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My Month in Books: July & August 2026

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I am closing out the late summer with this recap: my July and August in books. Reading wise, I liked the groove I got going throughout these past months. Aside from the usual audiobook suspects, I think I am getting into the zone of consistently and frequently reading in print again. Before I sleep, and when I wake up (I try). In transit (as long as I had enough sleep) as well as in third spaces (cafes, even airports). I also got into the habit of carrying and using my highlighters again real-time, which I haven’t done in a while. By making my ‘marking’ and annotation real-time, I felt that I was able to absorb the book more because it allowed me to interact with it in a deeper way. It also forces me to read slowly thus I think I was able to sit with ideas longer. I liked it. I hope I am able to keep it up.

As a side note: I kinda get the point of reading a hardback. I read same time next week? in the past month and it was in hardback (the one without a dust jacket). It allowed me to not be too precious about it because it is sturdy. I lugged it around in my tote bag, without using my usual book bag. It also was easier annotating on the go because the book has that thick cover, compared to the flimsy paperback, so my writing and marking were more stable. Or, I don’t know, maybe I was just in the zone when I was reading this book but I really liked the overall reading experience with it!

My July and August in Books

During the past 2 months, I read 7 books:

Dim Sum of All Fears (3.5☕), Murder Lo Mien (3) , Wonton Terror (3.5☕) (Noodle House Mystery, #1 to #3) by Vivien Chien

This is a continuation of the Noodle House Mystery series by Vivien Chien that I started in the first half of the year. These two months, I managed to finish books 3 to 5: Dim Sum of All Fears, Murder Lo Mien, and Wonton Terror, respectively — by listening to them while I was working out in the gym or walking to-and-fro some place. These books continue following Lana Lee as she tries to solve mysteries, usually murders, around Asia Village, along with her budding romance with Detective Adam Trudeau. For some reason, I am really not sold on the romance angle, probably because of how it was narrated? I honestly think it’s one of the things that irks me off whenever I listen to these stories. It’s like for once, I wanted the MC not to fall for the detective working on these murders in the cozy mystery books. I understand it is an easy and obvious angle to use but I suppose I want to have variety. There a re a couple of good stories in these book. Lots of red herring as expected, though some more obvious than the others. Not sure if it was just my time of the month whenever I was listening to these books, but I honestly found Lana insufferable in most of it. There are a lot careless and unnecessary actions that lead to life-threatening or dangerous situations. But I still like revisiting familiar towns and familiar characters so I think I will still continue with the series. That’s always the comfort in these serial cozy books. And I live for them. (Also, I continue to be tickled by the cute covers. Sometimes, I think I am continuing this series because I liked the book covers for each one and I wanna see them side by side lol.)

Lost Lambs by Madeline Cash – 3.5/5☕

Lost Lambs is Madeline Cash‘s debut novel of family dysfunction. It centers the Flynn family: fraying at the seams and slowly coming undone. The parents are in a toxic open marriage. Each of the three daughters spiralling in a world of their own making. Add to that the underlying corruption and mystery that envelope their small coastal town. It was, at most times, absurdist fiction. But at the heart of it, it is about a family navigating complicated relationships and circumstances. There was a time when I thought this book could potentially be my new Anxious People (and if you’ve been here long, you’ll know it is one of my personal favorites of all time). It was very reminiscent of the ridiculous plotting of the latter, that I was expecting to get that profound experience as well. Further research and consumption of additional materials related to this book (namely: Dua Lipa’s interview of Madeline Cash and various reviews of book influencers in Instagram and Goodreads) revealed how intentional a lot of the details of this book are. It failed to sustain my attention though, but I think it is mostly about personal preference. This isn’t exactly bad, it just fell short of my expectations. This has so much potential but just so (unnecessarily) convoluted, for me. Incredibly funny though! I found myself snort-laughing all throughout.

