How can summer be over? I swear I was just cracking my first poolside book and now! The pool closes Monday, and our calendars are PACKED through the end of the semester.
August was an EXCELLENT reading month for me because I spent our whole vacation road trip powering through book after book. I have yet to spend any time reading on the beach, but maybe sometime before the kids graduate from college.
22. The Wisdom of Sally Red Shoes by Ruth Hogan: I wanted to like this so much.
21. Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey: Solid meh. This is #1 in a series, but I don't think I will look for #2.
20. The Friend Zone by Abyy Jimenez: Nope.
19. All That You Leave Behind: A Memoir by Erin Lee Carr: It's not that it's too soon for a father loss memoir (PROBABLY IS), it's that this one was clunky, and I never liked the author, even though I bet I would like her IRL. And she's a UW comm alum!!
18. Baby of the Family by Maura Roosevelt: A good poolside page-turner. Not a thriller, but some mystery.
17. The FavoriteDaughter Kaira Rouda: A perfectly OK thriller.
16. Look How Happy I'm Making You by Polly Rosenwaike: Great stories about mothering in the US.
15. The Two Lila Bennetts by Liz Fenton and Lisa Steinke: I am usually not all about writing pairs, but I like these two. This book was a good poolside thriller.
14. My Lovely Wife by Samantha Downing: YES. So weird. Kind of scary. Liked it.
13. The Unbreakables by Lisa Barr: Yes to strong women emerging unscathed from midlife crises!
12. The Care and Feeding of Ravenously Hungry Girls by Anissa Gray: Oh, this is good. And also very sad.
11. Man of the Year by Caroline Louise Walker: This is great. A really dark What About Bob of a book.
10. Lady in the Lake by Laura Lippman: I loved this one! Such good characters, and the plot kept me going. I also really liked the change in POV, and I sometimes do not.
9. When You Read This by Mary Adkins: This is sweet and funny, and I am a sucker for an epistolary novel.
8. The Golden Hour by Beatriz Williams: This is about a really interesting moment in history, and I liked the characters. The plot is great, and the women are excellent. Read it!
7. Once More We Saw Stars by Jayson Greene: OH MY GOSH. This is a memoir about the death of a toddler, so it's rough, But so good you guys. READ IT. Also he's on the Terrible, Thanks for Asking podcast-- haven't listened yet, but it's in my queue.
6. Neve Have I Ever by Joshilyn Jackson: If you haven't read Jackson, you should. All of her books are wonderful and engaging. If you are an audio book fan, she reads them herself, and she is lovely.
5. Honestly We Meant Well by Grant Grinder: I really love this author-- he does such a good job of making me like totally unlikable people.
4. The Floating Feldmans by Elyssa Friedland: I LOVED this debut. It is HILARIOUS and also so sweet and sad. I loved all of the characters; the plot is good. Any other month, it would win.
3. The Nickel Boys by Colson Whitehead: Wow. Tragic and wonderful and very hard to read.
2. Women Talking by Miriam Toews: Sad, spare, powerful, perfect. This book is a work of art AND a really compelling page-turner.
1. Miracle Creek by Angie Kim: BOOK OF THE YEAR. READ IT RIGHT NOW.
How?!?! How do you power through so much in a month! Impressed and envious...
ReplyDeleteI felt exactly the same way about Erin Carr's memoir. I wanted to like it so much more than I did (because Erin was actually a student of mine and we've kept in touch). I liked it, but...yeah. What you said. Her documentaries are badass, though.
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