August 2017 Wrap-Up

In August, I managed to read 8 books. Between July and August, I read 15 books....I don't think I've read 15 total from March to June. I'm doing so much better on this end of the year. Then again, I'm also hiding and doing a lot of reading. The weather turned a tad sour for us and it's better to be inside reading than outside during a thunderstorm.

Let's get on with the book that I completed this month!


Book #1: The Handmaid's Tale by Margaret Atwood

Offred is a Handmaid in the Republic of Gilead. She may leave the home of the Commander and his wife once a day to walk to food markets whose signs are now pictures instead of words because women are no longer allowed to read. She must lie on her back once a month and pray that the Commander makes her pregnant, because in an age of declining births, Offred and the other Handmaids are valued only if their ovaries are viable. Offred can remember the years before, when she lived and made love with her husband, Luke; when she played with and protected her daughter; when she had a job, money of her own, and access to knowledge. But all of that is gone now...

It was definitely an interesting read. I feel it's more prominent now considering the times that we live in. We are getting dangerously close to this extreme in some people's eyes. I'm glad I finally read it. I thought I'd had a copy, but I must have gotten rid of it at some point, because I couldn't find it anywhere. (watch me find it now, sitting blatantly on my bookshelf or something). I rated this book a 4/5 stars. I removed the last star mostly because of the way it ended. I want to know what happened to Offred. 

Book #2: 13 Reasons Why by Jay Asher

You can't stop the future. You can't rewind the past. The only way to learn the secret...is to press play. Clay Jensen returns home from school to find a strange package with his name on it lying on his porch. Inside he discovers several cassette tapes recorded by Hannah Baker--his classmate and crush--who committed suicide two weeks earlier. Hannah's voice tells him that there are thirteen reasons why she decided to end her life. Clay is one of them. If he listens, he'll find out why. Clay spends the night crisscrossing his town with Hannah as his guide. He becomes a firsthand witness to Hannah's pain, and as he follows Hannah's recorded words throughout his town, what he discovers changes his life forever.

I watched the first....I want to say four....episodes of the Netflix series that they made based on this. I'm so glad that I changed my mind and decided to get the book first. The book was far better than the show. I loved how Jay Asher described the things that were going through Clay's head. You nearly felt it with him instead of just watching it all play out on the screen. I got bored with the show. I rated this a 5/5 stars and am recommending it to everybody I know who reads. 

Book #3: Memoirs of a Geisha by Arthur Golden

A literary sensation and runaway bestseller, this brilliant debut novel presents with seamless authenticity and exquisite lyricism the true confessions of one of Japan's most celebrated geisha. In Memoirs of a Geisha, we enter a world where appearances are paramount; where a girl's virginity is auctioned to the highest bidder; where women are trained to beguile the most powerful men; and where love is scorned as illusion. It is a unique and triumphant work of fiction - at once romantic, erotic, suspenseful - and completely unforgettable.

I've read this book no less than four times, however that was before Goodreads started the "multiple reads" thing and I actually have lost count. This read is counted as the only read of this book that I have done. Anyway, much like always, I rated this book a 5/5 stars because it shows just how much one can overcome adversity if they put their mind to it. Sayuri set herself a goal, and she let nothing stop her in her pursuit of it, even when it seemed everything was stacked against her and that she would never succeed. I absolutely adore this book. Read it as a buddy read with a friend of mine. 

Book #4: The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath

The Bell Jar chronicles the crack-up of Esther Greenwood: brilliant, beautiful, enormously talented, and successful but slowly going under - maybe for the last time. Sylvia Plath draws the reader into Esther's breakdown with such intensity that Esther's insanity becomes completely real and even rational, as probable and accessible an experience as going to the movies. Such deep penetration into the dark and harrowing corners of the psyche is an extraordinary accomplishment and has made The Bell Jar an American classic.

I'd heard of this. I had a digital copy (that for some reason I could not read). I picked this up and finished it over two days. How? I wasn't super impressed with the writing. It came off to me like a girl who didn't get what she wanted and threw a fit over it, even though she wasn't actually qualified to do what it was that she was having the fit about? I didn't understand what the hype had been about when I'd heard of it. It made no sense. I gave it a 3/5 because it was okay. I enjoyed the writing style, but I'm unlikely to read it again. 

Book #5: Rat Queens Vol. 1: Sass & Sorcery by Kurtis J. Wiebe and Roc Upchurch

Who are the Rat Queens? They're a pack of booze-guzzling, death-dealing battle maidens-for-hire and they're in the business of killing all the god's creatures for profit. Meet Hannah the Rockabilly Elven Mage, Violet the Hipster Dwarven Fighter, Dee the Atheist Human Cleric and Betty the Hippy Smidgen Thief. This modern spin on an old school genre is a violent, monster-killing epic that is like Buffy meets Tank Girl in a Lord of the Rings world on crack!