A Year of Nothing by Emma Gannon – 3.5/5☕

A Year of Nothing by Emma Gannon was originally limitedly published as a two-book anthology about a year where she reached her breaking point and just stopped. Now this was independently published into a single book, with a shiny new introduction by Julia Cameron. This was short but sweet. It was over before I even realized it. (I think the audiobook is just a little over 2 hours?) It was honestly hard for me to extract something out of it because of how short it was but my understanding is that the contents of this book was taken from the journals that she maintained during that fateful year of break. Over the course of four seasons (which served as the divider as well in the book), she retreated inwards and slowly reconnected with herself and her own creativity. It ‘s a reminder on not ignoring the signs your body gives you and allowing yourself to pause and breathe because this is essential to existing. This is not exactly a unique concept. We’ve seen this repeated across different mediums. While I was typing this, Wim Wenders’ Perfect Day comes to mind a lot and a realization that I had when I finished watching it: that maybe the secret to life’s happiness is to appreciate its small wonders. Maybe that’s enough. 0

Same Time Next Week?: Living With Anxiety in the Modern World by Joshua Fletcher – 4.5/5☕

Ah, this book. This has been one of my more rewarding reads lately. same time next week? by Joshua Fletcher is an anxiety book by an anxiety therapist. An “unflinchingly honest guide to living with anxiety in an age of constant optimisation, digital overload and curated calm.” What sets it apart is how it considers the complexities of modern world and how it propagates mental health issues. Books that deal with various mental conditions have been a staple in by bookshelves and reading list for years but I think this is the only book I’ve read so far that talks about and addresses that unique landscape that we’re living in right now quite so directly: social media, AI therapy, the need for instant gratification, the fear of being cancelled, etc. ” At some point, Fletcher even engaged with an AI therapy tool for personal issues, which I find really relatable. How many of us have, in a state of overwhelming emotion, turn to chatGPT (or any AI chatbot or what have you) in search for someone to talk to or a quick relief/validation. It doesn’t necessarily vilify the use but the author was particularly responsible in talking about it: giving both sides (the pros and the cons) and what actually sets human therapy from it. Newsflash, it’s the human-ness of it after all. “When someone sits with your pain not to fix it quickly, but to help you feel less alone in it.” […] “It’s one of the few places left where we can just be human together.” There’s really nothing better than it. (As you can guess, I’m truly an advocate of therapy hah.)

I also find the dialogue between his emotions (his ‘internal commentary’ team) refreshing (“they’re the chorus of thoughts we all carry. just made embarrassingly visible on page“). It’s a familiar tool used in therapy — naming your thoughts and emotions — but actually naming it, and identifying what says who in your head (in real time) and reading it on page is fascinating. I also quite enjoyed the supervision (a formal process where a psychotherapist regularly discusses their clinical work with another an experienced supervisor) chapters where he detailed conversation with his supervisor, Gail, as he navigate having compassion fatigue as a therapist. This book explored anxiety and modern challenges alongside four stories of clients he oversaw while he wrestles with his own mental health challenges. I picked up bits and pieces from each of the story, things that are close to my heart. But I think, out of the four, my favourite was Miriam’s case. A trainee psychotherapist that pays for her studies using sex work. She struggled with her identity as a sex worker and trying to break in this industry, with fears of being judged for it. The book posed an important question: “who gets to be a therapist?”. I really liked Gail’s take on this:

“Therapy has always wrestled with its image. The noble respectable healer. White coat, clipboard, polished shoes. The idea that we must be untouchable in order to help. But what your client brings is lived experience. Insight. Empathy forged in places most of us would never dare go. That is no less valuable than theory.” […] “clients don’t come to us for perfection. They come because they want to be understood. And sometimes the people who have lived on the sharp edges of society understands best.”

“So, who gets to be a therapist? The ones wiling to sit with pain, even their own. The rest is window dressing. Ethical and professional boundaries included, of course.”

She’s so cool. I don’t know her but I love her already. But I digress. lol.

