Read:
We Went to the Woods – Caite Dolan-Leach (Random House, 2019)
Black Light – Kimberly King Parsons ( Vintage Books, 2019)
All the Bad Apples – Moira Fowley-Doyle (Kathy Dawson Books, 2019)
As Many Nows as I Can Get – Shana Youngdahl (Dial Books, 2019)
My Conversations with Canadians – Lee Maracle (BookThug, 2017)
Mistakes to Run With – Yasuko Thanh (Hamish Hamilton, 2019)
Furious Hours – Casey Cep (Alfred A. Knopf, 2019)
Did Not Finish:
The Sweetest Fruits – Monique Truong
Nothing really wrong with this book. I simply finished the first section and then never went back. I kept intending to but after about a week passed I realized I had lost all interest and that probably said something.
Currently Reading:
Milkman – Anna Burns
The New Testament Documents – F.F. Bruce
The Fall – Albert Camus
2019 Reading Goals:
Books Read: 77/100
Books Reviewed: 60/50
Thoughts: August reading felt long. As in, it feels like quite a long time since I read We Went to the Woods. Not a great reading month and certainly not a great reviewing month. Highlights were We Went to the Woods and Furious Hours (review coming Friday, I hope). I’m taking a bit of a break from Milkman but I’m keeping it on my Currently Reading list because I have dipped in to it occasionally.
What I’ll Read Next:
After finishing Furious Hours, I plan to finally read Go Set a Watchman. First though, I hope to do a quick re-read of To Kill a Mockingbird. Next, I hope to finally read A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing by Eimear McBride. Really looking forward to that one, though I know it will be a heavy read. I also just picked up a copy of Steven Price’s new novel, Lampedusa. (He wrote By Gaslight.) For non-fiction, I have the new edition of Reviving Ophelia.
I have four or five ARCS with September and October pub dates but the first two on the docket are Frankly in Love by David Yoon and Grand Union by Zadie Smith.
That’s already 7 books to read in September and I may not even get to all of them. I’m reading Camus’ The Fall right now as part of a new campaign to read books that have been on my TBR for years. My ongoing TBR list dates back to 2013 and the book that’s sat there the longest is The Fall. There are 18 titles that I added to the list in 2013 and still haven’t read. So I suppose those 18 titles are my latest challenge. The next one will be The Savage Detective by Roberto Bolano.
What was a highlight of your August reading? Did we read any of the same books? Have you read any of the ones I plan to read next? Let me know!
Karissa Reads Books 
I’ve added a reading goal of one library book per month because I add so many to my TBR that it just keeps growing without ever reducing. So I totally get where you are coming from with read older books on your TBR. I also have that category for which I read the oldest book I own. That date is slowly creeping closer and closer to the present!
Yes, I think I’ve noticed that you do that! Did you start it this year? One of the reasons books languish on my TBR is that I have trouble getting them from the local library but I’m making more use of inter-library loans now so hoping that will help make a difference.
I’ve totally jumped on the ILL train, and it’s exciting. I did just start adding a library book to my monthly reading plans this year, and I feel good about it.
I’ve never really used ILL before (except during university) but our small town library has some gaps so it feels like a whole new world of books is opening up to me! They’re getting pretty good about stocking new releases though so I usually have a couple of library books at any given time.
My main library practically his the fact that they do ILLs, but when I started working at a library in the next town over, I realized how it work and I started being more active to make it happen at my library.
Same! My library doesn’t advertise this at all – I had to search it out on their website. We can order books easily from the library in the neighbouring town but they don’t seem to want you to know you can also get books from all over the province!
Me: “Hey, can I get this book?”
Library: “No, because we don’t have it.”
Me: “Okay, but the library 20 miles away has it.”
Library: “That’s not our library.”
Me: “Okiedokie, then.”
Hahaha! That is painfully familiar.
I hope you have a great reading month in September! I’m particularly excited to hear your thoughts on A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing. It’s such a singular and impactful read.
Thanks! I know it’s going to be heavier read so I’ve been waiting for gloomier weather!
So glad you enjoyed Furious Hours – me too! And it put me in exactly the right frame of mind to finally tackle Go Set a Watchman, and I ended up loving it too. Hope the same happens to you!
Your review definitely made me feel more eager to read Go Set a Watchman and Furious Hours has clinched it so I’ll be getting to it soon! Thanks!