August is one of the best months of the year. I’m not just saying that because it’s my birthday month, although that helps massively, but I think in general there’s just a lovely, happy and summery vibe in the air. Everyone seems a bit more relaxed.
Obviously, I don’t wish to ignore the frankly HELLISH weather conditions we had in August in the UK. My boyfriend coined the term “celt melt” for my inability to function in any temperature over 25 degrees, and there was an odd collective cognitive decline that I assume was entirely fuelled by our inability to eat or sleep. My friend Clare says that summer is over after her birthday in early July, which is obviously insane. I usually make her wait until September before she gets autumnal, but this year I am ready for the leaves, for jumpers, for beanie hats. I’m ready to get into my happiest state, which is hibernation. I’m not even feeling sad about the days getting shorter!
I also visited Bath for the first time, which I might do a separate post on, because there were some amazing bookshops that I visited, but for now, here’s my reading for August. For the first time ever, I didn’t make a playlist for this month! I think it’s because I spent most of the month listening to albums, namely the new Charli XCX and Phoebe Bridgers.
Show Don’t Tell by Curtis Sittenfeld
Long-time readers know I’m a huge Curtis Sittenfeld fan, and her latest collection of short stories are delightfully spiky and painfully topical. I don’t know how she makes everything so readable, and so relevant but she did it! My favourite story was about a woman who gets caught being a racist Karen at a birthday party, goes viral and then tries to assuage her white guilt by tracking down the lost dog of a family who live nearby.
Yesteryear by Caro Claire Burke
The hottest book of the moment! I mean, honestly, who isn’t reading this? I stole my friend Katie’s copy and devoured it on my weekend to Bath. Natalie is a “tradwife” influencer, who cheerfully records every detail from her blessed life as a wife and mother from the Yesteryear ranch that she runs with her husband. But what happens when she wakes up one day in the olden times that she claims to long to return to? It’s an interesting concept, and I read it really quickly, but the ending left me with some really frustrating questions. If you’ve read this, message me, because I’d love to discuss!
Writers & Lovers by Lily King
After I loved Heart the Lover so much, I had to read the loose prequel and picked it up on my trip to Bath in their branch of Toppings. It’s about Casey, who is struggling to balance her job, finances and a book that she’s working on following the death of her mother. She’s also caught between romances with an unpublished writer and teacher, Silas, and a single dad and published, well-known author Oscar. It’s as readable as Heart the Lover, although I enjoyed it slightly less. Having said that, it articulated the feeling of being constantly accompanied by the presence of a lost loved one perfectly, so I’d recommend it just for that if you’re someone who is struggling with bereavement and grief.
The True Meaning of Love by Danielle Steel
And you thought I was done with Danielle! Liverpool Central Library got a copy of this book in, so of COURSE I was going to be the first one to borrow it. It’s a slightly mad concept, given that it takes place during the Russian invasion of Ukraine, and follows four women on their journeys through the start of the invasion across about a year, but why shouldn’t DS cover contemporary events! It’s not my favourite of hers, and the plots are thin, but it was definitely a novelty to read a book from her on an event that I feel so familiar with.
Self Worth by Emma Tholozan
This is my book club’s book for September, and I read it in two sittings in one evening. It’s about a young woman in Paris who graduates with a degree in Philosophy, and like everyone in her class, heads straight for the unemployment office. She then meets a man at a party who starts mysteriously vomiting money, and begins to fund a new high-flying lifestyle for them. Even though I read it quickly, it left me cold. I think it feels like its smarter than it actually is, and I found it a bit dull, despite it being quite an unusual concept.
Sense and Sensibility by Jane Austen
Isn’t it crazy that I’d never read this before? It’s about two sisters - Elinor (Sense, she follows her head) and Marianne (Sensibility, she follows her heart) and their lives and fortunes following the death of their father and their subsequent disinheritance by their half-brother. We read this in the classics arm of my book club in August, and I enjoyed it much more than I expected to, as I’m really more of a Bronte girl than an Austen-head. Having said that, it’s the perfect Austen in that it shows a snapshot of what life was really like for women during this period, and she’s hitting tropes before tropes were even a thing.
Life of M by Rachel Cusk
The other hottest new book of the season! Everyone is buzzing about this because it’s allegedly a thinly veiled biography of Natalie Portman. It bears more than a little resemblance to her, as it is about a world famous actor who lives in Paris, won great critical acclaim for her role in a film about ballet and who is the face of beauty brands, but it’s a much deeper exploration into how we perceive celebrity and personhood in today’s media-obsessed world. I’d never read any Rachel Cusk before, and I’m dying to pick up another one of her books now.
