In case you’ve been under a rock, it’s SUMMER! (In Boston at least!) That means my book list is full of Jane Austen fan-fiction and other random books I grab off the shelf. Weirdly enough though, there are a lot of non-fiction sprinkled in this year.
With the exception of a quick jaunt to Chicago around the 4th, we’ve stayed close to home this month and it has been luxurious! We’ve had a few beach days and Pokéwalks and I’ve had time to “just” read and enjoy the summer. That being said, we’re already trying to figure out what’s going on in the fall and where we’re going on our vacations in 2018. Where does the time go?!
As for the blog, I celebrated 7 years this month AND I gave the blog a nice overhaul. It was kind of relaxing to revisit some pages and choose new design features. It’s a lot brighter and happier than I expected it to be, but the colors spoke to me and I guess now I’m three months into my new job I am feeling lighter and a little brighter 😀
Books and Recent Acquisitions
I realized my monthly recaps were getting a bit long so I created a separate (hopefully mid-month monthly) post called Bookish Things to share the random things I find fascinating in the bookish world with you! So go check that out!
This month I read 10 books! TEN. That’s ridiculous. I must be getting back to “normal” as the last time I read 10 books in a month was the month before I started my last job in 2016. The next closest this year is seven books in May and SIX of the seven were young adult/children’s literature.
- Jane Austen, the Secret Radical – Helena Kelly
- Win at Losing – Sam Weinman
- Mr. Darcy Broke My Heart (Adventures with Jane Austen and Her Legacy #2) – Beth Pattillo
- Finally Out – Loren Olson
- Jane Eyre (Manga Classics) – Stacy King, SunNeko Lee, Crystal S. Chan, Charlotte Brontë
- If I Understood You, Would I Have This Look on My Face? – Alan Alda
- Chemistry – Weike Wang
- The Communist Manifesto – Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels
- Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Adventures with Jane Austen and Her Legacy #1) – Beth Pattillo
- The Path to Personal Power – Napoleon Hill
Looking at the list I’m glad there are multiple Jane Austen fan-fiction’s on here and quite a few new-to-me authors. I made a HUGE  push to finish to clear up my ARC/galley pile. Going into the month I had seven being carried forward from as late as December 2016. Those are all read now! I even got my first LinkedIn shout out (Linkedin link) for a review by Loren Olson for Finally Out, I was very confused when it first happened, and then was like OH that makes sense.
I did go a little overboard and request too many for the upcoming months, but I’m okay with that, they were one’s I requested and am looking forward to! I received/bought/requested quite a few books this month 😀 Hopefully, I will get to them in a much more timely manner than I have previously. One I’ve even read already!
I added another copy of Wuthering Heights to my collection. I picked up a copy of the Pulp! Classics version released a few years ago from Afterwords (store website) in Chicago. The store itself was okay, but a little rundown (there was some sort of leak in the basement) and honestly based on some of the reviews I was read I was pleasantly surprised. The price however was a joke, they were asking full cover price for the book even though it had been sitting on their shelf for at least three years. I paid for it because I wanted a souvenir from Chicago and it was only the second time I’d come across this version in person, but at least two other people saw the price and just left the copies lying on other shelves. My guess is Afterwords doesn’t know about and/or believe in remainders, especially as there were other nicer cheaper versions of Wuthering Heights on the shelf.
Other books I picked up this month include:
- The Address – Fiona Davis*
- The Luster of Lost Things – Sophie Chen Keller*
- Jane Austen Ruined My Life (Adventures with Jane Austen and Her Legacy #1) – Beth Pattillo
- The Dashwood Sisters Tell All (Adventures with Jane Austen and Her Legacy #3) – Beth Pattillo
- Worth Waiting For – Wendy Qualls*
- A Gay Thing Happened on the Way to the Forum – Bert Shrader
- Jane Austen at Home – Lucy Worsley*
I picked up Shrader’s books after reading about the throw away erotica of the 50s and 60s of 120 Days Books (see Bookish Things). I didn’t plan to take on as many ARC/reader copies this month, but they all spoke to me: Davis’ was recommended by the publisher who I’ve had luck with in the past, Keller’s was compared to The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time, Qualls’ is a male-male romance (digital ARC) and it’s been too long since I’ve read one, and Worsley’s I read about in the NYTimes (I’m so fancy) and took a chance requesting it, especially this year. I also need to see the documentary from the BBC (BBC website) about it too! I put in a couple of other requests, but hopefully they’ll be spaced out a bit over August and September.
And lest I forget to mention the day I spent in mourning on July 18th, the 200th anniversary of Jane Austen’s death. I did post most of my Austen collection on Instagram, but that was about it:
Notice I say most, because there are other books scattered around the house. These were just the three shelves together.
Culture Corner
I haven’t figured out what I’m going to do with this, if I’ll get rid of it or if I’ll do a separate post like Bookish Things, but I wanted to make sure it was included this month because of the awesome exhibit I saw in Chicago: Human_3.0 Reading List by Cauleen Smith. If you have the chance I would strongly recommend visiting it. You can also see it online (at the artist’s website) and read the powerful statement. If you zoom in on the photo to the right I bought a copy of the postcard they made of Orlando as it was one of only a few books on the list that I’d read. Clearly I need to expand my horizons even further because I KNOW I need to read some Butler and I want to read more Lorde, but there were authors I’ve never heard of, as well as authors I’ve shied away from after previous experiences (Baldwin).
What’s Next?
I’m looking forward to “just” reading for another month while the summer winds down. I’m looking forward to reading some more Jane Austen fan-fiction and a couple of personal finance books that I checked out from the library last month. Other than that I’m enjoying the quite at my new job and waiting for everything to pick up in the fall!
Does your reading change drastically over the summer either in type or amount?
Great job on reading ten books last month! I’ve been reading this summer, but not as much as I’d like. Somehow, work becomes more hectic in the summer months, plus there are more family obligations when school isn’t in session. That said, I’m finding time to read a number of Jane Austen-related books. I re-read Persuasion, and I also read Kelly’s book. Soon, I’ll be turning to some Austen retellings (Val McDermid’s Northanger Abbey & Melissa Nathan’s Persuading Annie).
Oh I haven’t heard of Nathan’s, I’ll have to check it out. I enjoyed Val McDermid’s adaptation and was shocked at so many people’s response and horror at how she re-wrote it. I though it was fun and made as much fun of the vampire genre as Austen did of the gothic genre.
I’m looking forward to reading both of them!
I tend to read a little more over the summer because I work in a school I get 6 weeks off 😀 I really enjoyed the BBC’s Jane Austen at Home documentary which was also presented by Lucy Worsley, so I really look forward to your thoughts on the book. Previously, I watched and read the accompanying book for Worsley’s A Very British Murder series, and loved them both! Happy reading in August 🙂
I am VERY jealous of your 6 weeks off! I read about her other book and series when I read the NYTimes review.
I highly the other book and series too…actually she’s presented a lot of history documentaries for the BBC and the ones I’ve watched I’ve really enjoyed. And 6 weeks off is amazing, as long as you don’t mind being off with all the kids!