Review of Reading List for The Month of August
Hellur Luvlies! My summer of reading has ended and boy-oh-boy was it the best one yet. I do not remember a summer were I read as much as I did, just for shits and giggles. I was taken aback by the visceral responses I had to what I read. Dolly woulda been proud :'(. Those big shoes I mentioned last month? Well, they were filled this August by even more captivating stories. I’m going to go as far as to say I might have read my book of the year!
I DNF’d 2 books because one was so clearly written with Ai, I just tossed it with disappointment… But there were a few titles written by an author I NEVER want to read again. The writer has inspired a longer blog post (coming soon), that each time I try to finish with it, it inevitably gets longer and longer, and I need to take rage breaks from the venom it produces insidemewhenIthinkABOUTHIM!!!!
***** RRRROOOOOOAAAAARRRRRRRR *****
I’m calm. I’m okay. I swear.
Libby released so many of my holds this month, I ended up finishing a total of 17 books.
My mini book reports are ready below. I think I was fair in my assessment. Please take my pinion with a grain of salt.
Enjoy!
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August Reading List – Reviews
LUVED
Against Everything by Mark Greif. These essays are EXACTLY how I hope my morning musings turn out. I laughed at most of these grumpy-esque, fabulously written essays on random life topics. I read this book with my eyes AND read them out loud in different accents… HEY! We listen and we don’t judge. Try reading them in either a British oxford professor voice, a Leeds dialect or Tennessee drawl. #tears
A Man Called Ove by Fredrik Bachman. I love when an author makes you accept a character, warts and all. Is it spectrum sh*t or just Scandinavian writing? Either way I wanted to hug PTSD-suppressed Ove, and he would hate every minute of it.
The Black Girl Survives In This One by Desiree S. Evans. Thank god the outcome is in the title, cuz there were moments I was scurred. I thoroughly enjoyed these short stories, because they were visually perfection. I felt immersed as each scene unfolded. I am slowly acclimatizing to the world of the spooketh, just not sure I’ll ever go backstage in a theatre again.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke. My book of 2026? Definitely a candidate. I was surprised at how much I enjoyed this read. We were pulled into the madness of Natalie, because so many of her conversations were in her mind. We were her conscience, fighting to reach her from a place she couldn’t accept was there. I found myself empathizing with her, even after all the things crazy happened, but snapped out of it in the end. I love it when a book is so contemporary, that people think this book is about them. Gonna add fuel to the fire here: Natalie was neither the villain nor the protagonist. Let’s hash this out in the comments.
YAY
Bliss Montage Stories by Ling Ma. I read her book Severance during covid and liked it but I forgot some parts of it, so I’m re-reading it next month. Ma has a talent for dark short stories. Yeti Lovemaking? Strange. May the friendship in “G” never find me.
Heads of the Colored People by Nafissa Thompson Spires. Connected tales of Disconnected Black people. One of them involved 2 mothers acting out their own version of Brandi & Monica’s beef. Very well written.
I Am Not Sidney Poitier by Percival Everett. Gworl, sometimes Percy needs a nap. I had no idea where this story was going, but it went and I followed. Every time Not Sidney tried to leave his bubble in Atlanta, it’d go pear-shaped on him in the most abrupt ways.
The Only One Left by Riley Sager. A Clue-sytle ‘who-done-it-no-not-them-maybe-her-but-not-that-her-the-other-one’ that resolved itself nicely in the end.
The Virtue of Inner Strength by Nathaniel Branden. An empowering reminder that I’m taking the daily steps to becoming a person I enjoy being with.
A Mastery of Monsters by Liselle Sambury. A monster tale set at a real Canadian University, with a Black female protagonist?? Sign me up. A truly original story, with twists and teeth. I wanted to read more. It reads a little young, but think of it as a more nuanced version of Blade (no vampires, but there is a lot of biting).
SORTA OK
All The Cool Girls Get Fired by Laura Brown & Kristina O’Neill. I mean… I was reminded of the toxicity of Girlboss culture, when reading tales of some very privileged women. Someone will get something out of this book in the next couple of years. But after that, it will feel dated.
Telephone by Percival Everett. I was uncomfortable throughout this book. Half way through, it became another story all together. It wasn’t my favourite PE book, but I didn’t hate it.
NAY (acutally it’s more ‘NEVAH AGAIN & I SPIT ON THE GRAVE HE LIES IN!!!’)
The Grapes of Wrath by John Steinbeck. PHUCK.
Of Mice and Men by John Steinbeck. THIS.
East of Eden by John Steinbeck. GUY. — A longer post about literary Voldemort is to come… but I promise you, it will be scathing. And for those of you who love Steinbeck and defend this demon heathen man, GET OFF MY BLOGLAWN NEOW!!
RENEWED
Damned If I Do by Percival Everett
Permanence by Sophie Mackintosh. I have to read this one with my eyes, so I made time for it next month.
DNF
Burn Down Master’s House by Clay Cane (DNF 12%). This book has Ai all over it. I could barely get through to chapter 2, it was so poorly written.
What You Can Know by Ian McEwan (DNF 73%). I have the same response whenever I read anything by Rachel Cusk —-> wortsalat. What are you on about Ian? The man who wrote Atonement could not have written this BS. As a Sci-Fi lover, this was just … English dribble. Forty-45, forty-45 years sums up this sentiment perfectly.
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xoxo Luv Laney Luv
No Ai used to write these reviews, so forgive the occasional error, k?
