What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included yellow (June) and green (July) books. This included finally having multiple 5-star reads after several months without!

Dear America: Notes of an Undocumented Citizen by Jose Antonio Vargas: This was surprising, informational, and heartfelt. Vargas was sent to the United States when he was 12; he didn't know until he was 16 that his green card and passport were fake. Following this have been decades of trying to survive in the United States. I thought this was excellent and a great book for any American to read.

Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore by Patric Richardson with Karin B. Miller: This was, indeed, a joyful book about laundry! This was my Best of the Bunch for June. While it may be challenging for me to adopt Richardson's methods wholesale, I found the practical tidbits throughout to be invaluable. This is definitely a book I wouldn't mind having a hard copy of for reference in the future!

We Are Never Meeting in Real Life by Samantha Irby: As with most "humor" books, this was fine, but it wasn't really for me. There were lines here and there that made me laugh, but mostly I just wanted her to have some self-compassion, set boundaries, embrace her uniqueness, and stop doing things that made her miserable while trying to fit some mold of what she thinks a likeable person is supposed to be like.

American Born Chinese by Gene Luen Yang: I think I'm a bit too literal-minded for a book like this. To be clear, I think it's a great depiction of how discrimination and stereotyping can affect someone, as well as just being a spot-on representation of the angst of adolescence. I wish the way it all tied up worked better in my brain.

Late Migrations: A Natural History of Love and Loss by Margaret Renkl: This was a lovely little book of poetic essays. Renkl alternates between stories of the natural world in her backyard and stories from her family. I'm not sure there's anything in particular that will stick with me from this volume, but perhaps if I'd read it over months, reading a chapter (which is only a page or two) each night, I would have absorbed it more deeply.

Relish: My Life in the Kitchen by Lucy Knisley: This was a memoir told through illustrations of Knisley's experiences growing up in a family that valued good food and having memorable food experiences on various international trips. On the whole, while there wasn't anything that really jumped out at me to make this a memorable read, it was a cute journey through Knisley's food experiences and worth the couple of hours it took to read.

Heating & Cooling: 52 Micro-Memoirs by Beth Ann Fennelly: Perhaps it is being a woman of a certain age, but I loved this collection of micro-memoirs. Fennelly's life may not have a single, unusual, captivating narrative to it, but it has certainly contained unusual and captivating moments, and they are no less worth sharing. And, she seems to imply, neither are ours.

Well Met by Jen DeLuca: This was cute! I flew through it in less than two days. I still don't entirely understand declaring your love for someone solely because you've flirted / made out with them, but if I accept the usual rhythms of this genre, this was a pretty good one. I wouldn't mind reading another one in this series.

An Immense World: How Animal Senses Reveal the Hidden Realms Around Us by Ed Yong: This was fascinating from start to finish. I adore Ed Yong's writing as well as his audiobook narration. It would never have even occurred to me to compile in one place a survey of the ways that animals perceive the world, and I haven't seen anything like this before. I was enthralled. I highly recommend this one, especially on audio!

Heartstopper: Volume Six by Alice Oseman: Every installment of Nick and Charlie's story has been pitch perfect, and this final volume is no exception. I highly recommend the entire series.

The Postscript Murders by Elly Griffiths: The character exposition here was so clunky I almost put the book down, but I'm glad I persevered because I ended up really enjoying the mystery! This was one that kept me up late several nights in a row, which is something that hasn't happened for a while. I wouldn't have thought it when I started, but I'd definitely be down for reading another mystery by Griffiths!

Salvage the Bones by Jesmyn Ward: I keep trying and failing to enjoy literary fiction. It's not that I don't get it, or that I don't have empathy for the characters, but the characters make questionable choices, the sentences are packed full to bursting with similes, and the ending offers only small scraps of consolation for the bleakness you've just endured. I think this would be great for a book club and great for an English class, but it wasn't great for me personally.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, Catfish and Mandala, and Marble Hall Murders
Five years ago I was reading: Lovecraft Country, Womanist Midrash, and A Promised Land
Ten years ago I was reading: Never Let Me Go and Philippine Duchesne: A Woman with the Poor

Best of the Bunch (June 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in June.

