August was a busy month! Mr. CG and I went to Asheville, NC for a weekend. We saw the historic Grove Park Inn, the Biltmore estate, a Chihuly exhibit (I love his work), visited a local bookstore (Malaprop’s Books) and we drank lots of good craft beer. We saw the Washington Spirit beat Kansas City, saw Melissa Etheridge and Indigo Girls in concert, and celebrated anniversary #23. I obsessed over my garden and finally installed a drip irrigation system (though nearly at the end of summer so I don’t think my cucumber plants are coming back).
I concentrated on meeting my summer goal of reviewing 15 books from my 15 Books of Summer list, and I just made it (read 19, reviewed 15). I also participated in Summer Reading Bingo at my local bookstore and the 52 Book Club’s Summer Olympics Reading Challenge (I got silver).
What I read in August:
- Done and Dusted by Lyla Sage (audio)
- Sisters of Belfast by Melanie Maure (audio)
- The Dead Cat Tail Assassins by P. Djeli Clark
- Can You Keep a Secret? by Sophie Kinsella (audio)
- Memory Piece by Lisa Ko (audio)
- There are Rivers in the Sky by Elif Shafak
- Congratulations, the Best is Over! by R. Eric Thomas (book/audio)
- Tales of the City by Armistead Maupin (book/audio)
- The Scarecrow of Oz by L. Frank Baum
- Heartstopper #4 by Alice Oseman
My favorite reads:
I loved Congratulations, the Best is Over! Thomas writes with so much humor and feeling. He writes about married life, moving back to his home city, moving to the suburbs, and dealing with a death in the family. Things I could definitely relate to. I haven’t been reading as much nonfiction lately but I definitely recommend his books.
I also loved There are Rivers in the Sky and my reread of Tales of the City.
Disappointing reads:
Memory Piece was interesting but I can’t say I loved it the way I did her previous book, The Leavers. It was hard to relate to her three protagonists, and the shifts in narration made it a bit hard to follow. And yet, it was also never a book I wanted to abandon. It takes readers from the 90s into the future so that made it interesting.
I had mixed feelings about Sisters of Belfast. I liked it, and cared about the story and characters, but it was a bit melodramatic.
On the blog:
I reviewed The Road to Roswell, The Dead Cat Tail Assassins, There are Rivers in the Sky, Tales of the City, and The Scarecrow of Oz. I also wrote about books featuring travel for Top Ten Tuesday, and for Spell the Month in Books, books about water.
Books for challenges:
- 15 Books of Summer: There Are Rivers in the Sky, The Scarecrow of Oz, Tales of the City
- Nonfiction: Congratulations, the Best is Over!
- Rereads/Backlist/Ozathon: Tales of the City, The Scarecrow of Oz
- Reading Around the World: Sisters of Belfast, There are Rivers in the Sky
What I’m reading now:
Margo’s Got Money Troubles by Rufi Thorpe, and a book of poetry by Len Pennie called Poyums.
What’s coming up:
In September I only have one ARC, and it’s TJ Klune’s Somewhere Beyond the Sea. Since I read most of my summer TBR list, I’m looking forward to reading whatever comes my way this month.
Added to my TBR:
I added a bunch of books based on the New York Times’ list of top books in the 21st century, including books by Rachel Kushner and Alice Munro. I added Straphanger, a book about public transit, based on a recommendation by Reading Freely. And I added Jenny James is Not a Disaster based on a recommendation by Hopewell’s Public Library of Life.
That’s August, and that’s the end of summer! I’ll post a summary of my 15 Books of Summer in the next few days. I hope you’re reading something good.
