July/August

Kin by Tayari Jones, 2026

Exquisitely written. Beautiful language. Jones is a gorgous writer. With so many details that stick - like how Hattie Lee is a 'trifling' woman. The character Babydoll, or Ruth Anne.

The story takes place in the 1950s/1960s in Lousiana of two girls born motherless in small town Honeysuckle.

Vernice is given the nickname Niecy, what her cradle friend Annie calls her. 

Niecy's mother has been murdered by her father. Her aunt Irene comes back from Ohio to raise Niecy, fleeing back to Ohio once Niecy heads off to Spelman College in Atlanta.

Annie is haunted by the fact that her mother Hattie Lee is out in the world, leaving Annie with her mother to raise.

Annie flees town with her boyfriend Clyde from a neighboring small town. They are heading to Memphis where Hattie Lee's last known address is.

Their lives diverge as Niecy enters another world at Spelman, where she rooms with the wealthy and worldy Joette. She is all but selcted by a Spelman alum to marry her wealthy son Franklin where is enveloped in the world of a Housewife who gets her anger out on dust and joins groups where all white, with no breaks, is required.

Annie's adventures to Memphis are met with detours, with their car breaking down. She ends up in a relationship with Clyde's cousin Bobo. They live a simple and modest life in Memphis.

The women keep in touch through letters and visits. Despite their starkly different worlds, they remain each others sisters.

All Fours by Miranda July, 2024

How fitting I read July's book in July! Recommended by a friend. Story centers around a woman going through an identity realization (or idealization?) while peri-menopausal. 

She takes off from her home in California for a road trip to New York City but ends up getting off at nearby Monrovia where she stays for the week creating a new life and world for herself while under the guise of driving cross country.

Her relationship with Davey is compelling and messy. When she retunrs home, there are fallouts from what she has discovered on her trip. 

I liked how the story played out the fallout versus her returning to life as usual with either her or her husband changing and realizing they were wrong all along.

Despite compelling moments, it was more sexually charged than I typically enjoy reading and would have stopped reading it except that a friend whose book taste I share had recommended.