August Reads

Folks, I have got the blogging blahs. I don’t know what my problem is, but I hope I snap out of it soon because I am driving myself crazy.

Thanks to a blissfully relaxing ten-day vacation last month, I tore through an usually large number of books. Ahhh, to have ten (paid) days off every month . . .

Final Jeopardy by Linda Fairstein

I Wish I Had a Red Dress by Pearl Cleage

The Aviary by Kathleen O’Dell

Isabel’s Bed by Elinor Lipman

Daughter’s Keeper by Ayelet Waldman

Babylon Sisters by Pearl Cleage

Dust Girl by Sarah Zettel

I’ve Got Your Number by Sophie Kinsella

Fifty Shades of Grey by E. L. James

Story of a Girl by Sara Zarr

The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry by Rachel Joyce

Miscellaneous stats:

• no rereads (first time all year)
• read six based on the recommendations of book bloggers (Final Jeopardy, I Wish I Had a Red Dress, The Aviary, Dust Girl, I’ve Got Your Number, The Unlikely Pilgrimage of Harold Fry [too many to list])
• read one because everyone and their neighbor’s cat has read it and because it’s caused all sorts of controversy and I cannot resist controversial books (Fifty Shades of Grey)
• read six new-to-me authors (Linda Fairstein, Kathleen O’Dell, Sarah Zettel, Sophie Kinsella, E. L. James, Rachel Joyce)
• read four familiar authors (Pearl Cleage, Elinor Lipman, Ayelet Waldman, Sara Zarr)
• all eleven were library books
• seven were paper books, four were ebooks

Random August Awards:

Worst Book-to-Film Adaptation Award: Then She Found Me by Elinor Lipman (read in June). This movie was so atrocious I hardly know what to say. It bore so little resemblance to the book it was appalling. Even viewed independently of the book it was a terrible movie. I think the actors did the best they could, but it felt like they were trying too hard create interesting, complex characters. I never connected with any of them. The plot itself sort of wandered aimlessly about, too, which drove me nuts. Ugh. Helen Hunt and Colin Firth, can we pretend this movie never happened?

The I Can’t Seem to Figure Out Who Wrote This Book Award: I’ve Got Your Number. Seriously, guys. Who wrote this book? I’ve looked all over the cover for the author’s name and I just can’t seem to find it anywhere! Wait . . . I think I might have . . . no, that’s not it . . . Oh! There! There it is! It’s those giant letters that take up HALF THE COVER. Whew, I’m so glad I found it. It was really starting to worry me.

Best Cover of the Month Award: The Aviary. After ranting and raving about covers a few weeks ago, I feel like I should balance things out a little and point out a fantastic cover:

This cover is a much better fit for the book than the covers I discussed earlier, and I just love the sharp contrast between the black silhouettes and the green background. Kudos to Knopf Books.

Did anyone else notice that I read only female authors last month? I didn’t realize I was doing it until August was nearly over and the books sitting on the top of my TBR were also by women. Huh. Interesting. Reading goal for the rest of the year: diversity.

How was your August?

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