Read:
The Murder of Roger Ackroyd – Agatha Christie (William Morrow, 2021)
The Human Factor – Graham Greene (Penguin Books, 1985)
Liturgy of the Ordinary – Tish Harrison Warren (Intervarsity Press, 2016)
The Baron in the Trees – Italo Calvino (translated from the Italian by Archibald Colquhoun)
Astra – Cedar Bowers (McClelland & Stewart, 2021)
Joan – Katherine J. Chen (Random House, 2022)
How to Fall out of Love Madly – Jana Casale (Dial Press, 2022)
Dead- End Memories – Banana Yoshimoto (Counterpoint, 2022) (translated from the Japanese by Asa Yoneda)
The Story of a Marriage – Andrew Sean Greer (Picador, 2008)
Ghost Eaters – Clay McLeod Chapman (Quirk Books, 2022)
Currently Reading:
Witches – Brenda Lozana
This House is Not a Home – Katłįà
City of Thieves – David Benioff
2022 Goals:
Books Read: 61/80 (10 in July)
Books Reviewed: 46/61 (1 in August)
Translated Works: 7/10 (The Baron in the Trees from Italian and Dead-End Memories from Japanese)
Reading Books I Already Own: 12/20 (Liturgy of the Ordinary, The Baron in the Trees, The Human Factor, Astra, and The Story of a Marriage were all books I already owned.)
Books from the TBR pre-2020: 15/20 (The Murder of Roger Ackroyd (since 2016), The Human Factor (2018), Liturgy of the Ordinary (2019), The Baron in the Trees (2018))
Current TBR: 233 (previously 232)
Thoughts:
So obviously this hasn’t been a prolific blogging month for me. I read a lot (10 books! yay me!) but I didn’t review any of them. There are several here though that I’d like to share my thoughts on so I hope to post some reviews in the next few weeks as I adjust to our family’s new fall schedule.
I really enjoyed the variety of books I read in August. They were set all over the world and fell into several different genres. Graham Greene, is of course, always a highlight. The Baron in the Trees turned out far more enjoyable than I expected. I picked up Astra after meeting Cedar Bowers at our local writers festival and then absolutely loved the book. How to Fall out of Love Madly turned out to be far richer and more thoughtful than the rom-com style book I pegged it as.
In total, I read 15 of the 20 books I chose. I didn’t review any of those in the time frame but I hope to revisit at least a few. So I feel like the challenge was a success for me, particularly as it got me reading some longterm TBR titles that I might have kept neglecting otherwise. Right now, I think I’ll join in again next year, perhaps with an adjusted goal.
Here’s the final list:
ARCs:
An Island – Karen Jennings
1000 Coils of Fear – Olivia Wenzel
Joan – Katherine J. Chen (currently reading)
How to Fall out of Love Madly – Jana Casale
Ghost Eaters – Clay McLeod Chapman
Library Books: (I left 2 blank spaces originally and have filled one with Sally Rooney and the other with Nino Haratischvili)
City of Thieves – David Benioff (currently reading this one)
Fleishman is in Trouble – Taffy Brodesser-Akner
Five Tuesdays in Winter – Lily King
Beautiful World, Where Are You – Sally Rooney
The Eighth Life – Nino Haratischvili
Owned Books:
Life & Holiness – Thomas Merton
The Human Factor – Graham Greene
The Sympathizer – Viet Thanh Nguyen
Liturgy of the Ordinary – Tish Harrison
Pastoral – Nevil Shute
The Cocktail Party – T.S. Eliot
The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht
The Breadwinner – Deborah Ellis (I technically finished this on September 2nd so I’m not counting it in my August reading total but I am striking it off this list.)
The Story of a Marriage – Andrew Sean Greer
The Baron in the Trees – Italo Calvino
What’s Next:
September is always a time of shifting schedules and rhythms in our household. This year is a big one since very soon I will have two children (that’s all of my children) in school full-time and I’ll be increasing my work hours. It’s always a time for me to set new goals of how I want my days to go and where my priorities are but I’m not yet sure how it will all work out and so I’m going slow in setting goals for myself.
Three books I do hope to read this month are: The Beauty Chasers by Timothy Willard, Pastoral by Nevil Shute, and The Flanders Road by Claude Simon.
Karissa Reads Books 
Oh, I’ve got a copy of 1000 Coils of Fear! Not read it yet but will be very interested to hear what you think of it.
The reviews I would be interested in reading are of the Lily King, Sally Rooney, and Tea Obreht. I’ve read one Lily King book and “met” her when she joined my library’s book club via Zoom two or so years ago.
How exciting that you’re shifting to a new chapter in life because your two children (which is all of your children, lol) are full-time in school. Will you continue at the book store or look for other employment? Something that allows you to have the girls before and after school (I think you pick them up and they don’t ride a school bus)?
I’m going to continue at the bookstore but increase my hours. I can still drop the girls off at school and I’ll still be able to pick them up on some days. Fortunately, my job provides me a lot of space to choose my days that I work so I’ve kind of been able to tailor my schedule around the days we have after-school care.
That’s an excellent boss! I know in the U.S. struggle with a work-yourself-to-death work culture. There are even job listings that tell you you have to be available all the time, and if you’re not, you’ll get fired. I’ve also had jobs that give you a schedule every two weeks, and it always changes, meaning you can plan nothing in your life beyond two weeks. In fact, there are many jobs like that.
I’ve had jobs like that too. It suuucks. My best jobs have been small businesses where the owner is very involved in the day-to-day work, which is what I have now. I also like to think I’ve made myself a valuable enough employee (though I recognize plenty of valuable employees are not treated well)!
Hard to believe both girls will be at full-time school already!
I can hardly believe it myself!