August 2022

Lukigura River. (from Three years of war in East Africa, by Angus Buchanan)

It was so very hot and humid. Reading was pretty much all I did. Of course there were library trips and a limited amount of shopping.

I ended the month with no carryover of unread library books. (But there are some waiting to be picked up on the holds shelf at the library.) All books were from the public library or Project Gutenberg. Some good reading and some real duds...

Library books carried over from July:

Hotel silence by Auður A. Ólafsdóttir

Something seems familiar about this. I may have started it before and given up on it. Whatever, I just can't get into it.

A house among the trees : a novel by Glass, Julia

Finished Aug 2 Really liked it! 

I Hotel by Yamashita, Karen Tei

This started off with a lot of promise but by page 80 it started becoming tedious and I decided I didn't want to read 600+ pages of this.

Obabakoak : a novel by Atxaga, Bernardo: translated from the Spanish by Costa, Margaret Jull

 Finished Aug 1

Castaways : a graphic novel by Pérez Granell, Laura and Monforte, Pablo: translated from the Spanish by Labayen, Silvia Perea: Letterer Gil, Joamette

Finished: Aug 2.  ok. Art is good, story a bit mundane.

The Empress and the English doctor : how Catherine the Great defied a deadly virus by Ward, Lucy

Finished Aug 7

Fellowship point : a novel by Dark, Alice Elliott

 Decided not (after about 80 pages) to invest any more time in this slow moving (580 pages) story.

These four were checked out on July 30 but not listed on my July page:

30 animals that made us smarter : stories of the natural world that inspired human ingenuity by Aryee, Patrick 

The animals may have made "us" smarter but the author talks down to us.  Too "Golly, Gee!" for my taste.

Checkout 19 by Bennett, Claire-Louise

Too much repetitious, stream of whatever, apparently to fill up 272 pages. This is a book that is not going to be read by me. No, I'm not going to read it. Poof. It's gone.

Peach blossom spring by Fu, Meliss 

Finished Aug 7. Liked this family saga of a Chinese/Taiwanese immigrant 

Secret city : the hidden history of gay Washington by Kirchick, James

Finished Aug 5  Excellent. Nonfiction.

 

Checked out on Aug 3:
The butterfly house by Engberg, Katrine

Finished Aug 15.
The tenant by Engberg, Katrine

Finished Aug 11. Copenhagen crime.
The it girl by Ware, Ruth

Finished Aug 6 Liked it, even though it was a bit predictable.
A small hotel by Butler, Robert Olen

Finished Aug 10. Story of a marriage.
The widower's tale by Glass, Julia

Finished Aug 16. Interesting situations & character but too many of each.

Checked out on Aug 8:

Grey bees by Kurkov, Andreĭ

Finished Aug 14. Ukraine "grey zone."  Good novel
Mercury Pictures presents : a novel by Marra, Anthony

Finished Aug 9. Liked it but was a bit disappointed probably because my expectations were so high.
The half life of Valery K : a novel by Pulley, Natasha

Finished Aug 13. Liked it but not as much as earlier Pulley novels I've read.

Checked out on Aug 15:

The almost legendary Morris sisters : a true story of family fiction by Klam, Julie

Finished Aug 17. Nonfiction. Account of author's search to verify (or refute) family lore.
Hotel Portofino by O'Connell, J. P.

Finished Aug 22. A little less than so, so. Oh, hum perhaps.
The many daughters of Afong Moy : a novel by Ford, Jamie

Finished Aug 21. Liked it but it got a bit confusing.

Checked out Aug 20:
After she wrote him by Gentill, Sulari

Finished Aug 23. Meta, meta--loved it!
Blood on the river : a chronicle of mutiny and freedom on the Wild Coast by Kars, Marjoleine

Finished Aug 26. Well researched history of a 1763 slave rebellion in the Dutch colony of Berbice (in present day Guyana).
Heatwave : a novel by Jestin, Victor

Finished Aug 22. I wasn't impressed but I'm kind of beyond coming of age novellas about 17 year old boys written by 21 year old men.

Checked out Aug 25:
Afterlives by Gurnah, Abdulrazak

Finished Aug 28. Excellent!
Dava Shastri's last day : a novel by Ramisetti, Kirthana

Finished Aug 28. Good family bonding story

From Gutenberg:

  

Three years of war in East Africa by Angus Buchanan (illustrations and maps by the author)

Finished Aug 30. This came up in Gutenbergs "Recent Releases" when I was reading Afterlives which is set in the same time and place. Since the Gurnah novel was from the point of view of Africans and Germans, it was interesting to read this account of the war by a British officer. Also has information about flora & fauna.

 

A Book of Images  drawn by W. T. Horton; introduced by W. B. Yeats

Read Aug 15