August is back-to-school time around here, so it felt like a whirlwind of new routines, new activities, and trying to get everyone to go to bed at a decent time. Transitions can be hard, especially on the youngest member of our family, so I’m looking forward to things settling down a little in September.
Speaking of whirlwinds though, my reading life in August was also quite a whirlwind. I read some amazing, memorable books that I can’t wait to share. Here’s my August reading round-up.
Fiction
Tomorrow, and Tomorrow, and Tomorrow by Gabrielle Zevin. Sam meets Sadie while he’s in the hospital recovering from a terrible car accident, and they bond over Super Mario Brothers. This begins both a life-long friendship and a mutual love of video games. It’s been years since they’ve seen each other, but when Sadie and Sam run into each other at a Boston subway stop, their friendship reignites, and a with it, a collaboration to build a video game that is an instant success. As they build a company together, their friendship and lives experience growing pains alongside the business. While video games play a starring role in this book, more than anything this is a story of friendship. It is definitely character-driven, and Zevin’s writing made me fall in love with the characters, even when they weren’t all that easy to love. I wanted to both cry and hug this one when I finished it. It was excellent. My rating: 5/5 stars.
Unlikely Animals by Annie Hartnett. Since she changed her mind about going to med school, Emma Starling has felt a bit lost. She returns home to help her family after her father was diagnosed with a mysterious brain condition. At home, she helps care for her father, who has been hallucinating small animals and conversing with a ghost since his diagnosis, and tries to repair her relationship with her brother, a recovering addict. She also takes a job as a long term substitute fifth grade teacher—a much harder job than she originally thought. Somehow, Hartnett manages to combine elements both bizarre and serious (ghosts, caring for a loved one, addiction) to tell a cohesive yet complex and heartwarming story. There is so much going on that any summary would be incomplete, so this is one that if you like the author’s tone, you just have to trust yourself in her hands and go with it. I adored this book, it’s unlike anything I’ve read, but in the best way. My rating: 5/5 stars.
The Measure by Nikki Erlick. On a day that seems as ordinary as any other, a delivery arrives at doorsteps around the world. All adults aged 22 or older receive a box with a string inside, with no explanation other than a cryptic inscription on the box. The world soon learns that the length of the string represents the length of the recipient’s life, and suddenly a divide opens up between the “short stringers” and the “long stringers.” I chose this book for a book club I’m in, and boy did we have a lot to talk about! While reading this you naturally wonder what you would do in this situation, and whether our current world would respond the way the fictional world did. It was fascinating and compelling, and although it was this premise that made me pick it up, ultimately it was the characters and their individual struggles that made me want to keep reading. If you want to get completely absorbed in a story, this is an excellent one to pick up. My rating: 4.5/5 stars.
Memphis by Tara M. Stringfellow. Memphis is the story of three generations of a Southern Black family, whose past and present lives are knit together like a keepsake quilt. We learn about Joan, who at the age of ten, flees with her mother and sister to her Aunt August’s house in Memphis to escape her father’s explosive temper. The home was originally built by Joan’s grandfather, who became the city’s first Black detective, only to be lynched days later. Stringfellow layers family history, secrets both past and present, and the theme of finding one’s way in the world in the beautiful stories she tells. She manages to showcase the value of art and its healing properties without taking away from the pain and brokenness of tragedy and irrevocable choices. This was deeply sad, yet hopeful, and I loved it. My rating: 4.25/5 stars.
Her Last Flight by Beatriz Williams. It’s 1947, and Janey Everett is a photojournalist on a mission to uncover the true story of Sam Mallory, an aviation pioneer who disappeared in Spain during the Spanish Civil War. She manages to find Irene Lindquist, who owns an island-hopping aviation service in Hawaii, and Everett is convinced that Lindquist is really Irene Foster, who was Mallory’s former student, flying partner, and famed aviatrix in her own right. Williams alternates between telling the story of Everett’s journalism—getting to know Lindquist and her family as well as uncovering secrets and making connections—and the book she eventually pens, Aviatrix, which chronicles Irene Foster’s life. This historical novel was multilayered and filled with complex characters that were extremely well-written. My rating: 3.75/5 stars.
