July and August brought lots of great reading time due to the fab weather (catch me outside on my front path in the sun reading with my vino) on EVERY sunny day, also had a week's holiday in France (blog post coming on that soon) which involved PLENTY of reading time.

1. None of this is serious - Catherine Prasifka

TW: sexual assault

I read this directly after Beautiful World Where Are You and found the two very similar in a lot of ways (I've since realised upon reading this back that Sally Rooney is Catherine Prasifka's sister-in-law) - not only because they both have Irish authors and are set in Ireland - but also the characters are a similar age and are trying to find their way through the post-school/college years of their lives while encountering all the challenges that come with that.

This story starts with Sophie and her friends who are coming to the end of their student life in Dublin. As is often the case, Sophie feels as though her friends and her twin have got everything figured out and she will be left behind, particularly in the case of her best friend Grace. 

We follow Sophie and her friend group through the mundane to the dramatic, to the traumatic and uncertain aspects of young adulthood today. We see them attempt the difficult balance between living in the real world versus online, as Sophie drowns in her own self-scrutiny, social anxiety and isolation, not at all helped by her being immersed in social media constantly.

While I understand the aspect of highlighting the mundanity of everyday life, I did at times find it just a bit too banal and borderline boring. 

2. Conversations on Love - Natasha Lunn

I really loved this book.

While most books with similar captions focus only on romantic love, I really enjoyed how this book covered all types of relationships, from the romantic, to the platonic, to the parental.

The author offers intimate details of her personal life, while interviewing a wide range of people, from Alain de Botton to Dolly Alderton (I will read anything she writes, is interviewed in or reviews), on the topic of love from a range of types and perspectives. It covers what it is to be human, happy, alone, lonely, vulnerable, heartbroken, and the importance of friendships, love, loss, grief, parenting and change - in all forms.

The book is split into 3 parts - how do we find love, how do we sustain love and how do we survive losing love. Hard to say much more about this as it's so unique and relatable, other than it's an absolute must read.

3. Tender is the Night - F Scott Fitzgerald

TW: inappropriate patient/doctor relationship & underage relationship

I plucked this one off my bookshelves before we left for the South of France as it is set on the French Riviera - precisely where we were headed - and I always find it fun to read a book that is set in a place when you are there/have been there, as it helps me imagine it even clearer. 

This story - problematic in ways it may not have been noticed when it was first published back in the 1920s - follows the romance of a young actress, Rosemary, and an older, married psychiatrist, Dick Diver, who happens to be both husband and doctor (psychiatrist) to his wealthy wife, Nicole, who he met as her doctor during her mental breakdown (again, WTF).

Dick and Nicole Diver exude the atmosphere of being in the presence of greatness. Charming, gorgeous and filthy rich, there isn't a fancy part, restaurant or beach they don't attend. However, all is not as it seems with Nicole's seemingly good health, and as she begins to realise what is taking place between Rosemary and Dick, she begins to unravel.

An easy read, a nice setting and timeline, but as mentioned - obviously problematic for a number of reasons.

4. The Panic Years - Nell Frizzell

TW: miscarriage

Most people reading this are most likely in, or hurtling towards, the panic years - some time between 25 and 40 where a personal crisis and then a transformation occurs. There is no name for this time - unlike "adolescence", "menopause", so Nell has decided to aptly brand them, The Panic Years, During this time, we as women, are largely conscious that every decision we make about our lives, is ultimately impacted by the urgency of the body clock deadline decision we have to make: whether or not to have a baby (and the million micro-decisions that decision entails). And if your decision is to have one, then the clock just seems to tick ever faster.

This book could not have landed on my lap at a better time. I just turned 29 last week and safe to say I was most definitely SPIRALING in the lead up to it. This book helps you calm down essentially, how to stay sane during this stressful, decision-heavy time, to understand what you want and how to know if you're making the right decisions (spoiler alert: there's no right or wrong answer).

Hilarious, real,  relatable, comforting and brutally honest - if you are in crisis mode I guarantee this will help. If you are a woman or there is a woman in your life who you think may be panicking - send her this,

5. The Queen of Dirt Island - Donal Ryan

TW: sexual assault

As you may remember, I read Donal Ryan's other book, Strange Flowers (last year sometime, review in this blog post), and what I didn't realise when I picked this one up is that it's sort of a sequel, in that it involves some of the same characters as well as some new ones, and is essentially focused partially on a different family in the town than the one Strange Flowers was based on (but the original family do -play a big part in this book too).

I find Donal Ryan's books so easy to read and comforting in a way. The Aylward women have seen tragedy, loss, sadness, as well as love and peace. Four generations of the Aylward women live under the same small roof - Eileen, her dead husband's mother, her daughter Saoirse, and Saoirse's daughter Pearl - and have a deep love for one another, holding each of them together despite the tragedy they have endured in their lives. I loved how relatable this book was in how the family dynamic is in many households - tonnes of love disguised as its opposite. I also love how Kit Gladney and her family were incorporated in the story, who we meet and get to know in Strange Flowers (I will say though, that you don't have to have read one to read the other, they do make sense on their own). 

Loved it. An easy, comforting read. Would recommend.

6. At Night All Blood is Black - David Diop

TW: war scenes

My final book for this batch is one that has been on my list for what feels like years - one I could somehow never locate in any of my favourite charity bookshops, but when I picked it up for full price in a regular bookshop, of course I have seen it in no less than THREE charity bookshops since. Mercury, retrograde, etc. Don't wanna talk about it.

Anyway. This is a short, but quite dark and sad book, but the writing is beautiful and I enjoyed it nevertheless.

We meet Alfa, a Senegalese in the French army during WW1. His friend, Mademba, a fellow soldier, is seriously injured in battle, and begs Alfa to kill him to end his suffering. Alfa refuses, unable to kill his friend, and when Mademba does pass away, the guilt of not ending his suffering sooner eats Alfa up, causing him to go mad, eager to avenge the death of his friend, by whatever means necessary.

This is an important read as it is an aspect of war/historical fiction that we often don't see written about - the mental affects such horrific war experiences have on the soldiers left behind. A short but important read.

Those are my reads for July and August, let me know if you have also read any of these books - I would love to know your thoughts on them! Also tell me about your TBR list - mine is almost up to my hip.

Thank you for reading as always,

S ✗