The August RandomCat: Tell Me Something Good!

Every day, it seems like the world is a little bit rougher out there. At least, from where I'm sitting, that's how it's felt lately. So, I want to take this opportunity to suggest we all choose a book based on something worth celebrating in our corners of the world. It could be anything. For instance, my husband and I just celebrated our 13th wedding anniversary! So, maybe I'll choose a book published in 2006 (when we met), or 2010 (when we married), or even one with thirteen chapters or that ends in the number 13!

And here's something else good: This is Guinness. He's the newest addition to our family, and in the pic, you see his long-legged self relaxing on the couch while brave little Ziva comes up to sniff him.



In his honor--because he's definitely something in my life that's good!--maybe I'll choose a book featuring beer, or somehow related to a big goofy dog, or somehow related to the month of March, when we officially adopted him. (I doubt I'll find a book with an author or main character named Guinness on my TBR, but who knows?)

This is meant to be a fun, free challenge. I hope you'll all tell us something good, whether it's something you celebrate every year or something new to your life, and choose a book with some connection.

Oh my, what a handsome fellow! And how courageous of Ziva, another beauty.

Wonderful challenge! Off to have a hunt in my collection.

>1 whitewavedarling:…now I've got Chaka Khan running through my head... 😂

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p_vWMqirjhI

I'm sure I can find something to fit this challenge.

The first thing that comes to mind is my book club, which will be 10 years old at the end of this year, so I will count their choice for August, The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, for this challenge.

Excellent, I'm sure I can find some good things.
>:-)

So glad everyone's looking forward to it!

>2 VivienneR:, Thank you! He wavers between being goofy and noble, but he is a big handsome boy!

>3 fuzzi:, I was thinking of that song lol! Thank you for bringing in the video!

>4 Robertgreaves:, That's fabulous! I've had that book on my TBR for a while too, so I'll have to keep an eye out for what you think...

School will be starting in August and I love my job, so I think I will read book number 3, Storm in the Village by Miss Read. This might be a twofer that I can use in the SeriesCAT for August!

A couple of weeks ago I went to an excellent authors event at our local indie bookshop. I am loving writing about nature and place, and reading it too, so I am going to read a book by one of the authors I saw, Writing Landscape (no touchstone) by Linda Cracknell.

Both my husband and I have been dealing with health issues for the past few months and now we are coming out on the other side. We have even started to take our short walks again. While I am not quite ready for a hike, I am going to read The Hike by Susi Holliday to celebrate our returned mobility.

>9 DeltaQueen50:, I'm so glad to hear you're doing better!

Love this topic! When I saw the subject for this challenge, the song popped into my head….

Tricky for me to come up with something at the moment. (I just "lost" my 20-year old cat). I'd like to look for something about cats or animals because they make me happy, but it might do the opposite right now.

I'm sure I will come up with something, though.

ETA: As I reread the description, I can think broader. So maybe something specific to do with my cat, Io, but not specific to cats. Hmm, maybe something about astronomy (he was named after one of Jupiter's moons)... that might work.

I would be tempted to make this a reread month, as a reread is per my definition something good.
I am starting a new job tomorrow, so this may also fit with the lack of bandwidth and need for coziness that usually comes with that kind of change.

>13 amberwitch: That is a good idea - I love rereads as well.
Good luck with the new job!

>12 LibraryCin:, I'm so sorry about Io!

>13 amberwitch:, Good luck with the new job!

I'm not quite sure what I'll read... I may go with Teahouse of the Almighty, which was published in 2006, the year I met my husband, and which is a special book since it's signed/dedicated by the author, who I adore and met at a reading just after it came out.

>15 whitewavedarling: Thank you.

>12 LibraryCin: My sympathies about Io. I lost two senior cats a year ago, still missing them.

>17 LadyoftheLodge: Thank you.

So far all my losses have been spread out by years. I can't imagine how difficult it is to lose two close together (hard enough losing one at a time). My next two are only a year apart, so I expect they will go closer together.

I like "overcoming the odds" type of stories, think I'll finally read Canyon Winter.

I think Balzac's short story La messe de l'athée fits nicely here which tells us how poor people are often more willing to give and to share than the rich, and in this case there's also proper gratitude.

I am reading two Little Golden Books, since they remind me of many hours of reading when I was a child. Lady and the Tramp and King Charles III Little Golden Book Biography.

>21 LadyoftheLodge: Oooh, fun!

I have decided to use this month to celebrate my favorite type of book (cozy cat mysteries) and holiday (Christmas) by reading A Whisker of A Doubt by Cate Conte. This book was a SantaThing gift, receiving those books always makes me feel good and excited.

I am planning to read Emily Wilde's Encyclopedia of Faeries. I love faeries and toadstools and the cover just pulled me straight in! (I have the white cover, not the black one - not such a fan of the black one).

A good thing in my life is my RL book club that I've been a part of for 13 years. This month we're reading the children's classic The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett, which is also a favorite of mine that always makes me feel good. So 2 good things in one!

Nature Obscura is all about exploring the beauty and fascination of nature in urban environments, with a focus on my own home city of Seattle.

Something good for me this month was visiting an old friend for a long weekend. She lives about a 6-hour drive away, so we hadn't seen each other since before COVID. It was great to finally spend some time with her in person!

