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August 2021 Reading Plans
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RJ's AUGUST READS: First, here are a couple books I finished in late July that I thought I would not finish until August:
1.
Old Venus edited by George R.R. Martin and the late Gardner Dozois
2.
My Gun Is Quick by Mickey Spillane
Books I will finish in August:
3.
The Book of Skulls by Robert Silverberg
4.
Crimson Lake by Candice Fox
5.
The Conquering Sword of Conan by Robert E. Howard
6.
D-Day: June 6, 1944: The Climactic Battle of World War II by Stephen E. Ambrose
7.
Ice Station Zebra by Alistair MacLean
8.
All Clear by Connie Willis
9.
Trouble In Paradise by Robert B. Parker
Books I will be reading but won't finish in August:
10.
Wool by Hugh Howey
11.
Everything That Rises Must Converge: Stories by Flannery O'Connor
12.
The Pale Criminal by Philip Kerr
13.
Cosmos by Carl Sagan
14.
Sourcery by Terry Pratchett
15.
The Andromeda Evolution by Daniel H. Wilson
16.
The Shining by Stephen King
17.
A Column of Fire by Ken Follett
*whew!*
My list is modest this month. I purchased a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. This is the only planned book. I also hope to finish The Jungle Book by Rudyard Kipling. My audiobook version should be a nice commuting listen. I have already read several of the sections that are left as short stories, but I wanted to read the entire book straight through.Beyond that, I accidentally got a job I did not even apply for. I thought I was semi-retired and was already hired to substitute in Sept and Oct when I got a phone call.... a principal friend said her son's class did not have a teacher yet; would I please apply? Now, I am a third grade teacher! I have had one week to prepare. I apologize in advance if I somewhat disappear this month.
Mod
Katy wrote: "Wow, Lynn! That is a surprise. Hope you get in some adult reading. But I'll bet you will be reading plenty of elementary books with your students. You will do great."Thanks I really hope I do well for the students. There are 51 preregistered students in the grade. We have 3 teachers, so 17 children per class. I will teach ELA. The people are so sweet.
Congrats, Lynn. I hope you love your me job, but don’t give us up entirely!
My list, so far:-Mr. Penumbra’s 24-Hour Bookstore by Robin Sloan.
This one is in progress. It was for fun, and it is filling that bill quite nicely.
-A Town Like Alice by Neville Shute for Sister’s Book Club
-These Thousand Hills by A. B. Guthrie , Jr. for Buddy Read and for my 20th Century Challenge
-The Known World by Edward P. Jones
If I finish all of these, I will look at all the books I currently own and choose one, or maybe two. Five books a month seems to be a pretty even average for me. The recent Group Reads haven’t been ringing bells for me, so I am concentrating on books that are already among the books I own.
I have gotten behind again on my reading, fiddling around early in the year. Read
1. Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II by Emily Yellin
2. Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
3. Cherry Blossom and Paper Planes by Jef Aerts
4. The Sandman Presents: Thessaly - Witch for Hire #1 by Bill Willingham
5. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
6. The Witches by Roald Dahl
7. Isn't it Romantic by Wendy Wasserstein
8. Pete the Cat: Robo-Pete by James Dean
9. Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History, Volume One: Indians and Spain
10. The Natchez Trace: A Pictorial History by James A. Crutchfield
11. Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson
12. The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
13. Corpus Christi: A History by Murphy Givens
14. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
15. The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
16. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
17. A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico by Amy S. Greenberg
18. Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen
19. Leaf storm and other stories by Gabriel García Márquez
20. Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going
.
.
Reading:
1. Code Girls: The Untold Story of the American Women Code Breakers Who Helped Win World War II by Liza Mundy
2. Seeing Gender: An Illustrated Guide to Identity and Expression by Iris Gottlieb
3. Martín Fierro edicíón bilingüe castellano-inglés by José Hernández
I will be continuing to read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and possibly start Persuasion also by Jane Austen for Jane Austen July. Reading From The Stacks Group:
The Railway Children by E. Nesbit (from the classics folder)
Lady Susan by Jane Austen *I just finished reading this for Jane Austen July so I am hoping to join in for the discussion.
Everyone Has Read This But Me Group:
A Room with a View by E.M. Forster ( I also just finished reading this recently so may only join the discussion.)
Anne of Green Gables by L.M. Montgomery (One of my favourite books!!!)
