What We've Been Reading: July 2024

Welcome! You've reached the place where we, on a monthly basis, gather up what the Lighthouse team are currently reading. You can check out round-ups from previous months amongst our Book Lists.

In July we busied ourselves with a true mix of emotional poignancy and comfort reads!

Hannah

Little Rot by Akwaeke Emezi - My first Emezi but probably not my last! A breakneck speed weekend romp full of heartbreak and debauchery. I was gutted and grossed out by the ending but still wanted more from the flawed and pretty unlikable ensemble of characters. (Content warnings galore)

Jim

The Fire Next Time by James Baldwin

Christina

I thought Wild Things by Laura Kay was a wonderful book - a fizzy friends-to-lovers story, following protagonist El on her quest to live outside her comfort zone (with checklists, of course) which leads her to move into a fixer-upper in the countryside with her friends. I love stories where there is a large group of friends who all love and support each other!!! more of that please!

I also read Dinner by Meera Sodha, my favourite favourite food writer, and I can already tell that it will become as much of a staple in my kitchen as her previous books East and Fresh India. Sodha is such a clear, warm and reliable writer, I trust her recipes implicitly, and everything looks delicious. Highly recommend!!!

Noor

Human Acts by Han Kang - truly a devastating read based on true events from the Gwangju Uprising in South Korea. Absolutely not an easy book to read, but nonetheless incredible. Kang stares unflinchingly at the repercussions of state violence and the scars that are inflicted on victims and survivors.

Also reading: Doppelganger by Naomi Klein and Cobalt Red by Siddharth Kara

JJ

I've been reading A Flat Place by Noreen Masud...it's the best description of CPTSD in women of colour I've ever read, I don't feel triggered reading it, it feels like talking with your most honest, bravest friend. Noreen has really changed my idea of what a memoir can do

Mairi

Behind You is the Sea by Susan Muaddi Darraj consists of stories nested within each other like a Russian doll, all following Palestinian families living in the Baltimore, Maryland area of the US. Belonging is endlessly complex for every one of these characters - it doesn't matter where there from, yet it's also extremely integral to who they are. Powerful and disarming, it's also quietly funny. Three of us in the Lighthouse team all read it in a single sitting - which already says it all!