June R.E.P.O.R.T.
How are we halfway through the year?
Was it just me, or did the passing of time in June feel really odd? In some respects, June seemed to stretch on for a long time. But we are officially at the halfway point of 2025, and that feels incredibly wild to me. I’ve come to decide to take one day at a time because anything more feels too overwhelming. Here’s what I got up to in June!
Reading:
We’re slowly crawling out of the reading slump! Though June is usually my highest reading count month (16-20), I read 7 books this month, which is great to me! I have tried reminding myself not to force reading when I’m not feeling it, and sometimes I live by this, and then other times I still forget. Here’s everything I read for pride month!
The Ghosts We Keep by Mason Deaver This was a really sweet read. Liam Cooper is a non-binary teen who grapples with grief after his older brother is unexpectedly killed. I thought Mason was poignant at writing complex feelings and wrote beautiful character development. In a past Substack, I wrote about how there aren’t really any books or movies about realistic friend breakups, and this book was!
Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid I’m calling it now, I think this is going to be my favorite book of the year!! I still have such a book hangover after reading it. This book delves into the lives of some of the first women astronauts in the 80s. At the heart of every TJR book is love. And as she said during the book tour event I attended, “I think what makes a good love story is a lot of aching.” Yeah, Taylor, WE KNOW! This book is filled with all kinds of love: sapphic, familial, friendship, self, and I just love it.
Say a Little Prayer by Jenna Voris This one was fine? A bisexual teen is sent to church camp for spring break and is determined to commit one of the seven deadly sins each day. I think the writing on this one just wasn’t up to par for me. I know it’s a YA book, but I felt like it could have been stronger. For example, I really enjoyed Gay Away the Pray by Natalie Naudus last year. But this one I was able to get a free ALC from Libro.fm’s educator program which was great.
I Can't Even Think Straight by Dean Atta I absolutely adored Dean Atta’s Black Flamingo, but I didn’t connect with this one. I think the story was difficult to tell through verse and maybe it’s because I read the audiobook, but it didn’t come across as verse, so it just felt oddly worded at times. And I don’t mind YA or even middle grade, but I didn’t connect with the main character. But I’m not the intended audience for this one, and that’s okay!
Bad Feminist by Roxane Gay I originally started this book in 2016 (because, well you know), but I wasn’t back into my reading era, so I didn’t make it far. I really enjoy Roxane Gay’s writings, and this one was no exception. It was a hard read knowing it was published in 2014 and things have only seemingly become worse.
Blue Sisters by Coco Mellors This was my favorite book last year, and I had been itching to re-read it. It’s such a beautiful and emotionally-charged story. The Blue Sisters went from 4 to 3 and the book follows the surviving 3 sisters in their grief journey after losing Nicky. It’s such a raw look at how messy grief can be, and I love when books can emotionally destroy me.
On Juneneenth by Annette Gordon-Reed Last year, Libro.fm offered this as a free audiobook and I downloaded it, but never ended up reading it. It’s a fairly short book, but has a lot of heavy and important information. I definitely recommend reading it.
On Juneteenth by Annette Gordon-Reed
Eating:
Abby Jimenez Week- I officially kicked off Media on the Menu with Abby Jimenez week! I recreated dishes from 5 of her novels and it was so fun to make dishes outside of Gilmore Girls. But let me tell you, Instagram has HATED that I’ve done this. I write a little on changing niches in my last post, but I’m trying not to feel frustrated by it, but it’s hard not to be! Here’s what I made for Abby Jimenez week:
Red velvet donuts from Yours Truly
Peanut butter and jelly burger from Just for the Summer
Baked French toast from Part of Your World
Chicken Provencal from The Happy Ever After Playlist
Chorizo ravioli from Say You’ll Remember Me
Cookbook Club- This month’s book for cookbook club was By Heart by Hailee Catalano. We have officially made it halfway through a year of cookbook club, and that was a fun milestone to hit. The highlight dish this month were the amoretti cookies that my friend’s husband made.
Charcuterie Nachos- I’ve been wanting to try the viral charcuterie nachos for months, and we finally had them (as our inside date for June). I already know I want to add some tinned fish the next time we make them. They were easy to make and paired really well with a crisp glass of white wine.