Historical Fashionistas Group:
A Moveable Feast: The Restored Edition by Ernest Hemingway
YouTube BookTube Channel:
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen for Ciara Foster's YouTube Channel for the Austen Readalong
China Court: The Hours of a Country House by Rumer Godden for Miranda Mills YouTube Channel
Just Because:
Tilly and the Lost Fairytales by Anna James
Tilly and the Map of Stories by Anna James
A Sky Painted Gold by Laura Wood
The Last Mrs. Summers by Rhys Bowen
Aubrey wrote: "It's August! That means Women in Translation Month 2021 is finally here! I'll be focusing on doing as much translated reading as I can in conjunction with my challenges. In addition, the creator of..."Thanks for the WiT Bingo. My reading is so far behind at this point that I am not sure I will be able to use it this year but I am saving it as a goal for next year.
Lynn wrote: "My list is modest this month. I purchased a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. This is the only planned book. I also hope to finish [book:The Jung..."Congratulations on your new job Lynn! It is so clear to me that teaching is a vocation. Clearly you are not quite ready to step away from molding those young minds.
After an absolutely disastrous July, my August is looking daunting. Hopefully it will be a better month.Group reads:
Shirley - Charlotte Brontë (Long Read)
Challenges:
The Big Sleep - Raymond Chandler (Bingo)
A Haunted House - Virginia Woolf (Old/New) currently reading
Other:
The Yield - Tara June Winch
Congratulations, Lynn--it is wonderful to be specially requested, and I'm sure you'll be busy getting ready. Lucky kids though!I love seeing everyone's plans--so many good choices. I'm as excited as Aubrey about Women in Translation month. Here are my hopes:
Currently Reading
The Aspern Papers by Henry James
Abigail by Magda Szabó (WIT)
How Does a Poem Mean? by John Ciardi
Starting Soon
The Red Queen by Margaret Drabble
Optic Nerve by María Gainza (WIT)
The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
Incidental Music: Stories by Françoise Sagan (WIT)
Women of Sand and Myrrh by Hanan Al-Shaykh (WIT)
Hoping For
No Time to Spare: Thinking About What Matters by Ursula K. Le Guin
Empty Hearts by Juli Zeh (WIT)
The Prophets by Robert Jones Jr.
Travels with Charley: In Search of America by John Steinbeck
Not taking up the challenges, but if you don't mind I'll just point at several non-English-language women authors.If you have the stomach for a memoir of Stalin's purges, look at Hope Against Hope by Nadezhda Mandelstam (the wife of poet Osip Mandelshtam); for fiction on the same topic Sofia Petrovna by Lydia Chukovskaya. I myself am going to take up Chukovskaya's memoir of Anna Akhmatova, which is also inevitably connected to the same times.
Thank you for the recommendations, Nente. Sofia Petrovna has been on my list for some time--I've been hoping to find a copy some day. Hope Against Hope sounds very good, so I've added that one.
Be sure to read those when you don't have too many other stressors, though, Kathleen. Well-written but -- no, therefore -- emotionally heavy.
Nente wrote: "Be sure to read those when you don't have too many other stressors, though, Kathleen. Well-written but -- no, therefore -- emotionally heavy."Good advice, Nente--thank you.
Nente wrote: "Be sure to read those when you don't have too many other stressors, though, Kathleen. Well-written but -- no, therefore -- emotionally heavy."Sofia Petrovna has been on my TBR for awhile but I keep putting it off to the next year. Last year I started The Unwomanly Face of War: An Oral History of Women in World War II by Svetlana Alexievich and could only get through the introduction.
In July I found my reading groove again so I hope it continues.Second Place or Worse:
✔The Forsaken Inn by Anna Katharine Green
Women in Translation (New Authors Century Challenge)
Alberta and Jacob by Cora Sandel CURRENTLY READING
✔The Waiting Years by Fumiko Enchi
Decade Challenge:
The Last of Summer by Kate O'Brien
Group Read:
Orlando by Virginia Woolf
The Maybe List:
The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera
The Leopard by Giuseppe Tomasi di Lampedusa
This month I'm getting back to my Bingo challenge reads, and also trying to keep up with this group's monthly selections:The Aspern Papers ✔
The Misanthrope (loving this one!)✔
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (unusual!)✔
Cousin Bette (Bingo)
Henderson the Rain King (Bingo)✔
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (group read)
Katherine (Bingo)
Peyton Place (Bingo)
Less Than Angels (Bingo)✔
Cloud Cuckoo Land (NetGalley)
The Spectacular: A Novel (NetGalley)
Yours Cheerfully (NetGalley)
Bear Necessity (library book club)✔
Just for fun:
Mexican Gothic✔
The Very Nice Box✔
Left for Dead✔
Glad to see you reading The Waiting Years, Marilyn.As to Sofia Petrovna, I don't think that I'd want to compare to Alexievich. It's more personal and rooted in personal experience.
Liesl wrote: "Lynn wrote: "My list is modest this month. I purchased a copy of The Unbearable Lightness of Being by Milan Kundera. This is the only planned book. I also hope to finish [..."Thank you Liesl and Kathleen !
