M. Suzanne Terry

Hello to June! The weather is pretending it’s going to be a mild summer (for now – I’ll not be lulled into a false sense of security this year, Texas June!), and it’s Pride Month, and I bought cherries this week, and my first snow cone of the year is in my near future. Happy!

Also, Modern Mrs. Darcy’s Summer Reading Guide is out! The full guide is for Patreon or MMD Book Club members, but you can get the minimalist guide (her team’s favorites and my starting point for the yearly challenge) on the website.

Here are most of the books on my radar this month.

Book Clubs

• The Plot by Jean Hanff Korelitz
• Forget the Alamo by Burrough, Tomlinson, and Stanford
• Follow the Reader’s choose-your-own-adventure theme for June is, appropriately for Pride Month, queer lit. So I’m reading Ander & Santi Were Here by Jonny Garza Villa. One of my favorite BookTokkers (Jaysen Headley, whom you should all follow, and yes, I know I linked you to his Instagram and not the Tiktok, but…I do what I want) posted a particularly heartfelt recommendation for this one. I’m also going to finish up Delilah Green Doesn’t Care by Ashley Herring Blake. Also maybe Orlando by Virginia Woolf if I have time.
• The Rise and Shine genre this month is “books under 150 pages,” so in addition to taking the opportunity to gush about The Little Prince and How To Keep House While Drowning at the meeting, I’m probably going to read one or more of these that have been on the TBR for a minute – Animals Eat Each Other by Elle Nash, Distant Star by Roberto Bolaño, The Hour of the Star by Clarice Lispector, The Beauty of the Husband by Anne Carson, Not to Disturb by Muriel Spark, and Ethan Frome by Edith Wharton
• That Summer Feeling by Bridget Morrissey
• Lucky Red by Claudia Cravens
• Yellowface by R. F. Kuang

TBR

• Romantic Comedy by Curtis Sittenfeld – This recommendation has come from so many places, so it was no surprise that it was on MMD’s minimalist list. Excited to tuck into it! 
• Something Wild & Wonderful by Anita Kelly – This is exactly how I like to experience hiking the most – sitting on my couch or at my desk in the air conditioning, reading about others’ zany misadventures. This title is also my Girlxoxo read for the month (keyword “wild”). 
• No Two Persons by Erin Bauermeister – A story about how a book changes the lives of 11 people. Anything about the importance/influence of books is going to jump ahead on my TBR list.
• The Secret Book of Flora Lea by Patti Callahan Henry – Working at a rare bookshop. Story of sisterly love. Mystery revolving around a book. This one checked a lot of boxes for me, and it helped me work through my remaining Audible credits. Sweet story.
• The Golden Enclaves by Naomi Novik – I have to know what happens next! 
• Resistance by Tori Amos – This is my current car book, read by Tori Amos herself. In related news, I’m definitely listening to all her albums on repeat nonstop. I love her so much. 
• A Connecticut Yankee in King Arthur’s Court by Mark Twain – I bought this audiobook a long time ago because Nick Offerman reads it. If you, too, are trying to use up all your Audible credits, I recommend it!

Collection

So that shelf that’s in my living room with all the books I’ve meant to read in the last year or so but didn’t quite…it’s pretty full. And what it’s full of are a bunch of books that I have been super psyched about relatively recently. This month’s collection selections are from that shelf.

• The Book Eaters by Sunyi Dean
• Scattered Showers by Rainbow Rowell
• Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin

Happy June (and happy reading) to you!