August was such a good reading month! I don’t know what happened, but I read 11 books in August – that’s more books than I ever remember reading in one month, or even two months some times. I would chalk it up to lengthy commute (hence lots of audiobooks) and being on vacation/ under employed and also reading books that I just couldn’t put down.
So many of the books too were excellent reads. My two favorites were Dolly All The Time and Etna, but in any other month, there are easily three other books on this list that would have been a “top read of the month.”
And the Devil Reached Toward the Sky: An oral History of the Making and Unleashing of the Atomic Bomb by Garrett M. Graf, read by Edoardo Ballerini and a full cast (too many to name here…) – This book is made up of first person accounts surrounding the atomic bomb. I had a strange moment as I was listening to this book. It was July 16th and this being a history book, dates were pretty important. I realized that I was listening to the book on the 81st anniversary to the day that the first atomic bomb test (Trinity) took place – July 16th, 1945. There was something so immediate to know that wow – this is what the world felt like at the time Trinity happened – kids were out of school, the country was in the lazy, hazy days of summer. And most of America was going on with their lives (like I was), and this colossal thing was happening that would change the world. Also it was two months before my father was born. I mean that fact isn’t that important to the world, but somehow it grounded the events in the book. This book covers a huge range of things – from the very science of nuclear fission, through the formation of the Manhattan Project, to the stories from the Japanese people who were on the ground in Nagasaki and Hiroshima. The science definitely went over my head, but what kept me listening was the human aspects of the story – the Jewish physicists who fled Nazi Germany to come to America; the hiring decisions; the people who up and moved to work on the atomic bomb project; the towns that were built in Los Alamos NM, Oak Ridge TN, and Hanford WA to support the project – the government built entire towns!!; the day of Trinity and who was there and who had to watch from afar; the pilots who flew the Enola Gay (also – very cool because I’ve seen that plane in the Air and Space Museum here); the doctors on the ground in Japan trying to save people. The survivors. The aftermath. There’s a whole section where people talked about how the decision was made as to which cities to bomb – the seeming disregard for human life in those decisions. I think aside from the science and the war room strategies, this book really sucked me in with the human emotions and thoughts behind the atomic bomb – the joys of scientific discovery and also the crushing grief of loss and destruction.
Dolly All The Time by Annabel Monaghan – This is a fake dating romance that is kicked off when single mom Dolly is persuaded by Stewart, the handsome scion of a Rhode Island family, to be his pretend girlfriend. I am so grateful for whomever stuck this book in a Little Free Library at the pool because I LOVED this book soooo much and I’m really glad to have my own copy to re-read whenever I want. Which has been something like three times already. I stayed up until 4am to finish this book because I really needed to know how everything worked out and this book now has a permanent place on my nightstand. I’ll just randomly pick it up and re-read passages of it because every scene is just so perfect. I don’t much like fake dating, so I was a little skeptical going in. I also don’t really like first person romance novels because the other side of the love equation never comes across as a complete person. Monaghan, however, managed to blow past all my reservations. She writes in such a way that Stewart comes across as a nuanced and vulnerable character, not just some fantasy of Dolly’s. There is a part of this book that is fantasy wish fulfillment – rich guy comes takes care of things for the over-worked, ever responsible and resourceful single mom – but also I really loved how Dolly has to work to figure out so many things for herself about life and family, (and so does Stewart). There’s something about this book that straddles the line between literary fiction and romance; yes, you get the Happily Ever After, but there is also sotry of growth and family- there is more going on than just two people falling in love. At the end, I felt like Dolly will be okay if Stewart never calls her back, even while I kept hoping that he figures his shit out too. Swoony, funny, and oh so satisfying.
Welcome to Murder Week by Karen Dukess, read by Carlotta Brenton – What a fun premise – When Cath finds out that her estranged dead mother had booked a vacation for the two of them to a murder mystery week in a quaint English village. Stuck somewhat in a rut, she decides to use her mother’s trip to shake up her life a little bit. This is one of those books where I think I enjoyed it more on audio than I would have if I had just read it. The fake murder mystery plot and reveal were cute, but a lot of the characters and plot points seemed a little forced. It’s the kind of thing where the characters were quirky and entertaining to listen to, but they might have really annoyed me if I were reading it. But all in all, this was pretty entertaining, if not wholly memorable.
