Monthly Wrap Up – July 2020

It’s the end of the month and it’s also nearly the end of my first week back to book blogging; this wrap up might be slightly odd this month as it is the first one. Even in this short space of time the welcome back I’ve from people in the community has been lovely and it has me very excited to continue! It actually makes me regret taking such a long break away from the book blogging sphere, but I’m pleased to be back.

Books read this month

This month I read a total of 9 books (7 physical books and 2 ebooks):

• If I Had Your Face by Frances Cha
• Circe by Madeline Miller
• Sealskin by Su Bristow
• Heroes by Stephen Fry
• Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
• The Beekeeper of Aleppo by Christy Lefteri
• Hope Island by Tim Major
• (ARC) Unbound: A Tale of Love and Betrayal in Shanghai by Dina Gu Brumfield
• The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley

Reviews written this month

So, as I have just been back a week I have only managed to write and post two proper book reviews which are for Pachinko by Min Jin Lee and Hope Island by Tim Major. However, I have plenty more on the way so watch this space!

My favourite books this month

I really enjoyed pretty much everything I read this month, however there are three books in particular that stand out as my favourites…

Circe by Madeline Miller
I’m not totally familiar with the story of Circe in Greek mythology despite reading a lot of it when I was younger, however, I really liked Miller’s take on the character. I loved seeing how Miller weaved her into so many other famous Greek tales. I want to write a full review on this book soon as a couple of lines does not do this justice at all.

Pachinko by Min Jin Lee
Unlike the other two on this list, this is one that I have managed to review this week! The way Lee seamlessly writes through four generations of a Korean family is incredible. Not only does she gets the pacing spot on to where literal decades in the book fly by, but she also has a great understanding of the people that she is writing about and brings them to life.

The Cat and the City by Nick Bradley
This is actually a novel that I read this morning and it blew me away. A full review will be up in the coming days but the tl;dr is that I urge you to pick this up and read it as it is wonderful. It has even made me very nostalgic for my trips to Japan as it truly captures the spirit of Tokyo.

How did you get on this month? Did you read more or less than you expected/wanted? Did we read any of the same books? I’d love to know!