An Open Book: July 2026

I read a lot in July, perhaps because I was enjoying the air conditioning inside the house? Whatever the case, I'm linking up with An Open Book to share about my recent reads-and there were some fascinating ones! 

The Little Grey Men, by B.B. 

I saw this on display in the children's section of the library, and when I saw that it was about "the last gnomes in England" and had been originally published several decades ago, I knew that I needed to read it! This book was delightful. It was a slow, gentle book about some gnomes who decide to embark on a journey to find their brother, who had left a long time ago and had not returned. They experience many dangers and adventures. Even though none of my kids were interested in reading this, I really enjoyed it! 

The Japanese Way of Parenting, by Lisa Katayama

In this book, the author shares about her parenting journey and how she incorporates different principles from Japanese parenting into her approach. She also shares about time that her family has spent in Japan, and how that has affected her kids. I enjoyed reading this book and was pretty interested to read about some of the practices and principles that the author embraces. I was also fascinated when, at the very end of the book, the author shares that although there are a lot of positive elements to Japanese parenting, there are also some negative effects on parents. My biggest critique of this book is that I wanted it to go farther and more in-depth about Japanese parenting, not just the author's own experiences. For example, when the author is in Japan she talks with someone who shares that in rural communities, parenting looks differently from in big cities-I would have loved a chapter on that topic! The author also briefly mentions rituals surrounding childbirth and new parenthood, and I would have loved to see that topic discussed a little more as well. This wasn't my favorite foreign parenting book out there, but it was still a fun, quick read. 

Yesteryear, by Caro Claire Burke

This novel follows Natalie, a woman who has become a "tradwife influencer." She spends her life surrounded by her kids and producers and nannies, curating content for social media-until one day, when she wakes up and feels as if she's slipped into the 1800s-a great premise, right? This book is apparently huge right now and the premise is so promising, but I'm thankful that a couple of people had tipped me off beforehand to temper my expectations. Because this book is not great; it's actually pretty terrible! Even if you disregard the strong sentiments against women, Christianity, motherhood, and the sexual content (it seemed like there was a lot that I found myself skipping over) and language, the story itself is lacking-Natalie doesn't seem to go through any kind of development. This book is basically an intimate look at a woman who has deep depression, bitterness, and trauma that is keeping her in a terrible mental place and no one really does anything about it. It feels kind of like a horror novel with how trapped she is and no hope of escape. I kept hoping that there would be something to redeem this book and story (there are some excellent novels out there about broken people that still feature a glimmer of hope and are worth reading) but nope; there was really nothing to redeem this book or make it worthwhile. What does this book's current popularity say about our culture???? I highly recommend SKIPPING this one!

Everyone is Lying to You, by Jo Piazza

I'm so glad that Michelle recommended this book (I've gotten many great recommendations from her over the years) and I read it immediately after Yesteryear as a sort of palate-cleanser. This story, told from multiple perspectives, mostly follows Lizzie, a journalist and mom, who is unexpectedly contacted by her estranged college friend, Bex. Bex is now a homesteading-influencer, and she invites Lizzie to meet her at MomBomb, an influencer conference where Lizzie can interview her to write a profile. During the conference, Bex goes missing and her husband winds up dead. It's up to Lizzie to put together the pieces. This book was fun! I find it amazing that it could have such similar plot elements to Yesteryear but feel completely different. Some parts were hilarious, some parts intense. There were a lot of fun characters. As for content cautions, there was some sexual content that I skipped (so annoying!), some of the characters make immoral decisions, and there's a bit of language. But overall, even though it wasn't something I'd reread, I enjoyed reading this book.  

Life in Five Senses, by Gretchen Rubin

In this fun book, Rubin talks about the five senses and how she spent a year trying to more intentionally engage each of her senses as she rooted herself to the present moment. I thought it was fun to think about each of the senses and see the different activities that Rubin did. I was particularly intrigued to learn about her creation of an audio apothecary (I think that's what she called it)-basically, compiling songs that she enjoys for different reasons. I was familiar with this practice for books, but not music (since I don't listen to a lot of music, I really like this idea). I enjoyed this book! 

Matrescence, by Lucy Jones

In this book, Jones draws together research and her own stories of pregnancy, childbirth, and motherhood to present a poetic and practical presentation on the changes that women undergo when bringing forth new life. When I first encountered the term "matrescence" a while ago, I found it very validating and wondered why more people weren't talking about it, so I was excited that someone wrote a whole book about it! This book was beautiful and I think a lot of it can benefit many people. I do have some issues with the book; first, the author goes on a small pro-abortion soapbox. The author also seems a bit dismissive of things like unmedicated childbirth-though I did appreciate how she points out the danger of being all-consumed with an obsession over different parenting decisions! So I recommend this book, with caveats. I definitely do not agree with everything in here, but there is some good stuff in here too. 

The Book of the Dun Cow, by Walter Wangerin

I cannot remember who recommended this book to me; thank you whoever you are! The Book of the Dun Cow follows Chauntecleer the Rooster, who benevolently rules over his domain and orders the life of the animals with his "canonical crows." However, life takes a turn when the evil Cockatrice (basically a Demon-Chicken) rises up and attacks Chauntecleer & Co. with his evil spawn. There's also Wyrm, the Big Bad Monster within the Earth. Not only is the writing beautiful and the story adventurous, but this book featured one of the best descriptions of grief in literature that I've read in a long time (between a cow and a rooster!). That paragraph alone makes this book well worth reading in my opinion. The author's note at the end was pretty neat, too, because the author talked about the different sources that informed this novel, like Chaucer and medieval bestiaries. PLEASE NOTE: Although this book features a cast of animal characters (which we commonly would associate with children's books), this IS NOT a children's book. There was a little bit of coarse language and then when I reached the scene where the evil Cockatrice rapes his hens (nothing graphic, but you know what's happening and it is intense) to create his minions, I was confirmed in my decision to not let my kids read this book anytime soon. Still, it's a beautiful book! 

The Last Dragon on Mars, by Scott Reintgen

A friend of mine enjoyed this one and I promptly got it for my oldest and then read it myself! This book follows Lunar, a boy who is a scrapper on Mars; he goes out and finds scraps of things to sell and provide food for the other kids at the Relocation Clinic where he lives. One day when he's out on a salvaging mission, Lunar and his copilot are chased by other scrappers and when he escapes, Lunar finds himself in a restricted area-and a hidden base that no one knows about, a base that's harboring a secret. This book was adventurous and fun and I enjoyed it a lot! 

Howl's Moving Castle, by Diana Wynne Jones

I saw the animated film based on this fantasy book many years ago, and I was intrigued to finally pick this book up. It follows Sophie, a young woman whose family owns a hat shop. When her sisters go off to seek their fortunes in different places, Sophie remains and doesn't really have much going for her. Things take a turn for the worse when the Witch of the Waste shows up and casts a spell on Sophie that turns her into an old woman. Sophie leaves to find a way to break the spell and winds up in the castle of Howl, a wizard who is rumored to eat the hearts of young women. I don't really read many fantasy books that deal with magic and witches and wizards, so a couple parts were a bit "witchier" than I'm used to (nothing terribly explicit magic-wise, though), but overall, I really enjoyed this book! The story about Sophie's growth and development as a person is fascinating, and Howl also has some cool development and growth, too. Immediately after reading this I borrowed the movie from a friend, since I didn't remember it well and was interested to see how they compare. Well, the movie is vastly different from the book, and although I usually love Miyazaki's work and think Studio Ghibli is wonderful, I much prefer the book and think it's way better! 

Thanks so much for joining me this month! If you have any recommendations, please drop them in the comments!

By: AnneMarie