Great Gatsby Day!
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It’s the longest day of the year! Don’t miss it!
Show Us Your Books August 2022
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This is my normal timing for writing up the previous month’s reads, but for some reason August seems like a million years ago. Lazy days spent reading and napping by the water have quickly been replaced by commuting, car pools, soccer games, and packed lunches. I always forget how rough September is until September happens.
Anyway, back to August. I had a good month, but my only five star reads were re-reads. I don’t know if that’s me not concentrating as well or the books themselves. It’s hard to tell these days!
Five Star (Re) Reads
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - This remains one of my very favorite books. Fitzgerald says so much in this short novel.
The Johnstown Flood by David McCullough - I re-read this on a whim after McCullough died. He does such a great job telling about this tragedy I almost felt like the skin on my feet was wrinkled from the flood water.
Four Star (New To Me) Reads
A Fish Caught In Time by Samantha Weinberg - I thoroughly enjoyed this short non-fiction account of the study of the coelacanth.
All The Presidents Men by Carl Bernstein and Bob Woodward - I wanted to learn more about Watergate so of course I went to the source. I expected Nixon gossip but this was more a super interesting retelling of all the steps the two men went through to report their story. This version also had a new intro from 2022 which compared Watergate to current events.
The Wife's Tale by Aida Edemariam - This was a fascinating woman who lived almost to 100 in Ethiopia. It was written by her granddaughter and at times was confused, but overall an excellent read.
Three Star Reads
Under The Dome by Stephen King - I think reading about a town suddenly stuck under a mysterious dome was just a little too claustrophobic and 2020 for me because I did not enjoy this one very much. I do appreciate how much research King puts into the details of his books though.
Broken Harbor by Tana French - Another captivating book from the Dublin Murder Squad series. This one was incredibly dark, but good.
Either/Or by Elif Batuman - For the first half of this book I was waiting for something to happen, but by the end the main character had grown on me.
Our Wives Under The Sea by Julia Armfield - I‘m not even sure what this book was about, but I enjoyed it. I have a thing for books and movies that take place in submarines.
This post is linked to Quick Lit.
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Show Us Your Books July 2022
/Even though Steph and Jana have decided not to continue with the Show Us Your Books tradition (understandably, it’s a big job and they’ve been doing it a while,) I have decided to keep going. Don’t judge me. That’s a long sentence, and I have just sprinkled punctuation throughout. There’s a reason I’m a reader and not a writer!
June was a fairly good reading month despite the general chaotic nature of June when you have kids in school. I didn’t read anything completely mind blowing, but read several books I enjoyed a lot while sitting in my yard. That, to me, is what summer reading should be.
Five Stars
The Lioness by Chris Bohjalian - I really enjoyed this fast paced thriller. It‘s been a while since I‘ve started a book and had trouble putting it down. This one is perfect for summer.
Wandering In Strange Lands by Morgan Jerkins - This book was fascinating. It‘s part history and part genealogy, written by a woman from New Jersey with a family that moved there during the Great Migration. I thought I was pretty well educated about that chapter of American history but I learned so much. I read this for a book club and it was a great discussion.
Crossing to Safety by Wallace Stegner - This was my third of fourth time reading this one. I just love it so much, and I get something new from it each time. I think it’s one of the best descriptions of long term adult friendship that I’ve ever read.
Four Stars
Last Summer At The Golden Hotel by Elyssa Friedland - A fun and nostalgic summer read.
The Purpose of Power by Alicia Garza - This was another book club read for a different book club. I came for the history of the #BlackLivesMatter movement and stayed for the organization and management tips. These was so much in this book.
Book Lovers by Emily Henry - A great book for sitting outside and reading on a beautiful summer day. I thought this was her best yet.
The Great Gatsby Graphic Novel by F. Scott Fitzgerald and Fred Fordham - I appreciated this graphic adaptation of one of my favorite novels. Reading this on the longest day of the year might become a tradition for me. Next year I‘ll have to get some champagne.
