The Stuff I’ve Been Reading - Summer 22’

Une Longue Réflexion Amoureuse (1945) - Paul Eluard

Une Longue Réflexion Amoureuse is a collection of poems by french writer Paul Eluard. Often considered as one of the founding fathers of Surrealism alongside André Breton, Eluard was a gifted poet.

The poems are soft and the book is short. I like opening it randomly and reading a few verses when the helpless romantic in me manifests herself.

The Summer I Turned Pretty / It’s Not Summer Without You / We’ll Always Have Summer (trilogy) by Jenny Han

Belly Conklin is fifteen. In her eyes, nothing but summer matters. Summer and the Fishers of course. Ever since she can remember, Belly has spent all of her summers at the Fishers’ lake house in a little town named Cousins. There, she feels more at home than anywhere else in the world.

Her mother Laurel, and Susannah Fisher have been best friends forever and naturally, their children too. Constantly teased by her brother Steven for being the youngest of the bunch and for her undying crush on Conrad, Susannah’s eldest son, Belly always felt left out.

But this summer is meant to be different, she can feel it. Because this is the summer she turned pretty.

TSITP is obviously about love but also about friendship and loss. The touching characters are full of surprises and although I hated the last book (oopsies!), I felt way too invested in Belly’s story to put my book down. The books are short and easy to read but more importantly, they radiate summer vibes. This trilogy is just the perfect cheesy romance novel you need for the holidays.

Bérénice by Racine (play)

Bérénice is a five-act tragedy written by 17th-century playwright Jean Racine.

The play recounts the story of the Roman emperor Titus and Berenice of Cilicia, queen of Palestine. When Titus is named emperor after his father’s passing, everyone assumes that the young ruler is now free to marry his beloved Berenice. But Titus has been listening to public opinion about the prospects of his marriage with a foreign queen, and the Romans find this match undesirable. Between his loyalty to the empire and his beloved, Titus must make a choice.

The first time I read Racine was in high school. His play Phèdre moved me deeply. At the time, life was a bit shit so I held onto this book with every fibre of my being. Today, life is better and Racine still moves me deeply. I love his flawed characters and their torment between passion and reason.

Circe by Madeline Miller (novel)

Daughter of Helios, god of the sun and mightiest of the Titans, Circe is a strange child. Not powerful, like her father, nor viciously alluring like her mother, Circe doesn’t seem to belong alongside the gods.

Threatened, Zeus banishes her to a deserted island, where she hones her occult craft, tames wild beasts and crosses paths with many of the most famous figures in all of mythology, including the Minotaur, Daedalus and his doomed son Icarus, the murderous Medea, and, of course, wily Odysseus.

I’ve always loved Greek mythology and after hearing so much about the author on TikTok for her other book The Song of Achilles, I figured I’d try reading some of her work. A friend actually recommended me to read Circe instead I was immediately under Miller’s spell. Circe is bold and subversive. Her story is the most wonderful allegory of female existence. Circe is strong, immortal, loving and daring. But above all, she is a woman and she is free. This might be my new favourite book.

The Odyssey by Homer (classic)

The Odyssey is literature's grandest evocation of everyman's journey through life. Odysseus' reliance on his wit and wiliness for survival in his encounters with divine and natural forces, during his ten-year voyage home to Ithaca after the Trojan War, is at once a timeless human story and an individual test of moral endurance.

This book has been sitting on my shelve for years and I’ve always meant to read it. But it wasn’t until I met Madeline Miller’s mythological characters that I truly felt compelled to read it. I’m only a couple of pages in and I’m very excited to finally tick this classic off my list.

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Lately, I've really been digging fiction inspired by Greek mythology and I already have a few more on my list. Of course, I'll be reading The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller but also Ariadne by Jennifer Saint. What about you? Let me know what you'll be reading this summer down in the comment section!