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August 7: Tress of the Emerald Sea by Brandon Sanderson (library ebook, 2023) - Book club pick for the month. Meh. 3/5 stars
August 8: Cleanup on Aisle Five: Essential Work, Poverty Wages, and the View from Behind the Supermarket Register by Ann Larson (book I own, 2026) - Should be required reading, especially for anyone who has avoided working retail jobs. 4/5 stars
August 13: The Warm Hands of Ghosts by Katherine Arden (library audiobook narrated by Michael Crouch, January LaVoy, author note read by the author, 2024) - Super interesting, although what I really wanted was a book about the Halifax explosion rather than WWI. 4/5 stars
August 15: Homebound by Portia Elan (library, 2026) - Strong start, but the ending left me wanting something more. 3/5 stars
August 16: Carl's Doomsday Scenario (Dungeon Crawler Carl #2) by Matt Dinniman (owned ebook, 2021) - Carl, Donut, and Mongo continue their marauding ways through the dungeon. It's fun. This floor had a circus theme if that entices anyone to read it. 4/5 stars
August 18: Strange Pictures by Uketsu (library, 2022, translated from the Japanese by Jim Rion) - Multi-part mystery you might be able to solve by looking carefully at the pictures! Very clever and fun. Here's a quote that might strike some of you as hysterical.
He felt...nostalgic, rather than nervous. Once, there had been so many blogs like this.
Ah, blogs. The concept now almost seemed quaint. (page 14)
We're all quaint! 4/5 stars
August 24: A Resistance of Witches by Morgan Ryan (library ebook, 2025) - What a delightful debut! 4/5 stars
August 30: Birding with Benefits by Sarah T. Dubb (library, 2024) - Fine. Just fine. 3/5 stars
August 31: Between Two Fires by Christopher Buehlman (library audiobook narrated by Steve West, 2012) - I don't know, friends. Genre mashup that I don't think I'm smart enough for. 2.5/5 stars
Total:10 books
Average star rating: 3.55/5 stars
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Did you read a 5/5 in August? What was it? I need something REALLY GOOD. (For all you recommending Whistler, I have to admit I'm 10% in to the audiobook and considering DNFing it. Does it get better? It has to get better, right?)
Yeah, August was a slow reading month.and so was July. My average rating is "it was fine".
ReplyDeleteI adored Whistler, and it swept me off my feet right away. If you're having "meh" vibes at 10% my advice is to dump it for something that will make your toes curl.
As far as something REALLY GOOD, I'm at 80% in Good People. For me it was a slow ramp up where at first all I had to go on was that I liked the tone of the book and then the story slowly built up and now I'm hooked. Nicole and Elisabeth both gave it raves.
Yeah, I think I'm going to DNF Whistler. I don't know why I won't just realize that Patchett doesn't work for me.
DeleteYES!! Good People was so good and the ending was amazing. I just wanted to talk to everyone about it!
I loved Good People (as Birchie notes). My 5-star reads this month were Gone With the Wind (which I know you've already read), Heft by Liz Moore, and The Irish Goodbye: Micro-Memoirs (non-fiction).
ReplyDeleteI'm really glad I read Cleanup on Aisle Five, but I'm even more excited to read Nickel and Dimed after your recommendation.
Gone with the Wind!!!!! What a feat of writing. I don't know if I'll ever revisit it, but it was my life for about a month.
DeleteEngie! Wait for it...I had TEN five star reads in August! Okay, six of those were rereads. And I already knew I loved them and they would be five star reads. But four were new and I think that is HUGE, Kin, Good People, Silver Sparrow, and The Sweet Spot.
ReplyDeleteI loved Whistler but I am an Ann Patchett fan, and I know you aren't. So go ahead and DNF! Life is too short if you're not enjoying it (I know you don't need my permission, I'm just trying to be a supportive friend).
Right now I'm reading Inheritance, about a woman who discovers that her long-deceased father is not her biological father. It's kind of a wild story but something is sitting really strangely with me while I read this. I have to think how to articulate it. Something I don't have to think about to articulate is that those ancestry websites, man, you could not pay me to do that.
Tayari Jones!! Woot woot! What a true delight of a find, right? She's not prolific, but each book is fabulous.
DeleteThe thing with the ancestry sites is that sometimes you have NO CHOICE. I feel this way about the DNA sites, too. If my sister does it, all my info is out there, you know? It sucks because you don't have a choice about your own privacy.
Ooh, I'm glad you liked Strange Pictures. It's a strange book, right? And- I'm not even going to start Whistler. I know myself well enough to know it's not for me, even though so many people love it. I didn't like The Dutch House either.
ReplyDeleteI do want to read Good People though- everyone seems to be loving it and it sounds like something I would like.
I think you would like Good People! It's delicious.
DeleteI think you and I are on the same page about Patchett - she's just not the author for me.
I totally get it about Whistler. You kind of have to be in the mood for almost critical reading with that one although it seems deceptively simple.
ReplyDeleteThis summer, I'm rereading. I just finished The Story of Edgar Sawtelle, and it's absolutely wonderful. Lots of dog talk and dog plots that figure into this modern take on Hamlet. It's not a particularly chipper book, but it's beautiful and compelling.
