My August 2022 Reads

Thanks to a week-long vacation in Maine that involved plenty of driving time (perfect for audio books) and down time (perfect for physical books) I managed to power read a whopping eight books last month. Three were physical books and five were audio books, and quite a few of them I really enjoyed. Select the book below to get more in-depth thouhts!

• The Trouble Hating You - Sajni Patel

  This is a rom com story following a successful biochemical engineer who walks out on a lawyer her parents have set her up with only to have to begin working alongside him. This book explores their love/hate relationship and their struggles with their past.

  This book was just okay for me. It was fun to pass the time with, but I wasn’t wowed by the writing. The storyline was interesting but the characters were a little infuriating at times. The misogyny (by supporting characters, not the main character) will infuriate you at times. Overall I’d recommend it if you’re just looking for something quick to pass the time.

• One Last Stop - Casey McQuiston

  A 23-year-old girl moves to NYC feeling a bit hopeless, and promptly meets her perfect match on the subway. The only problem is her perfect girl is stuck on the subway, displaced in time from her 20s in 1970.

  This book was sweet and while I really wasn’t sure if I was going to like it at first, I ended up becoming engrossed in trying to figure out the simultaneous mysteries presented. Bonus points for great 70s music references and steamy scenes.

• The House in the Cerulean Sea - TJ Klune

  This young adult fantasy follows Linus Baker on a top-secret project inspecting a remote island housed with dangerous, magical children, including the antichrist, a gnome and other unidentifiable species.

  I didn’t go into this book expecting to like it since I didn’t love Under the Whispering Door, which I had heard was similar, but I ended up really enjoying Linus and the other characters in the story and was a little touched by the sweet relationships established. That being said: I did a lot of research into the controversy around the book prior to reading it.

  Klune has admitted he got the idea for the story after reading about Canada’s Sixties Scoop. This refers to Canada’s separation of indigenous children from their families between 1950 and 1980s and their placement in government facilities with the hopes they would be adopted by white, middle-class families. The children’s treatment in these schools was often inhumane.

• Autoboyography - Christina Lauren

  A bisexual teen recently relocated from California to a small town in Utah with an large Mormon population decides to take a semester-long class in writing a novel, promptly falling for the seminar’s teaching aide, a Mormon prodigy who sold his own novel the prior semester.

  I enjoyed this book. I thought the romance between Sebastian and Tanner was sweet and innocent, the look into the LDS faith was interesting and that the ending was fine. Overall I’d recommend it.

• Swimming Lessons - Claire Fuller

  This book is told from two perspectives: a series of letter from wife Ingird to her husband, Gil, detailing everything which went wrong in their marriage, and their daughter’s present-day perspective as she tries to piece out whether her mother is still alive and why she left.

  This book was solidly fine for me. It kept me interested, but didn’t blow me away. Overall I’d recommend it as a good, interesting cleanser book after reading something heavier.

• Crying in H Mart - Michelle Zauner

  Michelle Zauner explores her grief and childhood after her mother’s death by exploring the classic South Korean dishes her mother used to make her.

  This is one of, if not the best book on grief I’ve read. Zauner doesn’t skim over the more complicated feelings she has for her mother, but also finds a way to honor her and connect with her, allowing the reader to do so as well. This was my favorite read of the month, and is a book I’ll keep in my personal library to re-read in the future.

• Brown Girl Dreaming - Jacqueline Woodson

  This book follows Jacqueline Woodson’s early childhood and early teen years in a series of beautiful poems exploring her family trauma, the Jim Crow south, her love for writing and her early friendships.

  I read this book in two sittings because I just couldn’t put it down. The poetry was vivid, beautiful and accessible. Highly recommend!

• The Giver of Stars - Jojo Moyse

  As Alice Wright begins to learn her marriage to her hearth throb husband isn’t all it’s cracked up to be, she joins a band of local women delivering books as part of a traveling library in the remote mountains of Kentucky, finding friendship and trouble.

  This book was another solid read for me and one that I’d recommend to most folks looking for something interesting, easy to get lost in and with strong women as main characters despite the time frame. The ending wrapped up a little too cleanly for my taste, but overall it’s a fun book to pick up!

Need other recommendations? Ask me for some ideas!