Bookish Wrap Up | July and August
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Hello Readers,
It’s been a while! I hope August was a kind month for you and you were able to read all the books you wanted to read.
It has been a bit of strange, up and down month for me and the moments of extreme heat we had in the U.K certainly didn’t help matters. However, I managed to get done a number of jobs that I needed / wanted to do and read some lovely books in between.
One of the main jobs was to re-work this space’s landing page {which you should have hopefully seen by now} and add a couple other pages to better encompass the things I do ~ namely the Blathers’ Bookworms book Club and Cosy Gamer Lo pages. I’d really appreciate you taking a little bit to browse the new pages and to let me know what you think as I’ve designed them myself.
But enough about that, let’s get to why you’re really here and that’s find out what books I’ve read over the past couple months. I’ll do my best to keep my thoughts on them brief as I’ve got quite a few of them to share. So without further ado, here’s all the books I’ve read during July and August…
Letter From a Tea Garden by Abi Oliver
I’m not going to go into detail for this book as I wrote a full review on it for the Book Tour at the end of July. So if you missed that, simply click here and you can find out more the book and my thoughts on it.
This was my book club's Buddy Read Book for July and we all absolutely loved it!
It follows a woman a named Lois, who is in a job she doesn’t really enjoy and takes up most of her time. Each night she orders from the same “hole in the wall” eatery and befriends the owners. But then one night the brothers who own the eatery have to leave the country but before they go, they gift Lois with the Sourdough starter that they make their bread with. They teach her how to care for it and then they leave. As Lois learns more about the seemingly magical starter, her world begins to expand in ways she never thought possible.
I’m not sure I can truly put into words how much I enjoyed this book, it’s just such a wholesome, cosy read ~ there’s not really any bad guys or antagonists within the story. It’s just Lois and her Sourdough starter and the opportunities that open up to her along the way. This book is definitely on my top reads of the year list and I highly recommend it!
The Odyssey by Homer, Translated by Emily Wilson
I’ve had this book on my TBR for a while now and after reading Cloud Cuckoo Land a month or two ago, I really wanted to pick this up because the Greek Myth running through that book was inspired in part by The Odyssey.
This book is basically the epic tale of Odysseus and his 10 year journey home from the Trojan War. He experiences ship-wrecks, battles and being captured by Greek gods along the way. Intermixed with his journey, there are scenes portraying what his wife and son are dealing with back home has Odysseus’ place is threated by “suitors” determined to take his wife and fortune for themselves. Throughout of Odysseus’ journey home, the goddess Athena is there keeping him as safe as possible ~ even making deals with other Greek gods.
Overal, this was a lot to take in and read {I read a long while listening to the audiobook} but I found it really interesting. I could pick out the parts that had inspired Anthony Doerr’s Cloud Cuckoo Land which I loved. It’s made me want to delve more into Greek mythology and maybe pick up some other retellings at some point.
The edition I have is the first translated by a woman and Emily Wilson made this epic tale easy to read and understand. If you’re wanting to read The Odyssey, I highly recommend this edition.
A Bookshop in Algiers by Kaouther Adimi
This book was originally going to be a Buddy Read Book for my book club but due to the fact that at the time it didn’t seem to be readily available in the US, I chose a different book. So I decided to pick it up during July and I’m so glad I did.
The story is split into two timelines centred around a bookshop and publishing company started by Edmond Charlot. Charlot was a real person and this is a fictionalisation of his life in publishing. It covers around 80 years of Algerian history which included the unrest the country experiences and WW2. The “past timeline” follows Charlot as he opens the shop and begins to publish books. The “present timeline” follows a man from France who is tasked with clearing out the shop and begins to learn about the shop and why it is so important to the community it is in.
While hard to read at times, overall I really enjoyed this book and it made me read more about Charlot and his publishing work. If you enjoy historical fiction and want to learn about publishing through times of war and unrest, then I definitely recommend picking this one up. Charlot was an incredible person and added so much to the world of books.
Where The Crawdads Sing by Delia Owens
This book seems to be everywhere at the moment, mainly due to the adaptation that is soon to be released. I’ve it on my radar for a while and finally decided to pick it up as I wanting to read something from a genre I rarely read.
This is a mystery that follows a girl names Kya who lives in the Marsh area of a town in Carolina. It’s set in the 60’s but pretty much each chapter sums around in time {the year is always noted at the beginning} So some chapter are around the early 60’s following Kya as a child and then other chapters are late 60’s when the police are trying to solve the death of a man found in the Marsh. Eventually the early timeline catches up with the late one and Kya is now an adult.
While I felt this book was good, but I didn’t enjoy it as much as I thought I would. There’s some much hype around it that I think my expectations were really highly going into it that I was left a little disappointed. I will say that mysteries aren’t really my thing when it comes to reading, but I do enjoy books that make you think and make you want to figure out what’s going on and who did what. But I just felt like I didn’t fully care about any of the characters enough to feel invested in what happened to them. Yes, I felt sad for Kya and the situation she was in but that was really it.
