June library book haul
Hello! I have a new batch of books to share!
First, some quick thoughts on last month’s library books…
The Bean Book. I loved this cookbook so much that I went ahead and bought it; the recipes were practical and unfussy but the end product is delicious and feels special, which is generally what I’m aiming for when cooking! I also checked out Cool Beans (another Rancho Gordo joint) a couple weeks later, but I didn’t care for it quite as much.
The Address Book: What Street Addresses Reveal About Identity, Race, Wealth, and Power. This book started off strong, but just turned out to be kind of…thin. I think it probably should have been a very good podcast episode as opposed to a whole book, because there wasn’t enough information directly related to the subject at hand to sustain 300 pages. I actually quit reading after like 150 pages because it just wasn’t holding my attention and life is too short! That said, I liked what I learned about cholera. (Also, there was a Samuel Pepys appearance. There always is!!!)
How to Seal Your Own Fate. I didn’t get to this one before I had to return it, which was fine. I might try again at some point!
The Berry Pickers. I also didn’t get to this one! Ah well!
Moving on! Here’s what I checked out in June:
City Limits: Infrastructure, Inequality, and the Future of America's Highways. This was a reader recommendation (thank you, Faith!) and it was everything I’d hoped it would be. The main focus is racist highways in Texas. Having lived in Houston for four years, I was very heartened to see just how hard people are fighting to stop the development of even more enormous highways. It was genuinely inspiring and I’m glad I read it!
The Snakehead: An Epic Tale of the Chinatown Underworld and the American Dream. This isn’t technically a library book, but I borrowed it from my neighbor, which is spiritually the same. (I also listened to some of it, as the audiobook is available with Spotify Premium.) I enjoyed it, though it was a tad dry! It felt like reading a really long New Yorker article (complimentary), which is to say that it’s good non-fiction, but not great non-fiction. But it taught me a ton about the history of immigration in the US, which was very timely given what’s happening right now.
Wrestling With Moses: How Jane Jacobs Took On New York's Master Builder and Transformed the American City. I was excited for this one, but I’m currently 230 pages in and kind of disappointed! Nearly everything in the Robert Moses chapters is lifted directly from The Power Broker (which I guess makes it good for people who are never going to read TPB, but it definitely lacks Robert Caro’s wonderful prose); the book is kind of lacking a POV in places where it feels necessary to have one; and I’ve spotted at least four typos/copy errors. I am planning to finish it, but ultimately it’s reading more like a very interesting Wikipedia page than a great non-fiction book.
Easy Everyday: 100 Recipes and Meal Prep Ideas for Effortless Eats. This is my friend Jess’s newest cookbook, and it didn’t disappoint. (It never does!! She is extremely good at what she does!) The recipes are truly so easy and fast, making them great for weeknights. We will definitely be buying this one!
Vera Wong's Guide to Snooping (on a Dead Man). This is the second book in a new cozy mystery series and I thiiiink I liked it better than the first installment, but they are pretty similar. I haven’t decided how I feel about this series yet; they require a suspension of disbelief that I find excessive even for the genre, and are kind of stupid but are also kind of funny? But also, I read it in about three hours? Perfect library book!
The Queen of Poisons. This is the third book in the Marlow Murder Club series (not to be confused with the Thursday Murder Club series, which is leagues better). The first two Marlow books were fine enough, but this one was so fatphobic, it honestly calls the whole project into question for me! Disappointing!
Rejection. This was recommended by a couple of friends with good taste in books! I tend to prefer fictional short stories to fictional novels, so I’m hoping this one is a winner.
Seeds of Murder. (I keep hearing Alan Cummings read that title in his Traitors voice.) I started this one a couple days ago and it’s truly neutral at the moment; we’ll see if it picks up. I’m finding that cozy mysteries are a dime a dozen, but really good ones are hard to find. (Please send recs!)
That’s all I got! What are you reading right now? 📚