July 2026 Reading Update
July was a busy reading month for me, finishing 11 books! It was a good mix of fiction, religion, and self-help.
What I Finished This Month
The Charisma Myth by Olivia Fox Cabane
This one was a standout, and the kind of book I wish I had read twenty years ago. My biggest takeaway completely reframed how I think about charisma. I always assumed it was some innate quality that certain people are simply born with, but Cabane makes the case that so much of it comes down to being comfortable in your own skin. The idea that stuck with me most: when you feel uncomfortable in a situation, for any reason at all, it reads to the people around you as though you don’t like them. And when someone senses you don’t like them, they pull back too. Flip that, and it works in your favor. When you can genuinely relax and be at ease with who you are, you become more present and more interested in the people right in front of you, and that is the thing that actually draws people in. The book is full of practical ways to settle yourself so you show up that way on purpose. I think everyone should read it.
Love Does and Everybody, Always by Bob Goff
These were both relistens for me, and they held up just as well the second time around. I actually listened to them with my kids in the car, which made them even better. What I love about Bob Goff is the way he talks about love as something you do rather than something you feel. His whole message is about becoming love, and about faith being less about sitting in a pew on Sunday and more about the daily practice of actually loving God’s children in real, tangible ways. If you have never read him, start with Love Does and then go straight into Everybody, Always. They are the kind of books that leave you wanting to be a little more generous with everyone around you.
The Untethered Soul by Michael A. Singer
This one fit right into the inner-work theme running through my month. Singer’s premise is about learning to notice the nonstop voice in your head without letting it run the show. The thing that stuck with me is the concept of excitement as energy. Singer says we always have access to energy; we limit ourselves saying we’re “tired” or “didn’t get enough sleep” when, in reality, if we were to win the lottery right now we’d be so excited we’d jump up and down without any additional sleep. It has me wondering how I can use excitement (along with good sleep habits) to increase positive energy in my life.
Atomic Habits by James Clear (a reread)
This is one I keep coming back to, and it is always a fantastic reread. Something about it gets me itching to revamp my whole life. I finished it right as I am starting to think about the back to school season, and now I am fully in the mood to rebuild our routines from the ground up. If you have read it before, it is worth returning to. It hits differently depending on the season of life you are in.
Building a Second Brain by Tiago Forte
I found this one genuinely interesting, and the core idea really appeals to me: building a system for organizing all the information you take in so it actually works for you later instead of vanishing into the void. The truth is, though, I have not put a single piece of it into practice yet. So while I loved the concept, I can’t really recommend it to you as something that changed my life, because I haven’t done the work to make it change mine. Maybe that is an August project. Ask me again in a few months.
The Widow by John Grisham
It is always fun to go back to an old favorite author, and this one did not disappoint. This is actually Grisham’s first attempt at a straight whodunit rather than his usual courtroom drama. A small-town Virginia lawyer takes on an elderly widow as a client, she turns out to be sitting on a hidden fortune, and before long he finds himself on trial for a murder he swears he didn’t commit, racing to find the real killer. There were a few twists I did not see coming, but it wasn’t as enthralling as I remember Grisham novels being.
And Then There Was You by Sophie Cousens
My one lighter fiction read this month, and a fun change of pace. Chloe is a thirty-one-year-old stuck in a job she doesn’t love and living back home after a breakup, and with her ten-year college reunion looming, she signs up for an exclusive dating service and gets matched with a man who seems perfect in every way. The twist is that he is an AI robot. I liked this one, though truthfully less because it was a great novel and more because of the questions it kept raising about relationships. It got under my skin a little. An AI boyfriend solves so many of the things we tend to complain about: he is always thoughtful, he always agrees with you, he apologizes, he is endlessly selfless. But as the author points out, he can’t actually be moved by a piece of art alongside you, and he can’t bring any of himself to the table. There is nothing of his own in it. It turned out to be a surprisingly good prompt for thinking about what makes a real relationship good (and maybe it isn’t necessarily the “good” parts).
The Thursday Murder Club by Richard Osman
This one was fun, with a really good mix of characters. It reminds me how much life there is to lead after this seemingly endless stage of diaper changes and school drop-offs.
The Hawthorne Legacy by Jennifer Lynn Barnes
This is book two in the Inheritance Games series, and it was fine. I flew through the first book and loved it, but this one isn’t as engaging. For me the first book is still the best of the bunch. I am not sure yet whether I will pick up the last one. We will see if the pull to find out how it all ends wins out.
The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman
This was such a good family listen. We made our way through it on summer afternoons after the beach, everyone gathered around a puzzle while it played, and we finished it on our road trip this week. We read the second book together the beginning of August and are already onto the final one (before we watch the movie!).
Strangers by Belle Burden
This one did not pull me in because of the writing itself, but because it is true. It is Belle Burden’s memoir of her marriage coming apart, and it has stayed with me in a way I did not expect. What I keep thinking about is how she described grief, confusion, and fear as things she felt in her body, not just in her mind. She writes about the visceral way her body reacted to how people treated her in the wake of her husband leaving, and that physical honesty is what makes it linger. It is not a comfortable read, but it is a real one.
Still Reading
The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett
I am in the middle of this and it is a LONG ONE. This is Kathryn Stockett’s second novel, all these years after The Help. It is historical fiction set in Oxford, Mississippi in 1933, following women trying to make their way through the Great Depression.
The Amber Spyglass by Philip Pullman
The final book in Philip Pullman’s His Dark Materials trilogy.
The Book of Awakening by Mark Nepo
Still a steady companion, less something I sit down to read and more something I return to a page at a time but at this point I just need to finish it.
Set Aside for Now
Jane Eyre by Charlotte Brontë
I got a good six-plus hours in, but it just wasn’t the right fit for me right now. I am setting it down for right now but will come back to it.
What’s Up Next
How to Talk So Kids Will Listen by Adele Faber and Elaine Mazlish
A reread, because …. I absolutely need a refresher (or some new sets of ears on my children).
Salt: A World History by Mark Kurlansky
A total change of pace: a whole history of the world told through salt. This one was all over my instagram a few weeks (months?) ago and my library hold is just about up.
Girl Dinner by Olivie Blake
A darkly funny social satire from the author of The Atlas Six, and a shift from my usual stack. On deck for August. I cannot remember who told me to put it on hold but….we’ll see.
What are you reading right now? I am always looking for what’s next, so leave your recs below!
