July reading wrap-up // 5 mini book reviews!!

[@MaBelleIndifference]

This month I finished the Neapolitan novels by Elena Ferrante. This series was a psychological epic! So nuanced in the way it explores the relationship between the two main characters, their codependency and their rivalry throughout the course of their lives. Highly recommend!

[@BMTitus]

My best July memory was reading the selected letters of Jack Kerouac 1940 -1956 while drinking wine and listening to Der Ring des Nibelungen.

[@annaz2349]

Good for you💁‍♀️👏

[@jamesduggan7200]

Oh yes, Kerouac was born to write.

[@johnsaxongitno4life588]

Congrats to you on your amazing reading for the last month of July please stay safe and enjoy your reading love your family friend John xxx

[@betinaceciliafeld9854]

I'd love to read The Lady with the Little Dog sometime as it's such an important part in The Reader, which film adaptation I loved. My reading month wasn't great, I DNF a lot but now I'm more than half way through Frankenstein and I'm enjoying it quite much. I'm also very excited for my plans for August. I plan to read Tess of the D'Urbervilles, Howards End, The Age of Innocence and La Dame aux Camélias, all of them for the first time. Happy August! Hugs from Argentina.

[@nikkivenable3700]

I cannot wait until you get back to Russian lit! Omg. I’ve missed your reviews and discussions!❤️❤️❤️❤️

[@jamesduggan7200]

The best thing about Russian lit is that it's always there for you when you go back to it.

[@pamelatarajcak5634]

I'm currently reading Bridges of Madison County and I'm loving it too. Above the chemistry, but Waller's pathos and description are beautiful too. I saw the movie years ago as my mother went to high school with the actor who played the grown-up son. I'm so glad I finally got to the novel too.

[@nikkivenable3700]

Have you seen the movie? Omg. Nothing wrecks me like that movie. It’s so moving…I love the music, the gorgeous Clint Eastwood, the beautiful Iowa summers. Truthfully I can’t watch it but once a decade because it depresses me so much and makes me bawl. I wanted her to leave with him so badly and oh, the ending. It’s too much. 😭

[@LexieMoon321]

I love how calming this video! I also didn’t read much this month so this makes me feel so much better. I read a couple of graphic novels and then Book Lovers (that was a four out of five stars!)

[@J_R186]

I just started Frankenstein for the first time. I'm really looking forward to my reading experience.

[@janelevey3435]

I love Tender is the night.

[@sofia7321]

Hi! Thank you for inspiring me! I highly recommend Vanity Fair since you loved Anna Karenina... it's a good read for summer

[@lislibrary]

Hi Carolyn! I love the way you talk about books. I finished One Hundred Years of Solitude in July (new favorite!) and I'm currently reading The Shadow of the Wind, which reminds me so much of One Hundred Years!

[@AB-jk3ft]

Regarding Russian lit, I just read Cancer Ward by Solzhenitsyn this month and I absolutely loved it. It's based in Soviet Russia and it was such a good look at how different people deal with their cancer diagnosis/treatment and at medicine in the Soviet Union (and just the 1950s in general). I highly recommend it for your Russian lit journey!

[@jamesduggan7200]

Yes, I remember that story, as well as Gulag Archipelago. The writing is clear as a church bell in a sleepy town.

[@literaterue]

Watching your video as I fix the tabs on the books that I read this month. Your voice is so soothing to listen to in the background 🌸🫶🏻

[@MartinDSmith]

As regards the alternative spelling of your name,Caroline is quite popular.In fact even though Charlotte Bronte names her novel Shirley,it is really the character Caroline who takes the lion's share of the plot.😃✨

[@denisefreitas6727]

I love F. Scott Fitzgerald and Tchekhov too. They're really amazing. My favorite book from July was The Casket of Time, by Andri Snaer Magnason. I'm currently reading War and Peace, by Tolstoy, and The Seven Sisters, by Lucinda Riley.

