I so love reading other’s posts about what they read the past month. So even though this is technically late, I am adding this to the stack of such posts for those who enjoy them as I do.
As of the end of August, I had read 169 books so far in 2019. August was the lightest month of the year, however, in terms of the number of titles read. School resumed and with that I am reading over 20 books with my kids – some read aloud, most read on the same schedule as they are reading either over the term or the school year. So I expect October (and next May) to make up for my short list in August.
Agatha Christie, Witness for the Prosecution Close Reads did a bonus episode on this and Bookening also did an episode on this. I’ve listened to the Close Reads episode but haven’t gotten to the Bookening episode yet (I’m kind of on a break from them right now – they read my favorite books and then don’t like them). I still want to watch the movie version of this.
Jan Karon, The Common Life Mary Jo Tate’s Mitford Book Club on Facebook did this book over the summer. I finished the second book in the series in time to join in for the last half of this one. I do enjoy the books, but now they’re reading further on in the series again and I am far behind. Good light weekend reading, though.
Maxine Hong Kingston, The Woman Warrior This was the Now Read This book selection for August, selected by Celeste Ng. I didn’t enjoy it so much as I was reading it, but I like it a lot better looking back on it as a whole. I am sure there are a lot of cultural references in this that I am oblivious to not having grown up as a Chinese American. Still, a worthwhile read.
Roald Dahl, Danny, Champion of the World Another book the Pelican Society did this summer. This one was fun all around and not quite so guilt-inducing as The Fantastic Mr. Fox where there are no good guys regardless of how you look at it.
Stratford Caldecott, Beauty in the World Oft referenced in homeschooling circles, I can now say I’ve read this one. It is rather recent but still reads like a classic and is one to return to more than once.
Christine Mangan, Tangerine A thriller I nabbed from the Modern Mrs. Darcy daily ebook deals. Not what I expected but very engrossing just the same.
C.S. Lewis, An Experiment in Criticism Fascinating read for a book lover such as I. Another book I’ve oft heard mentioned but hadn’t read. The Literary Life podcast is doing this book soon so I may be rereading it in the near future.
Sir Walter Scott, The Talisman I read this over the summer along with a group of Ambleside Online moms in the AO forums. It’s the 4th or 5th title I’ve read by Scott, and I appreciate all of them more with each one I read.
Margaret Edson, W;t This is the first selection for the new Well Read Mom year, the Year of the Artist. Take a 17th century literature professor dying of ovarian cancer and combine it with John Donne’s “Death Be Not Proud,” the soporific lettuce in Peter Rabbit, and Margaret Wise’s Runaway Bunny and you have a recipe for something that rightly won the Pulitzer.
D.E. Stevenson, Miss. Buncle’s Book This was the fun summer read suggested by the Well Read Mom. Miss Buncle lives in an English village as a nobody and writes a book about the people in the village, a book that becomes a bestseller and infuriates those featured in its pages. Ironically, their fury becomes the fodder for a second book. This is a book to be read and enjoyed!
Andrew Sean Greer, Less A recent Pulitzer prize winner and one of the 2018 selections for Now Read This, I found this book very disappointing. The writing was good, but the plot was weak. I read somewhere that it was supposed to be humor. If it was indeed humor, that would compensate for the weak plot, but I did not find it funny. Oh well.
Esther de Waal, Seeking God: The Way of St Benedict and The Rule of St Benedict The Schole Sisters did a book club reading these two books in conjunction. I’ve read Benedict’s rule previously, and I enjoyed rereading it along with de Waal’s essays. Seeking God is a book I will likely revisit during a future Lenten season.