I think I did well for my second venture into the world of graphic novels (the first being the first nine volumes of Girl Genius by Phil and Kaja Foglio). My friend KS and I saw this when we were in a Barnes & Noble, and both made the mental note to pick it up when we had the money. Well, she had the money. After our Pathfinder session on Thursday, she handed me this and said I needed to read it. I said okay. The next day, I had to message her in all caps demanding we pick up volume two. I need to know what happens. I rated this a 5/5 stars and I am sorely tempted to pick up my own copy of every Rat Queens book that is available at the present moment. 

Book #6: The Lesser Bohemians by Eimear McBride

Upon her arrival in London, an 18-year-old Irish girl begins anew as a drama student, with all the hopes of any young actress searching for the fame she’s always dreamed of. She struggles to fit in—she’s young and unexotic, a naive new girl—but soon she forges friendships and finds a place for herself in the big city. Then she meets an attractive older man. He’s an established actor, 20 years older, and the inevitable clamorous relationship that ensues is one that will change her forever. A redemptive, captivating story of passion and innocence set across the bedsits of mid-1990s London, McBride holds new love under her fierce gaze, giving us all a chance to remember what it’s like to fall hard for another.

It was stupid. I didn't understand a damn thing that was happening. There was no structure at all to the sentences. It's like she had some sort of attack while writing this and never bothered to fix it? If this is what all of her writing is like, I'm definitely avoiding A Girl is a Half-Formed Thing because there is no way I'd be able to read it. I doubt that I was in the proper mind frame. Maybe if I'm raging drunk it will be easier? I rated this book a 1/5 stars and didn't even finish it.

Book #7: Tuesdays with Morrie by Mitch Albom

Maybe it was a grandparent, or a teacher or a colleague. Someone older, patient and wise, who understood you when you were young and searching, and gave you sound advice to help you make your way through it. For Mitch Albom, that person was Morrie Schwartz, his college professor from nearly twenty years ago. Maybe, like Mitch, you lost track of this mentor as you made your way, and the insights faded. Wouldn't you like to see that person again, ask the bigger questions that still haunt you? Mitch Albom had that second chance. He rediscovered Morrie in the last months of the older man's life. Knowing he was dying of ALS - or motor neuron disease - Mitch visited Morrie in his study every Tuesday, just as they used to back in college. Their rekindled relationship turned into one final 'class': lessons in how to live.

This was a random suggestion by Mrs. R, one of the staff of my local library. She asked me if I liked memoirs, I was like "Yeah?" so she said I should read Tuesdays with Morrie. Technically this is more of a dissertation than even a biography, as it was written in the theme of a thesis. I have personally lost someone to amyotropic lateral sclerosis, also known as ALS or Lou Gehrig's Disease. It effected me a lot and this book served to remind me that you don't have to be upset about something you know you cannot control. I enjoyed this book immensely and am thankful to Mrs. R for suggesting it. I rated this a 5/5.

Book #8: Falling Leaves by Adeline Yen Mah

Born in 1937 in a port city a thousand miles north of Shanghai, Adeline Yen Mah was the youngest child of an affluent Chinese family who enjoyed rare privileges during a time of political and cultural upheaval. But wealth and position could not shield Adeline from a childhood of appalling emotional abuse at the hands of a cruel and manipulative Eurasian stepmother. Determined to survive through her enduring faith in family unity, Adeline struggled for independence as she moved from Hong Kong to England and eventually to the United States to become a physician and writer. A compelling, painful, and ultimately triumphant story of a girl's journey into adulthood, Adeline's story is a testament to the most basic of human needs: acceptance, love, and understanding. With a powerful voice that speaks of the harsh realities of growing up female in a family and society that kept girls in emotional chains, Falling Leaves is a work of heartfelt intimacy and a rare authentic portrait of twentieth-century China.

Let me be clear: I don't like memoirs. I read one by accident about two years ago, and I haven't been able to stop. I enjoy reading about people from cultures other than my own and Mrs. Mah is from a culture incredibly different, but one I am interested in. I loved the way the story was told and I felt somewhat bad for Niang. I wondered if she wasn't abused emotionally as a child herself, with the way she treated her stepchildren and then her own. I wish we could have gotten a bit of Niang's side of the story, too, however, this was fantastic the way it was. Especially since Adeline, Jun-ling, had no idea what it was she had even done. I didn't like Lydia's treatment of her in the end, remembering that Adeline had made the offer to give Tai-ling the same treatment, but was turned down by Lydia herself saying that Tai-ling was to be married. Oh well. I gave this book a 4/5 stars because it was certainly one of the more interesting reads of the month.