Readers––My favourite time of year has arrived! What better way to spend this time than to kick back and lie in the sun with a good book? Here are some recommendations – from books I’ve read and loved, to those on my bedside stack that I hope to get through this summer.
This newsletter is divided into three sections: (1) novels & short stories; (2) non-fiction; and (3) memoirs & diaries. Enjoy!
(1) Novels & Short Stories:
“The Things We Never Say” by Elizabeth Strout
“My Year in Paris with Gertrude Stein” by Deborah Levy
Listen: to Deborah Levy on Gertrude Stein via The Great Women Artists Podcast
“The Palm House” by Gwendoline Riley
“The News from Dublin” by Colm Toibin
“Transcription” by Ben Lerner
“Brawler” by Lauren Groff
“Land” by Maggie O’Farrell
“The Hearing Trumpet” by Leonora Carrington
Listen to Joanna Moorhead on Leonora Carrington on The Great Women Artists Podcast.
“Nova Scotia House” by Charlie Porter
Listen to Charlie Porter on The Great Women Artists Podcast.
“Yesteryear” by Caro Claire Burke
“Blonde” by Joyce Carol Oates
(2) Non fiction:
“How To Kill a Witch: A Guide For The Patriarchy” by Claire Mitchell and Zoe Venditozzi
“London Falling” by Patrick Radden Keefe
“Tonight the Music Seems So Loud: The Meaning of George Michael” by Sathnam Sanghera
PS. I just saw a preview of this doc – of GM’s Faith tour – out in November!
“Parallel Lives” by Phyllis Rose
“The Future Is Peace” by Aziz Abu Sarah and Maoz Inon
“Finding Albion” by Zakia Sewell
“A Complicated Passion: The Life and Work of Agnès Varda” by Carrie Rickey
“Talking to Women” by Nell Dunn
“Careless People” by Sarah Wynn-Williams
“Marilyn and Her Books: The Literary Life of Marilyn Monroe” by Gail Crowther
PS. This morning we went to see “Marilyn Monroe: A Portrait“ at the National Portrait Gallery – beautiful, heartbreaking, joyful. It inspired me to pick up this account of her reading life by Gail Crowther, which reveals a side of Marilyn that is so often overlooked.
“The Wonderful World That Almost Was: A Life of Peter Hujar and Paul Thek” by Andrew Durbin
“A Life of One’s Own” by Joanna Biggs
“Crossing the Wine-Dark Sea” by Emily Wilson
(3) Memoirs & Diaries:
“How to End a Story: Collected Diaries” by Helen Garner
“Ghost Stories” by Siri Hustvedt
Listen: Siri Hustvedt on The Great Women Artists Podcast
“Strangeland” by Tracey Emin
Listen to Tracey Emin on The Great Women Artists Podcast; first in 2022, and again in 2026.
“Between Lives” by Dorothea Tanning
Listen to Alyce Mahon on Dorothea Tanning on The Great Women Artists Podcast.
“Slow Days, Fast Company: The World, The Flesh, and L.A.” by Eve Babitz
“Famesick” by Lena Dunham
“Mother Mary Comes to Me” by Arundhati Roy
“Patricia Highsmith: Her Diaries and Notebooks: The New York Years, 1941–1950”, edited by Anna von Planta
Patricia Highsmith’s wisdom features in my book How to Live an Artful Life.
Wonderful list—I'm adding a few that I haven't read to my TBR: Strangeland (sad to be missing the retrospective at the Tate this summer), A Life of One's Own, Nova Scotia House, Talking to Women (love what Silver Press is publishing)...
A great compilation of books Katie. I have read Strout and Levy recently. Have started reading O'Farrell's Land today. I love Oates's Blonde, read it years ago and I am always recommending it to people. I love George Michael so this book by Sanghera appeals. It's getting good reviews. Loved Roy's Mother Mary Comes to Me.