It's hard to narrow my August books down to three, so I'm cheating a little:
1)
Bleak House by
Charles Dickens because it's epic and wonderful and Dickens is really a master at setting moods.
2)
The Alexandria Quartet by
Lawrence Durrell because of the quality of his prose - some of these books read almost like poetry, the language is so beautiful.
3)
Fragile Things by
Neil Gaiman because Gaiman is awesome and I'd never read him before. The best stories are the Susan Pevensie one, and the one where the writer writes "fantasy" novels about stockbrokers, etc. And the Sherlock Holmes-ish one.
honorable mention goes to
AmsterdamI only read 6 in August--I discovered how to maneuver on the Lt group threads and spent more time that last part of the month reading posts than reading books!
The 3 best (I loved all of these!)
Infidel by Ayaan Hirsi Ali--the story of a woman born in Somalia, raised Muslim who fled from an arranged marriage to become a fighter for the rights of Muslim in the West. Talk about incredible journey!
The Secret Life of Lobsters by Trevor Corson (LT author, BTW)--sex, science and politics--who could ask for more! Of course we are talking about lobster sex, here. Seriously, this one far exceeded my expectations--very informative while being very entertaining. (I'm hinting y'all should read it!)
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck--deservedly a classic. Hauntingly beautiful and heartbreaking--a real surprise in a story about bunkhouse cowboys in the 1930's.
@5 jfetting: I found
Bleak House more than equal to it's name, but then I find Dickens to be an incredibly oppressive author.
And on to August:
Despite reading 24 books this month, I must say my expectations were continually disappointed to one degree or another. The only book that really caught me off-guard was 'Blindness' which was brilliant. Thomas Mann finally won me over after enduring 300 pages of skepticism whereupon he became a rewarding chore. I enjoyed the Victorian sprawl of Collins and Eliot, although I was underwhelmed by
Oliver Twist and
Kim. Ran into a few "interesting" reads:
Against Nature,
Demian and
The Satanic Verses that kept me bemused if not necessarily amused.
Perhaps I just wasn't in the right mood last month.
1t.
Blindness by José Saramago
1t.
The Magic Mountain by Thomas Mann
3.
The Mill on the Floss by George Eliot
Honorable Mentions:
The Moonstone,
The Three MusketeersReally?: Survivor,
Northanger Abbey#7 - 24 books in August! Amazing....
August wasn't a great reading month for me. The one book I did fall in love with was
All About Lulu by
Jonathan Evison. Unfortunately, none of my other reads are worthy of noting...
I really enjoyed
Wife in the North, which was my July ER book. Although I couldn't say I enjoyed it,
Night by
Elie Wiesel was one of the most disturbing, powerful, and important books I've ever read.
I only read 6 books in August, and most were just average, so I'm only going to list one favourite:
The Woman Who Gave Birth to Rabbits--short stories based on strange historical anecdotes, each followed by a brief note on the historical facts.
I finished 6 books in August and my top 3 were:
The Road by Cormac McCarthy. I found this book absolutely stunning.
Born on a Blue Day by Daniel Tammett. I loved his descriptions of how his mind works and how he sees numbers and words.
The Heretic's Daughter by
Kathleen Kent. Fictionalized account of the true story of the author's ancestor Martha Carrier, who was hanged as a witch in Salem in the 1690s. The language is lyrical and the book captured my interest and held it.
#1 DevourerOfBooks - I loved
Zoe's Tale too and it surprised me for the same reason - I very rarely read SF. I absolutely hated
One More Year, though - go figure!
#5 jfetting - I have had
The Alexandria Quartet on my shelves forever. In what order should I read the books? I'm thinking that they will be good to start early next year (this year is already "booked" up.)
#15 karenmarie - I think the official order goes
Justine,
Balthazar,
Mountolive, and then
Clea. You should definitely read them when you get a chance!
I spent nearly all of this month on
A Monarchy Transformed (my other reading was mostly fluff when I was too sleepy to read my main book). Why? Well, because of the Ravelympics. (Long story.)
I read 8 books which is a lot for me and I enjoyed most of them. The best:
1.
The Historian - this seems to be a love it or hate it one with LTers, but I loved it.
2.
Here Be Dragons by Sharon Kay Penman - fabulous historical fiction!
3.
The Story of Edgar Sawtelle - well-written tear-jerker.
honorable mention -
Of Mice and MenMessage edited by its author, Sep 5, 2008, 9:52am.
I read several above-average books, but unfortunately, nothing really knocked it out of the park for me. My four-star books were:
1.
Sweetsmoke by
David Fuller: Very good as a first novel
2.
In Defense of Food by Michael
Pollan: Pollan describes the way we should all eat
3. The Judas Strain by James
Rollins: I almost never give a thriller 4 stars, but - although the story strains the limits of belief - it was well-written and even made me tear up a bit at the end.
ETA: Not sure why the touchstone for The Judas Strain isn't showing in the message.
Message edited by its author, Sep 5, 2008, 10:54am.
Hm. I read some good stuff this month, but I wasn't blown away the way I was with other books I read earlier this year. My top three books for August are:
1.
The Shadow of the Wind by Carlos Ruiz Zafon
2.
Silk by Alessandro Baricco
3.
Sweet Love by Sarah Strohmeyer
Sweet Love was perhaps the biggest surprise of the bunch. I was expecting the other two to be good, but this one was a random pickup based on the cover art (yes, sometimes I am that person). I expected fluffy chick lit and got an interesting take on familial relationships instead.
What a fun idea for a thread! But now that I think about it I have trouble picking just three. I finished
Moby Dick at the very start of August, and I think such a classic probably should rank high, but I really loved
Ethan Frome and Summer by Edith Wharton, she writes such beautiful tragedies. I also embarrassingly read the whole
Twilight series, which I will just count as one. Embarrassing but fun. But that leaves out
Life of Pi and
Penguin Island, which I feel bad excluding but didn't absolutely love, and the nonfiction
Common Sense and
Temptations of the West, which were both quite good. I'm obviously bad at this.
I post my month's reading in another group (Book of the Month Club) and the writing down of my feelings about the books helps me focus in on what really worked and what didn't for me. By the end of my writing about each book and looking at them all in context with each other, it becomes pretty easy for me to rank them.
Of course this may not work for everyone.
August was okay but not a stellar month. I read two 4.5s:
Silent in the Grave by Deanna Raybourn (historical mystery)
The Serpent's Tale by Ariana Franklin (ditto)
and a number of 4s, of which this one stands out:
Mystic River by Dennis Lehane. (mystery thriller)
I read lots in August and really enjoyed most of them so it has been very difficult to pick three.
Fup by Jim Dodge - absolutely delightful and so different from anything else I've read. Just a little book though - I read it in an hour.
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion - I'd wanted to read this for ages and wasn't disappointed by it. So beautifully written but without being mawkish.
The End of Mr Y by Scarlett Thomas - so many ideas in here, so much to think about. One of those books that I wish I was clever enough to have written.
Special mention should also go to
84 Charing Cross Road by Helene Hanff and
The Restraint of Beasts by Magnus Mills, which were also wonderful.
I read six, which I think is a personal record for one month, not sure. It helped that I enjoyed them all.
1.
The Road by Cormac McCarthy - I gave it 5 stars because it took over my mind for a bit and really got me thinking
2.
The Secret River by Kate Grenville - because it's just an unforgettable story.
3.
To a God Unknown by John Steinbeck - Hard to explain why since I haven't really figured this one out.
Message edited by its author, Sep 10, 2008, 2:47pm.
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