Happy Wednesday! After a rather lackluster reading update last week, I’m coming to you today with three excellent reads, two of which will definitely make my favorites list at the end of the year. I’m excited to talk about these books, so let’s dive in:
You Got Anything Stronger? by Gabrielle Union (★★★★★)
Another excellent essay collection from Gabrielle Union. This book starts with a long chapter about Union’s struggle to conceive a child and ultimately deciding to use a surrogate. It was deeply personal and raw, and I found myself tearing up as I listened to Union express how painful it was to not be able to carry her own child and how scared she was during the entire pregnancy. One of the most powerful and moving essays in this book was Union talking about her stepchild’s decision to come out as trans. It was so, so beautiful to witness the way Gabrielle and her husband Dwyane Wade tried so hard to get this right, to make it a coming-out story that was healthy and open and honest. I want to shove this book into everyone’s hands for that essay alone. Throughout the novel, Gabrielle talks about aging, finding that elusive work/life balance, motherhood, and working in Hollywood. She also includes some really poignant essays about racism, including the time she found herself in a Nazi bar in Croatia (in 2019!!) and basically had to run for her life to escape a bunch of white supremacists. This essay collection is truly outstanding and I hope she continues writing. She has a lot to say and I’m here for all of it.
Carrie Soto Is Back by Taylor Jenkins Reid (★★★★★)
I think I might have a new favorite TJR book. Carrie Soto Is Back was such a fun read, and I loved every minute I spent with Carrie, on and off the tennis court. When this novel begins, Carrie has been retired from professional tennis for six years. Her record of winning 20 Grand Slams (the most by a female tennis player) hasn’t been touched, but then, while she sits in the stands at the U.S. Open, she watches 30-year-old Nicki Chan take her record from her. That doesn’t sit well with Carrie so, at the age of 37, she decides to re-enter the world of professional tennis and take her record back. You guys, this book was so, so good. It was fast-paced, exciting, and filled with fully formed characters who I ended up loving. The thing about Carrie, though, is that she is not a very likable character. She’s ruthless, cold-hearted at times, intense, and solely focused on being the best. It’s not about having fun or being the best she can be; she has to be the best in the world or her whole legacy is tarnished. While she could be infuriating at times, I couldn’t help falling in love with her. She was such an amazing, strong, well-rounded character, and I loved the way TJR explored the myth of the perfect female sports heroine. There’s this idea that our sports heroines need to package themselves in this gracious, accommodating way to make them palatable to us. Why do we even need that? Why is it so necessary that we can relate to our sports heroes, that we need that in order to root for them? It’s an interesting question that TJR attempts to answer during this book, and I think she did a fantastic job.
Pint of Contention by Susannah Nix (★★★★☆)
This was a really sweet contemporary romance that also dealt with heavier themes, such as ALS and grief. In this novel, Maggie has been hired as an executive consultant to figure out why King’s Creamery (an ice cream brand on par with Ben & Jerry’s) is bleeding money. She rents a house next door to Ryan, who happens to be George King’s (of King Creamery fame) stepson, and a hunky fireman to boot. When a newspaper expose reveals Maggie’s real reason for being in town, she becomes enemy No. 1, as everyone thinks she’s there to recommend huge layoffs. (And in this town, King’s Creamery is the largest employer.) So Ryan proposes a solution: he’ll pretend to date her and, in doing so, let the townspeople know she’s not to be messed with. While I ended up loving the way things turned out for Maggie and Ryan, I will say that there’s a twinge of misogyny in their relationship. There were times when I really did not like Ryan; he was holding a lot back from Maggie, but expecting her to be forthright and honest at all times. He could be a bit of an asshole, and while I’m glad Maggie saw through his asshole-y ways, I also expect better from my male romance heroes and he just wasn’t it.
What I’m Reading This Week
- Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Garmus (print) – I’m just about 50 pages into this novel and I am really enjoying it so far. I hope it stays that way!
- The Hand on the Wall by Maureen Johnson (audio) – This is the third book in the Truly Devious series and I started it on audio yesterday. Excited to be back with my favorite YA sleuths!
- Count Your Lucky Stars by Alexandria Bellefleur (e-book) – I’m going to start this F/F romance sometime today. (Also, I just found out that Alexandria Bellefleur is a local author! Who knew?!)
What are you reading?
STEPHANY!!!! I AM READING LESSONS IN CHEMISTRY RIGHT NOW TOO!!! I found it completely enraging at first – ALL THE MISOGYNY – but now the dog is in it so I’m charmed.
The Carrie Soto book looks fun, I might toddle down to my library app and put it on hold.
Oh, that’s so funny: We were in the same place in the story when you commented! I ended up enjoying the story so much, especially with the dog. Six Thirty was so charming!
Oh, I’m excited for a new TJR. I put Carrie Soto on hold at the library, but I’m the 107th person in line, so it might be a while until I get it!
A few people in my book club put the book on hold months before it was released, and they JUST came off the wait list. It’s definitely an in-demand book! I hope it comes to you soon.
I hope you love Lessons in Chemistry as much as I did! That is one of my fave books of 2022 out of the 84 I’ve read! I just love Elizabeth Zott soooo much, and her dog is just so endearing.
I just finished “The Book of Goose” which ended up being too literary for me. I just didn’t quite get the buzz I’ve heard around it. It was good, but not great, and one character was sooo unlikeable. I can get past that sometimes, but not in this book. Now I am reading a non-fiction book called “Bad City” which is about corruption at the USC school of medine and in LA more broadly. The dean of the school of medicine is in the hotel room of a young woman who OD’s. It’s a crazy story and makes you wonder how some people can get away with such awful things!
Lessons in Chemistry was AMAZING! I’m going to find it so, so hard to pick a favorite book this year because I have read so many good ones!
I’m going to add Bad City to my TBR – sounds fascinating.
I’ve gotten read Union’s new book! It sounds really powerful! And I love your take away from Carrie Soto about the stereotype of female characters. I also liked that Carrie was just CARRIE and that was that.
I am reading The One. It’s an interesting set up – there are 6 main characters and every short chapter focuses on one and almost always ends on a cliffhanger! So you just get sucked into it!
Yes – I’d love to know your thoughts if you end up reading Union’s book! I found it so impactful.
How did you like The One? I think I bought that on Kindle when it was $1.99 and have yet to read it, whoops!
I keep reading about how awesome Gabrielle Union’s book is, and while I am generally not a memoir person, I might have to pick this one up. I also loved how she and Dwyane Wade supported their child when they came out. Dwyane, in particular, really had an impact – albeit a brief one – on the sports world and how people in that world talk about those who identify as LGBTQIA+.
And, I ALSO keep reading about Lessons in Chemistry and suspect it would really appeal to a huge nerd like me. 😀 (I take the cake in nerdiness, seriously…)