Summer Reading Round-Up
It's been a little while since my last reading round-up so I thought I'd do a bumper summer edition! I spent ten blissful days in Italy this summer with my nose in a book and it was the perfect time to make a dent in my TBR pile!
Three Women Lisa Taddeo
Three Women, Lisa Taddeo
First up, the book everyone is talking about. And with good reason. Taddeo spent nearly a decade researching this book, interviewing countless people before settling on three women: Maggie, Sloane and Lina. She tells their stories with minute precision, focusing on their sexuality and desires. It's penetrative and intoxicating, painful, joyful and liberating. It's the first book I've read since graduating that has made me get out a notebook and literally take note. I was particularly drawn to Maggie's story but I have a feeling that every time I read it (this book demands to be reread) I will identify with another aspect of one of these three remarkable women.
Published by Bloomsbury | Available on Wordery
City of Girls, Elizabeth Gilbert
Quite literally my poolside read of 2019! I first heard about this on the High-Low podcast several months ago and immediately added it to my wish-list. I must admit, I've never actually read Eat Pray Love, Gilbert's breakout success, but she had me at 1940s New York. City of Girls follows 19-year-old Vivian Morris after she drops out of her Ivy League college and is "exiled" to New York City and her aunt's eclectic theatre, The Lily. It's glamorous, a little bit sexy, and a gorgeous celebration of womanhood, femininity and desire.
Published by Penguin Random House | Available on Wordery
Deeplight, Frances Hardinge
*Proof kindly gifted by Pan Macmillan*
This might be one of the prettiest proofs I've ever seen. That rose gold embossing gives me all the heart eyes. I absolutely love Frances Hardinge so it was an absolute treat to have this land on my desk. Deeplight tells the story of two teenage street urchins, Hark and his best friend Jelt. They are scavengers who dive deep underwater in search of lost relics of the gods. As you can imagine, that doesn't quite go to plan. I'm about halfway through and absolutely hooked. I don't want to give too much away as this beauty isn't published until October, but the story is set in one of the most compelling fantasy worlds I've read. I absolutely love reading anything set by the sea and this is definitely making me dream of windswept coastlines, raging seas, and deep murky depths. The friendship between Hark and Jelt is so well written, too. It's heartbreaking to read Hark's confusion and the emotional manipulation he's subject to, but also unaware of.
Published by Pan Macmillan | Available to preorderhere.
