August Wrap Up

Looking back at the books I need to talk about in this wrap up, I find I am quite surprised. August must have been a long month because, really, did I read that this month! Surely I read that ages ago!

August was also a pretty good reading month. I read 11 books and I managed to stick to my plan of reading only female authors. I have reduced the difference between the gender divide in my reading quite a lot. (Hey, that almost looks like the South Korea flag!) On top of all of that, I stumbled upon some great books too!

Well, let's get on with the wrap up!

First up was How to be Both by Ali Smith. This was the first Ali Smith book I have read, and I did enjoy it. It does take a bit of effort to get into, especially if you start with the older story first. I find that even a month later (has it really only been a month?) I still think about certain bits of this. I reckon that is a mark of a good book.

Next was The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin. I absolutely adored this one. This is a book for book lovers and lovers of book shops. This one really touched me. I adored Fikry and I loved seeing his character grow throughout the story. I also enjoyed how books could be seen bringing a town (well, almost) together, in a way that the writers couldn't. Interesting thought that.

Third for the month was The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern. This was a beautifully written book. I did find parts a bit long winded, but overall, I thoroughly enjoyed it. I thought the non-chronological timeline worked very well in this, and I loved seeing how everything worked together at the end. (I am a little disappointed that I have this cover and not the black and white one with te circus on the front, but as this one was R100 cheaper, I am not too disappointed.)

A Pair of Silk Stockings, a short story collection by Kate Chopin, was next. This is one of the Penguin black classics. These were brilliant stories and I appreciated just how progressive Chopin was in her thinking. These stories covered important themes of racism and feminism. As the entire book is less than 100 pages, it is quick reading, but good reading.

The fifth book for the month was The Secret History by Donna Tartt. This was a gripping read, although, as I said in my review, in hindsight not a lot really happened. I loved Tartt's use of language. I really enjoyed the characters. They were so distinctive. I also enjoyed how this book played with my feelings. I drove me from horrified to protective, wanting to kill and to appreciate. Yeah, this one was a ride. Perhaps not for everyone as there are some scathing reviews on Goodreads, but if you happen to enjoy academia, then there is a good chance you will enjoy this one too.


I am relieved to have read The Bonesetter's Daughter by Amy Tan. I am currently teaching a film study on Empire of the Sun (the book by J.G. Ballard) to my Grade 11s. The Bonesetter's Daughter has given a little more insight into what happened in China during World War 2, which is something that I have only ever heard about at school in a paragraph, if that. (We always focus solely on Europe with a dash of America.) This was not, however, my favourite book of the month. I loved the mother's story in China, but I plodded through the daughter's in the US. I would recommend this for the part in set in China, although, I do have to commend Tan for creating such real characters. I enjoyed their voices in this.

Because I needed some light reading by that point, I picked up The Bone Season by Samantha Shannon. This was OK. I can see why people would enjoy it - I will stock it in the school library next year if we raise enough money in next year's readathon. But after all the books I had been reading, I found the writing less appealing in this one. The plot, however, is fast paced, and the story itself definitely kept me curious. But overall, I didn't think it was anything special.

Miss Pettigrew Lives for a Day by Winifred Watson was a strange book that I bought because it was a Persephone book (gullible much?). This was a pleasant story that had me questioning what the point of it was even when I was near the end. Although there were a couple of comments that had the warning bells in my head ring a bit, overall it was a pleasant story. There were some interesting messages in the book too, but a part of me is still wondering if they were all flattering to women or not. (Most were.)

 I actually read Beauty Queens by Libba Bray while reading the next book, because I really needed something light. This one was a delightfully fun satire looking at how women (or girls) behave in an environment with and without men and societal expectations. The storyline is absurd on its own, but as a vessel for the satire, it is brilliant. I actually gave this 5 stars! I love Libba Bray's writing (well, in The Diviners and Beauty Queens. I still need to read other books by her.)

I am tempted to say that We Need to Talk about Kevin by Lionel Shriver is likely to be the stand out book for the month, but that is a little unfair as it is a book I finished near the end of the month so it is freshest in my mind. This is a disturbing, haunting story, written as an epistolary novel - a collection of letters from a mother to the father. Their son, Kevin, committed mass murder by killing a bunch of kids at school. Not an easy read, but a brilliantly written book. I don't think this is one you would forget quickly.


The last completed book for the month was Etiquette & Espionage by Gail Carriger. This was a so-so story for me. Maybe the books I had read all month just made it obvious that the writing was mediocre, but as a whole, I just didn't really get into this one. The story was OK, but that is about as generous as I can get. Perhaps I would have seen satire where I just saw poor humour had I not read Beauty Queens earlier, but I didn't. Although I was disappointed, it did do what I wanted it to do, cheer me up after We Need to Talk about Kevin.

That was pretty good going if I do say myself. I read over 4000 pages (OK, so I can read a lot more than that when I am on holiday, but let's be realistic now, I did that while working!)

I am so close to finishing Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood. Had I not had the work day from hell yesterday, I would have finished it and notched up 12 books for my wrap up. Alas, I will finish it tonight, and then sit here in a month feeling slightly shocked that it was only a month since I read it.

I still have quite a few books by female authors next to my bed, so, although I am not limiting myself this month in what I read, I think I might just end up reading those first. We will see. If I do put together a reading challenge for myself, it might be to not read anything by authors from the US. Not because I have anything against US writers. It is because 57% of the books I have read this year have been by US authors and I would like to see the other numbers rise a little. One thing I did see from the female only challenge though, was that it takes a lot to drop levels! I will see. There are three books I am particularly dying to read, and I don't care where the authors came from to be honest. (Apparently I am really invested in getting the other countries up.)