Wow we’re into June … the halfway point of the year. Summer is pretty much here now and we’ve already had some crazy hot weather this past week hovering around 90, which broke records and we usually don’t see till much later. Sadly wildfires in the north of several provinces are causing havoc and smoke. It’s way too early, right? Hopefully some rain tonight might help.
On the positive side, we’ve had some nice bike rides and I’m enjoying my golf league once a week as well as tennis doubles. Most of our vegetable patch is planted, though the deer ate the tops off my tulips. I couldn’t believe it, the flowers are gone and the stems are left. Out of 14, maybe one flower is still there. Sigh I will need to try deer spray on the flowers for next year. Grrr.
Meanwhile it’s time to start the Summer Book list. But wait, I’m still finishing up some May reading that includes a buddy read of Elena Ferrante’s — Book 2 of the Neapolitan series — The Story of a New Name with Tina at the blog Turn the Page. This modern classic published in September 2012 is a doozy of the later teen years of two Italian friends Elena and Lila, one of whom is studying to get through high school and the other who’s already married to someone who’s a brute and she’s ill-suited to. Yet something happens one summer spent at the beach that appears to change their fates. Right now I’m near the 70% point of the novel, which is nearly 500 pages. Tina is closing in on the end and we’ve been eyeing the friends’ every move and debating their competitive friendship. Is it a good friendship or destructive? What will the two do to raise themselves out of their poor neighborhood? I will wait to see. I’m quite liking it … though I feel Ferrante could go on forever about their everyday episodes.
And now let’s chat about what’s releasing this month. There’s new novels by such well-known authors as S.A. Cosby, Megan Abbott, Leila Mottley, Wally Lamb, Susan Choi, and Joyce Carol Oates among others. I have read Claire Lynch’s novel A Family Matter (due out June 3) and Heather Clark’s novel The Scrapbook (due out June 17), which are both 4+ star debuts that I recommend.
There are two other novels releasing this month that are on my Summer List, which include Taylor Jenkins Reid’s novel Atmosphere (out June 3) that follows a woman’s journey through the space program in the 1980s where she encounters sexism and a surprising romance. Kirkus says Reid keeps the story’s tension high in this propulsive novel that is hard to put down. So what are we waiting for? I enjoyed Reid’s novel Daisy Jones & the Six but didn’t care too much for Carrie Soto Is Back. Still the story’s premise of the space program is too promising to pass up. Will it be the most popular book of the summer?
I also have Jess Walter’s novel So Far Gone (due out June 10) on my Summer List. I have never read him before but his novels, including Beautiful Ruins from 2012, have been popular. Apparently So Far Gone is a “rollicking and heartrending adventure” that follows a reclusive journalist who’s forced back into the world to rescue his kidnapped grandchildren in an increasingly divided America.
Author Tom Perrotta says it’s a “deeply humane exploration of the way one family falls apart and puts itself back together in a moment of crisis.” While Lauren Groff says it “speaks directly into the profoundly troubled soul of our fractured, embittered country … with gentle wryness and angry love.” So we will see. I’m curious how what’s going on politically in the country will be addressed in novels ahead.
Also the novel Endling (out June 3) by Maria Reva is getting much high praise. Set in Ukraine, it’s about a scientist whose path crosses with sisters posing in the mail-order bride industry in order to find their activist mother. As Russia invades, they set off on a wild journey together.
It sounds a bit crazy, but it’s said to be a darkly comic novel that explores survival, love, and the impact of war. It’s also said to be meta-fiction as a character named Maria Reva emerges in the book’s second half. It’s already being heralded as quite a literary achievement, so I’m adding it. Apparently the author was born in Ukraine and grew up in Vancouver, B.C. This sounds like a pro-Ukrainian novel we can’t miss … by a Canadian author too!
For what’s on the screen this month, I don’t see a whole lot that’s notable, but I’ll mention Season 3 of The Gilded Age starts June 22 on HBO Max. I have not watched this show, but it has some good actors in it and is made by Julian Fellowes, the creator of Downton Abbey. Apparently the series follows the conflicts surrounding the new money Russell family and their old money neighbors, the van Rhijn family, in 1880s New York City high society. Have you seen it? I wouldn’t mind trying it out, though my husband will be closely watching the Stanley Cup hockey finals with the Edmonton Oilers. So who knows when the remote control will be freed. I’ve made him watch Miss Austen on PBS lately though he says it’s a chick series.
Also this month is the start of Season 4 of The Bear (June 25 on Hulu), which follows a successful chef in Chicago who inherits his family’s sandwich shop (renamed The Bear) along with its initially surly kitchen crew and staff. I have not seen the show as we don’t get Hulu or Disney+, but I know others swear by the series so I’m putting it out there. Enjoy the 10 new episodes set amid the chef’s chaotic kitchen.
Lastly in music this month, there’s new albums by Haim, Caamp, Lorde, Mary Chapin Carpenter, Orianthi, Van Morrison, and Springsteen among others. I will likely check out a few of these, I especially like Caamp’s music and Haim’s. Though when Springsteen is releasing a boxed set of unreleased songs from 1983-2018 it’s hard to beat. His new compilation: Tracks II: The Lost Albums (due out June 27) spans 83 songs! 83 songs that are not on his other albums. Oh my. His first boxed-set Tracks 1 was released in 1998 and I used to mow my lawn to it when I lived in Virginia. It’s excellent. In fact, I’ll play it this week to get ready for Tracks II, lol.
