After taking a three-week break from blogging, I’m happy to be back. In case you missed my blog last week, here’s the link: A Book I Read in June 2026. It tells you a bit of what was going on with me during my absence from the blogosphere most of the month of June.

I got to read three complete books in June after decreasing the number of blogs I was writing every week. It was a welcome change of pace for me!

The Calamity Club, by Kathryn Stockett

The Help, by Kathryn Stockett is one of my all-time favorite books, so I waited impatiently for her to write another novel. I thoroughly enjoyed The Calamity Club, her new release.

Stockett seamlessly wove together the lives of five women who  — how can I put this nicely? — had diverse backgrounds and life experiences. What they had in common was a shared need to survive in Mississippi in 1933 when the country was in the grips of The Great Depression.

I was pulling for Meg at the Lafayette County Orphan Asylum from the beginning. And you can’t help but pull for Birdie as she swallows her pride and travels to visit her sister, Frances, because Frances has married well and will surely give her some money so Birdie and their mother can survive a little longer in the Mississippi Delta.

It turns out that things aren’t what they seem in Frances’ life and Frances and her mother-in-law, Mrs. Startt, have some hard lessons to learn. They are both under the false impression that their lives are not falling apart and surely there will always be enough money for them to live in the manner in which they are accustomed.

Charlie comes along with her colorful and sad past. She comes with lots of baggage but a willingness to work with the others to try to save them all from being penniless. The plan she cooks up will make you laugh out loud even though it is inevitable.

Meg is wise beyond her years and has an endearing sense of humor and a way with words. Birdie seems to be the only one of the adults who has any common sense.

I had really looked forward to this book, and it did not disappoint. Although it is a large book at more than 1,000 pages in large print (650 pages in regular print), when I got to the end I only wanted more.

Having an historical novel in which to dive and get lost in was exactly what I needed last month.

I hope Stockett is already working on her third novel!

Theo of Golden, by Allen Levi

While I was on the waitlist at the public library for Theo of Golden, I read a number of reviews of the novel. People seem to really like the book or really not like it, so I was eager to read it for myself.

The story is intriguing, and I certainly didn’t want to put it down. The premise of the book is very clever and refreshing.

Theo was born in Portugal, lived all over the world, and in this novel has landed somewhere south of Atlanta, Georgia. That’s about all we know about Theo. He only has the one name, and we don’t know what he does for a living or how he made his money – of which he seems to have more than plenty.

Theo is a likeable old man. He makes a point to make friends with people in Golden. He patronizes a coffeeshop his first day in town and is enamored with the 92 hand-drawn portraits on the wall. This interest in the portraits is something that is carried throughout the book and they are the catalyst for his meeting many people in Golden and learning their stories.

His discovery of the portraits is the inciting event for the novel, and may I say was a clever and “novel” idea on the part of the author. I’ll not tell you about the artist or what happens to the portraits, but it is a delightful story of human kindness and unlikely individuals discovering that they have talents and can excel.

The ending will surprise you.

What a satisfying month of reading I had in June!

What have you been reading? Have you read any of the books I read in June? What did you think about them?

Janet

Never take your right to read for granted.