And Just Like Wrap (Up, July-Style)

What we read, watched, loved and ate this past month!

The good news is that we’re not that far behind in presenting our July wrap-up of everything we’ve watched, bought, cooked, etc. The bad news is there is no bad news, unless you want to die on the hill of trying to tell Jen how good The Hunting Wives is. (Spoiler alert: IT IS NOT AND SHE WILL FIGHT YOU.)

So let’s dive right in!

WHAT WE’RE READING

Jen: Ooh, I’ve had such a great month of reading! I won’t go any deeper into The Sum of Us, having mentioned it in every podcast and conversation over the last month. Instead, I’ll tell you about my summer fiction. Just finished and LOVED Laura Lippman’s Murder Takes a Vacation. Her past few books have been so darkly compelling, so I was anticipating more of the same. Instead, she delivered a cozy mystery a la Agatha Christie and it was exactly what the doctor ordered. Plus, her character had been a bit player in the Tess Monaghan series, so… now I have twelve more books to buy. If she doesn’t make Mrs. Blossom into a series, I will be profoundly disappointed.

I also finished The Compound by Aisling Rawle which was like Love Island meets The Hunger Games, with a side of Big Brother. Enthusiastic yes. I also read Kate Broad’s Greenwich, which I enjoyed, and Janelle Brown’s What Kind of Paradise, which blew me away. I started Rumaan Alam’s Entitlement… and I abandoned it 30% in. I normally love him but this one just wasn’t hitting for me. I’ll go back because often it’s my mood and not the book. The caliber of his writing is beyond compare but I wasn’t invested in the characters. Leave the World Behind is a favorite, and even though he’s exploring similar themes, it doesn’t feel like the same stakes because the context is so different.

Karyn: I’ve been waiting all month to add my part to this section because I’m finally reading again! And it’s all thanks to Jen’s Peter Pulaski Must Pay, which I read last month and which fully reignited my reading streak.

This month I picked books that people said would hook me fast: Bright Young Women by Jessica Knoll, What Kind of Paradise by Janelle Brown, The First Gentleman by Bill Clinton and James Patterson, and The Wife Between Us by Greer Hendricks and Sarah Pekkanen.

My favorite was The Wife Between Us. I didn’t see any of the twists coming. And it was dense! There was so much story packed into the pages. My least favorite was The First Gentleman. It was a page-turner, but I didn’t get invested in anyone.

WHAT WE’RE WATCHING

Jen: Why am I watching The Hunting Wives? I hate it, and yet I am compelled to keep viewing. Also, the minute I saw Malin Ackerman, I was like, “She’s going to flash her boobs in the first thirty seconds,” and she did. Not a fan of that. Also, said toplessness came when she had to remove her dress to put on a pantyliner—THAT’S NOT HOW ANY OF THAT WORKS.

Also watching this season’s Big Brother, as always. We’ve been getting into the Trainwreck season on (I think) Netflix starting with the one on the poop cruise, plus Amy Bradley Is Missing, largely because I am always looking for proof that cruises are the woooooorst. We’ve been closing out the night with an episode of Parks and Rec, which Fletch has never seen. It holds the test of time.

I tried to watch the Love Island cast from last year in their new Bravo-style Beyond the Villa show and it’s unwatchable, as is the new Bachelor in Paradise. They’re in a regular hotel! With AC! Half the fun was watching them bitch, sweat, and fight bugs. Hard pass.

What should have been good was dreadful. I’m talking about Ice Cube in the new War of the Worlds. He spent the entire ACTION MOVIE seated in front of a webcam. If you like films about people answering Zoom calls and logging into databases, this is for you. On the opposite side of the spectrum, I was absolutely delighted with Happy Gilmore 2. It was a love letter to his fans, his family, and to all of Gen X. It was silly and slapstick and perfect for what it was.