I spent half of July, which felt like the majority of the month, working as a mentor at a youth summer "CREATE camp." It was one of my favorite things I've done since being on the board of the Northwest Abortion Access Fund, and I'm not going to be corny about it, so I'll say it was fulfilling, fun, inspiring, and very close, if not exactly what I want to do post-graduation.
I did read a little less because, on top of CREATE Camp, I worked my retail job, went to summer grad school, and had a life. I was so deeply exhausted, physically if not emotionally, by the end of July. August is all about rest, relaxation, finishing school for the quarter, working, and oh, yeah, celebrating BIRTHDAYS. Mine, but also many of my loved ones. Leo Season, you know?
[books i read]
The House of Now and Then by Edward Underhill (2026) | Quick summary: After a breakup, Harlowe books a cottage on Cape Cod for the summer, but unexpected guests are waiting for him.
This was recommended to me as a part of Alicia Thompson's substack book club, and I am so happy I read it! I do not tend to consume a ton of romance because it ends up feeling repetitive to me pretty quickly, but if it comes recommended, or is part of a book club, I'm all in. This was a fun, poignant, delightful read that made me want to rent a cabin for the summer in Cape Cod! Minus the, you know, unwelcome guests.
[fiction, romcom, written by a trans, white male writer, medium-length read]
We, Jane by Aimee Wall (2026) | Quick summary: Making and maintaining relationships and friendships during the resistance.
It took me a super long time to read this book. It kept getting returned to the library, and I kept being far enough along that I'd recheck it out. I not only love and appreciate abortion, I lowkey study it, and feel obligated and compelled to read every book about it ever. We, Jane, cryptically about underground abortion providers, was interesting but mostly uninteresting and forgettable.
[fiction, abortion, written by a white canadian writer and literary translator, medium-length read]
The Mixed Marriage Project: A Memoir of Love, Race, and Family by Dorothy Roberts (2026) | Quick summary: A memoir about the history of interracial marriage.
Dorothy Roberts literally changed my life, and the way I view child welfare, or as she and I would call it, family policing. This book is not about family policing or foster care, but rather about interracial marriage, which, go figure, is also deeply relevant to my life. Roberts's father was a white man, but not only that, he studied interracial relationships. Roberts explores her relationship to having a Black mother and a white father alongside her curiosity about why he (and actually her mother) juggled their own interracial marriage with their research. Dorothy Roberts is so fucking cool.
[nonfiction, sociology, written by a Black american sociologist, law professor, and social justice advocate]
Looking for a Ship by John McPhee (1990) | Quick summary: The tale of life aboard one of the last American merchant ships.
One of the most famous, and at least in my circles, beloved, writers of all time, and this is my first time with him! I read this for the 'water' category in Seattle's Summer Book Bingo, and I'm so glad I yelled, "hey do you have any books about water?" to my boyfriend because he delivered! I'm eager to go to the library and find more McPhee books. Or, I guess, my boyfriend's office. I explained my first experience with reading McPhee as similar to reading Richard Scarry, and this may have been the first book I've ever read that I had the thought, "I want to draw that."
[nonfiction, travelogue, written by a white american author, shorter read]
[books i heard]
Rebel Girl: My Life as a Feminist Punk by Kathleen Hanna (2024) | Quick summary: The memoir of Kathleen Hanna, lead singer of Bikini Kill.
A best friend/sister-figure gave me this book, and goddamn, she knows what I like. I'm not a music person, as in, I just listen to anything popular and hardly have taste of my own, so of course I didn't grow up listening to cool music like Kathleen Hanna was making, but I am from Seattle, so I know music because of just being a person here. This memoir was rad. I'll admit I didn't give Hanna enough credit when I started, but the way she uplifts Black, Indigenous, and other people of color, and trans women and nonbinary people made me proud, relieved, and happy. Catch me becoming a Bikini Kill fan!
[nonfiction, memoir, written by a white american singer, musician, pioneer of the feminist punk riot grrrl movement, and punk zine writer, medium-length read]
Here After: A Memoir by Amy Lin (2024): Quick summary: A memoir about the grief of losing your husband.
I read any and as many books about death and grief as I can, partially because we will all become intimately familiar with it if we aren't already, and partially because I am familiar. If you've read anything about me and my life, you know my best friend's son died in 2023, and I am forever chasing sentiments that I think my best friend will resonate with. (No one likes to write about kids dying, did you know?) This book, by Amy Lin, is the closest I've gotten to reading real, true, raw sentiments about grief. Everything she said, even though Lin is writing about the sudden loss of her beloved husband, not her 7-year-old, is something I've heard my best friend say, and things I have personally felt. To letting more people write as honestly as they're feeling, especially about death.
[nonfiction, memoir, written by a white and chinese canadian writer, medium-length listen]
[what i recommend]
- If you like reading about abortion: We, Jane
- If you're grieving: Here After
- If you think girls fucking rule: Rebel Girl
- If you're biracial: The Mixed Marriage Project
- If you like good sentences: Looking for a Ship
"If we are all special then nobody is special then we are all special." We, Jane
“When I get somewhere, it is never how I think it will be.” Here After
Member discussion