And that’s all for now. What about you — which new releases are you looking forward to this month? And have you started your summer reading yet?
The smoke is really spreading. We can see it turning the sun red and making the sky white without clouds, here in Michigan, I think thousands of miles away.
Hi Mae, yeah it’s bad … I hear the Winnipeg & Saskatchewan fires are really sending smoke south. I guess northern Alberta is too. Ugh. We need more rain & cooler weather. It’s amazing how far the smoke can travel. Stay well.
Half way through the year already! I put a library hold for Atmosphere (I’m #3). I will also be interested in King of Ashes by S.A. Cosby, as I loooved his previous book. Besides that, hopefully I’ll get to The Lost Masterpiece by B.A. Shapiro; I really liked The Art Forger back in the day. The books from the last few months that I’ve not gotten to have started to pile up. I wish I could read faster! 🙂 Enjoy the hours of sports, TV watching, and reading. Have a nice week!
Hi Carmen, thanks. I hope you get to a couple of these. I’m glad you brought up the Shapiro book … I looked at it and it does sound pretty good. If you like it, I might read it too. I probably won’t read Cosby — as I have too much else. I really need to finish Ferrante but it’s long. You might get to Atmosphere before me – I hope it’s entertaining. I’m not expecting high Lit. It’s been busy but I need to make better progress this week. Enjoy your reads!
I can’t believe we’re already into June! It’s been a hot couple of days here, too with highs in the upper 90s. It’s back to the 80s this week thankfully. I don’t have HBO Max but The Gilded Age sounds good, especially if it’s made by Fellows. We just finished Downton Abbey last month and loved it. I read one book by Taylor Jenkins Reed (After I Do) and hated it, so I haven’t had the interest to try her again, but a story about a woman in the space program in the 80s appeals. I still remember the Challenger disaster. It was exciting to have a female teacher go to space. I was getting ready for school when it happened.
Oh, it’s frustrating when the deer eat your flowers! We fenced in my rose/flower/veg garden so that doesn’t happen anymore. I still have a hydrangea and one climbing rose they could get to, but I spray it with Deer Mace and they haven’t touched them.
Hi Rachel, I’m glad you told me about Deer Mace … we will try to get some here. It was very frustrating to have the tulips destroyed. Our vegetable garden is behind a big fence, but the flower garden is not. Hmm. It’s good yours are fenced in. Your roses are too precious!
And I agree – like you I hated one of Taylor Jenkins Reed’s books (Carrie Soto) but I’m hoping this one will be better. The Challenger wreck was devastating, so sad. I was at college and saw it on TV, ugh.
I’m glad you enjoyed Downtown Abbey. It was an entertaining show. Might see if we can get The Gilded Age. Cheers. Have a good week.
We liked The Gilded Age, mostly for the history. I’ll definitely watch the next season.
Hi Joy, good to hear you liked the series! I need to see if we can get it here. It looks entertaining. Hope Season 3 works as well. Have a great week.
I still haven’t watched The Bear! I am pretty sure I will enjoy it when I watch it. Just have to get to it!
I would have been so disappointed to see the tulips were eaten! They are my favourite flowers! However, I would also be entranced by seeing deer occasionally!
Have a great week.
Hi Marg, thanks. yeah the tulips massacre was not good. The deer attack came at night so we really didn’t see them do it but they left deer poop on the lawn, so I’m guessing the rabbits aren’t likely to blame. I might try to spray deer mace on the flowers next year. Tulips take a while to grow here so it was a blow to see, lol.
I still haven’t seen The Bear series either. I hope you like it if you see it.
Enjoy your week too.
Hi Susan, I am going to put So Far Go e on my TBR list. I .Ike the premise, a novel about these divided times in America and can a fa ily be put back together again. I have watched seasons 1 and 2 of the Gilded Age. It’s worth a look.
Hope you have a great summer. Even though it’s still spring I always think of June 1 as the start of summer.
Hi Kathy, good to know about The Gilded Age (maybe I can find it here) … and that you might try out So Far Gone. I’m not sure when I’ll get to it but I hope it’s decent.
And things have felt like summer … with the high temps here. Though I guess real summer doesn’t come till later. So enjoy if this is spring, lol. Happy reading.
We have The Bear on our list to watch. Everyone has told us it is really good! Our tv show TBW is as long as my TBR! (not really but it feels like it!)
I wish we could get some rain, too! And I’m sorry deer ate your flowers. Unknown bugs keep eating my new veggie plants. It’s very frustrating, especially because this hasn’t happened in past years.
One of our neighbors was telling me yesterday about squirrels breaking off his big red tomatoes, taking two bites, and then dropping them when they try to head back to the trees. He is so angry that he’s trapping them and taking them to a county park ten miles away.
I should add Gilded Age and The Bear to my list.
Astronauts were dads at my school and I was thrilled to hear about the teacher astronaut—I was stunned to see the explosion.
I’m sad for you about your tulips, but have sympathy as well. Deer will eat what they eat. I know some things are supposed to be ‘deer resistent’, but….we’ve found that deer will eat whatever. We’ve been having them munching on some bushes that our landscaper told us that the deer would leave alone. Nope. They love them. Good luck!
I’m interested in trying Atmosphere. The whole space program thing is what has drawn my curiosity. As Deb said above, I remember the teacher astronaut and I also remember the horrible explosion. I actually remember right where I was when I learned about it. Sigh. Otherwise, my summer reading is going to be ‘whatever sounds fun’. LOL