I also figured out a few things part way through and for a mystery that isn’t really good ~ so I wasn’t that surprised by what was coming in the back part of the book. I really wanted to enjoy this one so much more but it left me feeling a little flat, so while I know so many readers absolutely love this book, sadly it just wasn't for me. But that’s totally okay because everyone is different and it’s fine to not like something others do and vice versa.
This was my book club’s Buddy Read Book for August and sadly while one of the member’s loves this book and recommended it, it missed the mark for me.
It follows a Shepherd boy who is destined to find a great treasure and decides to fulfil his destiny by making the long journey from Spain to Egypt to find his treasure. He comes across a few obstacles along the way, which leave him trying to figure out his next move ~ whether to turn back home or carry on to Egypt.
While I found the biblical references within the story interesting, especially as I was very familiar with them all, I just felt this book as hindered by its brevity. I was lacking more building of the places the boy was traveling to and staying in. I wanted to smell the spices of the markets and see the views of the rolling hills but I just didn’t get it because this book is only about 150 pages and there’s not much space for world building within that constraint. {I know these are real places being mentioned but I’ve not seen them and never will, so I wanted to feel more immersed in the story} I also found the end a little predictable.
This is another book that I really wanted to enjoy more than I did and it’s make sad that I just didn’t because I know so many people truly love this story and the message interwoven within it’s pages. But like Where The Crawdads Sing, this one just wasn’t for me.
A Court of Thorns and Roses by Sarah J. Maas {audiobook}
After listening to the audiobook for A Throne of Glass, I thought I’d give another of Sarah J. Maas’ series a go and see if I would like this one any better.
This one is basically a Beauty and The Beast retelling so that should give you a bit of clue as to the main storyline. It follows Feyre {this story’s Belle}, who after killing a wolf that turns out to be from the Fae realm, is taken there as punishment by a high lord called Tamlin {basically the Beast}. What then follows is Feyre learning about the world and eventually about the curse on the realm that could also effect the human world if it’s not broken.
I know that SJM and this series is very beloved and I completely understand why and I think if I were younger, I’d right there with them ~ falling for the anti-hero that is Rhysand and not seeing all the problems that come with Feyre and Tamlin being together as capture and essentially prisoner. Also I just couldn’t get over the fact the open scenes portrayed Feyre very much like Katniss from The Hunger Games series {which I love} and I couldn’t move past that even though I tried so much to like her.
I’m very much not the target audience for this series and while as Fantasy’s go, it’s decent and I found myself interested in what would happen next, I’m not sure it’s for me. I’m also not sure if SJM’s writing style is for me either and that is totally okay ~ we all have authors that we love and ones that we just don’t gel with.
Obviously from the title this book is set in the Star Wars Universe and it’s actually canon with the films ~ timeline wise it sits between Episode 2 and 3. I’m planning to write a full review for this book later this month, so rather than write a mini review now, I’ll just give you a brief overview of what this book is about.
The Clone Wars that started at the end of Episode 2 are in full swing and the Jedi now find themselves as Generals in charge of the Clones as they try to help the Republic stop the Separatists and their leader, Count Dooku. Brotherhood specifically follows Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin and a couple of other characters as they try to unravel who is behind an attack on a seemingly neutral planet. While the investigation is underway, the story also highlights gives more insight into the relationship between Obi-Wan and Anakin, who now find themselves more as equals rather than Master and Padawan.
If you’re a fan of Star Wars and particularly enjoy the prequels, then you might like book.
Jane Austen at Home by Lucy Worsley {audiobook}
I think this might be the book that has been on my TBR the longest. I tried to read it quite a while ago and didn’t get very far with it. But I decided to give it another go, this time via audiobook and I thoroughly enjoyed it.
It’s a non fiction documenting the life of Jane Austen ~ from birth to death. It’s written by British Historian Lucy Worsley, who is just absolutely wonderful in the way she recounts history, no matter the subject. I’m not entirely sure why I struggled to physically read this but I’m so glad I gave this a second chance as I learned so much about Jane, her life and influence her family had on what we know about her.
If you’re a fan of Jane Austen, I’d really recommend picking this on up to learn about about the amazing woman behind the beloved novels.
So there we go, those are all the books I read during the months of July and August. I’m sure you can see that is was quite a mix of genres, with some I loved and some I didn’t. August wasn’t the best month for me in general and I think my reading reflected that since 3 out the 5 books I read weren’t really my thing. I’m hoping September will turn out to be a better month all round, especially since we’re heading to my favourite time of year ~ Autumn!
How has your Summer reading been or your Summer in general? I’d love to know so why not leave me a comment about it or the books.
Stay Safe. Read a Book.
L x
