Day 13

Total pages read today: 155
Total pages read in June: 450

Writers & Lovers

Started on: Page 301
Finished on: Page 320
Pages read: 19

“On Monday morning I wake up at five. I need to establish a routine right from the start: an hour and a half of writing every day before work.”

Page 302

I finished the book! I finished Writers & Lovers by Lily King, and although I started reading it at the very beginning of the month and probably shouldn’t feel too proud, I’m glad I committed to reading every day.

I’ll write an in-depth review in a few days as I gather and organize my thoughts. So far, I have given it 3.5 stars. I kept waiting for the plot to really start, right up until the last page.

I also need to add that I thought I was reading Happy Hour by Marlowe Granados the entire time. I only realized my mistake at the very end.

The Unwilding

Started on: Page 5
Finished on: Page 141
Pages read: 136

After finishing a marathon that should have been an afternoon, I immediately picked up our Online Book Club pick, The Unwilding by Marina Kemp, and wow, what a difference.

“There is a boredom unique to summer holidays and unique to youth, whose sheer enormity I have not experienced since.”

Page 27

Right away, I’m enthralled by the story, and I’m in Sicily in the year 1999. Kemp’s writing is unlike anything I’ve come across in years, and I’m shocked by how little discussion I see surrounding her work. Every turn of the page surprises me. I read for two and a half hours and read 136 pages without glancing up. Not once.

We’re in mid-August, watching wealthy, elegant guests arrive at our father’s villa through the eyes of childhood and endless free time. Five pages later, we’re 26 and trying to fit in. Trying to appear established. Worthy. Whatever that means.

I stopped reading as I reached a new setting, a new season, a new point in time.

I want to remain in Catania. I want to stay here a little longer before the sound of bustling engines carries us into a future these characters have already grown into, but one I’m not yet prepared for.

Looking at the photos now, I love seeing the passage of time reflected in the sun’s changing shadows across the pages. I’ll probably pick the book up again in a few minutes, but I wanted to mark the moment. We’re finally moving on in this series and beginning a title I’ve been looking forward to for months.

Thank you for reading along!

Tomorrow’s post marks the two-week milestone, and I hope to look back and see progress from where I began.

We’ll see.