It was the first time in a long while that I was actively using a highlighter while reading a book (i.e., highlighting as I go; because for the longest time, I just mark it in pencil and then I highlight after I finish a book). It was the first time in a long while that I felt like I was actually conversing with a book. Most of the time, when I am overcome with emotion, I usually post book reactions in my bookstagram stories. But mental health (and my anxieties) are such personal topics that I can’t go on sharing every big thought that I have to the public. I adapted a slower-paced reading, which I genuinely like. It was nice to immerse this much in a book — and a non-fiction book at that. Overall, I’m glad I stumbled across this gem of a book that one rainy morning. Highly recommended! ✨

I Want You to be Happy by Jem Calder – 5/5☕

How to begin with this? I didn’t know what I was expecting when I picked up this book but this got so many good reviews that I got curious. With that striking book cover, blurbs from Sally Rooney and Annie Lord, and that description that says “disquieting vision of contemporary pain”, it felt right up my alley. And boy was I right. Jem Calder‘s I Want You to Be Happy is modern day take on relationships. I’m not too sure if I can call this a romance exactly but if you’ve ever tried dating in this modern, digital era, I feel like there is definitely bits and pieces you’ll be able to closely relate to in this. This centers Chuck and Joey, two very different people who randomly met at a bar and started seeing each other immediately after that. Chuck is a 35-year old copy writer. Joey is a 23-year-old poet living paycheck to paycheck in her barista job. When an avoidant and an anxiously attached date, you can already guess that it is gonna get ugly if not handled well. I’ve seen a couple of reviews comparing it to Rooney’s Normal People. I didn’t get that much of the same vibe when I was reading it but it definitely painted a very distinct image of a realistic relationship because of how realistic the two people involved in it are painted. This was written in dual POVs — and both voices are very distinct. There definitely are a lot of times when I felt my chest hurting because these pages have that underlying quiet sadness or a lot of ironic small tragedies encapsulated in thoughts and inner monologues (“Well, who’s sure. Being sure’s a luxury. Only rich people can afford to be sure. The rest of us just have to throw ourselves into people’s lives and find out the hard way if we belong there or not.“) The constant checking of when someone is last online versus if they replied to your WhatsApp chat or not, the compartmentalizing and avoiding of thinking about anything that matters/difficult, expecting too much of someone or putting them on a pedestal when you got to a point when you are infatuated enough, getting depressed and then picking yourself back up again at the slightest hint of affection, being paranoid of being too-available/vulnerable or messaging too much. It was honestly rather depressing and frustrating, but also so freaking accurate.

“He’d spent too much time chasing a different life, too much time dreaming. Well, dreams end. […] Getting older is just a mass die-off of dreams; yoru hopes expire one by one and your options taper down to the life you actually have.”

This was my personal hell and reading this personally felt like constantly picking at a scabbing wound. It was awful but I can’t help but look at it. Mostly because it mirrors a lot of my relationship neuroses so accurately and so freaking specifically that it felt like being attacked a lot of times (side note: it pains me to say that I am a Joey through and through). I’m pretty sure I’m not the only that will be able to relate to this too closely. Obviously, it is very hard for me to review or judge this book given how attached I am to this. But it got me agonizingly hooked and I think that still says something. I couldn’t put it down and I was reading it across London (fitting) when I had a quick trip last time.

While I was reading this, I have a running thought that this is such a London book. And towards the end of that last chapter, Joey looked out her window and described the sky as “dove grey” — and I thought “what a wonderful way of looking it“. People would usually feel that color spells bleak but for some reason, at that time, all I can think about was whimsy. I’m glad this book ended in a hopeful note.

What I’m currently reading and looking forward to

These are the books I am actively reading right now:

  • Dungeon Crawler Carl by Matt Dinniman – This comes recommended by C as a proper palate cleanser after a series or heavy/emotional reads. I started listening to this one yesterday and the narration cracked me up so much.
  • Cafe. Waiting. Love. by Giddens Ko, tr. by Shanna Tan – Another palate cleanser. This is supposed to be a cozy story set in a small-town cafe in one of my favorite places, Taiwan. I have such fond memories of the place so I’m excited for this one.
  • Receipts from the Bookstore by Katie Clapham – This was a book that I started months ago and is still planning to finish in the next months.

From the end of August, I’ve since finished reading 3 books: Wonton Terror, The Correspondent, and Egg Drop Dead. These will have to go to my next reading wrap-up. I hope I get to write more of these more frequently so my thoughts for each book are still fresh.

2026 Book Read Count as of writing: 21 /24

But in the meantime, let’s talk!

HOW ABOUT YOU? HOW WAS YOUR READING THIS past months? DID YOU HAVE ANY NOTABLE FAVE? 

(Read my previous updates this year: Q1 Reading Update | Mid Year Check-In)

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