Reading is my oldest and favorite hobby. I literally can’t remember a time in my life when I didn’t love to curl up with a good book. Here are my reads for June, 2023.

My Garden World, by Monty Don – The last book on my spring stack (although this one would be a good candidate for reading throughout the year as it follows twelve months in Monty Don’s gardens): I enjoyed this so much. I am a huge fan of Monty Don’s gardening programs – we binge-watch them on Britbox – and he is a beautiful writer.

The Wisteria Society of Lady Scoundrels (Dangerous Damsels #1), by India Holton – This was an audiobook listen, mainly during commutes last month, and it was a lot of fun. A bit confusing to start out – it’s an alternate Victorian England where houses fly and lady pirates do magic and swashbuckle – but once you get into it, it’s a lot of fun. Warning for the prudes among us (raises hand): there is once scene that made me blush tomato red.

Crying in H Mart, by Michelle Zauner – This was a book club pick, and while we found a lot to discuss, I personally had a hard time with the structure. It felt a little disorganized and chaotic, which may have been an intentional choice but it makes for a difficult reading experience for me.

Poems for Happiness, intro Rev. Richard Coles – After Crying in H Mart I really needed to read something uplifting and a collection of poems around the theme of happiness was just what the doctor ordered. I was already familiar with some of the selections, others were new to me, and each poem was a delight.

Three Lives to Live, by Anne Lindbergh – This is one of my childhood favorites – one of the first time-slip novels I ever read, and I still love that genre – and I read it aloud to Peanut this past month. Mainly, I wanted to read it to her because there’s some stuff in there about siblings that I thought would be good to discuss with her. Bonus, though, we both really enjoyed it.

The Widening Stain, by W. Bolingbroke Johnson – I love reading in situ and when I heard – on an episode of the Shedunnit podcast – about this murder mystery that is set in a library at a fictionalized version of Cornell, I knew it was the obvious choice to read over Reunion weekend. I even spent an hour or so reading it in the actual library that forms the setting for the murders. (You don’t have to be a Cornellian to enjoy this, by the way – it was a lot of fun, the plot moved quickly and the main sleuth was a delight.) My only complaint was that while the author technically played fair with the conclusion, you don’t stand a chance of working out the solution unless you have a lot of esoteric knowledge about opera. I don’t, so once again I guessed whodunit but not why or how.

The Wind in the Willows, by Kenneth Grahame – A re-read for me, but the first time listening on audio: it was as fun as it always is to revisit Mole, Ratty, Otter, Badger, and of course Toad. I do have a soft spot for that wild and irresponsible Toad.

The Small House at Allington (Chronicles of Barsetshire #5), by Anthony Trollope – I won’t say much here as a full review is coming for the Classics Club. This is the penultimate in Trollope’s Barsetshire novels and also the penultimate in my Classics Club reading challenge. It was the first Trollope I’ve read that did not include a tidy and conventionally happy ending, and I’m still deciding how I feel about that.

Appointment with Venus, by Jerrard Tickell – I’ve had this on my shelf to read in June (although most of the action, as it turns out, actually happens in September) for ages – and I can’t believe I waited so long. A World War II story of a daring rescue… of a prize COW… on the Channel Islands, this is funny, page-turning, and moving by turns. I read it in the midst of a move and could barely put it down.

Penguins and Golden Calves: Icons and Idols in Antarctica and Other Unexpected Places, by Madeleine L’Engle – Three audiobooks this month! That has to be some kind of record. So, this was okay but I didn’t love it. (I did, however, press through and listen to the whole thing.) I knew that it was one of L’Engle’s theology/philosophy books, but was still expecting a heavy dose of Antarctica and that wasn’t really there. And some of L’Engle’s comments about race and gender hit a little differently in 2023. For instance, at one point she muses “We can get a little silly about inclusive pronouns.” I couldn’t disagree more – there is nothing silly, in my view, about acknowledging the lived truth about a person’s deepest identity. It’s not all that surprising that a book written in 1993 by a 75-year-old doesn’t quite hit it on 2023 values, but between that and the insufficient Antarctica content, I think I’ll stick to L’Engle’s fiction.

Whew! What a month. If you’re still with me – thanks for hanging in. It was a busy June with not one, but two, moves – office in the middle of the month and house at the end. But through the chaos I still read – I will always read through the chaos – and had a couple of wonderful highlights. Appointment with Venus was definitely the high point of the reading month, and will probably be on my top-ten list for the year. And reading The Widening Stain at Cornell was such fun. (I wish the author had written more – I’d love to follow sleuth Gilda Gorham through more literary crime-solving.) In July, I’ve already finished a couple of good books, I have an excellent audiobook on the go, and I’ve got more summery reads on my stack. Happy summer reading, friends!

What were your June reading highlights?