August Reading Wrap-Up

Hmmmm. It's 10:30pm on Monday (Labor Day), and I just realized I should have written a blog post today. Oops. I guess I had a little too much holiday relaxation. It was a beautiful weekend here-- considerably cooler than the previous week, which has knocked back the fires so that the smoke is way better, too. We were wearing sweatshirts out on the lake, but I can live with that.

OK, I thought of something. I will do an August reading wrap-up. Although I'll warn you in advance that I didn't read any books during August that I'd say were drop-everything-and-go-buy-this-book-type reading experiences. Good but nothing great. It's not as long a list as it seems because two of them I started months ago, so I only read the last couple of chapters this month.

I've joined the Modern Mrs. Darcy online book club for the fall-- they had some books coming up that I wanted to read anyway, and I've been meaning to try it for awhile. The August book was I'll Be Your Blue Sky, by Maria de los Santos. I already had another book by that author on my shelves (Loved Walked In), and people were gushing about how much they love this author. So I read them both. She's a great writer, and she puts together an absorbing story. But I am way too cynical for these books. They needed about a triple dose of snark to make them work for me. Recommended for some time when you want a warm, compassionate story about people learning to love and trust.

A Secret Sisterhood, by Emily Midorikawa and Emma Claire Sweeney, about little known literary friendships of famous female authors. Authors like Jane Austen and Charlotte Bronte are often seen as solitary figures with few friends outside their immediate family circle. But the authors of this book have uncovered correspondence that proves this simply isn't true. It's a fascinating topic, and if you're interested in the biographies of these writers (those two plus George Eliot, Virginia Woolf, and Katherine Mansfield), you should definitely pick this one up. But it's marred a bit by a stiff, overly-wordy writing style. 

Big Magic: Creative Living Beyond Fear by Elizabeth Gilbert. I've got mixed feelings about this one. I really want to dislike Elizabeth Gilbert because she's so dang popular, and she's annoyingly positive and (in my opinion) full of herself. (was I unusually grumpy this month?) But there really is a lot of wisdom about creativity in this book. I read it in small doses-- a chapter or two whenever it crossed my mind to pick it up, which means it took me over a year to read it-- and read that way, it's definitely worth reading.

The rest of these I'll just list with the star rating I gave them on Goodreads (out of 5 stars, with 5 stars being the best)
Believe Me, Eddie Izzard's memoir 4 stars
   (uneven. British trans comedian inspires with his persistence and determination)
Olive Kitteridge, by Elizabeth Strout 3 stars
  (fascinating character study of small-town mathematics teacher, almost ruined by cheesy ending)
The Tenth Island, Diana Marcum 4 stars
  (journalist finds friends and professional renewal in the Azores)
Off the Clock, Laura Vanderkam 4 stars (advice for how to get more done while staying relaxed)
Vinegar Girl, Anne Tyler  3 stars (disappointing rewrite of Taming of the Shrew)

I guess the good news is I didn't read anything awful, either.

It's been a long time since I read a knock-your-socks-off book, if you have, please pass along recommendations!! I do have some new ideas for posts, but I was planning on writing the first one tomorrow (thinking it was Monday), so now I'll probably put it off till next week. Have a good one.