Of the 9 books I read this month, I once again didn't have any 5-star reads, but I had two 4.5-star reads:

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay

Laundry Love: Finding Joy in a Common Chore by Patric Richardson with Karin B. Miller

The one that has most directly affected my life, and which I have already recommended to others, is my Best of the Bunch for this month!

Laundry Love was, indeed, a joyful book about laundry! Richardson (and his co-author) managed to hook me right off the bat when describing situations where well-laundered sheets, towels, and clothing can bring joy and pleasure to your day. While it may be challenging for me to adopt Richardson's methods wholesale, I found the practical tidbits throughout to be invaluable. Do you know why regular bleach often makes your things less white? Do you know why clothes that say they need cold water get cleaner in warm water? Do you know why fabric softener makes your clothes less breathable? Richardson has an entire section dedicated to difficult stains and the best approaches to getting them out. And throughout, you can feel Richardson's passion for how laundry done well is a way of caring for loved ones and the environment. His tone is empowering and kind; I don't feel like I'm being shamed, I feel like I'm being invited to think about how laundry can contribute to a more peaceful, comfortable life, and I appreciate that.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, The Psychopath Test, and The Resilience Myth
Five years ago I was reading: Maurice, One Last Stop, Womanist Midrash, and Jada Sly, Artist & Spy
Ten years ago I was reading: Furiously Happy, The Return of the King, The Whole Life Adoption Book, and East of Eden

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Top Ten Books on My Summer TBR

I'm linking up with That Artsy Reader Girl for another Top Ten Tuesday.

It's time for another seasonal check-in! I almost finished all the books on my Spring TBR; I ended up running out of time in the month before my hold on This Is Where You Belong came in, and I'm in the middle of Laundry Love now. I continue to enjoy my colorful reading project for this year! I'm finishing up June (yellow) and planning what I'll be reading in July (green), August (blue), and September (purple). Here are some of the books I've picked out for this season!

1. A Is for Alibi by Sue Grafton

2. The Bands of Mourning by Brandon Sanderson

3. The Disasters by M.K. England

4. Full of Myself by Austin Channing Brown

5. An Immense World by Ed Yong

6. Off the Clock by Laura Vanderkam

7. The Other Significant Others by Rhaina Cohen

8. Pet by Akwaeke Emezi

9. Relish by Lucy Knisley

10. Truly Devious by Maureen Johnson

What do you plan to read this summer (or winter if you're in the southern hemisphere)?

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, The Psychopath Test, and The Resilience Myth
Five years ago I was reading: The Road Trip, Boy Erased, Womanist Midrash, and The Case of the Counterfeit Painting
Ten years ago I was reading: Furiously Happy, The Return of the King, and East of Eden

What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included orange (May) and yellow (June) books. Most of the books were worth the read, even if they weren't a favorite!

Unoffendable: How Just One Change Can Make All of Life Better by Brant Hansen: This was a true mixed bag; I thought Hansen was funny and engaging, and he has an important message for Christians who spend their energy being outraged about things that don't affect them or even hurt anybody. However, there's a huge gap in this book when it comes to systemic injustice and personal trauma, and that means its applicability is limited.

Big Friendship: How We Keep Each Other Close by Aminatou Sow and Ann Friedman: This was a great overview of the lifecycle of a friendship, as seen through the unique friendship of the two authors. In telling their own story, they bring in research about how friendships form, how they grow, and how they weather – or don't — conflicts and ruptures.

Radical Relating: A Queer and Polyamory-Informed Guide to Love Beyond the Myth of Monogamy by Mel Cassidy: This wasn't bad, per se, but I don't think I'd recommend it to many people. For someone with experience in relationship anarchy, there's too much 101 content combined with philosophizing that's not grounded in enough practical examples. And for someone completely foreign to this approach to relationships, it's too unapologetically radical to make a good starting point.

Did You Ever Have a Family by Bill Clegg: This is a bit more pure literary fiction than I typically read, but it was good. It's definitely the kind of novel you could mine for symbolism and motifs. Reading it simply for pleasure, though, it kept my interest enough to keep reading, but I don't anticipate it will stay with me.

