Oh look, another month in which I read loads but failed to write any reviews. And I really do want to write about some of this month’s reads, especially The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie, which is packed with ideas and references.

Top films watch this month include One Night in Miami, Rocks and Liar’s Dice. We also watched Army of the Dead, which is silly action fun with lots of zombies and explosions.

A week ago I got my second COVID jab. It was a less emotional moment than the first one for me, but it’s still a big step toward moving on from all this.

Happy June!

Books read

The Nonesuch by Georgette Heyer
Another regency romance filled with ridiculousness. Sir Waldo Hawkridge is already rich, handsome and renowned as a sportsman. And now he has inherited yet another large property. When he goes to inspect it, the locals are keen to thrust all their attractive young women his way. It’s clear from the start who he’ll end up with but it’s still a fun romp getting there.

Falling in Love with Hominids by Nalo Hopkinson
A collection of sci-fi and fantasy short stories, many of which tap into African and Carribean lore. These were really entertaining for the most part, but suffered slightly from my reading them immediately after N K Jemisin, who is just the queen of this style of story.

Shine by Jessica Jung
This was the novel equivalent of the frothiest teen drama. It reminded me a lot of the Cheerleaders series I read a few of in my own teens, which is appropriate because this is the first in a series. It’s about Rachel Kim, a Korean American whose family moved to Seoul when she was 12 so that she could train at a K-pop label. Now she’s 18 and it’s make-or-break time for her dreams. I probably enjoyed this more than I should at my age!

The Ground Beneath Her Feet by Salman Rushdie
An epic novel about love, rock music, belonging, faith, mythology, friendship…what isn’t in this book? It centres around a couple of world-famous rock stars who are also a couple. From Mumbai to East Anglia to New York to South America, their relationship is tumultuous and strange, much like everyone around them.

Feminism, Interrupted: Disrupting Power by Lola Olufemi
This is a treatise about what feminism should be in 2021: inclusive, informed, activist. Olufemi argues for the consideration of reproductive justice, transmisogyny, Islamophobia and prison abolition alongside racism and sexism. It’s a powerful book, a very persuasive call to arms.

Missing by Alison Moore
Jessie Noon lives alone, aside from the dog and the cat. She’s a literary translator, pondering the state of her life. Slowly she reveals her story, but can we trust what she’s saying? I enjoyed this more than most slow-paced ponderous literary fare.