August 2024 Reading List

And I thought July passed by fast! August has been something of a blur - but I did get seven books read. I dipped back into my own stash of books for these first two.

Milk Glass Moon by Adriana Trigiani was the third in her Big Stone Gap series which takes readers back to mountain life in Virginia and also to Italy. Have you read any books by this author? I've tried to read everything she has written and loved every one.

The Rural Life by Verlyn Klinkenborg is a book friends gave me twenty years ago. I know from the book mark left in it that I started reading it once upon a time but quit. It just didn't grab me. But this time, oh my, I got into it and loved it. There are twelve sections, one for each month. I shared a selection about the 4th of July on my August 12 post. My plan is to give this book to my son Douglas. And if I forget - Doug, come and take it off my book shelf!

The Demon of Unrest is Erik Larson's newest book. It is about Fort Sumter and the events leading up to the beginning of the Civil War. I was struck by the similarities between that time and our own current political divides. Larson's books are always so well written and interesting.

This is what happens when you go to the library without a list of books you want. I just selected five books without any idea what I was getting except for the Jennifer Chiaverini book as I have read many of her's before.  The fifth book will go back unread. I tried to get into it but just could not.

The Last Caretaker by Jessica Strawser is, apparently, one of her books whose theme is domestic violence. The caretaker mentioned in the title unknowingly gets involved in helping women escape and begin new lives. Strawser is a new author for me.

Dream Eyes is by Jayne Ann Krentz, also a first time author for me unless I'd read something of her's many years ago before I started my blog.

The Last Enchantment written by Kristin Hannah also falls into the first time author category. Both Krentz and Hannah are literary names I'm aware of and would have said I'd probably read some of their books, but if I have, they do not show up on my blog. I have read some Amanda Quick books which is another of Krentz's pen names.

Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini is about the life of Ada Lovelace, English mathematician and writer who contributed to the first computer. I always like Chiaverini's novels because they are based on actual happenings. 

I won't mention the fifth book that I did not finish because I may go back and read it someday. The author's first book was a Pulitzer Prize finalist, winner of the Pen/Hemingway Award and the American Book Award so I really expected to like his second book. I probably missed something that would make it more interesting to me. We'll see....    And I already have a list started for my next library visit - not making that mistake again.