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon: This book was quite the undertaking, and while I don't know that it needed to be as long as it was to make the author's point, it was a fascinating listen, read (well!) by the author. Solomon looks at "horizontal identities," those identities that children may have that are often different from their own parents. I would recommend it with the grain of salt that you need a strong stomach to get through some of the passages and you may take serious issue with the way Solomon portrays certain identities and experiences; I think it's worth reading nonetheless.

Everything You Wanted to Know about Indians but Were Afraid to Ask by Anton Treuer: This is a fairly good overview of information on the indigenous peoples of the United States (and, to a lesser extent, Canada), if a bit dated. Treuer covers a wide range of topics, from tribal governments to casinos, from spirituality to the history of residential schools. At times he gets a bit lecture-y to his own community, which seems out of place in a primer for non-native people, but on the whole it's an impressively comprehensive yet concise read.

The Sixth Extinction: An Unnatural History by Elizabeth Kolbert: This is a well-researched look at the era we're currently living through, in which species are going extinct at a rapid pace, akin to five other periods in planetary history. Kolbert does a nice job of highlighting the philosophic tensions and complexities of the moment and walking the line between despair and hope, though I think she could have spent more time on concrete actions that the reader can take.

Butts: A Backstory by Heather Radke: The book is relatively comprehensive for the fact that its primary aim is to answer Radke's central question: "Why do I have feelings about the way my butt looks to other people?" While I'm not sure I took anything hugely meaningful away from this read, I found it to be a well-researched and well-constructed work of nonfiction.

Everything We Never Had by Randy Ribay: This story of four generations of Filipino American men, each told from when they were 16, is a great novel for both young adults and adults. There are important themes and motifs that students could dig into, but they aren't heavy-handed in a way that overwhelms the reading experience, and ditto for the history lessons. I don't think I've seen a storytelling format quite like this before, and I thought it was incredibly well done.

The Gift of Years: Growing Older Gracefully by Joan Chittister: While I'm not the target audience for this book, I found a lot of valuable content in the reflections on how to think of one's life as a whole, how to integrate past experiences into one's present, and so on. I got frustrated with Chittister's seemingly limited view of her reader (their abilities, their prior experiences in middle age), but I'm grateful for the pieces here and there that I did take from it.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, Amelia, If Only, and Black Sun
Five years ago I was reading: The Road Trip, Boy Erased, Womanist Midrash, and The Case of the Counterfeit Painting
Ten years ago I was reading: Furiously Happy, Lies We Tell Ourselves, and All the Bright Places

Best of the Bunch (May 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in May.

Of the 9 books I read this month, I again didn't have any 5-star reads, but I had two 4.5-star reads:

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo

Far from the Tree: Parents, Children, and the Search for Identity by Andrew Solomon

These are very different books! I think the complicated tensions in Far from the Tree will stay with me for a while, but if I had to say which one I personally liked best of these, it's the other one.

They Never Learn was quite the twisty feminist revenge fantasy thriller! While I saw a couple of the twists coming, the one halfway through — which possibly should have been the most obvious, in retrospect — made my jaw literally drop. It almost ranked up there with The No-Show for deceitful misdirection taking advantage of a reader's assumptions, but in this case I applauded the author's skill rather than feeling cheated. And the ending, while highly implausible, made me grin from ear to ear.

What I can say without spoilers is that the book opens on Scarlett in the process of her latest kill. She's a serial killer in the vein of Dexter, one who solely targets men who abuse, sexual assault, or otherwise terrorize women. This made the book simultaneously satisfying and also a bit brutal to get through, as we're exposed to not just the wide range of ways that men can hurt women, but also the many ways the system fails those women. And then of course there are the multiple methods of murder we witness throughout the book. So while it's not a story I wanted to linger in, I am duly impressed by Fargo's writing skills and would recommend this to anyone who can stomach the too-real pieces.

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, Come As You Are, and The Final Empire
Five years ago I was reading: The Echo Wife, A Madness of Sunshine, Womanist Midrash, and The Case of the Stolen Space Suit
Ten years ago I was reading: The Husband's Secret, The Two Towers, and Man's Search for Meaning

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What I've Been Reading Lately (Quick Lit)

Today I'm linking up with Modern Mrs. Darcy's Quick Lit to bring you some short and sweet reviews of what I've read in the past month. For longer reviews, you can always find me on Goodreads.

