It’s almost halfway through the year, and I’m continuing my project of only reading books by female authors. The big development this time is that I finally got a Kindle and it has definitely upped the amount that I read while traveling. You can read previous installments here.

13. Kelly Williams Brown, Adulting

A couple of weeks ago, my friend Meredith gave me this book to read. (Because Meredith is awesome and not an underminer, I know that it was a “I think you’ll find this funny” recommendation, not a “you desperately need this” recommendation.) Though the subject matter is pretty straightforward - you should know how to clean your apartment, stock your kitchen, not be a shitty friend/girlfriend, etc - the voice is funny and relatable. My 22-year-old self is pissed it didn’t come out then.

14. Hilary Mantel, Wolf Hall

This book suffers from some of what I like to call “Jonathan Franzen Syndrome,” aka “just because it’s really long doesn’t mean it’s better.” This book would have fine with a hundred pages or so cut from it, and it took me a while to get into it. Once I did, though, I quite enjoyed it. It’s always interesting to see how someone can take historical events where you already know the outcome and make them feel exciting and new - like, Anne Boleyn is pregnant, and you know she’s having a girl, but damn if you don’t sit there waiting to find out the baby’s sex. When the book is on, it’s on. And when it’s plodding and too detailed, it’s still not that bad.

15. Jhumpa Lahiri, The Namesake

I read Jhumpa Lahiri’s short story collection The Interpreter of Maladies a while ago, and after reading this novel I can say that I prefer her writing in smaller doses. She does a whole lot of telling and very little showing, but she is a pretty good teller. The problem is, all that telling makes it hard to see the characters’ inner lives or understand why they do any of the things they do. Everyone has painfully good taste. They listen to Verdi, go to Yale, read art history books for fun, and drive to Maine just to buy scallops. There is a scene where a guy takes his date to an Italian restaurant and says “the pastas are very good here,” which is a thing that no real human says. I don’t think I know much more about the characters now than I did during the first chapter.