Tough month for reading for me for lots of reasons. Thank goodness for audiobooks. I did way more listening than I did reading with my own eyes (TM Sarah).
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8/7: Paladin's Grace (The World of the White Rat: Saint of Steel #3) by T. Kingfisher (library ebook, 2021) - The best of the Saint of Steel so far. I liked this one quite a bit! 4/5 stars
8/8: I'd Rather Be Reading: The Delights and Dilemmas of the Reading Life by Anne Bogel (library audiobook, 2018) - This felt like listening to an extended podcast episode and I'm not mad about that. 4.5/5 stars
8/12: Expiration Dates by Rebecca Serle (library audiobook, 2024) - I think the narrator made this a better book. I'm not sure I'd have read past chapter 24 if I'd been reading it instead of listening to it. Shout out to everyone I sent a spoil filled email to. If you also want to know about chapter 24, I'll happily share. 3/5 stars
8/17: Heart Berries by Terese Marie Mailhot (library ebook, 2018) - Memoir about an American Indian woman raised in abuse who continues that abusive cycle. Poetic and dreamy, if you like that sort of thing when reading about terrible things. I do not. 2.5/5 stars
8/18: The Road to Jonestown: Jim Jones and Peoples Temple by Jeff Guinn (library audiobook narrated by George Newbern, 2017) - A look at the autobiography of Jim Jones and how he eventually led hundreds of people to their deaths of cyanide poisoning at a commune in Guyana. There was lots in here about Jones's political beliefs and I learned plenty I'd never heard before. All that said, it's a book about an entitled white man losing his shit. 4/5 stars
8/22: The Other Side of Disappearing by Kate Clayborn (library ebook, 2024) - I love Love Lettering by this same author with all my heart, but this one didn't do it for me. I could never figure out what the two characters saw in one another beyond physical attraction. 3/5 stars
8/23: Vengeful (Villains #2) by V.E. Schwab (library audiobook narrated by Jeremy Arthur, 2018) - I waited a long time for this audiobook and it was a bit too action-packed for me. 3/5 stars
8/24: I Capture the Castle by Dodie Smith (library, 1948) - I didn't love this one as much as I loved it when I was younger, but I definitely loved the CBBC discussions. Honestly, friends, I think I had it confused with L.M. Montgomery's The Blue Castle. Whoops. 4/5 stars
8/24: Funny Story by Emily Henry (library, 2024) - Loved the Michigan setting. Didn't love much else. 3/5 stars
8/28: We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence (library audiobook, 2020) written and narrated by Becky Cooper - I adored the look at a dysfunctional academic department at Harvard, but mostly this was kind of a boring true crime story and the solving of the crime was lackluster after all the work that had been put into all the other suspects. 3/5 stars
Average star rating: 3.4/5 stars
Did Not Finish:
True Grit by Charles Portiss (library audiobook) - Westerns are a tough genre for me and this one didn't resonate with me. DNF at 5%.
Some People Need Killing by Patricia Evangelista (library audiobook) - Look, the narrator kept using "man" instead of "men," as in "the policeman were running into the room" instead of "the policemen were running into the room." It drove me crazy. Perhaps if the book wasn't about the Philippines’ drug war, it wouldn't have been so relevant. DNF at 5%.
Internment by Samira Ahmed (library) - Near dystopian future in which the US government sends Muslim Americans to internment camps. It was okay, but honestly it was too tense for me and when the teenage main character starts planning to escape the camp, I noped right out of there. I'm a wimp. DNF at 38.8%.
I usually love Kate Clayborn, but Georgie was not my fave, and I have heard not great things about this one...
ReplyDeleteOh, I loved Georgie All Along, too. I think I'm the one who told you that you would love it, so I'm sorry it was disappointing to you. I think you can safely skip this one.
DeleteI have not read any of the books on this list!! The Jones one sounds interesting, as I don't know much about the situation except from the phrase "drinking the Kool-aid" so it would be good to learn more. I will also put the Bogel book on my list, although I don't read her blog or listen to her podcast, so I'm not sure I will have the same response as you did.
ReplyDeleteYou know, Kyria. It wasn't even Kool-Aid. It was Flavor Aid!! That's one of the take home points. Poor Kool-Aid got a bad rap and it wasn't even the product used.
DeleteI don't listen to the Bogel podcast, either, but I still found the book eminently usable.
I'd Rather Be Reading sounds pretty good!
ReplyDeleteYes, I think it would resonate with you, Nicole.
