August Color Cat - Gray

While gray probably isn’t anyone’s favorite color, it does get used a lot on book covers. This month we will take a closer look. Often mixed with black and white, these covers can set a definite “noir” mood or the dull cover color can indicate that the book is about death and destruction. Many police procedurals use grey on their covers as do books set in the apocalypse.

I have no shortage of books with grey overs but I am looking forward to seeing what everyone else is going to be reading.

Have fun and let us know. For those who use it, the wiki is here: https://wiki.librarything.com/index.php/ColourCAT

I have set aside the following books for my Gray theme:

Ruination by Courtney Konstantin
The Third Man by Graham Greene
The Creak on the Stairs by Eva Bjorg Aegisdottir

I'm going to plan on Lincoln in the Bardo by George Sanders for this one--the cover is all various shades of gray!

These are my choices this month:

The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher
Girls against God by Jenny Hval
The Daylight Gate by Jeanette Winterson
The Ladies of Grace Adieu by Susanna Clarke
Not My Father’s Son by Alan Cumming

I know you’re not supposed to judge a book by its cover, but the Girls against God cover photo is so striking, it’s why I added it to my TBR:

Probably The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by Stephen Anthony Smith. The bottom panel on the cover is grey.

I'll probably read Partners in Crime which not only has gray on the cover but also in the author's name - Gallagher Gray.

ETA: Gallagher Gray is a pseudonym used by Kate Munger.

I have several that will work but I think it will be Time of the Child by Niall Williams.It has gray wintery clouds on he cover.

I think I will revisit A Child’s Calendar which has a wintry scene with gray clouds on the cover.

I'll either read:


or choose a book published by Persephone from my shelves, like The Priory by Dorothy Whipple:

>9 kac522: Ooh, I love the Persephone Books idea!

I will be reading Cher: The Memoir Part One by Cher

>10 christina_reads: Seemed like the perfect fit 😁

I'm going in a different direction and reading Agnes Grey by Anne Bronte.

>13 JayneCM: One of my favorites--enjoy!

If my library hold arrives in time, I'm going to read Original Sin by Jake Tapper and Alex Thompson, though I don't expect to actually enjoy revisiting last year.

I have more than I expected!

I'll plan to read:
Gallows Hill / Darcy Coates
The Mall Walkers / R. Brian Howe

I am considering Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray

I have completed my first gray colored over for August with Ruination by Courtney Konstantin.

Today I read Pietr the Latvian, my second grey-colored cover.

I read High Country by Nevada Barr

I have completed The Third Man by Graham Greene.

After putting off Lincoln in the Bardo for years, I finally read it, somehow ending up reading it in just two long sittings, all yesterday! Full review written, but I'd certainly recommend it if you haven't already gotten to it, as I'm sure many of you have.

I finished Nothing Venture by Patricia Wentworth, which was quite the page-turner. This is a stand-alone mystery from 1932. Besides gray on the cover, the heroine, Nan, buys a new gray dress, and wears it several times during the course of the book at significant turning points in the plot.

I've started reading the first volume of Virginia Woolf's diaries, which in my edition the cover is black/grey.

COMPLETED The Russian Revolution: A Very Short Introduction by Stephen Anthony Smith.

I'm counting Jennie Goutet's A Regrettable Proposal for this KIT; there's a gray lacy graphic at the beginning of each chapter heading.

Home for Unwanted Girls by Joanna Goodman
It is so sad that history has kept events like this pretty well concealed until an author chooses to write about them. This heartbreaking book, based on the author’s mother’s experience, is focused on the infamous Quebec orphanages of the 1950s. Premier Duplessis stopped financing orphanages, and changed their designations to “lunatic asylums” for which federal funding was available. The orphans were consequently treated as “crazies” and made to work and take care of patients. Goodman tackled a difficult story with skill, a story that is emotional, sad, and infuriating.

I am glad to have checked off this well loved classic.

