What We're Reading, Vol. 24: July 2020

July 2020 Reads. Photo by Olivia Gündüz-Willemin.

“... what I really think of as summer reading doesn’t come to me until the months of July and August.”

— Corinne Elicona

As the world spins madly on, we’re still here, reaching towards our bookcases and making our ways through our ever-expanding TBR stacks.

Here’s what we’re reading this month at The Attic on Eighth…

Olivia Gündüz-Willemin

Good reads have continued to grace me this month as I’ve read two fantastic new releases – Brit Bennett’s The Vanishing Half and Ottessa Moshfegh’s Death in Her Hands – and one overdue novel from my TBR pile, Jacqueline Woodson’s Red at the Bone. Both The Vanishing Half and Red at the Bone have soared to the top of my 2020 favorites thus far. Bennett’s rhetorical skills were already known to me with The Mothers being one of my 2019 favorites, but Woodson was new to me and truly blew me away with her writing and the emotive details she gave her characters. Covering over half a century in time, Red at the Bone jumps beautifully between the perspectives of five narrators: all members of a family who are faced with the repercussions of a teenage pregnancy, as they hurtle through trauma and expectations towards the twenty-first century. Both Red at the Bone and The Vanishing Half deal with the repercussions of teenage decisions, and the fraught relationships between mothers and daughters. They’re incredibly cathartic to read close together: though my doing so was a happy accident, I highly recommend it. I haven’t picked out my next read yet, but it has a lot to live up to. 

Corinne Elicona

Even though summer begins in June, what I really think of as summer reading doesn’t come to me until the months of July and August. Work slows down and I find I have the time to soak up the morning and afternoon reading. As someone who runs cold, the extreme heat of New England summers provides the perfect “shade”-bathing experience to wonder away the hours underneath the trees in my backyard – sunhat and spindrift in hand.  

I began the month reading David Treuer’s The Heartbeat of Wounded Knee: Native America From 1890 to the Present. In the introduction to the book, Treuer laments that the history of how colonists, and eventually the United States government, treated the Indigenous peoples of North America often becomes the sole story, without taking the perspective of Indigenous peoples into consideration. Treuer himself, Ojibwe from Leech Lake Reservation in northern Minnesota, has compiled the stories of survival, struggle, and adaptation of Indigenous America since the massacre at Wounded Knee in 1890. 

His brilliant prose and deep knowledge and passion illuminates a narrative that differs from the history books written by white academics. He proves that how Americans are taught American history absolutely needs a focus switch. While the history of how the United States has treated indigenous people is deeply connected to social justice today, there is much more to the story of their lives and culture as their “heartbeat” continues on. Rarely, if ever, are we taught in history classes the continuation of indigenous peoples after the massacre at Wounded Knee. Treuer objects to this narrative, and masterfully shows the importance and evolution of a handful of Native American tribes throughout his book and their activism. An absolutely amazing read. 

Zoë G. Burnett

Back in the Before Times, I started reading John Fowles’s The Collector. You know, for fun! A classic of the true crime fiction genre, it’s about a man who kidnaps a young woman with whom he’s become obsessed, and imprisons her in a basement bunker he’s constructed for long-term use. As the world caught on fire, I put the book aside as I tend to read fiction before bed and the harrowing, borderline stream-of-consciousness prose kept me from sleeping. After moving and assembling all of my books in one place, it was at the top of the ‘to be finished’ pile, not that I’m any less stressed now. With its mid-novel perspective change and Fowles’s tense rendering of the abductor and abductee’s inner dialogues, it’s a valuable study for any author who primarily writes in the first person. However, if you’re still in lockdown and have seen little besides the four walls of your apartment and your own reflection for the past few months, maybe save The Collector for when you can take a breather in the open air.

M.A. McCuen

Hello hello! It is I, M.A. McCuen, gracing your summer reading list with a glowing rom-com recommendation. One to Watch by Kate Stayman-London is inclusive, fun, and super addictive! It’s based on a fictional “The Bachelorette-esque” tv show called Main Squeeze. Bea Schumacher, a bubbly fashion blogger, is the show’s first plus-size protagonist and while she’s a big fan of the show, she’s not really convinced that she’ll find love on it. It’s a rom-com, so we all know how that is going to go. This book is as addictive as reality television and full of unique and endearing characters, as well as some really awesome representation. It’s such a good book with excellent character development and a fun writing style that includes tweets and podcasts from Main Squeeze fans.

The other book I’ve read recently is The Girl With the Louding Voice by Abi Daré. This book is about a Nigerian girl named Adunni who is married at age 14 to be the third wife of a much older man. Later, horror strikes her new home and she is forced to become a house girl to a rich family in Lagos. Despite it all, Adunni never loses track of her dream of receiving an education and becoming a teacher to other girls. Daré is an Own Voices author and through her writing shows many different realities of life in Nigeria, for the rich and the poor, in locations urban and rural. It’s a really beautiful novel of resilience, female friendship, and the importance of education.

I’m currently enjoying Beach Read by Emily Henry. It’s (another rom-com) set in at the lake in Michigan and honestly, is there anywhere else we’d rather be on a warm summer day? It’s a perfect escape!

Happy Reading, Friends!

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