Bless all the workers in the retail sector (and the fast food sector). I could never, ever do their jobs. Even my brief stint in a big store's pet department was ... well, I begged to be put in the warehouse where all I had to do was open boxes and count stuff.
Oh, I DNFed Edgar Sawtelle because it was too tense for me. That's actually a compliment to the writing.
DeleteI have worked retail just enough to be overly kind to retail workers now. Ha!
ENGIE! I just finished a book told from a dog's perspective and I loved it - Etna by Paul Yoon. I thought, "I wonder if Engie would like this? It is about a dog. But it's also about war. Hmmmm,,," So I am going to drop it here and you can decide if you want to read it. The audiobook was lovely, but I think I would have also liked to read it in print.
ReplyDeleteAside from Etna, my favorite book last month was Dolly All the Time - swoony and lovely and also people still get up and go to work every day and figure their shit out. I have other books on my pile, but I've re-read Dolly three times this month because I loved it so much. (I did also finish Nora goes off script, which I loved, though I think the characters are better defined in Dolly.)
This is Diane, by the way!
DeleteI have Dolly on hold! I can't wait because I really like that author so much!! Nora Goes Off Script is one of my favorites.
DeleteI had 3 5-star books in August: Daughters of the Bamboo Grove (non-fiction about international adoptions during China's one child policy era - the children were often essentially stolen from their parents), The River is Waiting by Wally Lamb (very sad, hard read but so very well done IMO), and Lovelight Farms by BK Borison (fake dating trope, set on a Christmas Tree farm - delightful).
ReplyDeleteI read I Know This Much is True by Wally Lamb and it was very hard to read, but the writing was amazing. I feel like you have to just know you're in for it with Lamb, but it's worth it.
DeleteNo 5/5 books for me sadly. Not even a 4/5. I need to up my literary game!
ReplyDeleteSometimes the right books just don't land in your lap!
DeleteI don't remember any 5 star reads- I read some perfectly good mysteries, a few non-fiction, and two new releases. One- Adversary to the Villian I loved until half-way and then disappointed in the end. It felt like she wrote herself into a corner. Daggerbound by T Kingfisher- fine but not fabulous. But maybe it's just me- not my usual genre! I did enjoy Sarah Beth Durst's series The Spellshop. A Trade of Blood was very good- I get drawn in even though i didn't think I like it and it has some very dark moments.
ReplyDeleteOh, I'm reading the third book in the Spellshop series right now. It's really a great low stakes series and you know everything's going to work out no matter how dire it might seem. I love those.
DeleteI really liked Dolly All the Time. That was close to a 5 for me. I don’t usually gravitate to romances but this one had enough layers of things happening. I enjoyed it. I appreciate seeing loads of great recommendations in your comments. I’m reading the Marriage Portrait by maggie O’Farrell right now. It’s good. I also really liked Strangers: a marriage memoir. I did not intend to read books with marriage in the title back to back, but here we are. 😊
ReplyDeleteEverything going okay at home, Ernie? :)
DeleteI had two 5-star reads in August. The Tainted Cup, which is a fantasy/mystery mashup. Interesting world, characters and a well-paced plot. I also read and loved Bodies of Light (but there are references to child abuse), so maybe not for you?
ReplyDeleteI have never even heard of The Tainted Cup, but it sounds exactly like something I would like!
DeleteI could have sworn I had read The Warm Hands of Ghosts, but it's only on my TBR. I must be confusing it with something else. I do love that author's books for younger readers.
ReplyDeleteI've read another Christopher Buehlman book and really liked it, and I keep hearing about the Carl books. I am reading The Dog Stars, which I bought before I knew it was going to be a movie. I am quite liking it but not sure I will see the movie.
I was oddly riveted by the Buehlman book - what other batshit thing could happen? But I'm not sure he's really a great author for me.
DeleteThe Carl books are ubiquitous in my life now, so I feel like I need to really join in. I have requested the third one via Libby, so we'll see when I get that one.
My only 5-star reads were two more Emma M. Lion volumes, lolol. I also gave Enormous Wings by Laurie Frankel 4.5 stars. But nothing REALLY stood out for me this month. I'm in a weird headspace, though, so that's affecting my reading/ratings.
ReplyDeleteThis time of year is very challenging for me, so that might be part of my reading doldrums, to be honest. But at least you have Emma Lion!
DeleteNo five stars for me but I am so strict about handing those out.
ReplyDeleteI love Kathrine Arden but have never heard of this book. So that goes on my TBR.
Also, I really hear all the praise about Brandon Sanderson but have never read any. Do you like him in general and if so which book would you recommend?
I feel like Whistler is not a book for me so I don't even attempt to but it on the TBR.
I don't care for Sanderson in general. His writing is quite workmanlike and his female characters are not well-developed. Overall, he's just not for me. Tress was saved by the ending, if you ask me.
DeleteI barely read in August, and I am like Tobia in that I am strict in handing them out. I read Strangers, which I thought was good, but not five stars, and On the Banks of Plum Creek which was good but not as good as when I was a kid. I have the Warm Hands on hold, but other than that, have not read any on your list this month!
ReplyDeleteMy list was very genre-heavy this month and I feel like your tastes are more literary, so I can see why none of these books ended up on your list!
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