We hope you are all enjoying these glorious summer months, and hope you've been reading many great reads as we are! Please read on below to view The Mother's reviews of July summer reads.
The Accidental President - Harry S. Truman and the Four Months that Changed the World by A.J. Baime
What an astounding book! It reads like a thriller made even more fantastic by the fact it is all true. Tightly focused, meticulously researched, and rendered with vivid detail, The Accidental President is the dramatic, pulse-pounding story of Harry S. Truman’s first four months in office, when this unlikely president had to take on Germany, Japan, Russia, and the atomic bomb, with the fate of the world hanging in the balance.
Synopsis: Chosen as FDR's fourth-term vice president for his good judgment, work ethic, and unaffectedness, Harry S. Truman—a Midwesterner who had no college degree—was the prototypical ordinary man. That is, until he was shockingly thrust in over his head after FDR's sudden death.
In the history making first 120 days of his presidency, Truman played center stage in the founding of the United Nations, the fall of Berlin, the Nazi surrender, the mass starvation of Europe, the Potsdam Conference, victory at Okinawa, the first atomic explosions, the surrender of Imperial Japan, the long awaited end of World War II, and the rise of the Cold War. No other president has ever faced so much in such a short period of time.
This phenomenal book is narrative history of the highest order and a compelling look at a presidency with great relevance to our times.
The Messy Lives of Book People by Phaedra Patrick
The Messy Lives of Book People is a very enjoyable read in which hearts are mended, lives find purpose and two women’s paths become surprisingly entwined. It is a feel-good story by which books, books, and more books, are the touchstones to finding life’s secrets.
Synopsis: Liv Green, an aspiring write and mother of two teenagers, is in a funk. She mentally stays afloat as the housekeeper for the reclusive, mysterious, bestselling author Essie Starling, of which Liv is her biggest fan. When Essie passes away suddenly, Liv is astonished to learn that her dying wish was for Liv to complete her final novel. With just months to finish the book and meet the publisher’s deadline, Liv uncovers truths of her own past and Essie’s that reveal a surprising connection, on that will change Liv’s own story forever.
If you are looking for a good, simple yarn with a lot of heart, The Messy Lives of Book People is a great choice.
Beheld by Tarashea Nesbit
Beheld is a suspenseful, beautifully written historical fiction. It centers on a murder and a trial; it's also an intimate, personal portrait of love, desire, motherhood, and friendship. The novel reframes the story of the pilgrims in historically under-recorded voices, asking whose stories get told over time, who gets believed, and who gets punished.
I gifted my daughter “The Daughter” this book over the holidays, she loved it so much she gave it to me to read. Like her, I absolutely loved it!
Synopsis: Beheld takes place in the 1600’s Plymouth, Massachusetts, ten years after the Mayflower pilgrims arrived. The fledgling colony of Plymouth is not at all the land its residents had imagined. Seemingly established on a dream of religious freedom, in reality the town is led by fervent puritans who prohibit the residents from living, trading, and worshipping as they choose. With exquisite pros, this story tells of the ever present undercurrent of class war amongst the colonists and infighting between the Anglicans and Puritans; each with conflicting desires and questionable behavior.
Lessons in Chemistry by Bonnie Gasmus
Since the success of The Queen’s Gambit and The Marvelous Mrs. Maisel, there’s been a renewed interest in stories of pioneering women fighting to prove themselves in traditionally male arenas in the late 1950s and early ‘60s. Along these lines, meet the opinionated, brilliant, and dry-witted Elizabeth Zott: scientist by training, cooking show host by default - and the heroine of Lessons in Chemistry.
Synopsis: As the novel opens in 1961, Elizabeth is a 30-year-old single mother and the reluctant, “permanently depressed” star of a cooking show for housewives called Supper at Six. As the narrative jumps back 10 years, we learn why Elizabeth’s chemistry career foundered. Elizabeth’s talent, independence, and single-mindedness is a threat to both her male and female co-workers. Even when she finds her “future”, Nobel-nominated chemist Calvin Evans, their happiness is a further spur to jealous rivals. Although, true soul mates, Elizabeth and Calvin’s love story—like life, and this novel—is far more complicated than that.
Lessons in Chemistry is not only a very funny book, but it’s an important one, and honestly one of the best I’ve ever read!