Playing:
I wrote about computer games that shaped me as a 90s kid and one of them was Titanic: Adventure Out of Time. Well I found it was available on Steam for $5, so of course I had to get it to play. When I first played this game as a kid, it was with my dad (really it was him playing and me watching). It’s a dark game for kids to play. Growing up, my sister often watched me play computer games, usually when I played the Nancy Drew games. It felt so serendipitous to play this game with my sister and actually take turns as the person sitting at the computer.
There were some moments of this game that felt like true core memories being unlocked. We quickly learned we had to save the game after every conversation because it crashed so often. And the graphics from 1996 were so bad, they were almost charming. But I loved every second of playing the game. We weren’t able to survive the ship sinking at the end, but as it’s a fairly quick game, we do plan in a couple weeks to try again.
Obsessing:
Trader Joe’s Step Up to The Snack Bar Mix- I’m going to write my “the art of the at-home cocktail lounge” post one of these days
Hamilton- watching the Tonys put me right back in my Hamilton obsession, and I’m not mad about it. Then I found a Hamilton sweatshirt at Goodwill for $8 and it was perfect timing!
The sage scones my sister made- I’m always the one baking around here, so it was a fun treat to have my sister bake for me instead. I know this is a bold claim, but these sage scones are probably the best scones I’ve ever had.
90s home decor- my podcast partner, Joy is always talking about 90s home decor, and I’ve tried leaning into it with my bedroom. I had a goal this summer to thrift a few pieces for my room to tie the decor style together to feel more 90s. I found this beautiful magazine rack (to hold all my American Girl magazines, obviously). And two framed art prints that definitely feel like they came from the 90s. I’m slowly turning my room into a 90s romcom set.
My Sookie apron- Sweet Joy found me a screen accurate apron that Sookie wears in 2.05 Nick and Nora, Sid and Nancy. I absolutely love getting to be one step closer to being the real life Sookie!
My new 90s magazine rack!
Recommending:
Sending snail mail- one of my plans for American Girl Magazine Summer was to send snail mail, and I finally started sending some out in June. I loved adding lots of stickers from my old Stickii Club subscription (seriously, I have so many stickers). You can still email me your address to receive mail from me this summer (eatinggilmore@gmail.com)
Shuffles- When I first learned about this app, I felt like the last person to find out about it. I wrote in my last r.e.p.o.r.t that I was obsessing over physical collaging, well I’m also obsessed with digital collaging. This year, I have been making a new shuffle collage every month for my phone lock screen. and making a little mood board playlist to go along with it. I made a pride month one for June! It’s a fun way to digitally collage and freshen up your lock screen.
Mystery Press- Okay, this one is really only if you’re ever in the Czech Republic. If you didn’t know this about me, I collect Yours Truly books. Abby Jimenez posted the Czech version was available through Mystery Press. Sometimes I’m able to order international editions, so I went to their website, and I was able to buy the book (for a very low cost). However, a few days later, I received an email from Mystery Press that they wouldn’t be able to send me the book in America because the shipping cost would be too high. They asked for my bank information to issue a refund. I responded that I didn’t feel comfortable sending my bank info, but that I understood they couldn’t ship it to me. They said they could issue a refund through Paypal (this I was more comfortable with), but they asked how I found them as an American reader who they guessed didn’t speak or write Czech. I explained how I collect editions of Yours Truly and found them through the author. The bookseller was so sweet about this and said they’d try to find a cheaper shipping method for me. And they did! It took a few weeks to get to me, but it was worth it. The cover is beautiful and I love adding to my collection.
About Time- please allow my most recent Substack convince you.
Community- the world is falling apart, but the best thing we can do right now is be in community. Reach out to your friends, your people and just check in. You never know what someone might be going through, so this is a little reminder to connect. And if you feel yourself shutting down, you can always connect with me.
The Czech edition from Mystery Press
Treating:
Ice cream!! I’m co-hosting an Instagram challenge with my sweet IG friend, Mariah @ TheKneadToRead called Sundae Stories. For the month of July (National Ice Cream Month), we are pairing books with frozen treats! I made a few of mine over the course of June, so they’ve been nice little treats to beat this Texas summer heat. We’re also hosting a giveaway as part of the challenge, so be sure to check it out!
More cheers, less fears,
Larisa
love that they did that for you with the book! what other international versions have you collected so far?
I must try Charcuterie Nacho. i will try Charcuterie Nacho if it's the last thing i do.