The past month has included red (April) books and orange (May) books. A lot of disappointing reads, honestly, but a few good ones. Here's what I've been reading!

You Didn't Hear This from Me: (Mostly) True Notes on Gossip by Kelsey McKinney: There were a lot of challenges I had with this book, but the biggest one was that McKinney lacks a central thesis. While I loved her as host of Normal Gossip, I think this is unfortunately a case of someone who had enough name recognition that the publisher was content to sell copies on that and didn't insist it be tightened up into what could have been a really great book.

Ginny Moon by Benjamin Ludwig: I hated every single adult in this book. Even by the end there weren't really any good examples of how to interact with a traumatized, autistic teenager like Ginny; if the author was trying to only show worst-case scenarios, I'm not sure what they point of this was. The depiction of the foster care system made no sense (and not in the way the real one doesn't make sense sometimes). While I liked the unpredictability of the plot, I can't think of any reason to recommend this.

Illuminae by Amie Kaufman and Jay Kristoff: This was a wild ride! There's a lot that I enjoyed about it, particularly the way that the book's structure (a compilation of chat/call transcripts, memos, analysis of surveillance footage, and so on) was brought to life via a full audiobook cast. I did eventually feel exhausted by the relentless near-death experiences, but I know many readers would love this for that reason!

Let the Record Show: A Political History of ACT UP New York, 1987-1993 by Sarah Schulman: This was a fascinating read for so many reasons. I loved the practical takeaways and learning about the complex tensions within this activist organization. I struggled a bit with the way Schulman structured this book and think it was longer than it needed to be, but I still took a lot away from this read.

They Never Learn by Layne Fargo: This was quite the twisty feminist revenge fantasy thriller! While I saw a couple of the twists coming, the one halfway through — which possibly should have been the most obvious, in retrospect — made my jaw literally drop. While the multiple murders and the terrorizing of women meant it wasn't a story I wanted to linger in, I am duly impressed by Fargo's writing skills and would recommend this to anyone who can stomach the too-real pieces.

The Tea Girl of Hummingbird Lane by Lisa See: This is one of those unfortunate books where the plot is built around the author's research rather than the other way around, so the seams show through — rather than following an engaging, coherent plot whose realism is bolstered by background research, we get a plot that zigs and zags from the cultural practices of the Akha people to the complex feelings of transracial adoptees to everything you could ever want to know about the tea industry. I think it would be great for a book club discussion, but it wasn't one I personally resonated with.

Circe by Madeline Miller: Madeline Miller is a great storyteller, and Perdita Weeks an excellent audiobook narrator, which made it easy to devour this story in less than a week. While this isn't a personal favorite of mine, I can see why so many have enjoyed it and I'm glad to have finally read it.

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, Dracula, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, Money for Couples, and Parable of the Talents
Five years ago I was reading: Abuelita Faith, The Galaxy, and the Ground Within, Womanist Midrash, and Fun Home
Ten years ago I was reading: The Husband's Secret, The Fellowship of the Ring, Will I Ever Be Good Enough?, and The Name of God Is Mercy

Best of the Bunch (April 2026)

Today I'm sharing the best book I read in April.

Of the 7 books I read this month, I didn't have another 5-star reads, but I had one 4.5-star read, so that's my Best of the Bunch!

There were elements of Listen for the Lie that reminded me of The Girl on the Train, particularly the protagonist's amnesia around the night of her best friend's murder and her apparent inability to make good decisions generally, and there were definitely other tropes that made this somewhat predictable, but ultimately none of that took away from my enjoyment. I also really liked the story alternating with podcast episodes, similar to Sadie, and like that book, it was excellent on audio. Despite one egregious consistency error, on the whole, I really enjoyed this listen!

What is the best book you read this month? Let me know in comments, or write your own post and link up below!

Looking back:
One year ago I was reading: You Know, Sex, The Name of the Wind, More Than Two, All About Love, and The Vanderbeekers of 141 Street
Five years ago I was reading: Kate in Waiting, Womanist Midrash, and Freddie Ramos Adds It All Up
Ten years ago I was reading: The Husband's Secret, The Fellowship of the Ring, and The Church of Mercy 

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