August 2024 reading wrap up

I spent most of August back home visiting my parents. My sister was home too, with her two children aged 4 years and 4 months, so it was a time for family and baby cuddles, and painting with the niece. But through it all, I did manage to read quite a bit too — from published diaries, to dystopia, a short story collection and general fiction. Here’s my reading wrap up for August 2024.

(Click on the book covers to purchase the book on Amazon.)

Recovering: A Journal by May Sarton (Published diaries)

May Sarton’s sixty-sixth year, 1978-79, was a difficult time: a cherished relationship came to an end, she had a mastectomy, she fought against depression. But, she writes, “When there is personal darkness, when there is a pain to be overcome, when we are forced to renew ourselves against all the odds, the psychic energy required simply to survive has tremendous force.”

This journal tells how she drew on that force, and how her friendships, her love of the natural world, and her growing audience of devoted readers brought light to the shadows.”

My first introduction to Sarton’s journals was with her absolutely brilliant Journal of a Solitude. Since then, I’ve read a few of her other journals, most of which have provided an interesting insight into the mind and heart of a writer and poet.

As with all her journals, Sarton doesn’t shy away from exposing her rawness and vulnerability and her many human failings. Interspersed with snippets of her own and others poetry, letters, and quotes from books that particularly moved her during this time, Recovering is a fascinating glimpse into the mind and heart of an artist.

I particularly appreciated reading about her feelings of failure as a writer – proof that doubting one’s achievements in the face of setbacks is a rather universal experience.

Seven Stones to Stand or Fall by Diana Gabaldon

Among the seven spellbinding pieces there is “The Custom of the Army,” which begins with Lord John Grey being shocked by an electric eel and ends at the Battle of Quebec. Then comes “The Space Between,” where it is revealed that the Comte St. Germain is not dead, Master Raymond appears, and a widowed young wine dealer escorts a would-be novice to a convent in Paris. In “A Plague of Zombies,” Lord John unexpectedly becomes military governor of Jamaica when the original governor is gnawed by what probably wasn’t a giant rat. “A Leaf on the Wind of All Hallows” is the moving story of Roger MacKenzie’s parents during World War II. In “Virgins,” Jamie Fraser, aged 19, and Ian Murray, aged 20, become mercenaries in France, no matter that neither has yet bedded a lass or killed a man. “A Fugitive Green” is the story of Lord John’s elder brother, Hal, and a 17-year-old rare book dealer with a sideline in theft, forgery, and blackmail. And finally, in “Besieged,” Lord John learns that his mother is in Havana–and that the British Navy is on their way to lay siege to the city. Filling in mesmerizing chapters in the lives of characters readers have followed over the course of thousands of pages, Gabaldon’s genius is on full display throughout this must-have collection.

If you’re a fan of the Outlander novels, you’re going to thoroughly enjoy this collection of stories. If you’ve never read Outlander, these stories may provide an interesting glimpse into the universe. They all stand alone, though if you’ve read the books, they add further color and layers to the stories and characters you already know and love. As always, Gabaldon’s writing sweeps you right into the story, and you can forget, for a while, the drudgery of your everyday life. Now isn’t that what the best writing should do?

I Cheerfully Refuse by Leif Enger (A book from the Editor’s Pick on Amazon for the month of your birth)

Set in a not-too-distant America, I Cheerfully Refuse is the story of Rainy, an aspiring musician setting sail on Lake Superior in search of his departed, deeply beloved, bookselling wife. An endearing bear of an Orphean narrator, he seeks refuge in the harbors, fogs, and remote islands of the inland sea. After encountering lunatic storms and rising corpses from the warming depths, he eventually lands to find an increasingly desperate and illiterate people, a malignant billionaire ruling class, a crumbled infrastructure, and a lawless society.

As his guileless nature begins to make an inadvertent rebel of him, Rainy’s private quest for the love of his life grows into something wider and wilder, sweeping up friends and foes alike in his wake.

This is the third dystopian novel I’ve read this year, and I thoroughly enjoyed reading about Rainy’s adventures. The world is a bit of a dark place, and dangers abound, but there’s also beauty to be found, along with kindness, generosity, and a smidgeon of defiance. Though dystopia novels imagine a world that has crumbled in some way, there’s an element of hope and beauty that the best of these novels convey, which feels like a balm especially in these times, when the world seems to be spinning on a crazy axis.

The Imperfection of Us by Nick Alexander

Dawn and Rob were never meant to be together. It’s the summer of 1990 and 17-year-old Dawn is infatuated with Billy. He’s cool, in a band and the opposite of her other besotted, gentle electrician Rob. But then Billy disappears, and Rob is still around. He’s there when Dawn falls pregnant and he’s there for the sleepless nights. And though Dawn and Rob were never destined to be together, suddenly they’re married. This real-life relationship involves arguing about who loads the dishwasher, cosy nights in while not having sex (and not missing it) and dragging kids to violin classes (even though they’re terrible). Decades have flown by since Dawn last saw Billy, and her once glossy blonde hair is now silvery grey, yet she can still remember exactly how he made her feel. But is now-famous Billy worthy of her 30-year obsession? And how dangerous would it be for her marriage if she decided to find out? The Imperfection of Us is an emotional journey through the ups and downs of married life, the difficulties of letting go of the past and a heartfelt reminder that our imperfections are what make us human.

What makes a successful marriage? Is it passionate love, or steadfast love? And what is love? There are so many kinds of love — how do you know if this kind of love, which is more like companionship, really, is the basis for a marriage? What if that passionate summer affair was The One? What if I’ve been living a life that wasn’t meant for me all these years? These are the questions that plague Dawn, ever since that one glorious summer with Billy. But she’s a mother now. A wife. And Billy is a famous musician, out of her league. The Imperfection of Us examines what it means to live a life yearning for something else — the ways in which an enduring fantasy can create minute cracks in a marriage, and what it takes to have a successful marriage. Quite an interesting read!

Over to you! What was on your reading list this month?

This post is part of the Bookish League blog hop hosted by Bohemian Bibliophile