Thank You for Listening by Julia Whalen. Sewanee Chester is an audiobook narrator who is still coming to terms with how an accident altered her plans to be an actress. She began her career in audiobooks with romance, but stays far away from that genre these days, until a project comes her way that she can’t refuse—from a beloved author she worked with in the past, and that offers enough money to pay for her grandmother’s long-term care. She’s paired up with romance narrator heartthrob Brock McNight, and as you can imagine, sparks fly both on and off the page. Whalen packed a lot into this story—it’s definitely more layered than a simple romance—but for me it was a little too much. Unsurprisingly, the audio narration (done by expert audio narrator Whalen herself of course) was excellent, but it wasn’t my favorite story. My rating: 3.25/5 stars.
Perfect Tunes by Emily Gould. Laura is a musician hoping to find success in New York in the early days of the new millennium. She and her friend start to play small gigs, but things change when she falls for a boy in a band gaining in popularity. Yet soon, tragedy strikes, and Laura is forced to grow up—and to put her dreams on hold. We see her life unfold, and the way her past choices affect her as a parent, and also as she tries to figure out what she wants from her life. I struggled to like the characters in this book; I had sympathy for them of course, but I never got overly invested in their lives. This one fell a little flat for me, it wasn’t my favorite. My rating: 3/5 stars.
The Bodyguard by Katherine Center. Hannah Brooks may look petite and harmless, but as an Executive Protection Agent, aka a bodyguard, she could kill you with her ballpoint pen if needed. She’s hired to protect actor Jack Stapleton from a stalker, but Stapleton doesn’t want his family knowing about the stalker—or the fact that he has a bodyguard. So she poses as his girlfriend instead. Of course you can see where this is going. This was very light and fun, and if you’re in the mood for a low stakes rom com—and don’t mind that it gets a little cheesy at times—it might be worth a try. My rating: 3/5 stars.
Nonfiction
The Sun Does Shine: How I Found Life and Freedom on Death Row by Anthony Ray Hinton. In 1985, Anthony Ray Hinton was arrested and charged with murder in Alabama. Since he was clocked in at his job when one of the murders was allegedly committed, he felt confident they would get the truth sorted out and he would be home soon. However, as a poor Black man from the South, Hinton’s (valid, legally sound) arguments of innocence weren’t taken seriously, and he was convicted and sent to death row. This is his memoir of his time spent in death row, how he got there, and how—after 30 years of incarceration—he finally got the justice he deserved. His story is powerful and inspiring, challenging, yet somehow hopeful. I’ve read a lot of excellent books this year but this one tops the list so far. Hinton’s story is unforgettable. I highly recommend this one, especially if you enjoyed Just Mercy or A Knock at Midnight. My rating: 5/5 stars.
Hood Feminism: Notes from the Women that a Movement Forgot by Mikki Kendall. In Hood Feminism, Mikki Kendall offers a critique of mainstream feminism, arguing that many women are ignored in the modern feminist’s plight. Through research and personal essays, Kendall shares how issues like food insecurity, access to education, and quality medical care are feminist issues too and without prioritizing basic needs like these, feminism fails to include a significant number of women, mostly women of color. Hood Feminism uses research to explore the limitations of modern feminism, yet it never felt dry or academic—I listened to this on audio and devoured it in just a few days. I think this should be required reading for all. My rating: 4.5/5 stars.
Jesus and John Wayne: How White Evangelicals Corrupted a Faith and Fractured a Nation by Kristin Kobes Du Mez. Many people, myself included, are mystified that Donald Trump—a man who could never be described as an upstanding, moral role model of faith—captured the hearts (and the votes!) of the majority of the Evangelical Christian population. Through sharing the history of Evangelical Christianity, Jesus and John Wayne illustrates just how that happened, and how connected the Evangelical church and politics have always been. I grew up Baptist and became a Methodist in high school, and I’ve always identified as more liberal-leaning in both of these faiths, but for a short time I taught at a private Christian school that felt very Evangelical to me (needless to say I didn’t last long there). I’m fascinated by the idea that the “same” religion (Christianity) can have so many different ideas of what it means to follow God, and how people can believe pretty much the exact opposite of what I do yet call themselves Christians, just as I do. This was a fascinating read, and I recommend it to anyone who is curious about how Evangelicals became the voice of the conservative right. My rating: 4/5 stars.
Have you read any of these?
