June wrap-up

All the things I read and loved in June.

Jul 01, 2025

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I spend a lot of time on Substack critiquing things, so I thought I would change it up at least once a month and send out a monthly newsletter that celebrates all the things I read this month and books I discovered that I want to read. So, welcome to the monthly wrap-up!

By the numbers

Shout-out to The StoryGraph for always providing me with the stats I need every month and every year. If you haven’t already started to track your books on Storygraph, what are you doing?

Some reflecitons on my reading stats this month:

It took me quite a bit longer to finish books (10 days), but I think that’s because I finished a few books that I started mooonths ago.
I always try to read a 50/50 split of fiction and non-fiction and I perfected that this month.
I read not only from a lot of genres, but also from a lot of places. Honestly, I stopped putting in countries after a while for “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” because I didn’t want to put every country mentioned. So I just added the ones that were focused on the most.

Favorite fiction book: “Small Boat” by Vincent Delecroix

Synopsis: In November 2021, an inflatable dinghy carrying migrants from France to the United Kingdom capsized in the Channel causing the death of 27 people on board. Despite receiving numerous calls for help, the French authorities wrongly told the migrants they were in British waters and had to call the British authorities for help. By the time rescue vessels arrived on the scene, all but two of the migrants had died. The narrator of Delecroix’s fictional account of the events is the woman who took the calls.

Review: A really challenging yet short novella that uses the real-life event of the unnecessary deaths of migrants who drowned while trying to reach England. Sadly, this occurrence is far too frequent and this book challenges the reader to grapple with their own morality and how we are all collectively playing a part in these completely preventable deaths. A truly unique reading experience.

Favorite non-fiction book #1 (I can’t choose a fav this month): “How to Speak Whale” by Tom Mustill

Synopsis: What if animals and humans could speak to one another? Tom Mustill—the nature documentarian who went viral when a thirty‑ton humpback whale breached onto his kayak—asks this question in his thrilling investigation into whale science and animal communication.

Review: Absolutely incredible. I found this endlessly fascinating and I learned so much, not just about whales but about animal intelligence and communication. I do think you have to have an interest in animals to read this book as it is very science-heavy, but it is communicated in a way that makes it easy to understand.

It was also interesting to see the potential learnings from AI that could happen in the future, but I also appreciated how the author called out the risks in this as well.

Favorite non-fiction book #2 (I can’t choose a fav this month): “How Europe Underdeveloped Africa” by Walter Rodney

Synopsis: How Europe Underdeveloped Africa is an ambitious masterwork of political economy, detailing the impact of slavery and colonialism on the history of international capitalism. In this classic book, Rodney makes the unflinching case that African “mal-development” is not a natural feature of geography, but a direct product of imperial extraction from the continent, a practice that continues up into the present

Review: This book should be required reading and I’m upset with myself for not having read it earlier. A profound introduction to the colonial history of Africa and the detrimental effects it still has today. I loved how this book dove into the pre-colonial history of Africa to truly show the horrific effects of colonialism. I learned so much reading this book and now I want to dive into each of the countries discussed because this is really just hitting the surface.

What I’ve added to my TBR (to-be-read)

“Birding with Benefits” by Sarah T. Dubb: A romance centered around birding? How could I not love this?
“Bad Diaspora Poems” by Momtaza Mehri: A poetry collection that explores the author’s family's experience and the stories of others across nineteenth- and twentieth-century Somalia.
“Exile: Chronicle of the Border” by Didier Fassin and Anne-Claire Defossez: Journalism that looks into a popular border crossing for refugees between Italy and France and the ineffectiveness of the militarization of the border.
“Always Home, Always Homesick” by Hannah Kent : I love Iceland and I love Hannah Kent’s writing and this is her memoir about her time in Iceland. Sounds perfect.

Families I’m supporting

In the midst of a ceasefire, mutual aid and support is so incredibly important to help families rebuild their lives and to help provide them with continued opportunties for safety. If you’re able to, please support a family:

Mahmoud, Tamer, and Tala. I last heard from Mahmoud last week and this family is still in Dai Albalah in the middle of the Gaza strip. They lost their mother and wife earlier this year. Tamer has Autism and navigating this cruel world is especially hard for him.
The Tareq family including Amani who is suffering from multiple medical conditions and needs urgent care
Mohammed’s family including his wife and three kids as they struggle to survive in Khan Younis
Rozana’s family including her husband and three-year-old son (Ziad) who used to live in Gaza City and now have no home or clean food and water which is making Ziad’s health deteriorate.