakes in my cozy fantasy! Not dragon attacks and a genocidal queen hunting our main characters! It’s still heartwarming, but doesn’t fully live up to its potential. 3/5
The Pairing – I love Casey McQuiston’s books, so I was excited for their latest release. The Pairing is billed as “slutty bisexuals in Europe” and that pretty much sums it up. I loved the descriptions of food and all the cities our main characters visited. The book is lacking a bit in terms of substance—it’s frothy and fun but doesn’t quite pack the punch that McQuiston’s other books do. 4/5
Sign Here – Shoutout to Mandy for recommending this to me. I haven’t read much horror, but Sign Here was a great read. Half of it is a wacky exploration of an office job in Hell, and half of it is a tense family drama. The plotlines collide at the end and the twists and reveals made my jaw drop. 4.5/5
The Golem of Brooklyn – The humor of this book is aggressively Jewish, which gets a big thumbs up from me. A Jewish art teacher makes a golem while high on LSD, then the Golem gets high, binges Curb Your Enthusiasm to learn English, and sets off to kill all of America’s white supremacists (egged on by the real Larry David). It’s a snarky and witty exploration of Jewish history and culture that still finds time to ask some difficult questions—in true Jewish style. 4.5/5
Murder in Postscript – And now for something completely different … a murder mystery! The premise is an Edwardian countess who writes an advice column becomes an unlikely detective after someone who writes to her gets murdered. Unfortunately, the final reveal was rather anticlimactic. The book is the first in a series, and while it was fine, I don’t plan to read the sequel. 3/5
Love, Lies, and Cherry Pie – This romcom follows the fake dating trope to the letter, but it’s lifted by an excellent depiction of an Asian mother/daughter relationship, plus a cat named Ms. Margaret Muffins. I probably won’t remember this book all that well, but it was an enjoyable reading experience. 3.5/5
Catherine House – This is an odd little dark academia number, about a university where students are completely isolated from the outside world for three years. Oh, and they’re being experimented on. The science fiction concepts of the story are never appropriately explained and the main character is annoying, but the atmosphere is excellent. 3/5
When the Angels Left the Old Country – This book takes the “Good Omens” concept of an angel/demon duo and makes it Ashkenazi. It’s a typical story about leaving the shtetl for New York, but with a healthy dose of folklore and magic mixed in. I really enjoyed it. 4/5
The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches – The premise of this book—a witch moves into a hidden mansion to train three young and impulsive witches, complete with high cozy vibes—had great potential, especially for an airplane read. Unfortunately, the writing quality was akin to that which I could produce in middle school (which is not a compliment). Plus, I despised the romance plot. 2/5
Mr. Perfect On Paper – At this point I was on a plane to the UK and needed something cheesy to pass the time. This aggressively Jewish romcom follows the founder of J-Mate (a fictional version of J-Swipe) and her search to find a perfect Jewish husband. Lo and behold, she falls for a goy. The book has some sly critiques of Halakha that not everyone will appreciate, while at the same time not being fully willing to answer the questions it raises. Still, I had fun. 3.5/5
Kissing Kosher – I decided to read another book by Jean Meltzer, this time a romcom centering on rival Jewish bakery businesses. What do pumpkin spice babka, Jewish intergenerational trauma, and medicinal cannabis have in common? Read on to find out! It was fun but the idealism bordered on impossible by the end. 3/5
