August held a lot of uncertainty as we were trying to figure out all the school options for our children. I was glad to have several good fiction books to escape into during the month. Here are the books I read in August:
The Dutch House was the book club pick for The Happiness Project podcast with Gretchen Rubin so I added it to my to-read list. I wanted to like this book but I didn’t like the characters as much as I hoped. Maeve and Danny grow up in a world where their mother left them to serve the poor, their stepmother keeps them at arms length and their father dies before Danny finishes high school. They keep coming back to The Dutch House they grew up in to talk, but it means more for Maeve than Danny could even dream. His sister remembers life with a mother – he doesn’t.
Can a disadvantage be an advantage? And, can an advantage be a disadvantage? The Biblical story of David and Goliath is a story that proves both of those can be true. In David and Goliath, Malcolm Gladwell explores various cases in life where the underdog often succeeds because of a disadvantage. Gladwell looks at losing a parent, having dyslexia and classroom size among other things we often assume are just part of our culture but can help through the hurt.
In Remarkable Creatures, Elizabeth Philpot is sent away with her two spinster sisters to live in Lyme Regis by the sea when her brother marries. One sister socializes, one gardens and Elizabeth discovers fossil on the seashore. There she meets young Mary Anning who survived being struck by lightning as a baby. Mary has been finding fossils since she could walk and shows Elizabeth where to find them and how to clean them. While Elizabeth searches for fossils as a hobby, Mary’s livelihood depends on being able to sell them.
Annie Cassidy believes in true love. It’s what her parents had and every romantic comedy fills her with the hope that one day she will find her “Tom Hanks.” While she also dreams of having a movie produced from her own screenplay, she lives in a world where she’s happy, but stuck. She writes freelance Web content, lives in her old family home with her uncle and visits the coffee shop where her best friend works daily. It’s the same thing day after day until a rom-com is set to film in Columbus in Waiting For Tom Hanks.
A family camp was set up at Auschwitz so that if the Red Cross came to check out the camp, they would see families and children living together. The children were supposed to be gathered at a warehouse each day and kept entertained, but a few adults secretly turned it into a school. There were even a few books hidden away that could only be borrowed by asking the librarian. Just a teenager, Dita is charged with making sure the books are hidden away if any Nazis or Kapos darken the school doors. She knows the power of books and takes her role seriously as The Librarian of Auschwitz.
Deep Work is a book that proposes if people spent more time focusing on a single task at a time that they could get more things done. Newport talks about his strategies for finding time for “deep work” and how it has worked for others. He also balances it with having down time and letting yourself be bored – without social media. The book has some great ideas, especially in this time when we all feel pressured to always be connected and doing something.
I am trying to read books about writing and A Million Miles in A Thousand Years was recommended in another book I read about writing. This Donald Miller book is about how he applied the ideas of “story” to his own life both while writing the script for a movie based on Blue Like Jazz and in making his own life better. (I haven’t read Blue Like Jazz yet, but plan to.) I really like the idea of taking the ideas of having a good plot and applying them to your actual life.
Riding Freedom is a historical fiction young reader novel about a young girl named Charlotte who ran away from an orphanage as a teenager. She disguised herself as a boy and used her skills with horses to get a job driving carriages. Her journey takes her to the Wild West where she works and finally buys a ranch. She is one of the first women voters because they thought she was a man. It’s a very interesting story.
Becoming Us is a book about how one couple’s marriage was greatly impacted by the Enneagram. The McCords share the story of how their marriage was not in good shape and they didn’t know how to fix it. Then, they discovered the Enneagram and by knowing how they each were wired helped them in their decisions and interactions. The book ends with a synopsis of each Enneagram. I wish the book had gone farther and talked about how all the different couples interacted with the Enneagram and not just a few combinations.
Seeking adventure and a fortune, Sam Rothman and his best friend Liam leave Washington State for Alaska in the summer of 1898. Sam is encouraged by his parents to change his name so no one discovers he is Jewish. As Percy Hope, he steps off the boat and is chosen to be the namesake of the new town – Hope City. While he and Liam try to seek an honest go of finding gold, they are both tempted by the neighboring town’s saloon owner Mr. Vega at almost every turn to go down the wrong path. My full review is up on Reedsy.
A Study in Scarlett is the beginning of Sherlock Holmes. My husband and I read the third book in the Holmes series without realizing there were books before it. So, we then went back and started at the beginning. This book encompasses how Sherlock and Watson met and tells just one mystery through the entire book.
I came across Kari Kampakis while listening to a podcast and wanted to check out her books to see if they would be something good for my teenage girls. 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know is written from a Christian perspective and is very appropriate for our times. She talks about the pressure to be like others and how social media can be a tool for good, if you chose wisely. I am recommending it to my teens.
Liked is the other book by Kampakis I wanted to check out for my teens. It is a good one to read after reading 10 Ultimate Truths Girls Should Know. This one focuses more on true friendships and what teen girls should look for in relationships. I am also recommending this one to my teens.
What books did you read in August? Share in the comments below!
