August Reading Receipt

I'm actually quite impressed with myself as I look back at the number of books I read in August this year.  August is one of my least favorite months (along with April, so cruel) because it is so stressful with going back to school and the heat and going back to school in the heat with no air conditioning...and usually my number of books suffers because of it.

Long story short, I read four books this month, just like I did in June and July.

I picked up a paperback copy of Where'd You Go, Bernadette? by Maria Semple for 50 cents almost a full year ago at our local Friends of the Library sale last Labor Day.  I was between library requests and grabbed it off the shelf it had been sitting on.  Wow.  What was I waiting for?  Loved this.  I really identified with the misanthropic title character and enjoyed her daughter's character so much.  I've got to check out Semple's other stuff now.

Apparently I was still waiting on the library because I read You Will Know Me by Megan Abott next.  I had bought this for Kindle when it was on sale for a couple of bucks quite some time ago.  This was set in the world of competitive gymnastics with the main characters being an Olympic hopeful and her family.  I honestly didn't like any of the main or minor characters in this book except the little brother who was virtually neglected throughout the story due to the parents focus on the gymnast, but the story was a good one in that it moved forward and kept me engaged.

Finally the library did come through for me, but it wasn't the best timing.  I had put in a request for Ruth Ware's newest, The Death of Mrs. Westaway, back in June.  It showed up for me in August the week before I went back to teaching.  I still finished it quickly because it was so riveting.  I've said it before, but every time I read a Ruth Ware book, I like it better than the one before.  This held true for Mrs. Westaway as well.  This one had a premise I could hold onto and a protagonist I empathized with.  So good.

I was surprised to get Crazy Rich Asians from the library so quickly (within a week of the request!) because of the movie coming out and the fact that it has been a huge hit.  It was interesting to look at the whole world of unimaginable wealth, but I felt that the story that it centered on, the romance between everyday Rachel and super rich Nick, had characters that weren't that well-defined.  This was most definitely enjoyable though.  My daughter and I plan to get to the movie ASAP.

Speaking of movies, it seems only appropriate to mention in this post that the Netflix original movie The Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society premiered in August, and while it wasn't perfect, it was pretty damn good and wonderfully cast.  Two thumbs up to this adaptation!