🌻 What I'm Reading | Spring 2024

6 books I've enjoyed this season, 1 mixed review, and a peek at my library holds list for summer.

Hi friends! Since it’s nearly June, I thought it might be time for another book round-up. (If you missed my winter reading list, find it here.)

But first, I wanted to extend a very warm welcome to all the new subscribers who found me through

Wendy and Marianne

from

It's Not An Either/Or

recently. I’m so glad you’re here! I’ve been sending a newsletter for more than a decade but only moved to Substack last fall, so I don’t have an enormous archive yet. For lots of creative encouragement, I highly recommend listening to the Wild Words podcast.

Back to the books—if you’ve read any of these titles, I’d love to hear your thoughts! Also, let me know what you’re excited about for summer. I’m sharing a short list below, but there are so many good books coming out soon.

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01 | Every Summer After by Carley Fortune

I read 40 pages, texted high-five emoji’s to the friend who recommended it, and proceeded to cart this book around the house because I couldn’t put it down. The story of two people reconnecting 12 years after breaking things off in high school (combined with the lakeside destination) gave me Dawson’s Creek vibes that I wasn’t mad about.

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02 | Weaving Sundown in a Scarlet Light by Joy Harjo

This collection features 50 poems spanning Harjo’s 50-year career as a poet, and includes a forward by Sandra Cisneros. The two writers met as MFA students at Iowa, and I appreciated the reflection from this pivotal time in their lives and how their friendship supported each other. One of the best bits is at the back of the book which includes extensive notes on each of the poems. One poem that stood out to me was “I Give You Back” where she writes:

“I take myself back, fear.
You are not my shadow any longer.
I won’t hold you in my hands.
You can’t live in my eyes, my ears, my voice
my belly, or in my heart my heart
my heart my heart.

But come here, fear
I am alive and you are so afraid                                                             
                                                             of dying.”

Harjo shares that this poem “is an incantation that I needed to literally survive.” As a young mother raising two children alone while also attending graduate school, one can only imagine the anxiety that gripped her mind day-to-day. These words resonated with me deeply, as did many other poems in the collection.

03 | A Fire So Wild by Sarah Ruiz-Grossman

A Fire So Wild follows several characters in the crosshairs of a Berkeley fire. It’s been compared to Celeste Ng’s Little Fires Everywhere, but reads at a quicker clip. Even though I knew the fire was coming, I kept wanting to see how the characters dealt with the crisis and aftermath. It’s a slim book with big themes of interconnectedness, the power of the human spirit, considerations of race and class, how we care for communities, and ultimately, the lack of control we have in the face of a changing climate.

04 | Hypnotized by Love by Sarah Wilson

This novel follows the enemies-to-lovers trope against the backdrop of a humid Florida summer, misunderstandings, and the occasional twin swap. I found this book on my Kindle while I was traveling and sped through it pretty quickly (occasionally skimming, I admit.) She's a hypnotist who works in the mental health space, and he’s back in town to secretly write an article about hypnotism. Naturally, unresolved aspects of their relationship surface, and while it all could have been cleared up with a simple conversation, that wouldn’t be as fun to read.

05 | Separation Anxiety by Laura Zigman. I picked up this book after author Annabel Monaghan mentioned it in her stories, and read it in two days. Something I especially enjoyed is how the main character says things we all think but rarely utter aloud. It's about coping with big and small obstacles, the grief and joy of midlife when people you love are dying and children become teenagers, returning to ourselves after creativity runs dry, speaking up even when it's uncomfortable, coming unhinged, being impulsive, and resigning ourselves to adult braces. I definitely cried, but in a good way.

06 | Real Self-Care by Pooja Lakshmin, M.D.

As much as we might enjoy bubble baths and pedicures, this book argues that practices like these won’t make a big difference when we’re looking to heal from burnout. Real Self-Care moves beyond the surface level and suggests a more inside-out approach involving boundary setting and getting clear on your values. It’s the harder path, but more sustainable in the long-run.

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A Mixed Review | The Year of Living Danishly by Helen Russell

Before moving to Denmark, journalist Helen Russell led a stressful life in London and was struggling with infertility, so when her husband was offered a position at Lego headquarters, they packed up for an adventure in learning to live Danishly.

Chapters are organized by month and center around a core theme. In her quest to discover what makes Danes so happy, Helen interviews experts from lawyers to professors, and includes takeaway bullets at the end of each section (helpful for skimming!).

The book ends with a roundup of tips, including trusting the people around you (the main reason Danes are so happy, it turns out), embracing hygge (and life’s simple pleasures), making your environment as beautiful as you can (they spend lots of time indoors in the winter), and getting involved in clubs to simply have fun.

But it’s not all “cute pink houses and Little Mermaid statues.” The book also casts a critical lens on the country, saying happiness is “certainly not the experience of everyone coming here—especially if you’re not white.” While Denmark provides valuable family benefits like subsidized childcare and generous leave policies, women also experience discrimination during job interviews, and Denmark experienced its first terrorist attack in 2015 more than a decade when a gunman opened fire in Copenhagen at a free speech meeting and a local synagogue.

Honestly, I just lost steam. I certainly love a healing-from-burnout story, but felt the book was too long and didn’t always hold my attention. Worth a read if you’re curious about the nuances of Danish culture, though!

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Books I’m excited about…

My library holds list is so long, I recently hit my cap of 30 books and can’t add more until I check some out. A good problem to have, I think!

• The Paris Novel by Ruth Reichl. Ruth is the former editor of Gourmet magazine, and her memoir, Save Me the Plums, was delightful. You can also hear her discuss it on the Wiser Than Me podcast with Julia Louis-Dreyfus.

• I Wish You Would by Eva de Lauriers. I’m not usually a YA reader (except for the American Royals series, which I loved!) but I listen to the Write Where It Hurts podcast and have been following Eva’s publication journey for a while. I’m emotionally invested!

• Two wedding novels: A Wedding in Lake Como (Destination wedding in Italy? Yes please!) and The Wedding People (someone recovering from a tragedy is accidentally mistaken for a guest).

• The Opt-Out Family: How to Give Your Kids What Technology Can’t by Erin Loechner. I think I mentioned this on a recent podcast episode, but it sounds like required reading for our time.

• Real Americans by Rachel Khong. My birthday was last week, and after reading Elizabeth Bishop’s poem “The Bight” (an annual tradition), I spent part of the morning reading this novel in my hammock and quickly became hooked. When I picked it up from the library, my librarian said “it gets you thinking about family and relationships.” It’s also been highly recommended by lots of folks I follow. I’m not very far in and already there’s been a Y2K reference and a spontaneous trip to Paris.

Until next time,
Nicole

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