I'm starting out my first monthly wrap-up, so the format may change as I write these. Right now, I'm basing it loosely on Jamie's Monthly Rewinds at The Perpetual Page Turner as well as a sense of other wrap-up type posts I've read.
Books I've Read This Month
Favorite Top 3 Books I've Read This Month
I was going to choose a favorite, but...I can't. Honestly, they were all so good. For pure enjoyment value, I'm going to pick...
1. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Obviously, read this after the hype of the movie, which was also great, but I loved the book. It had a catchy writing style and even though romance is the focus, it was really character and family-centered, which are both aspects I tend to go for in fiction. Complicated characters and family relationships, that's my jam.
2. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Omg, it was like reading Harry Potter all over again, but better and for grownups and for 2018! Trust me, a school for wizards featuring a Chosen One boy wizard and his gay vampire/worst enemy roommate and superbrilliant witch best friend is exactly what you grownup HP fans want!
3. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
This one will hit you right in the heart, especially as a newlywed. After 18 months of marriage, Roy is convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to 12 years in jail. The story is told from Roy's and Celestial's and their friend Andre's viewpoints, including letters between Roy and Celestial. I saw Tayari Jones speak at the National Book Festival on Saturday, and she shared her story of how the book came to be. She studied black male incarceration at Harvard, but still didn't have a story, until she went back home to Atlanta and heard a couple arguing in the mall:
"You wouldn't have waited seven years for me."
"This would never have happened to you."
She wrote a story, she said, where both people were right. And both people were wrong. It's a scary, well-written story that hits home and makes you think about the impact on African-American couples and families, in a way I'd never felt so viscerally before.
4 Posts This Month
I had 4 posts in August, not too bad!
1. Library Haze
Basically, just a list of all the books I read in my week off!
2. Top Ten Favorite Book Blogs/Bookish Sites
I loved reading everybody else's and added some new blogs to my roll!
3. Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts
Rent the Runway, back-to-school shopping, and gushing about Carry On!
4. Top Ten Books for a College Student
Back-to-school freebie with book recommendations for college seniors and recent graduates!
Favorite Post This Month
I really enjoyed writing about my favorite bookish sites and reading yours too!
3 Things That Happened In My Life This Month
1. I went "back to school"! I never left, but the school year has started and now it's time to put into action what I've been working on all summer.
2. I went to the National Book Festival! I go almost every year (missed last year since I was sick), and it's more crowded every year. This year, they had to close the building to new guests at one point. There were huge lines for every author. I got to see Tayari Jones, Min Jin Lee, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jon Meacham, all of whom were fantastic, so you couldn't go wrong. I couldn't get in to see James McBride (so glad I saw him in 2013!) or Roxane Gay, and Isabel Allende ended up dropping out due to an emergency.
3. I had my first (and hopefully last) ride in an ambulance. I'm totally fine, but man, do they take it seriously when you faint in the doctor's office!
3 Favorite Links This Month
I've read a lot of cool articles around the web, so let me try and remember a few:
1. 13 Birthday Ideas for Adults
I love this concept, although it comes too late for my birthday this year. Taking the day off and doing whatever I want has been what I've been doing the past few years, but I definitely want to throw myself a party next year! (Maybe my house will even be ready..)
2. Advice for New Bloggers
I'm not a new blogger, but I started blogging before there was much stuff like this out there, and standards, especially aesthetically, have definitely changed!
3. Problematic Classics: Four Questions to Ask When Beloved Books Haven't Aged Well
I feel this, more so with, say, Diaz than Tolkien, but. Yeah.
Books I've Read This Month
- To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
- Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
- Provenance by Ann Leckie
- Erotic Stories for Punjabi Widows by Balli Kaur Jaswal
- Beauty in the Broken Places by Allison Pataki
- Blue Iris by Mary Oliver
- Let the Whole Thundering World Come Home by Natalie Goldberg
- An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
Oh August! I doubt I'll read this many in September, but we'll see.
I was going to choose a favorite, but...I can't. Honestly, they were all so good. For pure enjoyment value, I'm going to pick...
1. To All the Boys I've Loved Before by Jenny Han
Obviously, read this after the hype of the movie, which was also great, but I loved the book. It had a catchy writing style and even though romance is the focus, it was really character and family-centered, which are both aspects I tend to go for in fiction. Complicated characters and family relationships, that's my jam.
2. Carry On by Rainbow Rowell
Omg, it was like reading Harry Potter all over again, but better and for grownups and for 2018! Trust me, a school for wizards featuring a Chosen One boy wizard and his gay vampire/worst enemy roommate and superbrilliant witch best friend is exactly what you grownup HP fans want!
3. An American Marriage by Tayari Jones
This one will hit you right in the heart, especially as a newlywed. After 18 months of marriage, Roy is convicted of a crime he did not commit and sentenced to 12 years in jail. The story is told from Roy's and Celestial's and their friend Andre's viewpoints, including letters between Roy and Celestial. I saw Tayari Jones speak at the National Book Festival on Saturday, and she shared her story of how the book came to be. She studied black male incarceration at Harvard, but still didn't have a story, until she went back home to Atlanta and heard a couple arguing in the mall:
"You wouldn't have waited seven years for me."
"This would never have happened to you."
She wrote a story, she said, where both people were right. And both people were wrong. It's a scary, well-written story that hits home and makes you think about the impact on African-American couples and families, in a way I'd never felt so viscerally before.
4 Posts This Month
I had 4 posts in August, not too bad!
1. Library Haze
Basically, just a list of all the books I read in my week off!
2. Top Ten Favorite Book Blogs/Bookish Sites
I loved reading everybody else's and added some new blogs to my roll!
3. Bookish (And Not So Bookish) Thoughts
Rent the Runway, back-to-school shopping, and gushing about Carry On!
4. Top Ten Books for a College Student
Back-to-school freebie with book recommendations for college seniors and recent graduates!
Favorite Post This Month
I really enjoyed writing about my favorite bookish sites and reading yours too!
3 Things That Happened In My Life This Month
1. I went "back to school"! I never left, but the school year has started and now it's time to put into action what I've been working on all summer.
2. I went to the National Book Festival! I go almost every year (missed last year since I was sick), and it's more crowded every year. This year, they had to close the building to new guests at one point. There were huge lines for every author. I got to see Tayari Jones, Min Jin Lee, Elizabeth Acevedo, and Jon Meacham, all of whom were fantastic, so you couldn't go wrong. I couldn't get in to see James McBride (so glad I saw him in 2013!) or Roxane Gay, and Isabel Allende ended up dropping out due to an emergency.
3. I had my first (and hopefully last) ride in an ambulance. I'm totally fine, but man, do they take it seriously when you faint in the doctor's office!
3 Favorite Links This Month
I've read a lot of cool articles around the web, so let me try and remember a few:
1. 13 Birthday Ideas for Adults
I love this concept, although it comes too late for my birthday this year. Taking the day off and doing whatever I want has been what I've been doing the past few years, but I definitely want to throw myself a party next year! (Maybe my house will even be ready..)
2. Advice for New Bloggers
I'm not a new blogger, but I started blogging before there was much stuff like this out there, and standards, especially aesthetically, have definitely changed!
3. Problematic Classics: Four Questions to Ask When Beloved Books Haven't Aged Well
I feel this, more so with, say, Diaz than Tolkien, but. Yeah.
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