six books I read in June

A recap of a biggish reading month: Perfection, Mongrel, Rejection, Hungerstone, Milk Fed and My Sister, the Serial Killer

I spent my first full month of June in London, and I get it now — this is why people move here. Everything (and everyone) has finally defrosted. The grass is yellow, days are long, legs are out, neighbours tinker in gardens, and friends are up for anything as long as a beverage and blue sky are involved. Immaculate vibes.

I swapped screen time for sun time and convinced myself that doing nothing was justified as long as I had a book in hand. Shout out to the surprisingly decent London weather for higher-than-usual page count.

the book stack 🤓

Mongrel, Hanako Footman: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

It took me five months to pick up Mongrel. I have a bad habit of putting off reading books that I know will be good, and thankfully, it didn’t disappoint. I can’t remember where I saw this one recommended, but I was immediately drawn to the intertwining narratives between the three women — Mei, Yuki and Haruka. Set against the backdrops of Surrey, London and Tokyo, Footman’s exploration of isolation, desire and identity is considered. She takes the human experience and cracks it wide open, sparing no detail in her prose. Lyrical descriptions can often feel clichéd or add unnecessary fluff, but in Mongrel, no word feels out of place — and that’s Footman’s biggest strength.

My main issue with Mongrel (as with a lot of contemporary fiction I’ve read recently) is how it teeters into trauma porn territory. Some events that Footman included felt a little unexamined — more like box-ticking than a genuine effort to develop the characters. Like, I don’t need your character to suffer in order to have sympathy for them? That aside, I think everyone should read this book. You can thank me later.

Rejection, Tony Tulathimutte: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

I don’t know where to start with this one, and I still don’t know how to feel about it. I’m famously a short story hater, but was intrigued by the idea that all of them could be interlinked and bound by one theme — rejection. I think it’s the only book I’ve ever read that’s left me with a what-the-actual-fuck-did-I-just-read feeling. This review from Jessica Woodbury on Goodreads puts it better than I can:

“This book is very good and I did not enjoy it at all. May sound like a contradiction, but this is a book that wants to get you real deep into the worst of what we have to offer in the world of being extremely online, being a troll irl, being a truly terrible person who knows therapy words. The stories are so good, so precise, it's like watching a surgery video. Gut wrenching and precise.”

Pics was my favourite story in the collection, while every page of Ahegao inched me closer to prudishness, even though I couldn’t look away. The second half did lose me a bit, but I think that was the point? Don’t expect to feel comfortable reading this, but if you want something that feels original (hate that word) and zeitgeist-y, this is the one.

Perfection, Vincenzo Latronico: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Lit-fic girlies don’t hate me. I know it was shortlisted for the 2025 International Booker Prize, and a lot of people had a lot of praise for it (my local bookshop included — it had one of those ‘We recommend this!’ stickers hanging out of it), but I’d describe Perfection in one word: meh. The two main characters, millennial expats Anna and Tom, are digital nomads living in Berlin, trying to curate something of an Instagrammable life. They’re the kind of couple that popular meme account @socks_house_meeting pokes fun at — gentrifying their way through European cities, one small plate and glass of natural wine at a time. I found their interests (and to an extent, what they stand for) showed a level of cognitive dissonance, though that was the point. Not going to lie, I also found parts of the book — like when they seek out the less touristy parts of cities while refusing to accept a standard of living below what they're used to — held up a mirror to my own actions (eep).

My biggest gripe with Perfection though is that you’re kept at an arm’s length. You’re not given any insight into where these two are from or why they are the way they are. I wanted to immerse myself deeper into the more unlikable parts of the characters, but Latronico prefers to give you a Spark Notes-esque run-down of Anna and Tom’s way of life. And unfortunately, you get two people who feel like friends of friends you once met in passing on a night out at a bar — people you feel nothing but apathy for.

If you’re interested in what two of the best minds on Substack had to say about Perfection, read Pandora Sykes and Ochuko Akpovbovbo’s conversation: 2 girls 1 book.

Hungerstone, Kat Dunn: ⭐️⭐️⭐️ 1/2

Give me a sapphic retelling every day of the week. Inspired by Carmilla (the vampire book that started all vampire books), Hungerstone is Gothic, mysterious and seductive. Set at the height of the Industrial Revolution out on the moors, Lenore is unsatisfied as a high-society wife of steel magnate Henry until she meets Carmilla. What Dunn does well in this book is establish tension straight off the bat. Similar to The Safekeep, Lenore's unspoken desire for Carmilla is palpable, and I enjoyed seeing it surface as the story progressed. But pacing was a real issue for me — I struggled with the fact that not much happened until the book's final third. Because the book is so bottom-heavy, Dunn isn’t able to give events the space they need to fully develop. Anyway, I would still recommend this. Just be prepared to go from 0 to 100 towards the end (which is better than a book that goes 100 to 0 IMO).

My Sister, the Serial Killer, Oyinkan Braithwaite: ⭐️⭐️ 1/2

I spend most Saturday mornings listening to the latest episode of Casefile, but that week’s didn’t grab me, so I thought I’d fill the void with a short, pacey crime fiction read. Set in Nigeria, the story follows two sisters — Ayoola, who kills her love interests, and Korede, who cleans up her messes. While Korede is usually complicit in her sister’s antics, she becomes more conflicted than ever when Ayoola starts dating a co-worker Korede has long had a crush on. Almost too predictably, Braithwaite then sets up a ‘blood is thicker than water’ type dilemma which (unfortunately) fell flat on me. Because the novel is so short, you get little more than a one-dimensional insight into the sisters and what sets them apart — something you'd typically expect more of in more character than plot-driven crime fiction. Nonetheless, I finished it in two days, which is saying something. It was the book equivalent of a quickie — I knew it wouldn’t be the best, but it hit the spot.

Milk Fed, Melissa Broder: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

I devoured this in two days as God (or Melissa Broder) intended. Rachel — a lapsed Jew — meets Miriam — an orthodox Jew — in a frozen yoghurt shop, and becomes increasingly hungry in every possible way. It’s queer, a bit strange, and explores themes of desire, obsession, and spirituality in a way that’s reminiscent of Miranda July’s All Fours. What I love about Broder is that her observations on the human experience are as sharp as they are funny in both her fiction and non-fiction. I remember reading her collection of personal essays So Sad Today, after a break-up (the most down bad I’d ever been) and still being able to laugh out loud. I’ve also heard great things about Death Valley, so it’d be rude not to give that a go next.

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Hope this influenced you to read (or not) these books. Weather permitting, I should be thawing out for another two months, so any and all book recommendations are welcome. 🤗