I chose Mhairi McFarlane's Between Us for this theme because all the main characters are part of a tight-knit friend group, and the book starts off with a group vacation/reunion. Of course, in the book, conflicts soon arise, but fortunately that didn't happen in real life! :)

I like @whitewavedarling's idea of celebrating the year of a marriage. I read North Star Conspiracy by Miriam Grace Monfredo, which was published in 1993, the year my husband and I were married.

I finished Writing Landscape by Linda Cracknell and enjoyed it very much. Short essays about how being in the landscape informs and inspires her writing practice. I also appreciated the shortness as I am trying to recover from covid and don't have a very long attention span!

I re-read a favourite from about ten years ago. One Good Turn by Kate Atkinson

Interlocking stories beginning with a good turn that eventually goes wrong. The analogy with the matryoshka doll is very cleverly accomplished, because that's exactly what this book is - a story within a story within a story... The events are fast moving and the characters are that peculiar mix that might be found anywhere. Jackson is a very appealing sleuth, even though his relationships usually match his favoured hurtin' country music. Atkinson is a genius at allowing the reader to have the unusual experience of a good hoot of laughter while reading a crime novel. Excellent!

I have been catching up on many tv series this summer and cooking some good food, so Padma Lakshmi's memoir Love, Loss, and What We Ate fits well here. It is interesting if you watch Top Chef, though there are not a lot of show details. There is certainly sad parts and a few that might make you angry, but overall I found it very good.

I read Goodbye, Mr. Chips by James Hilton. This was a re-read for me, I enjoyed it 30 years ago and did so now. I chose this as it's about a schoolteacher, and I love school and teaching. There are a few sad, tense moments, but all in all a very pleasurable read.

So, I picked this because cats make me happy (this is indirect)... but when this was announced I had just "lost" my 20-year old cat; he was euthanized. So, I chose to do an indirect thing (I thought it might be too hard to read about cats directly).

He was named after one of Jupiter's moons (Io), because I was into astronomy at the time I adopted him. BONUS in the book, I learned a bit about Jupiter's moon, Io, as well.

Solar System: Our Place in Space / Rosemary Mosco, Jon Chad (Ill.)
4 stars

This is a graphic novel. The premise is that one kid is home sick and bored. Her friend comes by with a book about the solar system, so they invent a spaceship (with their pets as the fictional crew) to travel throughout the solar system – to the sun, then to all the planets and “belts” in between them and slightly beyond, where they learn about where they are visiting.

This is aimed toward kids, but I learned some stuff about the solar system, as well. I really enjoyed this. The pets as crew was kind of silly, but likely appealing to kids. I liked that there was a summary at the end of each planetary visit to explain some of the things learned. I also liked that they stopped at Pluto, even though it is no longer considered a planet. And I also enjoyed learning about a few of the planets’ moons. It was unfortunate temperatures were only in Fahrenheit, however. The illustrator did a really nice job, as well; the illustrations are all in colour.

>32 Tess_W: I recently reread that book too. It was a good reading experience for me too. Did you see the movie with Petula Clark as his wife?

September thread is here: https://www.librarything.com/topic/353003

I finished Canyon Winter, and thoroughly enjoyed it. I found it to be a well-written, interesting, and engaging story of a young man coming-of-age in a difficult situation. I liked how the character grew and matured in the course of the tale, a GOOD THING!

My grandmother turned 100 this summer, so I decided to read something in her honor. Her name is Eva, so I found a book by an author named Eva, By Book or by Crook by Eva Gates. This was a fun cozy mystery set in a lighthouse library.

For this months Challenge I did a re-read of the books in the world of the marrok Series hunting ground, fair game and Dead heat.
So cozy and good, despite having a monstrous pile of new reads.

I read The Hike by Susi Holliday in an effort to celebrate that I am able to go on walks again. Unfortunately, the book was too far-fetched and silly.

I reread On the Banks of Plum Creek by Laura Ingalls Wilder. My 4th grade teacher, a favorite elementary school teacher, read this book to us in class as a special treat. It introduced me to the Little House Books.

COMPLETED The Midnight Library by Matt Haig, which fits as my book club choice for August. We had a good discussion of the book on Saturday and it was a book everybody enjoyed.

I read two books that fit this category for me. One was published in 1943 and was the first in a series of 14 I loved as a teen, Meet the Malones by Lenora Mattingly Weber. The Malones are a family of four children and one father. The dad, a journalist, goes to Hawaii to report on the aftermath of Pearl Harbor and grandmother comes to stay with the children. Among the things that happen while he'a gone is the acquisition of a horse!

I'm always leary of rereading something from my childhood but I throughly enjoyed this.

I also read The Cat Who Went Bananas by Lilian Jackson Braun. This is the 28th of 29 in the series. A comfort read series, I started it during Covid and it still gives a pleasurable break from real life. I'll be sorry to have it end next month!

I'm only updating this now, but way back in August I read Outlander by Diana Gabaldon, which fits this challenge perfectly. I decided to reread this novel and get back to that series because in October we traveled to Scotland and I wanted to celebrate that. Outlander was also one of the very first topics that my husband and I had a private conversation about (we met at work) and the first series we watched together, and our wedding had a slight Outlander touch, so to me, it really is something good!

>43 MissBrangwen: How wonderful! I love anything Outlander.