Lady Tremaine by Rachel Hochhauser– This is a Cinderella re-telling, told from the Stepmother’s point of view. I feel like Cinderella’s Stepmother falls in the category of cliched unredeemable villains – I couldn’t imagine the world where she comes off as reasonably likable. Well, this book proved me wrong. I really loved this book and how it is such a different look at everyone in the Cinderella story – not just the Stepmother, but also the sisters, the Prince, and Cinderella herself. At it’s core, this is a story about a mother – strong willed and imperfect – trying to raise three girls in a world where women don’t hold any power. The plot never lets up, with secret after secret slowly unspooling and about mid way through the book, it moves from feeling like a fairy tale re-telling to feeling like a fast-paced thriller. Very readable, but also I loved what a story of female empowerment this was.
The Marriage Portrait by Maggie O’Farrell – Here’s the thing I’ve come to realize about Maggie O’Farrell after three books – maybe she just isn’t for me. I LOVED Hamnet, thought it was the most beautiful book I’d read in ages. I was meh about The Disappearing Act of Esme Lenox – I thought it was cliched plot wrapped in beautiful writing. And now The Marriage Portrait. Look – she writes beautifully precise prose. Her writing plunges you into a world where you can feel the velvets and breathe the air. BUT.. but but…. she leverages trauma in a way that makes me feel manipulated and gross. I don’t feel like she’s exploring traumatic events in her character’s lives for any great point; she’s just making her characters miserable. So much as I admire her writing, I don’t know that I’ll put her back on the top of my TBR any time soon. Maybe in the future when I’m able to read about horrific things with a sense of personal growth. That’s not something I can currently do.
Etna by Paul Yoon– This short novel is told through the eyes of Etna, a bomb sniffing dog who tries to find his (her?) way home after the war ends. I listened to this on audio with the 6 and 9 year olds. There were a couple of times when I almost turned it off because there are some violent things in this story, but the kids were so invested in Etna’s journey that they wanted to keep listening. I loved how Etna clung to the dream of going home even when things got tough. I loved the friends that Etna made along the way. This unnamed country is a pretty defeated place in the wake of war, but there is still kindness. I love how Etna never judges those around him, but does understand and recognize kindness and kinship. I loved how Etna defined home as a place where he had once known peace. He’s a remarkably clear eyed narrator. I asked the 6 year old what she liked about the book, and she said, “I liked that Etna made friends and even though there were some side times, in the end, Etna was happy.”
The Neighbor Favor by Kristina Forrest – In this contemporary romance, Lily Greene, who dreams about being a children’s book editor, strikes up a correspondence with her favorite Fantasy author. He writes back then suddenly ghosts her. A year later, Lily asks her new neighbor Nick to help her find a date to her sister’s wedding. Well… you probably know what the plot twist is here. This book was fine – I didn’t love it. The writing’s a little workaday. I just felt like there wasn’t a lot of chemistry between the two main characters and you could tell that other characters and details were being dropped into the book so that they could be put into future books. (This book is first in a series.)
Star Shipped by Cat Sebastian– This contemporary M/M romance is about two actors on the same long running hit sci-fi tv series who have had an ongoing on set rivalry. But then life circumstances intervene and Simon and Charlie are forced to be there for each other. I thought this book was pretty great. It’s not an explosive romance novel, but rather a quiet slow burn where Simon (the story is from his POV), gradually comes to realize that Charlie is no the rash ball of chaos that he thought he was. In fact Charlie is more thoughtful and deep than Simon had ever given him credit for. I loved this book for the inside look into tv series, the way people end up caring for each other, and a super cute dog. Also, this book has a lot to say about being a creative and putting something out into the world that make people happy, and as a person in a creative field, I really need to hear that from time to time. (I had a quote from this book as a quote of the month in my August recap post.)