I hit a small reading slump in July which meant reading slowly and not wanting to read what I planned. Hopefully I can break out of that this month. My plans for August are:Old & New challenge
Memoirs of Hadrian (WIT)
Group reads
Orlando
Antony and Cleopatra
Just for fun
The Obelisk Gate (currently reading)
The Anthropocene Reviewed
Norte
Bright (WIT)
Glad to see the WIT Month participation! There's quite a bit going on on Twitter under the #WITMonth hashtag if anyone's in the mood for some community interaction.
At about mid-month, I have finished the first three on my list and am moving on to The Known World. After that it’s hard to say where my fancy will wander, but I am trying to read the books I already own. I hope to get in at least one more.
So for a mid-month update I have read:1. The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz - a children's book I used as a read aloud on the first day of third grade. It is written as a limerick per page. The morals are practice and work hard, also avoiding fights is the way to win.
2. I reread "The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant for the Short story discussion.
3. Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu. This has been nominated numerous times, so I used it for the Genre Challenge - Horror. I was completely surprised at how much I enjoyed it. 5 stars.
4. I am partially through The Unbearable Lightness of Being
I'm feeling pretty good about my August list right now. I'm reading the ones that aren't check off, so I'm making pretty good progress :)The Aspern Papers ✔
The Misanthrope (loving this one!)✔
Flatland: A Romance of Many Dimensions (unusual!)✔
Cousin Bette (Bingo)✔
Henderson the Rain King (Bingo)✔
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (group read)✔
Katherine (Bingo)
Peyton Place (Bingo)
Less Than Angels (Bingo)✔
Cloud Cuckoo Land (NetGalley)✔
Yours Cheerfully (NetGalley)✔
Bear Necessity (library book club)✔
Just for fun:
Mexican Gothic✔
The Very Nice Box✔
Left for Dead✔
Halfway through, and I'm three books down, all of them challenge with two of them qualifying for Women in Translation Month. I'm due to finish up another three, including one WIT work and a partial WIT anthology, this week (can't seem to avoid finishing a bunch in one fell swoop despite the staggered page lengths) and am on track to finishing the fourth one within the month. I'd like to get through at least a couple of others, but making sure that I'm not neglecting the longer challenge works is going to greatly smooth out the last month or so of challenge reading. Just gotta keep my eyes on the prize and relish the instances when certain classics prove surprisingly delightful.
I've spent the month of August reading and re-reading the works of Roberto Calasso in honor of his passing on July 28. Calasso il magnifico, Calasso the colossus.
Arguably the last titan who deserved to be called a "man of letters" with respect and without irony (when Mario Vargas Llosa and Ismail Kardaré go, that's it). If Italian was my first language, I would collect Adelphi Edizioni (the publishing house he helped to found in 1962 and directed since 1972) the way I collect NYRB Classics.
I had forgotten just how good is The Marriage of Cadmus and Harmony. As soon as I finished it, I wanted to re-read it again. And again. The Ruin of Kasch, Ka, and K. are just so good they're difficult to describe.
Some people simply see the world differently, in a unique way that only they can express. Calasso was one of those. The kind of visionary that makes the mediocre all too aware of their own mediocrity, and all the more vicious for it. His loss is unquantifiable and immeasurable. As an Adonais, "like a star / Beacons from the abode where the Eternal are."
Women in Translation month? *shrugs*
If it can be measured in a month, then it sure as hell isn't timeless. But Calasso? One for the ages.
Grazie, Maestro, per sempre.
Pillsonista wrote: "I've spent the month of August reading and re-reading the works of Roberto Calasso in honor of his passing on July 28. Calasso il magnifico, Calasso the colossus.
Arguably the la..."
Wonderful tribute. Sent me to search out Calasso texts right after reading.
I have read enough this month that I am almost caught up on all of my challenges at my various groups. . . . Soldiering on.1. Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front During World War II by Emily Yellin
2. Anthony and Cleopatra by William Shakespeare
3. Cherry Blossom and Paper Planes by Jef Aerts
4. The Sandman Presents: Thessaly - Witch for Hire #1 by Bill Willingham
5. Fortunately, the Milk by Neil Gaiman
6. The Witches by Roald Dahl
7. Isn't it Romantic by Wendy Wasserstein
8. Pete the Cat: Robo-Pete by James Dean
9. Great River: The Rio Grande in North American History, Volume One: Indians and Spain
10. The Natchez Trace: A Pictorial History by James A. Crutchfield
11. Lumberjanes, Vol. 1: Beware the Kitten Holy by Noelle Stevenson
12. The Necklace by Guy de Maupassant
13. Corpus Christi: A History by Murphy Givens
14. The Power of Myth by Joseph Campbell
15. The Wayward Bus by John Steinbeck
16. A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters
17. A Wicked War: Polk, Clay, Lincoln, and the 1846 U.S. Invasion of Mexico by Amy S. Greenberg
18. Winter's Tales by Isak Dinesen
19. Leaf storm and other stories by Gabriel García Márquez
20. Cosmic Queries: StarTalk's Guide to Who We Are, How We Got Here, and Where We're Going
.
