August was a month of berry-picking and watching monarch caterpillars turn into butterflies. I love having the monarch caterpillars chowing down on milkweed in my dining room and forming their chrysalides and then flying around sipping nectar from the flowers in my yard. The new butterflies often perch on my children’s hands or shirts for a little while before flying off, and we all get to see them close up.
“Look! He has fur on his back!” says my son.
“See his proboscis?” asks my daughter, pointing. “He’s unrolling it like a long spring!”
There’s a 50-caterpillar special going on at the place from which we order our monarch caterpillars and/or eggs. I have been so tempted, but alas! I don’t really have the space—or the milkweed supply—to rear 50 butterflies. Maybe I could add a “butterfly room” to my house and fill it with milkweed and caterpillars. I’m sure that would improve my home’s resale value.
Here’s what I read in August when I wasn’t picking (and eating) berries or feeding toxic plants to insect larvae (don’t worry; it’s not toxic to them):
Grown-ups’ Books:
The Hundred Secret Senses by Amy Tan (SBC August selection)
In Zanesville by Jo Ann Beard (audiobook)
Me Before You by JoJo Moyes (audiobook)
My Name is Lucy Barton by Elizabeth Strout
In One Person by John Irving
A God in Ruins by Kate Atkinson (audiobook)
Kids’ Books:
Sir Gawain and the Green Knight translated by J.R.R. Tolkien (not really a “kids'” book, per se, but I read it aloud to my kids, so I put it here)
Treasure Island by Robert Louis Stevenson (audiobook)
Currently Reading:
- Life After Life by Kate Atkinson (audiobook)
- Searching for Meaning by James T. Webb
- The Histories by Herodotus (for my Cavalcade of Classics, as a never-ending read-aloud with my daughter)
- The Last Days of Socrates by Plato (read-aloud with my daughter)
My To-Read List for August:
- Six of One by Rita Mae Brown (the September SBC selection—Read along with us at our Goodreads Group!)
- Winter Cottage by Carol Ryrie Brink
- Coraline by Neil Gaiman (re-read)
- Interfaith Leadership by Eboo Patel
What have you enjoyed reading in the past month? What’s on your to-read list for September? What’s one of your favorite moments from the summer?
Imperfect Happiness 
4 Replies to “Bookends: August 2016”