June Wrap-Up: My Favorite Reads of the Month
- The Bossy Bookworm
- 7 hours ago
- 6 min read
My very favorite Bossy June reads!
These were my favorite reads in June. I had several literary fiction reads, a dystopian fantasy, and a fun nonfiction book.
If you've read any of these titles, I'd love to hear what you think.
And I'd also love to hear: what are some of your recent favorite reads?
01 Clear by Carys Davies
Davies's slim, luminous, heartbreaking novel sets a story of isolation and human connection against the brutal removal of impoverished citizens from the land in mid-19th century Scotland.
Davies sets her stark, beautiful story Clear against the backdrop of the Scottish Clearances of the 19th century, in which impoverished citizens were driven off their land.
John Ferguson, a minister in need of funds for his new church accepts the job (against the advice of his wife) of evicting Ivar, the sole inhabitant of a remote island off the northern coast of Scotland in 1843. A series of events leads from disaster to recovery, to connection and secrets, to a surprising set of revelations.
The men develop a tender, heartwarming friendship separate from class, background, intellect, and societal expectations. John, at a distance from worries about his congregation and the future of Presbyterianism, as well as from his kind wife, sinks into Ivar's daily rhythm of working on the land, caring for animals, and finding wonder in nature.
Time passes as though in a vacuum, and the men's need for human connection overshadows all else. By the time John's wife appears--fresh from a rough sea journey, inspired to travel by a sense that John was in danger--the resolution feels heartbreaking, heartwarming, and utterly surprising in its generosity and departure from societal norms.
For my full review of this book please see Clear.
02 The Boy from the Sea by Garrett Carr
Carr's newest novel is a captivating series of character studies within a tightly knit Irish seaside community in the late 1900s. While characters struggle to make ends meet, support each other, and avoid giving in to the least generous parts of themselves, tragedies and wonders shape their community in this lovely, heartbreaking and heart-wrenching tale.
In a seaside Irish town in the 1970s, a baby is washed up on the shore. As the community wonders at his mysterious, whimsical appearance, they embrace Brendan, as he is ultimately named, as one of their own, yet hold him separate--and, for a time, credit him with the power of bestowing blessings upon them.
But the world of the story is grounded in day-to-day stressors and challenges. The country is reeling from economic troubles; Brendan's older adoptive brother deeply resents his presence; and conflicts and complicated dynamics underscore friendships, family relationships, and the community as a whole.
The story is a fascinating study of relationships, with heartwarming moments and heartbreaking developments alike. Brendan is not the main protagonist, despite the novel's title, yet he is central to the story in that his presence pushes others to determine what they're about. He remains steady in the face of external upheaval (and Declan's exceptionally poor treatment of him), until even Brendan begins to waver and to seem for a time unsure of who he is and what he is made of and made for.
When Carr offers various measures of character growth and resolutions toward the end of the book, they are reassuring and lovely, sometimes heart-wrenching, and fittingly complicated.
I listened to The Boy from the Sea as an audiobook.
Click here for my full review of The Boy from the Sea.
03 The Names by Florence Knapp
Knapp's novel explores three life paths for a set of characters, all set into motion by the naming of the youngest child--whimsical, Mom's choice, or named for his cruel father. The trauma was difficult to read, but the various timelines were fascinating, as were the intersections of events and characters among them.
Florence Knapp's novel The Names explores three paths in a life--determined by three different names given to a baby upon his birth.
In one timeline, an abused wife makes a stand for a whimsical name suggested by her daughter Maia, Bear; in a second, she makes a less aggressive but unsanctioned name choice that's her favorite, Julian; in a third, she registers her baby's name as "junior" to her brutal husband Gordon.
In this sliding-doors story, the three paths diverge dramatically, and the whole family's destiny is shaped in different ways for each option.
Each timeline produces a vastly different boy, a significantly shaped sister Maia, drastically different paths for mother Cora, and altered futures for father Gordon. Supporting characters make easter-egg appearances in other timelines.
None of the paths are too easy or perfect, but each offers varied satisfaction and challenge in the form of justice, tragedy, self-realization, fulfillment, confidence, and hope.
