July felt like a total blur, and when I sat down to write this blog post, and looked at my Goodreads account, I could barely remember reading some of these books in July. Some I thought I had read in June on vacation, others I thought I read this month. I don't know where my brain was in July, but apparently I read some decent books.

Five Stars

The Giver by Lois Lowry
My rating: 5 of 5 stars

I never read this as a kid, but it was a book club selection this month, and boy was it good. This was published originally in the early '90s, but the dystopian story still holds up today.

Four Stars

The School for Good Mothers by Jessamine Chan
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This book was dark, and I thought it started a little slow, but boy did it pick up and have me wanting to know what happened at the end. Frida is a new mother who has a very bad day, and her neighbor reports her to child protective services. Frida is an inaugural member of a new program to train people how to be good mothers. This didn't hit quite as dark as the Handmaid's Tale for me, but it had very similar government-control vibes.

The Club by Ellery Lloyd
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

Murder mysteries make some of the most fun audio books, and this wasn't an exception. The book opens with a body count and then jumps back to a few days earlier as rich and famous guests arrive to an ultra-luxurious resort for a launch party. The book is told from multiple characters' perspectives and I thought that format worked well here. You get snippets of possible motives but never quite know who is trustworthy. I enjoyed this and overall found the ending pretty satisfying.

Meant to Be by Emily Giffin
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

This was different than Emily Giffin's normal books, but I really enjoyed her reimagining of JFK Jr's life, marriage and death. I liked the way this book jumped back and forth between his and her perspectives and had enough differences that made this characters feel real on their own and not just shadows of the people they were based on.

Notes on an Execution by Danya Kukafka
My rating: 4 of 5 stars

I thought this was such an interesting way to approach a thriller. The book opens with Ansel Packer on death rowing -- a mere 12 hours before his execution -- and then it jumps back in time and you get pieces of the story from many of the women he encountered in his life. Every so often, we jump back to present day as the clock is ticking down to Ansel's execution. In the historical parts, you get the suspense of a detective searching for a killer, and in present day, you get Ansel's deep thoughts and his wish to be understood.

Three Stars

The Anthropocene Reviewed by John Green
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

In this day and age, we're all basically trained to look at the reviews on anything before committing. In this series of essays, John Green reviews various elements of our current geological age. He considers the impact of things like air conditioning, the keyboard we're all used to typing with and many other things that may impact our lives without us really thinking about it. I enjoyed the essays, they were for the most part interesting and insightful. But I read this through as if it were a novel, and that probably wasn't the best approach for a book like this because I felt like I was a little over it about half way through.

The Reading List by Sara Nisha Adams
My rating: 3 of 5 stars

This definitely started slow, but it picked up a bit toward the end. I thought there was one major plot hole surrounding Aidan -- the brother of one of the main characters. His ending seemed too abrupt and a little out of nowhere for the limited knowledge we had about him through the eyes of his sister. I loved the storyline around Mukesh, trying to find his way after his wife's death and using books and his new friendships from the library to do that. This book was sweet, and I liked the look at the unlikely friendships that formed between characters.