FAVORITE READS OF THE MONTH: July

July was so busy for us that we’re both kind of surprised that the end of the month is already here? Which just means another month of 2020 has flown by.

We consume so many books in a month, that we don’t always get the chance to talk about all of our favorites. So, we’ve decide to set aside a monthly post specifically for talking about our favorite reads that would have otherwise flown under the radar.

Bree:

This month I feel like I really did not accomplish much book-wise, even though I finished 5 books (& am hoping to finish 2 more by the 31st). But like my book appetite wasn’t actually sated by them? I just wanted more. One book that did deliver was Grown-Up Pose by Sonya Lalli. I hadn’t read any of her books before, but kept seeing them all over my friend’s shelves. Since my library had the audiobook for this one I decided I would go ahead and give it a try. Grown-Up Pose follows Anu as she realizes the life she’s living is not the one she wants and has to figure out how to make her life one that fills her with joy. The subtext of this book is all about figuring out that to truly experience life you must make all your messy mistakes and learn from them, and that you never really stop growing/changing your whole life. Which I related to especially hard since I am currently figuring out a messy crossroad myself. (*cough* Can anyone say “realizing you might not want to go into the career field you got a degree in & figuring out what to do about it”?). Also, Anu makes a lot of chaotic decisions at one point and ends up buying a yoga studio. So it’s fun to see her sort that out. And lastly, Anu’s parents were my absolute favorites. Every interaction of theirs was filled with volleys of lovey-dovey teasing. They were just too fricken cute with each other and I aspire to achieve that kind of relationship.

Tree:

I felt like I did not read much this month, but apparently I still read nine books? Anyways. My favorite was An American Marriage by Tayari Jones. Idk where I was in 2018 when this book came out and was all over the place, but this was the right time for me to read it. I found it in a little free library last year and never picked it up because “it was sad” and it is an emotional read, but I would not call it “sad”. I adored how Tayari Jones tells this story. The characters are flawed, but you understand where they are coming from. I read it with my book club this month and we had a great discussion about it, there is a lot to discuss and many ideas to explore. This would make for a great buddy read because there is just a lot to cover. I would recommend this one to those who like character driven novels and stunning writing (that is easy to follow and engaging).