Books Read in August

Book By Book

August was entirely a Big Book Summer reading month! Which means less quantity…but plenty of quality! Here are the books I finished last month:

• Vincent and Theo by Deborah Heiligman (Netherlands) – YA nonfiction
• The City of Mirrors by Justin Cronin (NY, TX) – adult fiction
• The Desert Sky Before Us by Anne Valente (IL, MO, KS, CO, UT) – adult fiction

I also read half of Catch-22 by Joseph Heller, but it was dragging for me and I gave up on it for more fast-paced fare. So, just three books finished last month, but I enjoyed them all! It was a nice mix – one YA historical nonfiction, one adult science fiction/fantasy, and one introspective literary novel. Two of them were on audio. Although I loved The City of Mirrors (an excellent ending to the trilogy), I think Vincent and Theo was my surprise favorite of the month – I was really engrossed in the biography of Vincent Van Gigh and his brother, which was outstanding on audio (but I also got the print edition from the library so I could see all the drawings in it).

Progress in 2019 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary – updating my Reading Challenges:

Mount TBR Reading Challenge – Two of my books were from my own shelves, low for a Big Book Summer month, but I only read three, and two were audio (though I also had the print version of one of those, so I got it off my shelves!)

Monthly Motif Reading Challenge – August was Mode of Transportation month so
The Desert Sky Before Us by Anne Valente, with its road trip plot, fit perfectly!

Back to the Classics Challenge – No new classics this month – I tried to get through Catch-22 but set it aside about halfway through (I still hope to finish it later).

Monthly Keyword Challenge – I didn’t read a single book with any of the monthly keywords in the title…again, for the 8th month in a row! Nope, not one all year so far. Clearly this challenge wasn’t a good choice for me.

Nonfiction Reading Challenge 2019 – I added one nonfiction book – yay!

Diversity Reading Challenge – Just one of my books was obviously diverse, with a lesbian character (but, wait, do vampire-like viral creatures transformed from humans count as diverse??)

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge – I added the Netherlands.

2018 Literary Escapes Challenge – I added just 1 new state, Utah.

2019 Big Book Summer Challenge – I added three more Big Books for a total of 10 so far (I finished one more in the first days of September).

Finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break – not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month. I filled in 21 squares in August – pretty good for just 3 books!

Spaces Filled In:

Vincent & Theo – dream job, historic, library book, free book, audio book
The City of Mirrors – island, favorite author, read a physical book, sci fi/fantasy, in a series, shelf love, empowered female
The Desert Sky Before Us – awkward date, secrets, not in a series, snarky/sarcastic, sky on the cover, deception, multi-word title, tourist
Free Space

What was your favorite book read in August?