- My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh ★★★★☆
- The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker ★★★★★
- The Mars Room by Rachel Kushner (Man Booker) ★★★★☆
- Eden by Andrea Kleine ★★★★☆
- Snap by Belinda Bauer (Man Booker) ★★☆☆☆
- I’ll Be Right There by Kyung-Sook Shin, translated by Sora Kim-Russell ★★☆☆☆
- The Bakkhai by Euripides (reread), translated by Anne Carson ★★★★☆
- Lab Girl by Hope Jahren (audiobook) ★★☆☆☆
- Milkman by Anna Burns (Man Booker) ★★★★☆
- Revenge by Yoko Ogawa, translated by Stephen Synder ★★★★☆
- Macbeth by Shakespeare (reread) ★★★★★
- Everything Under by Daisy Johnson (Man Booker) ★★★★☆
Favorite: The Silence of the Girls by Pat Barker
Honorable mentions: Macbeth by Shakespeare (obviously), My Year of Rest and Relaxation by Ottessa Moshfegh, Milkman by Anna Burns, Everything Under by Daisy Johnson, Revenge by Yoko Ogawa
Least favorite: Snap by Belinda Bauer
AUGUST TOTAL: 12
YEARLY TOTAL: 91
So as you can see, it was a solid reading month aside from that 2-star streak in the middle, and it’s been quite Man Booker heavy. I really did not go into this planning on reading the entire longlist, but it looks like that’s where I may be heading… I own a copy of In Our Mad and Furious City, I won a copy of Normal People, and I have library holds on Warlight, The Overstory, and Washington Black, so, those are all definitely on my horizon.
Currently reading: Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy (lol I haven’t picked this up in weeks, I’m sorry Thomas Hardy!!! I’m enjoying it but I just have so much going on reading-wise and it keeps getting shuffled to the bottom of the pile), The Line That Held Us by David Joy, The Whole Story and Other Stories by Ali Smith, The Only Girl in the World by Maude Julien (audiobook).
What was the best book you read in August? Comment and let me know!
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You’re really powering through those Man Booker reads! 💪🏼📚
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It turns out September is going to be crazy busy for me – more travel for work (not to Houston thank god), a weekend in NYC, and 2 weekends of friends visiting – anyway, all this to say I’m glad I was able to get a solid head start 😂
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I am always so impressed that you can set your mind to reading the longlist and then just do it. I always get distracted. Which one are you tackling next?
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I think spacing them out with other books has been helpful – if I were literally restricting myself to just the longlist that would take some of the fun out of it. I know a few people are already done with the longlist and I’m like, how????
In Our Mad and Furious City is up next! My copy of Normal People hasn’t arrived yet but hopefully that one after. If not, the library hold on Warlight will be in soon.
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I don’t know how some people have already finished the longlist either. I cannot keep reading one genre for any length of time.
I am really looking forward to the rest of your reviews because I am still on the fence with a few of the books.
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Literary fiction is the only genre I’m able to binge on (if it even is a genre – I have conflicting feelings about that) because there’s so much variety in form and structure. I don’t think I’d be able to read any genre fiction longlists.
I still haven’t made the decision in my heart to read Washington Black so we’ll just wait and see how that one goes. It does seem like a fast-paced, quick read so I may just go for it, but ugh.
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I had this great idea of attempting the Hugo Shortlist – but then I never even started. Maybe I should just stick to reading the winners, now that they are announced.
Maybe Washington Black will surprise you? I mean, it doesn’t sound that great but the reviews are mostly favourable.
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Some superb suggestions for reading. I will be checking out Revenge by Yoko Ogawa, I think. I hope you are liking Far From the Madding Crowd if you are reading it for the first time or re-reading. It is such a great novel in my opinion. You can see all these interesting dynamics between the heroine and her three suitors.
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Thanks so much! I’d highly recommend Revenge, it was quietly brilliant. I’m reading Far From the Madding Crowd for the first time but I’ve seen the recent film adaptation so I do know most of the major plot points. I’m really enjoying it! It’s taken a backseat because of my Booker reading unfortunately, but I’ve been meandering through it for a couple of months now so I’d really like to sit down and finish it in September.
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Congrats on reading so many amazing books this month! Daisy Johnson’s book and Milkman is def in my TBR because of you 😉 Why didn’t you enjoy Lab Girl? I’ve heard so many good things about it.
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Ooh I hope you enjoy them both!
I was just the wrong reader for Lab Girl, is what it basically boils down to. With memoirs I need a strong human interest angle to stay invested – I’m just really interested in interpersonal dynamics and things like that, so several hundred pages of this woman waxing eloquent about her love for trees was just about the most boring thing I could possibly imagine. I was also listening to the audiobook which the author narrates, and it was overly sentimental (as in, she was actually in tears at several points) and I just don’t react very well to that kind of narration… BUT I would not say that it’s a bad book, it was just a case of ‘it’s not you, it’s me.’ So if the premise interests you I’d encourage you to give it a shot! But if it doesn’t interest you, it’s not the sort of book that transcends its premise, which is what I’d been counting on.
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Thanks for explaining, Rachel. It seems like it’s just not your taste but might be a lot of other people’s favourite books. I personally am quite interested in the premise, but maybe I will pick up the paperback instead of the audiobook 🙂
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If you’re interested in the premise I imagine you’ll end up loving it! Fingers crossed. But yes, I’d recommend the paperback for sure. But then again, I know some people enjoy the audiobook… I think it comes down to preferences again – I really can’t stand overly sentimental narration but I suppose that works well for some people, hearing the emotion in the author’s voice.
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