Maybe We COULD Survive? And Some Fun

Everything I Finished, Read and Acquired in July

Full list of July books finished, read and acquired is below the text—open to questions and comments about them all!

July was… not a great reading month, as it turned out. After a great period of choosing books over everything from fashion substacks to Spelling Bee, July just… mostly didn’t go that way. There were a lot of early evening walks and dinners out and I don’t feel bad about it!

Of course, looking at it I do see that I finished 9 books. One was a graphic novel. (Spent, Alison Bechdel… I would recommend one of her earlier books unless you’re a fan, in which case you, like me, are already on this. Read it? Let’s discuss!!)

One was the definitely light “Lessons from Madame Chic” which I read partly to keep my head in a week’s French intensive and partly because hey, who doesn’t want French chic? I almost left it off of this list but then I thought, let’s don’t pretend everything we read is even anywhere close to “serious.” Sometimes light non-fiction feels perfect, right? There’s no need to follow much of a story, and you can pretend you’ll be a better person at the end of it.

So let’s get to what I read that you want to read too, shall we?

First off: A Marriage at Sea. You MUST have heard of this. It’s 1971 and this couple sets off to sail from England to New Zealand without a radio (even then, a choice) and then a whale takes their boat out in the Pacific and they spend 6 MONTHS in a dinghy and a raft and don’t die and stay married.

It’s not the most dramatic book (the author may have been too faithful to her source material for that and I get why) but it’s such a STORY—and the most wonderful thing, the thing that really sticks with me, is that they are so ordinary. They aren’t super fit or trained survivors. But they do extraordinary things, which in my opinion is even more inspirational. And a little scary and also reassuring. As in, maybe—in some similar situation—we would surprise ourselves. (That said, take a radio, man.)

My super fun, zip through it book for you this month is Jo Piazza’s Everyone Is Lying to You. It’s glorious and delicious and will fill you with a delightful sense of knowing about influencers—and Jo is a seasoned reporter who does her research, so you know she got the details right. It’s also a fun and twisty mystery and the kind of easy read that is hard writing.

Oh! And if you have Sophie Kinsella’s What Does It Feel Like around but you’re scared to read it because sad, I finished it for you and it is not. It, too, kind of hits that “maybe we are stronger than we think” note.

Finally… I took a bunch of books with “summer” in the title on my beach vacation:

How to Pack for a Week at the Beach

and I read… none of them. I dunno why. Overkill? The phase from the fact that Canada is on fire making things feel a wee bit less carefree than they might? Magic Eight Ball says Ask Again Later. I did start Sarah MacLean’s These Summer Storms. I will probably report back. (If I don't… I think you know what that means.)

Books Finished:

Murder Takes a Vacation by Laura Lippman ($$ Kindle)

The Man Who Died Twice by Richard Osman ($$)

Counterfeit by Kirstin Chen (library)

What's everybody reading and is it juicy tricky fun?

Lessons from Madame Chic by Jennifer L. Scott (Kindle)

Spent by Alison Bechdel (library)

What Does It Feel Like by Sophie Kinsella ($$)

The Bullet That Missed by Richard Osman (library)

A Marriage at Sea by Sophie Elmhirst ($$)

Everyone Is Lying To You by Jo Piazza ($$)

Books Read but unfinished:

Killers of a Certain Age by Deanna Raybourn (library) Kids this is gonna be a DNF for me

Good Stress by Jeff Krasno, Schuyler Grant (Editor)

Books Acquired but not yet read: ($$=I bought it with my own hard-earned cash, 1/2$=I used my author discount, Gifted, Library)

Dear Writer by Maggie Smith (library)

The Carpool Detectives by Chuck Hogan ($$ Kindle)

These Summer Storms by Sarah MacLean ($$ Kindle)

Wreck by Catherine Newman **Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on October 28, 2025 (gifted)

Songs of Summer by Jane L. Rosen (gifted)

The Summer Guests by Tess Gerritsen ($$)

The Last Devil to Die by Richard Osman (library, and I had to give it back before I got to it but I can get it again)

The Blonde Who Came in From the Cold by Ally Carter **Available for Pre-Order. This item will be released on August 5, 2025 (gifted)

Mean Moms by Emma Rosenblum actually I just downloaded a Sample Chapter of this, we’ll see if I get to it!

What have you read, what should I be reading, talk to me!!!