The best book I read this month was a historian’s account of how the concept of the West came about and why it’s origin myths are wrong, but I also read some good novels and other books.
July was an unusually quiet month for me, which gave me plenty of time to discover some fascinating new books, from a Spanish classic to a historian’s unravelling of “the West” to a dizzying Indonesian journey into magical realism.
Paris in Turmoil by Eric Hazan
A lifelong Parisian examines the changes the city has witnessed over decades and centuries. I read this one for Emma’s “Paris in July” event and wrote a full review here.
Across the River and Into the Trees by Ernest Hemingway
I read this late Hemingway novel after Meredith of Dolce Bellezza recommended it in a comment on my May roundup. I enjoyed the melancholy, death-tinged mood and the Venice setting, but I found the relationship between the retired American colonel and the teenage Italian countess tedious. So quite a mixed bag for me, but overall I’m glad I read it. More detailed thoughts to follow if I have time.
The Three-Cornered Hat by Pedro Antonio de Alarcón
Another book that I reviewed this month—this time a new translation of a 19th-century Spanish novel about corruption and social hierarchies. Also, a comic novel that I actually found funny, which is a rarity.
Running Down a Dream by Tim Grahl
I was expecting a fairly typical you-can-do-it creative-self-help adrenaline shot, but this book is a little different. Running Down a Dream kind of delivers the “road map to winning creative battles” that it promises in the subtitle, but it also undercuts that message by showing that the best techniques don’t necessarily provide satisfaction, and that even when you do run down that dream, it doesn’t always make you happy. So more of an adrenaline shot with a side of Xanax.
The West by Naoíse Mac Sweeney
In The West, historian Naoíse Mac Sweeney shows in great detail how “the grand narrative of Western Civilisation is factually wrong,” and the myth of an unbroken line of descent from ancient Greece through Rome to modern Europe and North America is perpetuated not because it’s true but because it’s ideologically useful.
I want to write more about this book, but in the meantime, please read it. We could save a lot of time on tedious culture wars if more people understood when and why the West was invented.
Beauty Is a Wound by Eka Kurniawan
I bought this Indonesian novel in a bookshop in Jakarta and recently discovered it in a storage box. I’m glad I read it. It’s a very creative fictional journey through Indonesia’s painful history with heavy doses of magical realism (ghosts, curses, people returning from the dead, men who are impervious to bullets, etc.).
However, there were also some parts that left a very bad taste in my mouth, primarily around this male writer’s repeated depictions of rape, incest, bestiality, grown men falling in love with children, etc. I was bothered not so much by their frequency in the book (which could perhaps be justified based on allegories to the country’s violent history both during and after colonisation) but by the language with which they’re described and the way characters react to them, which seems at times to normalise or even approve of them. So, although it has some wonderful elements, I wouldn’t recommend this one.
What did you read this month?
Let me know your favourite books of the month in the comments, and tell me if you’ve read or think you’d like to read any of mine.
There are 11 comments
Always interested in your monthly round-up! I’m noting The West because I am always up for a culture wars book – or at least a book that offers useful information about the reasons we’ve ended up where we are. I’m hugely behind in my reviewing – again! Hopefully I’ll catch up a bit next week.
To be honest, the “culture war” thing was what I got out of it, not so much what the book put in. I suppose it’s on my mind a lot these days. The book doesn’t deal with culture wars, but I think it does give important background to explain today’s ideological battles and their very old roots.
I hope you catch up with your reviewing. I’m reconciled to being permanently behind at this point!
Wonderful books! The West does sound fascinating.
https://wordsandpeace.com/2026/07/31/2026-july-wrap-up/
Thanks, Emma! Yes, I think you’d like that one. Will check out your roundup now.
As someone who is fascinated by the social history of city life, I’m definitely interested in Paris in Turmoil – all the more so having read your detailed review. The vignette style really appeals, too. One for the wishlist, for sure – many thanks for the review!
It’s a good one, Jacqui! Hazan doesn’t really make the links between the vignettes explicit, so you don’t get a solid thesis the way you would in most social history. But I think the vignettes do add up to an overall view of Paris, and it’s fun to make those links yourself as you read through them.
A good if sort of mixed month. I am intrigued by The West, so please write more about it 🙂
Yes! Kind of mixed, but good overall. The West was my favourite, so I hope to find time to write more about it.
Isn’t it funny how books that try to be funny are often the least funny? I’m glad this one worked out for you!
Hey Keira, You’re right about that! Although perhaps it’s even worse when books are unintentionally funny 🙂
Quite a varied reading month! The West sounds especially interesting, particularly the way it challenges the traditional story of Western civilisation. Paris in Turmoil is another one I’d be tempted to add to my reading list.