I DNF Girls Against God. That should be a lesson to me about judging a book by its cover! I’m going to listen to the audiobook of The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher instead:

Second for this category Old Crow

September is posted: https://www.librarything.com/topic/373260

I have finished Das verbotene Notizbuch which has a photograph of the author on the cover, in black and white which is, of course, many shades of grey.

I finished The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher, with the gray cover seen in >30 Charon07:. It was both creepy and fun.

I read Boundary Waters by William Kent Krueger.

This image of the cover looks more blue than grey, but it was definitely grey.

I had selected a different book in >11 lowelibrary:, but I had trouble getting into it at this time. I was reading another autobiography that is holding my interest.


Our Cats Are Plotting To Kill Us by Jim Tilberry ★★★★★

Julie and Darryl are a married couple who discover a way to read the minds of their cats, Oliver and Wendell. By doing so, they find out some amazing stuff about their feline companions. Oliver and Wendell are exceptionally smart. They philosophize about life, understand Spanish, and know history and pop culture. The cats also have hilarious “conversations” about every cat behavior, from chasing mice to grooming to using the litter box. What’s more, the cats' thoughts reveal that Julie and Darryl each have secret relationships they’re hiding from each other. And most shockingly, Julie and Darryl discover a sinister side to their cats. It appears Oliver and Wendell are secretly scheming to murder their owners. Now the couple faces a crisis. Can they make these would-be killers change their minds? Can they uncover the murder plot before it happens? Or should they get rid of the cats before it’s too late? If you’re a cat owner, you’ll love this short, funny, and wacky book. If you don’t own cats, it’s a great gift for your cat-owning friends.

I intended to read this book in short spurts, but the moment I picked it up, I could not put it down and read it in one sitting. I really needed the laughs that the antics of the cats (and more so, the humans) were creating, and could not stop. I had to know where this was going. This new author to me had me fully hooked, so I think I will read another one of his books next month, Coffee Dates From Hell.

>24 charl08: Is proving a longer project than just a month, so completed The Bridge of San Luis Rey. My copy has the grey border of some recent Penguin Classics.

I finished Gray: The Complete Collection by Lou Cadle. This is a self-published, post-apocalyptic trilogy which was much better than I was expecting. I was only planning to read Part I but got sucked in and managed to finish the whole thing.

I finished Original Sin: President Biden's Decline, Its Cover-Up, and His Disastrous Choice to Run Again.

Thanks to everyone who participated in this ColorCat. I am amazed at the variety of grey covers.

I finished Defy the Stars by Claudia Gray, just in time.

I'm squeezing in a couple more reads at the end of the month! My copy of Knaves' Wager by Loretta Chase includes a man wearing gray pantaloons (or breeches?). And The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White has a mostly gray cover:

I'm squeezing in a couple more reads at the end of the month! My copy of Knaves' Wager by Loretta Chase includes a man wearing gray pantaloons (or breeches?). And The Elements of Style, Fourth Edition by William Strunk Jr. and E.B. White has a mostly gray cover:

Deleting a duplicate post.

Finished my other gray book for the month: The Priory by Dorothy Whipple (1939), which I loved.

The Book of Hope


Goodall has grey hair

Overall, this was a great read. It discusses Goodall's childhood, her work, and the myriad reasons she holds on to hope for future despite everything she knows and has seen. While I am glad people like her are holding the torch for hope, as it were, and passing that hope to others, I can't say I feel the same way — some of the rhetoric for hope depends on the idea that individuals can make a difference in, for example, climate change. 1,000 individuals switching to a locally-sourced, plant-based diet (as she seems to suggest as a positive action) wouldn't be a drop in the bucket to combat the damage even a simple conglomerate mega-corporation does in a year. However, 1,000 individuals voting in their local and national elections, protesting, and contacting their representatives to advocate for these corporations being held accountable? That might make a change.

I'm interested in reading more from Goodall, and perhaps seeing a talk from her some day. She's both very knowledgeable and very personable.