Recent acquisitions.

On some level, I always knew May, June, and July were going to be busy, probably stressful. It’s no surprise, then, that I remain behind on my Shakespeare in a Year project and have strayed far afield of my Latin goal. Still, I generally make time to read.

■ Girl A (Abigail Dean; 2021)
■ Day One (Abigail Dean; 2024)
Borrowed from the library. Reviews here and here.

■ NeuroTribes: The Legacy of Autism and the Future of Neurodiversity (Steve Silverman; 2015)
Read with my daughter. Related link here.

■ Trust (Hernan Diaz; 2022. Fiction.) RFS
Read with UCSC’s The Deep Read. Visit their site for faculty lectures, reading notes, and more.

■ The Story of a New Name (Elena Ferrante; 2012)
“So much drama!” my reading friend and I texted to one another as we read the second of the Neapolitan Novels. But what if the author has disguised her commentary on the volatile nature of female relationships and the life of the mind in a melodramatic mix of misogyny, abuse, poverty, and small meannesses? She engages readers in the book equivalent of a soap opera, then levels them with sly observations.

■ The Ministry of Time (Kaliane Bradley; 2024)
Part Kate and Leopold and part (somewhat messy) dissection of the nature of power, this novel didn’t impress me as it has others.

■ An American Dreamer: Life in a Divided Country (David Finkel; 2024)
Review here.

■ One of Ours (Willa Cather; 1923)
Read from the shelves. As I’ve mentioned, I’m (re)reading Cather’s novels, one each month in chronological order. The (inevitable) conclusion of this one, which earned the Pulitzer Prize, gutted me.

■ I’m So Glad We Had This Time Together (Maurice Vellekoop; 2024)
Vellekoop’s art is terrific and the story, compelling, but this memoir was too long by about 225 pages.