1. I remember nothing: and other reflections - Nora Ephron

First up is another cracker from Nora Ephron, no surprise here. This was actually the last book she wrote before she died aged 69 from complications with leukemia, so it has quite a poignant feeling in parts, knowing that.

Nora writes brilliantly - as always - about the trials and tribulations of life and getting older, and everything she has and hasn't yet forgotten. She reflects on the past, the present and the future, the things she finds impossible about modern life and her untenable wisdom about the world.

She writes admirably with humour about going through divorce, her journalism career, her relationship with e-mail (a bad one), summing up what everyone at her stage in life is thinking but have not acknowledged and dotted with insights and observations about life that could only have come from Nora Ephron herself. A must read.

2. Luster - Raven Leilani

This book tells the story of Edie - a young woman stumbling through her twenties in an apartment share in Bushwick, New York, working an admin job with dreams of making art full-time, and making a series of poor decisions when it comes to the men she dates/sleeps with. In work, she meets Eric - a man with a family in New Jersey and an apparent open marriage - with certain rules.

The story takes some strange twists and turns as Edie attempts to navigate the rules of her relationship with Eric along with the racial policitcs involved, finding herself invited to Eric's home by his wife and meeting his adopted daughter Akila, who has never seen a black person in her neighbourhood before meeting Edie.

The book is good - an easy read - definitely a bit unrealistic at times (see: friendship-ish with Eric's wife??), but written well and enjoyable all the same.

3. Bridget Jones' Diary - Helen Fielding

I honestly couldn't count how many times I have watched this movie and admittedly, had never tried the book. I came across it in a charity shop a couple of weeks ago and had to grab it to add to my holiday reading pile!

I generally prefer the book to the movie, however these two were pretty much identical, even down to the wording in the book versus the movie script. There were some funny bits included in the book that didn't make it into the movie, and it's also nice to read in book format because it's written like an actual diary, which can't come across as well in the movie format. 

Of course a great book, great story, great movie. An easy, enjoyable, funny read.

4. How do we know we're doing it right - Pandora Sykes

I have always loved Pandora Sykes since listening religiously to her podcast with Dolly Alderton (The High Low), and her writing does not disappoint. I love her style of writing and how she expresses her point of view on important issues - many of them women's issues/issues directly affecting women.

This was more educational than my usual beach reads would be, but it was no harm to get my brain stimulated after 10 days up to that point of easy breezy reads while sipping rosé. This book really makes you think and consider the day to day trials and tribulations of modern life, and what "doing it right" really means. Incorporating psychological and philosophical theory to explain her views on a range of topics from wellness, to cancel culture, and the endless anxieties that can consume our lives.

5. Before the coffee gets cold - Toshikazu Kawaguchi

If you could, would you go back in time, if you knew it couldn't change the present?

Down a small alley in Tokyo sits a café - quiet and cool even on the hottest of days - there for over 100 years. Apart from serving wonderfully brewed coffee, this café offers its customers the chance to travel back in time, provided they follow the rules that go along with this.

This book tells the story of four different visitors to the café, each having heard the legend and wanting their own chance to go back in time. One to confront a boyfriend who left them, one to receive a letter from her husband whose memory is waning, one to see their sister one last time, and one to meet the daughter they will never have a chance to know.

Each story is poignant and touching in its own way, with the devastating reality that despite going back in time, whatever happens when you do cannot change the present. Other rules to this time travel include sitting in one particular seat (one that tends to be occupied by a curious character), they cannot leave the café while they are time-travelling, they can only meet a person who has visited the café, and they must return to the present before the coffee gets cold. 

I loved this book, such a gorgeous, moving, emotional story and its written beautifully, Definitely recommend.

6. Detransition, Baby - Torrey Peters

This book was a wild ride, eye-opening and moving in equal measures. The author fearlessly discusses topics considered "taboo" in many places - gender, sex and relationships in an original and educational way.

In this story we meet three women - Reese, Amy and Katrina - transgender and cisgender - whose lives unexpectedly overlap when an unexpected pregnancy causes all three to question their deepest desires and what they want from their lives.

Reese and Amy had a loving relationship, living in New York City, seemingly having it all, living lives as trans women in a way previous generations only dreamt of, and hoping to welcome a child at some point int he future. But all was not as it seemed for Amy - she struggled with the consequences of identifying as a trans woman, and after a traumatic incident, decided to detransition and become Ames, causing the relationship with Reese to fall apart.

Ames hoped detransitioning to live as a man would make life easier, but it wasn't so simple. When his boss and lover announces she is pregnant with his baby, a wild story unfolds that he decides to ask Reese to be a part of, knowing she always wanted to be a mother. 

Great book, worth the read, opened my eyes in the best way to areas of the trans experience I would never have known about.

Et voilá! Those were the books I read on the beach while I was away. Quite a mix in there from story to story, but overall enjoyed every book. Let me know what you're reading at the moment or your best beach reads of all time.

Hope everyone is hanging in there. Thank you for reading as always,

S ✗