M. Suzanne Terry

I am just back to work today from a fantastic (one might even say luscious) almost-two-week vacation. I got to go to the farm, visit friends I haven’t seen in a while, and shop at Daiso for the first time! Today, I’m glad to see my coworkers, and my inbox is not too outrageous. But I have to tell you – having to be places before noon is bullshit. Highly overrated. 0/10. Do not recommend. Other than my mild, justified melodrama over being anywhere but my armchair and doing anything other than nursing a French press of coffee this morning, though, I’m pretty excited about the month ahead. 

Vacation time also let me make a decent dent in my backlist TBR. I finished 16 books, which isn’t quite my personal record, but it’s close. I’ll talk more about my favorites from May either tomorrow or next Friday, but for now, let’s look at the plans for June!

Book Clubs

• We Are All the Same in the Dark by Julia Heaberlin
• A Thousand Ships by Natalie Haynes
• Agatha of Little Neon by Claire Luchette
• Hurricane Girl by Marcy Dermansky
• A Proposal They Can’t Refuse by Natalie Caña 
• Trust by Hernan Diaz

Reading Challenges

• The 52 Book Club – book with “game” in the title – The Marriage Game by Sara Desai
• Read Harder – book written by POC that is about joy not trauma – When Dimple Met Rishi by Sandhya Menon; a new-to-you literary magazine – Sound American No. 23: The Alien Issue
• POPSUGAR – book becoming a movie or TV show in 2022 – Mrs. ‘Arris Goes to Paris by Paul Gallico
• Girlxoxo – keyword “sea” – The Starless Sea by Erin Morgenstern

And yay! The Modern Mrs. Darcy Summer Reading Guide is here! Several books I’m already excited to read are on it, so I’m going to start with at least these three:

• Two Nights in Lisbon by Chris Pavone
• Book Lovers by Emily Henry
• Finding Me by Viola Davis

Lush

June is the month when summer tries to sucker me into liking it. I mean, it’s a pretty good month. Bountiful produce, temperatures not quite as hot as they’re going to get, work not quite as frenzied as it’s going to get, fun Pride events, etc. My reading challenge and lush selections this month are a rampant revelry in meet-cutes and beach reads and nature essays and travel novels. Some of my favorite comfort read categories.

• One Italian Summer by Rebecca Serle
• The Solace of Open Spaces by Gretel Ehrlich (finishing up from May)
• The Summer Getaway by Susan Mallery
• By the Book by Jasmine Guillory
• The Love Hypothesis by Ali Hazelwood
• Crush: Writers Reflect on Love, Longing, and the Lasting Power of Their First Celebrity Crush, curated by Dave Singleton and Cathy Alter
• Instructions for Dancing by Nicola Yoon
• Meet Cute (a collection of short stories by multiple authors)
• Smoky Mountain Dreams by Leta Blake