Welcome to Pages’ best reviewed books of July. A selection covetously read and raved about by our readership. If you would like to rave about your latest read, let us know hello@pagesstudio.net
Enjoy!
JULY
READING LIST
August Blue by Deborah Levy
Crook Manifesto by Colson Whitehead
Nothing Special by Nicole Flattery
The Covenant of Water by Abraham Verghese
Tabula Rasa by John McPhee
Ripe by Sarah Rose Etter
Selected by the Editor.
Thin Skin by Jenn Shapland
"A visceral exploration of the thin membrane between the self, the body, and the systems that control them."
- Katherine May, author of Wintering
"In her introduction, Shapland refers to the ability of the essay to do anything or go anywhere as a part of her love for the form--and in the essays that follow, she shows us she meant it. A wrenching, loving and trenchant examination of feminism, nuclear weapons production, healthcare, queerness and American life unlike any I can think of, in essays that give lessons in pushing this form to the limit. The resulting collection is iconoclastic, electric, illuminating, and the honesty and art in these essays bring with them a series of welcome awakenings. A book to keep for a long time."
- Alexander Chee, author of How to Write an Autobiographical Novel
"Jenn Shapland's mind is a marvel. In Thin Skin, she puts it to work on our permeability to one another, and the result is a stunning, urgent, and layered consideration of our climate-catastrophe, pandemic-laden day. As each essay considers vulnerability in a different form, Shapland proves herself a brilliant and compassionate guide through loss and the enduring need to find hope. She offers no easy answers, but something far more valuable: deeper, more acute understanding--the best kind of balm."
- Alex Marzano-Lesnevich, author of The Fact of a Body
