What I Read in June

June flew by, didn’t it? Between the warmer weather, getting outside more, and gearing up for Stampede season here in Calgary, I somehow still managed to fit in a solid stack of reading. This month ended up being such a fun mix, a swoony love story, a deep dive into reality TV history, some small town romance, two old favorites from my childhood, and one seriously heavy nonfiction read that’s been sitting with me ever since I finished it. Here’s everything I read in June, in the order I finished them.

Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid

This was definitely my favorite book that I read this month. While I had heard lots about her books before, this was the first one by Taylor Jenkins Reid that I’ve read. I’m so glad I did because I absolutely loved it. You better believe I’m going to be reading more of her books in the future.

Atmosphere is a love story that takes place during the 80’s at NASA. The main character, Joan, is training to become a female astronaut, which was a huge deal back then. I don’t want to share too much else and ruin it if you haven’t read it yet, but it’s so good. I fell in love with the characters and it was so interesting to get a peek into what it was like at NASA during that time. If you’ve ever wondered what it would have felt like to be one of the first women breaking into the space program, this book puts you right there.

Cue the Sun! by Emily Nussbaum

While I had started listening to Cue the Sun! back in May, I finally finished it this month. If you’re in your 40’s like I am and were a teen when reality TV first started, I think you’ll really enjoy this book. It was so interesting to hear about how reality TV had its roots in radio back in the 1940’s, and how it’s evolved since then. There was a lot about Survivor, probably because that was a huge show back when it first premiered. I remember being in high school and everyone talking about it.

If you’re at all interested in pop culture or TV, this is such an interesting book. I remember a lot of the shows that they discussed. It’s funny looking back to see what networks thought would be the “next big hit,” which were actually just terrible shows. It made me a little nostalgic for the early 2000’s TV landscape. Back then everyone was watching the same handful of shows and talking about them the next day.

The Afghanistan Papers by Craig Whitlock

This was the second audiobook I finished this month. It was definitely a heavy topic, but it was so worth listening to. Craig Whitlock is a journalist, so there were lots of details and facts to back up what he wrote.

The Afghanistan Papers covers the US war with Afghanistan starting with the 2001 invasion and ending with the US withdrawal 20 years later in 2021. The book covers the Bush, Obama, Trump, and finally Biden presidencies and how each one dealt with what they were doing (or not able to do) in Afghanistan. So much went wrong there, and the US government didn’t want to admit that things were going sideways. This isn’t a light read by any means, but if you’re someone who likes to really understand the events that shaped the last couple of decades, I think you’ll find it as eye opening as I did.

Wake Up Calls by Mariah Stewart

This is the third book I’ve read by Mariah Stewart, and I enjoyed it just as much as the other two. There’s something about the way that she writes about her characters that makes them feel so real, like people you’d actually want to grab coffee with. And the communities she creates in her books have a Stars Hollow feel to them. If you’re a fan of Gilmore Girls, you’ll know what I mean.

The main character, Kit, finds out that an aunt she didn’t even know she had has left her a camp in small town Maine. She initially goes to clean out the house her aunt lived in to prepare to sell the house and camp, but ends up learning of a family mystery that she wants to solve before she goes back home. It’s cozy, it’s a little mysterious, and it made me want to plan a trip to a small Maine town immediately.

The Sky Beneath Her by Mary Ellen Taylor

This one was a dual timeline book. Present day Tula has come back to the small coastal North Carolina town where her mother died seven years ago while diving a shipwreck that was torpedoed by the Nazis during WWII. In the second timeline during WWII, an Austrian woman is escaping an abusive relationship by heading to the US. Unfortunately she’s on the ship that gets hit by a German sub, and the book follows her journey.

While the ship that gets torpedoed, the Oceanus, is fictional, the coast off North Carolina was dubbed “torpedo junction” because so many ships were hit by the Germans there. It was so interesting to learn about how close WWII got to the mainland US, something I honestly never learned much about in school. If you’re at all interested in torpedo junction, or just enjoy WWII books, I recommend The Sky Beneath Her. The dual timeline kept me hooked, and I loved how the two women’s stories slowly connected.

A Little Nostalgia Trip: Revisiting Nancy Drew

Nancy Drew: A Race Against Time
Nancy Drew and the Mystery of the Ivory Charm

I read two Nancy Drew books this month, slowly making progress on the ones I’ve been collecting from thrift stores. A Race Against Time was a newer one from the early 2000’s, while The Mystery of the Ivory Charm is one of the old yellow cover ones published back in the 1930’s. While the newer ones are fun to read, I really enjoy the old ones. There’s something so nostalgic about them, and not just because I read them as a kid. There’s a charm to the old fashioned language and the slower pace that you just don’t find in newer mystery books. It’s such an easy, comforting palate cleanser between heavier reads.

Favorite Read of the Month

Like I mentioned above, my favorite book from this month was definitely Atmosphere. It’s one of those books that sticks with you long after you’ve finished the last page. I found myself thinking about Joan and her story for days after I finished it. A close second is Wake Up Calls. Honestly, between the two of them, June felt like a really strong month for fiction.

Currently Reading / Up Next

I just started reading Mad Mabel, the latest book by Sally Hepworth. I’ve read most of her books, and I can already tell I’m going to really enjoy reading this one too. If you haven’t read anything by her yet, I recommend starting with The Secrets of Midwives. It’s my favorite book of hers and a great introduction to her writing if you’re new to her work. I’m hoping July brings another good mix of books, maybe another nonfiction pick to balance out all the fiction.

Let’s Chat

Now that you know what I’ve been reading lately, I’d love to hear from you. Have you read any of these books? Did you love Atmosphere as much as I did, or were you a Wake Up Calls person? I’m always looking for new recommendations, especially as I build out my summer reading list, so drop your latest favorite read in the comments below. I read every single one, and your suggestions usually end up on my own list before I know it!