Everything I Read in June

Nine books - all by women, as usual.

The Blue Room by Suzanne Valadon (1923). Musée National d'Art Moderne, Paris

While I very much enjoy writing the Sunday post — The Week That Was — and will often note the current books I am devouring, I think the books deserve slightly more space and their own moment to shine. Enter a monthly post dedicated to the books I read the previous month.

A round-up of every book I read - the good, the bad, the fun, the academic - with more thoughts than I can fit into the Sunday post and extra bookish bits.

Books are an integral part of my life, and I spend a lot of time researching books, thinking about books, purchasing books, looking at books, dreaming about books, urging myself to read the books I already have before I buy more….on and on. Over the past few years, I have become quite intentional with the books that I read. Well, at least in one criterion, I only read books written by women.

What started as a one-year focus has turned into a full-blown obsession and a reading life that is rich, vibrant, and thought-provoking. I will occasionally make a concession for a non-fiction book written by a man, but it is rare. There are just too many great women authors to read!

Without a doubt, the last four to five years have been unparalleled in my adult reading life. And I don’t believe it is a stretch to decipher that it is due to this decision.

Whether it is a translated contemporary novel from South Korea, a memoir from a childhood in Albania, a diary of a woman from eleventh-century Japan, speculative fiction from the 1960s, the research of brilliant professors, design and travel coffee table books, or (almost) anything in between, as long as a woman wrote it, I’m interested. It is my hope that through these monthly newsletters, you, too, may find something interesting to read.

June Books

In June, I read eight books: three novels (two translated) and one short story, three memoirs/biographies, and one nonfiction book — all by women. I also read excerpts from a fascinating social history of women through objects.

Looking at the list, I did not read anything from decades gone by, so in July, I will be paying closer attention to the older entries in my copy of 500 Great Books by Women and probably something by George Eliot.

Here we go…