DeleteI really admire your ability to "nope out of there." It's a quality I'm striving to develop.
ReplyDeleteWell, it's just that I'm a wimp sometimes, Maya. I won't tough it out when fiction gets too much for me! I don't know if that's a quality you should emulate.
DeleteWe all should, Engie... and not just with books.
DeleteWell, just so you know I REALLY enjoyed ICTC, so even if you got it confused with another book (ha ha) I'm glad we read it.
ReplyDeleteI'm just finishing Winter of the World and the third book should arrive any day now. Best books ever. THANK YOU.
Yay!! I really was telling you what to read last month, wasn't I?
DeleteOh, I just LOVE The Blue Castle! As an adult, it's probably my favorite Montgomery book. I have it in an ex-library copy that feels so good in my hand. Time to read that again.
ReplyDeleteI feel like The Blue Castle is my favorite, too! I'm adding it to the CBBC list, I think. Surely we can't be the only ones who love it.
DeleteI just like the title "Some People Need Killing."
ReplyDelete"...an entitled white man losing his shit" describes so many men anymore, especially a current US presidential candidate (yes, I went there). I feel like the similarities probably don't end there.
Yeah, that's one of the reasons I put that there. It is sort of interesting because I think Jim Jones started off with good intentions (I think?) and he just spiraled out of control. I'm not sure if the person you are referencing ever had good intentions, but...I didn't want anyone to think I was unaware of the overall thread of the book.
DeleteJim Jones - "Entitled white man losing his shit." Yes.
ReplyDeleteWe watched a documentary about him and that pretty much sums it up.
I LOVE that you got us all (maybe) reading the wrong book, and yet, I loved it. So thank you!
ReplyDeleteWe watched the first episode of the 4th season of My Brilliant Friend on HBO tonight. YAY! So good. That Nino, such a shit. I really think they have done an excellent job with this series.
Jim Jones. Ugh. So many of the people involved were from the Bay Area, and my Ted's family is from Guyana. One tiny nit I have with the expression 'drinking the kool-aid' is that the people there were forced to drink it. They did not drink it willingly. Usually the expression infers that they were fooled into it, but it was worse than that even.
Yes, listening to them report about the mothers who were trying to protect their children was heartbreaking. Such a sad story and really scary when you think about some of the powerful people in charge these days...
DeleteI know that feeling of 'oops, I thought this was something else', so funny!
ReplyDeleteA white man losing his shit - jesus, so many terrible consequences to this situation, happening over and over.
Listening to my professor friends, I often wonder if there is such thing as an academic department that isn't dysfunctional. Is yours healthy?
I'm technically in the Dean's Office and we're functional, but it only takes one bad hire to throw everything off, you know? My husband's department is fairly functional, but it definitely has its share of scandals and bs.
DeleteI read Internment and didn't love it, so I think it was fine to DNF it (I mean, it's ALWAYS fine to DNF, but I don't think you're missing out on anything.) It's definitely very YA at times, which I know annoys you.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I was getting so irate as this girl was shipped off to a camp and she was busy worrying about her BOYFRIEND. Like, ffs, girl, you have one backpack full of your stuff, your parents are losing their livelihoods and YOUR HOME, maybe get some focus. But, you know, YA. I get it. Sort of. It's just not my jam and when she was more worried about escaping with her boyfriend than making sure her parents were safe, I just got really nervous. I'm sure it would work better for a different reader.
DeleteI didn't like this Clayborn book as much as Georgie either. I can't remember what rating I gave it, but I'm thinking probably 3 stars/just ok. I had a really strong reading month in August and read 2 books will make my top books of the year. But I also abandoned several books and abandoned another one earlier this month. But I've been less patient about sticking with a book if it's feeling like a slog.
ReplyDeleteYeah, I think I'll still read Clayborn, but maybe I won't be quite as eager next time. I still think she's a very good author!
DeleteI really want to read that I'd Rather be Reading book. Someone else shared about it too- I can't remember who. I occasionally listen to her podcast, and though I struggle with identifying as a "reader" because I just don't read NEARLY as much as many/most of you do, I actually do really love books and reading! I just feel like this maybe isn't the exact "season" for me to be quite as into it. But I do basically always have a book- or two, really- usually one fiction/ one non-fiction- going at any given time. I like your idea of listening to that one on audio! I'm going to look for it.
ReplyDeleteYou're always saying you're not a reader, friend, and that's just not true! This is such a short audiobook that you can probably fit it in during three or four days of walks with the dog!
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