Nora Goes Off Script by Annabel Monaghan– of course after finishing Dolly All the Time, I wanted to read everything by Annabel Monaghan. This book also is a bit of fantasy wish fulfillment- divorced mom has a fling with hot movie star- but I Nora’s story is so much more than that- it’s about coming to terms with the life you have and hugging the people who are important and letting go of those who aren’t or can’t be. Like Dolly, this book was funny, felt real, and had so many beautiful moments and characters. I think the one thing that made this book not as perfect as Dolly is that I never got a sense of who movie star Leo was- he wasn’t a terribly complex or well defined character. His job was pretty much to be hot, caring, and a good listener. Which, as romance novels go, is totally fine by me.
The Carpool Detectives: A True Story of Four Moms, Two Bodies, and One Mysterious Cold Case by Chuck Hogan, read by Gabra Zackman: This is the true story of a group of moms who solve a 15 year old cold case double homicide. I thought this story was fascinating, how the four women banded together and with little more than determination and gumption and their own brains, really dug into the case – the secrets come out, the clues are dissected, people are interviewed again, and memories revived. Also all this was during the first months of COVID – I found the undercurrent of parenting during COVID made me really identify with these women – they’re looking for purpose at a time when the world was on it’s head and it was hard to tell when really mattered. I did find the audiobook a little dry – some of the clues involve getting pretty in the weeds about fraud and finance, which made my eyes glaze over a little bit. There is a part of me that kind of wished this were a podcast rather than an audiobook – there’s something a little more engaging in the tone of podcast voices for this kind of thing. But overall a really gripping non-fiction read.
Raising Cain: Protecting the Emotional Life of Boys by Dan Kindlon, PhD and Michael Thomason, PhD – This book was my morning non-fiction book in August and it talks about how boys need to learn emotional literacy to deal with all the social and emotional changes that they face. The book talks about how we have to teach boys that life isn’t fair, but that this unfairness is not a threat to them. Daria left an interesting comment a few weeks ago about how this book seemed a little dated; the advice in the book is nothing revolutionary today. I think she is right – I don’t know that I came away from this book with more insights into my my son needs, but I do think reading this book made me think of the world that he is growing up into. I think it’s all very well and good for us to teach our boys that they need to be flexible, empathetic. and willing to express their emotions, but how much good does that do when he is living in a country where a man uses petty retaliation as a tactic for running the country? This is what I realized in reading this book – no matter how much I try to teach my son (actually all my children) how to be emotionally literate, the world he lives in is not sending him these same messages. And that’s one thing that makes me feel like raising a boy is so hard these days. (I mean raising a girl is hard too…. raising any child to be a responsible adult is hard…)
On my Proverbial Night Stand:
The Eustace Diamonds by Anthony Trollope- the plot is thickening. I have thirty more chapters to go- hopefully I’ll finish before the end of the year.
Game of Rogues by Julie Anne Long – the latest in her Palace of Rogues Series. I’ve been waiting so long for this book!
Will Grayson Will Grayson by John Greene and David Levethin – I’ve had this book on my bookshelf for a while and was looking for something to take me out of my Dolly All The Time hangover so decided to start this one. Teenagers putting on a high school musical! That’s my catnip.
Gig: Americans Talk About Their Jobs, Edited by John Bowe, Marisa Bowe, and Sabin Streeter – I had read this twenty years ago, and I was inspired to revisit it by one of Engie’s posts about the book Clean Up on Aisle Five.
Fourteen Talks before Age Fourteen by Michell Icard- My morning non-fiction book.
This is Going to Hurt by Adam Kay – on audio. I was snort laughing on the bus while listening to this.
I have read a few Maggie O’Farrell books now, and while they are all so lyrical (I loved the way you described her writing as velvet – I agree, you can almost feel the lushness of her prose), none have been as wonderful to me as Hamnet. I did not like the end of The Marriage Portrait. I recently read Dolly All the Time, and I LOVE that you have read it 3 times already. I do that sometimes with a book that I adore. I finish it and immediately start over. It’s fun to see what I missed the first time, and to just spend more time there. For Dolly, I listened to it, and the narrator was the excellent Julia Whelan. That always makes a book even better to me. I’m on hold for Nora Goes Off Script though I’ll admit it sounds a little familiar to me…have I read it before? Is it just similar to something else I have read?