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Sep
02
August Reading Wrap-Up
2009 at 8am Posted by Rebecca Joines Schinsky
It’s September already? Oy vey. This year is flying by, and I’m in total denial about it. I mean, I’m more than ready to be done with the nasty Virginia summer weather, but we’re starting to get Halloween merchandise in at the store, and that just seems crazy. Really? Halloween on September 2nd? Good grief.
Anyway, here’s what I read this month. Each cover is linked to my review, with the exception of The Girl Who Played with Fire, which I didn’t formally review because it left me feeling kind of “meh.”
Most of these were very enjoyable, but I think it’s safe to say my pick of the month is Her Fearful Symmetry, which is probably going to end up as my pick of the year as well. If you’ve snagged an ARC recently, head over to this post to join the collective gushing.
What was the best book you read last month?
No related posts.
What a great pile of books! I didn’t get HFS, so can’t compare, and passed (so far) on the Atwood, but I loved the Larsson books!
Seasonal stuff comes out so early. Last summer I worked retail and the Christmas stuff came in before I left at the end of September and we were phasing out Halloween over a month before it even happened! How many people really buy stuff that early?
I loved THE GIRL WHO PLAYED WITH FIRE (by Stieg Larsson.) It was a great story with fast action, character development and none of the protracted exposition of “Dragon Tattoo.” I listened to the unabridged audio narrated by Simon Vance and he did a great job of shaping the text and pacing the narrative to it’s conclusion. It’s actually on my audiobook A list. I can’t wait for the final book of the trilogy and am tempted to order it from the UK where it will be available in October, but I really want Simon Vance to read it to me so I’ll wait ’til next summer like a good”do-bee!”
The other book from this summer that made my A-list is a title that’s listed as fiction, but could easily be considered a mystery as well: WAITING FOR COLUMBUS (by Thomas Trofimuk.) A man claiming to be Christopher Columbus is recovered from the Strait of Gibralter in modern day Seville, Spain. He is brought to a mental health care facility to determine who he is and the root cause of his delusion. The two realities, that of 15th century Columbus and that of the 21st century “John Doe,” are written with an amazing elegance, a slide rule of realities that eventually coalesce into the truth. It was a powerful novel. This may end up being my pick of the year.
I can’t wait to read Her Fearful Symmetry!
I just got a copy of Waiting for Columbus from Random House, and I can’t wait to read it! So glad to hear you loved it.
I loved all of your reviews, most especially Her Fearful Symmetry. I can’t wait to get to it myself.
My fave book from last month, which I just posted the review for today, is The Danish Girl by David Ebershoff. I’m not sure what I expected initially but what I got was an incredibly satisfying read. Very touching too. Absolutely loved it.
I read so many good books last month. The Calligrapher’s Daughter would probably be my fav, but The Help and The Well and the Mine were pretty awesome, too.
I can’t wait for HRS to come out. That Old Cape Magic is on my tbr list
I’ve been looking at The Well and the Mine forever and can’t seem to get motivated to pick it up….I think I’m disappointed because I was somehow got under the misapprehension that it was a memoir. But it sounds wonderful, and your endorsement here has given me the motivation!
Looks like a good month’s work! I finally read “The Brief Wondrous Life of Oscar Wao” last weekend (it has been sitting in my TBR pile since my birthday last November!) and I don’t know for the life of me why I waited that long. If you haven’t read it yet, I strongly recommend it.
You’ve reminded me I still haven’t done this. Jeez. I need to get on the ball already! Great month, Rebecca. I want to read all of those!