Everyone has been doing a July Reading post, so I figured I should jump on the bandwagon! I read seven books in July, which I’m pretty happy about, considering I didn’t read much during the week of the wedding.
Lock In by John Scalzi- I really liked this one! It’s a near-future thriller (although, I would call it more of a police procedural mystery). The world has been swept by a virus which leaves most people unharmed, but for 1% of the population it causes “Lock In”- a syndrome where the victims are unable to move or respond to stimuli, but are fully awake and aware. Various (and extremely interesting) modifications have been made for these people, and this is the backdrop for an engrossing murder mystery. The whole time I was reading it I was wishing it was a series, and now I see there is a second book!
Wordhunter by Stella Sands- Boy, was this disappointing. It has a GREAT premise- the main character is a forensic linguistics student, called upon by the police to help solve a crime. I crazily thought there would be a lot about… well, forensic linguistics in this book, but instead it was a lazily-written “thriller.” There are also weirdly casual references to pedophilia and rape. I thought maybe it was written 30 years ago, but nope- it’s from 2024. Bleh.
The Crime at Black Dudley by Margery Allingham- this was also not very good. I don’t know, a lot of these books from the “golden age” of mysteries are kind of strange.
The Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson- despite the dumb title, this one was pretty good! My only quibble is, this is about a high school girl who decides to solve a murder that took place in her town years ago, and she continually puts herself in an absurd amount of danger. NO! Do not confront that suspicious character alone!!! She had plenty of people to turn to for support, but chose to keep secrets over and over again. Still, I enjoyed it.
Ella Minnow Pea: A Novel in Letters by Mark Dunn- Engie and I both happened to read this odd book at the same time! Ella lives in the fictional town of Nollop, named after Nevin Nollop, author of the pangram “the quick brown fox jumps over the lazy dog.” Letters begin to fall off the Nollop memorial statue in the town center, and as they fall, the town council bans their use (and the letters disappear from the novel). I really enjoyed this- books about words are fun.
The Moving Finger by Agatha Christie- good solid Christie, although I definitely prefer the Hercule Poirot books.
Strange Pictures by Uketsu- this was a strange book! Divided into four parts, each chapter presents mysterious drawings which contain the answer to a disturbing riddle. Each chapter resolves, but they also all fit together to solve a bigger mystery. This was the perfect book for me to read on my trip- I read the first two chapters on the plane, put it down because I didn’t have time to read the entire time I was away, and then picked it up and finished it on the flight home.
Have you read any of these? What was the best book you read in July?