The epilogue surprised me; I wasn't sure it was necessary or that I bought into the point of view and the version of a reckoning that it offered, but it was an interesting way to set up slight closure to the story.
I found this novel fascinating.
Please click here for my full review of The Names.
04 Dogland: Passion, Glory, and Lots of Slobber at the Westminster Dog Show by Tommy Tomlinson
Dogland explores what makes a show dog "best" and what happens behind the scenes of dog shows in this intriguing, good-natured, and heartwarming look at one promising champion and his caring handler as they strive to win Westminster Dog Show.
Tommy Tomlinson's playful, intriguing nonfiction Dogland takes an engaging look at dogs--particularly show dogs, but also beloved pets as well as humans' connections to these onetime wild beasts.
Reporter and SouthBound podcast host Tomlinson found himself watching the Westminster Dog Show and wondering, Are show dogs happy? What's life like for a dog whose life is all about grooming, standing still, and moving in an orderly fashion around a ring? And: How did these wild beasts end up here, anyway?
In a fascinating, heartwarming, lovely account, Tomlinson spends three years traveling dog shows across the country, using backstage access to witness the hard work, discipline, obsession, and affection of "the Fancy." At times he good-naturedly highlights the absurdity of this world, at least for those looking in from the outside, and draws occasional correlations to the satiric comedy Best in Show--a movie that inspires mixed reactions from those in the competition scene.
Dogland is often fun, intriguing in its peeks behind the scenes, and heartwarming in the deep dog-human connections that Tomlinson highlights.
For my full review, please check out this link.
05 Silver Elite by Dani Francis
While I should probably stop reading "romantasy" because I prefer my fantasy and romance to remain separate, I was taken with the double-edged quest, elite training, magical abilities, and complex conflicts between classes in the first in this dystopian series.
In Dani Francis's dystopian novel, Wren Darlington is a Mod who has lived under the radar for her twentysomething years. A select few fellow members of the rebel Uprising are aware that she is psychic, but no one but her adoptive uncle is aware that she can, dangerously and inconsistently, incite--forcing others to do her bidding.
But one careless, heroic move by Wren draws the attention of the enemy, and the military forces her to enlist in a training program for Silver Block.
Wren attempts to sabotage her own success, but in order to aid the resistance she must excel and earn her way into Silver Elite, a small unit sure to access more sensitive information that could assist the rebels.
Francis explores issues of class and race through her characters' strongly held assumptions and prejudices surrounding Mods and Primes, and Wren's fierce loyalty to her kind is complicated by the secrets she's keeping about abilities that would make her even more feared, a deeper outcast, and a terrifyingly unknown quantity to both types of person in her world.
This is the first in a series and I'm really looking forward to reading the next installment.
For my full review please check out Silver Elite.
06 O Caledonia by Elspeth Barker
O Caledonia is a modern classic, literary fiction that encompasses darkly funny passages and tragic consequences set against a gloomy Scottish landscape that serves as a key character, it's so essential to the tone of the novel.
Barker's novel features Janet, a misunderstood, mocked, badly treated young woman coming of age in a family of obtuse, rigid, unkind members living in a gothic, ramshackle castle in Scotland.
Janet's only ally is her eccentric old Aunt Lila, who is herself powerless and in danger of being thrust from the family.
Boarding school leads to further ostracization and irritating demands upon Janet's time, when she'd prefer to lose herself in literature and avoid social interaction altogether.
This is darkly funny, with a surprisingly startling and tragic setup for O Caledonia's immersive, atmospheric story. I found the bookends that set the stage for (and close the loop on) a character's demise distracting, but I was captivated by the story inside.
Each attempt Janet makes to be her true self, delve into her interests, or behave naturally ends in a tragic reprimand or a disastrous set of consequences. She is punished for wanting, for knowing, and for achieving. Her family could be said to be paralyzed by societal norms if their imaginations weren't so lacking; no other routes appear to occur to them, so they plod cluelessly, and often cruelly, forward.
The bleak, unforgiving setting is as present as another character, with its dead orchard stretching into the distance; whipping, unrelenting wind; and dark, cold days.
For my full review, please see O Caledonia.