A round up of all we have read, written and obtained in August.
What we have read in August
The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle by Stuart Turton kicked off our month. I’m still not sure what I made of this time hopping, body swapping murder mystery. It was a lot and required my best concentration pants.
A quick sneak at my year 7’s required reading threw up The Unforgotten Coat by Frank Cottrell Boyce. It’s quick to read but encompasses just about every school subject going which I suppose makes it perfect as a starter for ten at High School.
I couldn’t not read Queenie by Candice Carty-Williams after it won a NIBBIE and turned up in a fabulous new gold cover (as if the shocking pink wasn’t cool enough already!) I really enjoyed this millennial read that didn’t beat about the bush about sex, race and depression.
Lockdown by Peter May was initially rejected (15 years ago) for being too unrealistic. In walks 2020 and suddenly a killer bird flu that has even downed the PM is stone cold fact and Lockdown, the book that seemingly predicted it all, is in every supermarket book aisle across the country. When in Lockdown, read….. Lockdown!
Sleeping Beauties by Stephen and Owen King was a 700 page doorstop that took in the bible, fairy tales, Japanese folklore and even black lives matter. You could definitely pull it apart but as a straight up read there are better King novels out there.
I escaped the rain sodden shores of England for a few hours by reading The Most Beautiful Walk In The World by John Baxter. It’s definitely one for literary lovers as names are dropped left right and center but check out the Brasserie Lipp section – sublime.
Books of the Month for August
Heroes by Stephen Fry was our book of the month for August. It was an entertaining read that gave the Greek Gods and their offspring a modern anchor to cling to. You can read our Big Review all about it here.
We invited Al Capone to our children’s book club this month. Not only that, we got him to do the laundry. Al Capone does my Shirts by Gennifer Choldenko is a well thought out read examining autism and the effect it has on one family who just happen to be living on Alcatraz!
Read of the month for August
Goes to….. Queenie. Well how could it not be with that cover? I hope you are doing OK Queenie, I really do.
What we got up to in August
GCSEs and A Levels made Book Social for different reasons to algorithms in our article BalanceTheBooks. Oh and we also squeezed in a book shop tour around Edinburgh – more on that next month!
What we obtained in August
If we cannot go to Venice this year we will read about it in the form of Villains in Venice by Katherine Woodfine:
I also couldn’t resist buying My Sister the Serial Killer when I read the blurb. It reminded me of the TV series Dexter from a few years back that I loved. Fingers crossed it’s as good.
Let us know what you have been up to book wise this month. Until September, read well!