[@jamie_lynn_]

I recommend reading Chekhov's plays. Especially The Seagull, Uncle Vanya, and The Cherry Orchard. Oh gosh and Three Sisters. Gosh just all of them, haha! One of my fav writers of all time. As an actor, being able to perform Chekhov feels like winning the lottery :)

[@Aliocha31]

To continue in Russian literature, you should read Doctor Zhivago.

[@jmsl910]

a doppio and you! best moment ever☕️☕️💕

[@efluvial]

I also read Bridges…. Loved it and the movie, though it was back in the 90s

[@רוןגורליק-ה5ע]

Love to know you liked Tender is the night It’s such a great book! And I hope to have time to tell myself 5 books a month is a lot because I don’t have time for three not speaking of two. But Hope you get the enough reading that’ll make you satisfied ✨🔥🤟🏼

[@kaylacurrently]

I have been reading from the Women's Prize long list and just finished The Paper Palace by Miranda Cowley Heller. It was fantastic and I do think you may like it as well. Like Bridges of Madison County and Anna Karenina it shows how messy love and relationships can be. Not even just between romantic partners but between parents and their children as well a siblings.

[@MilenaReads]

Thanks for reminding me to read more Chekhov! 🌼

[@jamesduggan7200]

Haven't read any of those but I did notice a Chekov on my shelf that I will send to you. Enjoy!

[@CarolynMarieReads]

That’s incredibly kind of you!

[@SplashyCannonBall]

Tale if Two Cities. !! Sydney Carton is A Man! Not to mention the French Revolution is an amazing mark on history to remind people that we are not to be controlled.

[@ReadingNymph]

I too enjoy a book that is inspired by other books, it really is amazing

[@emiri7842]

You're so beautiful and have great taste in books!

[@janelevey3435]

The Beautiful and the damned is a great book too.

[@LadyKitsunetsuki]

It would be awesome if you started to read Russian lit again. When you were reading it more in the past I bought a lot of the ones that you own. I thought it would be fun to read Russian lit as you did. The only one that I read so far was your favorite Anna Karenina.

[@dsalet1]

I read “Cloud Cuckoo Land” by Anthony Doerr and started reading “Thomas Jefferson: The Art of Power” by Jon Meacham.

[@sharonlarson5331]

Carolyn, The Bridges of Madison County is presented as a true story, but is in fact entirely fictional. This came out when the book was first published a gazillion years ago when I read it.

[@margueritemitchell1829]

Hello from British Columbia Canada 🇨🇦👋👍♥️🌲🌲🧘‍♀️🌲🌲🔥👠 I read the book first. Even though I love Clint and Meryl I thought they didnt suit the characters..??? Maybe if I watched it now I might change my mind but I dont think so.

[@elizatolwinska9202]

I think there is a follow-up to The Bridges of Madison County called A Thousand Country Roads.

[@CarolynMarieReads]

Oowww I’ll have to look into that!

[@anastasiiasafiannikova5181]

Hi Carolyn! Love your videos, thank you so much for your work! ❤️ I was wondering, did you and Emma have a debate on War and Peace after reading it? I cannot find it anywhere, and I really want to watch it since I am going to read the book this month! So excited ✨

[@jmsl910]

can anyone recommend a good entry book for chekhov ?

[@jamesduggan7200]

Many are good, but the two very famous plays: Cherry Orchard and Uncle Vanya, are natural places to start. As a more obscure beginning you might want to try his less well-known work of cultural anthropology about the prisoners living on the very remote island of Sakhalin.

[@fallenangelz291]

Knowing the types of books you normally read and love, 'm pretty surprised you loved Bridges of Madison County. I read three pages of that book and literally threw it across the room. The writing was just so god-awful. Now, I did like the movie; it's especially good if you just fast-forward to all the Meryl Streep parts. I ugly cried at the end. But the book?! God, no. Like Anna Karenina? I laughed out loud at that comment.

[@sarahsperusals]

me: i’m gonna watch my policeman when it comes out and skip reading it “the author was inspired by forster” me: now hold on a minute 🧐

[@CarolynMarieReads]

It’s absolutely worth a read!!!!!!!!!!! Do it for Forster 💕

[@zubaerchaudhari8267]

Hello

[@daanvanhove9657]

First