What a change from the earlier summer months when I was in a bit of a reading slump. I was distracted by outside activities, and the books I was reading were not the most engaging. This month, however, all the books were solid 4-star reads and so different from each other that I was engaged and eager to read throughout the month. And I was proud to have completed all categories for the summer reading challenge at work.

How has your reading been lately?  

One Golden Summer (Barry’s Bay #2) by Carley Fortune (2025) 📖

I jumped into this one without having read #1 and it was totally fine. This was a fun summer read. I really enjoyed the setting, the characters, their relationships, and their dilemmas. The story follows Alice who brings her grandmother to a lakeside cottage to recover from hip surgery. Alice was looking forward to a quiet summer, but instead she meets Charlie and the summer is nothing like she expected. Their banter is cute. There’s substance to their dilemmas. My only gripe with the book was that I thought it was a tad too long and the conflict towards the end dragged a bit. I wanted things to get resolved faster! ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A beach read; A prequel or a sequel
• Read Around the World: North America (Eastern Ontario, Canada)
• Read My Own Shelf

Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler (1993)
Narrated by Lynne Thigpen 🎧

This was an amazing book despite being extremely bleak. It was written to be set more than 30 years in the future, but that future is now here. It takes place from 2024 to 2027 in California, and in that time frame, society is falling apart due to climate change, government failure, economic collapse, and a drug epidemic. In this chaos, lives 18 year old Lauren whose diary entries tell the story of how she survives in this world, moves forward after the deaths of her family members, and developes her Earthseed philosophy. What I liked most about the novel was the dystopian elements. The Earthseed elements I could have done without. ⭐️⭐️⭐⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book that takes place in the future; A book with an adaptation; A book more than 10 years old
• Read My Own Audio Bookshelf

Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke (2026) 📖
Narrated by Rebecca Lowman 🎧

When I first heard about this book, I had no interest in reading about a “tradwife” influencer who suddenly wakes up in a reality that is nothing like what she’s used to. But then my book club selected it this summer, and I had no choice. Even though the narrator was unlikeable, I appreciated her honesty and found her voice fascinating. I was pleasantly surprised by it all, and the book made for an excellent discussion. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A new release; A book with an adaptation

The River (The River #1) by Peter Heller (2019)
Narrated by Mark Deakins 🎧

This has been on my TBR list for 7 years. I first saw it on Modern Mrs. Darcy’s 2019 Minimalist Summer Reading Guide. I was thrilled to discover that it checked off two prompts for my summer reading challenge. It was about two college buddies on a weeks-long canoe adventure in the northern Canadian wilderness. They were looking forward to a peaceful time on the river, but found themselves in some difficult situations, one of which was a huge forest fire raging their way quickly. Lots of specific canoe and rafting terminology helped create a strong sense of place and urgency. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book from any summer reading list; A book set in the great outdoors; A book with a map
• Read Around the World: North America (Northern Ontario, Canada)

People from My Neighborhood by Hiromi Kawakami (2016) 📖
Translated from the Japanese by Ted Goossen (2020)

I had previously enjoyed the author’s Strange Weather in Tokyo and The Nakano Thrift Shop (one of my favorite books in translation by a woman) so I eagerly took this from a local Little Free Library. It certainly was an interesting book. It contained 36 interlinked short stories about the residents of a small town on the outskirts of Tokyo. The stories, only about 3 to 5 pages each, ranged from mundane to odd to absurd. The characters from one story would reappear in another story so you felt like you got to know the town as a whole. It was a fun interruption from what I normally read. ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

• Summer Reading Challenge: A book in translation
• Read Around the World: North Asia (Japan)

What have you been reading lately?

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