ME Recommends: What We Read This Summer
We hope everyone enjoyed their summers! The ME team have put together a list of their favourite reads from the past couple of months.
Juliet recommends…
Lies and Weddings by Kevin Kwan. Following the Gresham family – the Earl, his former supermodel wife from Hong Kong, and their three children – in the run up to the older sister’s wedding and beyond, we’re introduced to the world of the super rich. Private jets, private clubs and private islands – and more designer clothing than you can shake a stick at. Eden Tong (daughter of the doctor next door) is our way into this world and despite matriarch Arabella’s disdain for her clothes and lack of connections, her relationship with the dashing Rufus Leung Gresham forms a romantic backbone for the novel. What I love about Kevin Kwan novels is you know from the start that every baddie is going to get their comeuppance and every loveable character will rise triumphant, Phoenix-like from the ashes: and probably inherit a billion dollars somehow. Enormously fun and perfect summer fare.
Rachel recommends…
All the Colours of the Dark by Chris Whitaker and Empire of Sand by Tasha Suri. I saw All The Colours of the Dark all over social media this year with so many ringing endorsements. It absolutely lived up to the hype and is definitely up there as one of my favourite books of 2024. I love a bit of epic fantasy and recently read Tasha Suri’s Empire of Sand, having loved The Jasmine Throne. My kindle is loaded with the sequel Realm of Ash, so looking forward to diving into that on my next holiday!
Liza recommends…
This summer I have been on an audiobook tour through fiction and non-fiction titles. On the fiction front, I loved House of Flame and Shadow by Sarah J. Maas. I also enjoyed the mixing of historical and fantasy with Leigh Bardugo’s The Familiar. In this vein, but with a retelling twist, Isabelle Schuler’s Lady MacBethad was a riveting story based on Shakespeare’s play and historical fact. I cannot wait for the sequel to be released! Lastly, I am halfway through Ink Blood Sister Scribe by Emma Törzs and am really enjoying this fresh take on a magical system.
When it comes to non-fiction, I dove into Women Are Angry by Jennifer Cox which I recommend to anyone and everyone! This exploration of women’s mental health and society’s desire to stifle women’s emotions shows different ways to tap into anger and use it for good. I also loved Lucy Jones’ Matrescence and thought it was the perfect blending of shared experience with scientific know-how on what happens to women as they become mothers – pre and post-natal. I think there is so much more room in the non-fiction space to explore women’s health and would love to find someone writing in this area! Lastly, I enjoyed learning about brilliant women through the ages who were cunning, smart, and creative in both Femina by Janina Ramirez, and The Story of Art Without Men by Katy Hessel.
Emma recommends…
I recommend The Last Murder at the End of the World by Stuart Turton. As always, it’s wildly original with perhaps the largest number of brilliant twists that I’ve ever seen in a novel because your understanding of the reality within this futuristic world shifts continually as you read. The choice of narrator is particularly stunning.
Catriona recommends…
A book I really enjoyed reading this Summer was The Story of a Brief Marriage by Anuk Arudpragasam. Set against the backdrop of Sri Lanka’s civil war, this is a heartfelt story about two strangers who are brought together in marriage amidst a world of despair and uncertainty. The writing was intimate, subtle and I thought it impressive how Arudparagasam was able to cover such big themes in so few pages (especially with it being set over one day!). Not your typical beach read, but it’s easily digestible for an afternoon sat in the sun.
Kiya recommends…
My summer read was Butter by Asako Yuzuki, translated by Polly Barton. It tells the story of two women – Manako Kajii, a gourmet food blogger (and serial killer of lonely businessmen) and Rika, a journalist who is intent on cracking her case and writing the first newspaper profile of the secretive chef. I really loved how Yuzuki examines feminism, toxic beauty standards, and sexism, alongside fictionalising the true story of “The Konkatsu Killer”. It also made me very hungry! I also really want to pick up DallerGut Dream Department Store by Miye Lee, a cosy fantasy novel about a department store that sells dreams to sleeping visitors.
Alba recommends…
There are two books that stand-out from my summer reading – The Saint of Bright Doors by Vajra Chandrasekera and Sheep’s Clothing by Celia Dale. The Saint of Bright Doors is a fantasy novel where the main character, a failed chosen one, goes to group therapy with other failed chosen ones, before being sent the kickstarter email of the campaign to bring the Prophet, his father – the one he failed to kill, to his city. Sheep’s Clothing is very different but it’s also a weird gem. We follow two petty criminals who, posing as representatives of the Social Services Agency, prey on the elderly to commit fraud–not the type of felony we might usually associate with a crime novel–and yet, it is completely riveting. Celia Dale’s prose is a marvellous thing, and her sense of humour is wonderfully perverse. I’ll read anything and everything she has written.