Three Stars
Mrs. March by Virginia Feito - Once I realized this was not the modern retelling of Little Women I thought it was I settled in and enjoyed the messed up tale told by the unreliable narrator, Mrs March. The weirdest thing was how she referred to herself as Mrs March even in childhood flashbacks.
True Biz by Sara Novic - This was yet another book club read. (Covid is terrible, but I’ve joined some really good online book clubs!) I enjoyed this novel about life at a boarding school for deaf kids right up until the off putting ending.
Bleaker House by Nell Stevens - This was a pleasant enough memoir about a writing student on a fellowship to write a novel in the Falklands. I could have done without the chapters of her failed novel, but I liked learning about what it was like to write when you‘re truly alone.
This post is linked to Quick Lit.
Links to Amazon.com are affiliate links. Thanks for your support!
Show Us Your Books Feb. 2020
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My cat passed away last month, and that has seriously damped my ability to enjoy books. Is reading on the couch even reading if you don’t have a cat practicing yoga moves on your knee? I’ll miss him forever, but hopefully I’ll get back to my love of reading soon. Until then know I am probably being unnecessarily grumpy about some of these books.
My Best Read of the Month
The Woman Next Door by Yewande Omotoso - Someone described this as woke Golden Girls, which I thought was pretty funny and also accurate. Two sworn enemies live next door to each other have to put their differences aside when they realize they need each other. For those like me who have been seeking out books with characters over 40 who actually do things more interesting that drinking tea and giving advice give this one a read.
Great For Winter Reading On The Couch
The Gown by Jennifer Robson - A good story matched with good information about England after WWII.
Plainsong by Kent Haruf - I almost put this down because of a lack of quotation marks, but I’m glad I ended up sticking with it. It’s a sweet story about families - the ones you’re born with and the ones you create.
My Grandmother Asked Me To Tell You She's Sorry by Fredrik Backman - Another sweet story about families. If you like Backman you’ll like this book. If you don’t skip it.
Operation Re-Read
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell - I really, really loved this book when I first read it, and I still love it today. It was where I first learned about the danger of mitigating language and that I should trust my years of practice.
A Better Man by Louise Penny - I read this really quickly when it first came out, and wanted to read it again but slower. My initial assessment stands- not the best Gamache but still a decent read.
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald - I am in awe of Fitzgerald’s ability to say so much with just a few words. This is a yearly read for me, but to be honest I might pull it out again in a few months. That’s how much I love this book.
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September 2017 Audio Books
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Fall flowers
Summer is officially over, and after running here, there, and everywhere for weeks I'm looking forward to some weekends at home puttering and listening to audiobooks! I haven't listened to much lately, but here's a few I did manage (mostly in the car.)
In A Sunburned Country by Bill Bryson -- I read this book a long time ago, and decided to give the audio a try this summer. I like this one - it's more like A Walk in the Woods than some of his others that I find to be too judgey.
Al Franken, Giant of the Senate by Al Franken -- Interesting to see how the sausage gets made. He wants to run for president right? That's why he wrote this book?
The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald -- Still one of my favorites, and I love it on audio. For such a short book, there's so much there. Beware of careless people.
That's all for this month! Hopefully next month I'll be back in the swing of things.
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Happy birthday, Gatsby
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Last weekend The Great Gatsby turned 90. Now I don't pick favorite books, but if I had to Gatsby would be in consideration for top dog. I love the concise descriptions - they tell you so much with just a few words.
Here are a few of my favorite quotes:
“Let us learn to show our friendship for a man when he is alive and not after he is dead.”
“In my younger and more vulnerable years my father gave me some advice that I’ve been turning over in my mind ever since.
”Whenever you feel like criticizing any one,” he told me, “just remember that all the people in this world haven’t had the advantages that you’ve had.”
“They’re a rotten crowd’, I shouted across the lawn. ‘You’re worth the whole damn bunch put together.”
“I couldn’t forgive him or like him, but I saw that what he had done was, to him, entirely justified. It was all very careless and confused. They were careless people, Tom and Daisy—they smashed up things and creatures and then retreated back into their money or their vast carelessness, or whatever it was that kept them together, and let other people clean up the mess they had made.”
“It takes two to make an accident.”