.
Cynda wrote: "I have read enough this month that I am almost caught up on all of my challenges at my various groups. . . . Soldiering on.1. [book:Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at the Front Duri..."
I would like to say "wow" to all of you for how much you read. Cynda in particular "wow". Nice job.
Terris wrote: "I'm feeling pretty good about my August list right now. I'm reading the ones that aren't check off, so I'm making pretty good progress :)The Aspern Papers ✔
The Misanthrope (loving this one!)✔
Fla..."
Only two that I didn't finish in August. I'm still working on Katherine and Peyton Place. Loving them both -- and they will finish my Bingo challenge! I need to get to work :)
Janice wrote: "I will be continuing to read Mansfield Park by Jane Austen and possibly start Persuasion also by Jane Austen for Jane Austen July. Reading From The Stacks Group:
[b..."
I love your everyone but me has read this section. I also love Anne of Green Gables !
Lynn wrote: "Cynda wrote: "I have read enough this month that I am almost caught up on all of my challenges at my various groups. . . . Soldiering on.1. [book:Our Mothers' War: American Women at Home and at ..."
Thanks Lynn. It was a challenge. . . .
Terris wrote: "Terris wrote: "I'm feeling pretty good about my August list right now. I'm reading the ones that aren't check off, so I'm making pretty good progress :)The Aspern Papers ✔
The Misanthrope (loving ..."
Yeah! I will be reading the Misanthrope too. We havent read together in awhile. Looking forward :-)
Closing out the month with eight works done, seven of which were for challenges. Thanks to that, I should be able to complete all my challenges in one fell swoop next month, although it'll still take dedication to scrape by by the skin of my teeth. Once that's done, I'll be switching gears to lagging modern reads, but it won't be long before 2022 bingo/buffet challenge announcements pull me back in, leastwise in terms of planning.
Final tally for the month:The Three Ninja Pigs by Corey Rosen Schwartz
"The Necklace" by Guy de Maupassant for the Short story discussion.
Carmilla by J. Sheridan Le Fanu
The Vampyre: A Tale by John William Polidori
First Contact by Murray Leinster
That is one children's book, four short stories, and I am partially through The Unbearable Lightness of Being
That definitely deserves a WOW, Cynda--that's a lot of good reading!I was excited at the beginning of the month and very satisfied at the end. I didn't get to everything, but it was a particularly good Women in Translation month, with five read and one still going. I feel like I've travelled a little. :-)
I finished my list plus Summer by Edith Wharton and I am almost through listening to Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz.
Terry wrote: "I finished my list plus Summer by Edith Wharton and I am almost through listening to Odd Thomas by Dean Koontz."I loved Odd Thomas!! :)
Catching up on Classics (and lots more!)
Books mentioned in this topic
The Unbearable Lightness of Being (other topics)The Vampyre (other topics)
The Three Ninja Pigs (other topics)
Carmilla (other topics)
Mansfield Park (other topics)
More...
Authors mentioned in this topic
Corey Rosen Schwartz (other topics)John William Polidori (other topics)
Murray Leinster (other topics)
J. Sheridan Le Fanu (other topics)
Neil Gaiman (other topics)
More...
Quest for Women
Monsieur Vénus: A Materialist Novel - Rachilde(completed 8/8/21)A Woman - Sibilla Aleramo(completed 8/18/21)The Towers of Trebizond - Rose Macaulay(completed 8/28/21)Hons and Rebels - Jessica Mitford (Currently Reading)
Selected Works of Djuna Barnes - Djuna Barnes
Bingo
Sentimental Education - Gustave Flaubert(completed 8/10/21)Dead Souls - Nikolai Gogol(completed 8/21/21)Quo Vadis - Henryk Sienkiewicz (Currently Reading)
Anti-Pamela; Or, Feign'd Innocence Detected - Eliza Fowler Haywood
Reading Women Challenges (exterior to group)
The Blood of Others - Simone de Beauvoir(completed 8/9/21)Adam Bede - Mary Ann Evans(completed 8/29/21)Threats - Amelia Gray (Currently Reading)
Post 2021 Challenge Reading
The Big Red Book of Modern Chinese Literature: Writings from the Mainland in the Long Twentieth Century - Yunte Huang(completed 8/22/21)Love After War - Hồ Anh Thái (Currently Reading)
The Tiananmen Papers - Liang Zhang
What will you be reading?