Hosted by That Artsy Reader Girl
Thank you to Anne @ HeadFullofBooks for coming up with this topic! Here are books I’ve read in August over the past ten years. I can’t guarantee that I was reading them on precisely August 11 as I don’t keep track of such information, but they were all read in this month and all good reads.
2016
The Many Deaths of Tom Thomson: Separating Fact from Fiction by Gregory Klages
Genre: History
Why I Liked It: Tom Thompson was a famous Canadian painter and one of the Group of Seven who created all sorts of art in the early 1900s. This book explores his life and mysterious death, and I thought the ending was quite fitting for a life that ended far too soon.
2017
Coping With Your Difficult Older Parent : A Guide for Stressed-Out Children by Grace Lebow, Barbara Kane, Irwin Lebow
Genre: Psychology/Self-Help
Why I Liked It: My parents are actually wonderful, but unfortunately I have other relatives in their age group who are only becoming more difficult to handle as they grow older. I’ve read multiple books about boundaries, dysfunctional families, (severe, untreated) mental illness, and self-care over the years to help me develop the coping skills I need for these situations.
2018
The Bedroom: An Intimate History by Michelle Perrot, Lauren Elkin
Genre: History
Why I Liked It: The wide range of topics it covered. Yes, there were references to sex in this book, but it also talked about many other things related to bedrooms and sleeping: central heating, how hotel accommodations worked in the past, how people slept in jails, hospitals, and sanitariums, and so much more.
2019
Let’s Play White by Chesya Burke
Genre: SFF
Why I Liked It: This was one of those collections of short stories in which every entry was unique. I get a little bored with collections that repeat the same themes too often, so this one definitely stood out to me.
2020
Zombies, Run!: Keeping Fit and Living Well in the Current Zombie Emergency by Naomi Alderman
Genre: SFF, Health, Fitness
Why I Liked It: Honestly, the information in it is just as applicable to now as it was to 2020. Taking care of yourself during stressful times is incredibly important no matter what the threat is. The zombie angle simply added a dose of fun to what is otherwise a serious topic.
2021
Broken Places & Outer Spaces: Finding Creativity in the Unexpected by Nnedi Okorafor
Genre: Memoir
Why I Liked It: I don’t purposefully seek out information about the lives of my favourite authors because I believe they deserve privacy just like the rest of us (unless they’re harming other people or something, of course). Therefore, I didn’t know about Ms. Okorafor’s botched back surgery or how it lead her to become an author until I read this. It was quite interesting!
2022
On Sundays She Picked Flowers by Yah-Yah Scholfield
Genre: Horror
Why I Liked It: Eveything up until the ending was perfect. The protagonist was nuanced and relatable and the setting was deliciously scary. I just wish the conclusion had been a happier one, but I’m still glad I read it.
2023
The Necessity of Stars by E. Catherine Tobler
Genre: SFF
Why I Liked It: This one had the opposite problem that Scholfield‘s tale did. The beginning was a little lacklustre, but the ending was so worth the wait. Once again, I’m glad I read it even though it didn’t match all of my expectations.
2024
Gay the Pray Away by Natalie Naudus
Genre: YA
Why I Liked It: I related to it on so many different levels, from growing up in a conservative Christian homeschooling family to being a lifelong bookworm to eventually coming out.
2025
Ghosts, Trolls and the Hidden People: An Anthology of Icelandic Folk Legends by Dagrún Ósk Jónsdóttir
Genre: SFF
Why I Liked It: You all might remember how much I love myths, fairy tales, and folklore in general. This was a fabulous collection of just that.
These all sound interesting especially Broken Places and Outer Spaces. I like looking back on my past reads and reviews.
Thank you!
The older parents one sounds hard but necessary for people our age…
Absolutely.
Gay the Pray Away is still on my TBR but a few of these ones have piqued my interest. “On Sundays She Picked Flowers” and the Icelandic Folk Legends books look really good! I’ll have to keep an eye out for both 👀 Great list!
Thank you. Enjoy!
I haven’t read any of these, but I do think it’s fun to go back and look at what we read through the years! Sometimes I wonder if I would still like some of the books I loved ten years ago. 🙂 Thanks for visiting my list today.
You’re welcome, and I wonder the same thing about my old habits!
Fun variety of books! 😀
Thanks.
What a fun topic!
Aww, thanks. 🙂 It’s nice to see your comment.
It is fun to see how different we were reading each year 😀
For sure!
I remember the Zombie Run app! What a throwback!
So fun.
It is so hard when our parents get older! I lost my mom earlier this year (she was only 71) and we almost lost my mother-in-law this weekend (she is 79), but I would almost say her and my FIL fall in the difficult category, but mainly with lack of communication. We didn’t know there was a serious issue until she was already in surgery. Anyway, I think it would be a great book to read. Have a good week! And, thanks for always stopping by my blog each week!
You’re welcome!
I’m sorry you know what that’s like. It’s really hard, isn’t it?
I am loving the whole idea of that Zombies, Run book! I also really love myths and fairy tales, that last book looks really good!
Glad to hear it!
I haven’t read any of these, but I do enjoy this topic and revisiting the past.
It was a fun one this week for sure. 🙂
What an interesting mix of books! This week’s topic was a fun one 🙂
Thank you.
Let’s Play White sounds like a really good one! I love that you went to some self-help books about how to help with difficult familial situations. It’s so much more helpful than just ignoring it or winging it. <3
I haven’t read any of these but I’m very curious about the ones by Naomi Alderman and Nnedi Okorafor.
Gay the Pray Away sounds really interesting. Going to see if I can find that one here.
The Icelandic folk tales looks amazing! I’d love to check it out.
I really need to get to On Sundays She Picked Flowers. Very interesting look at your past reads!