One of the things lost in the whirlwind of my cross-country move early this year is my monthly Bookends post. This post, a recap of March through September (in reverse order), is a way to reset the Bookends clock before time for my Year in Books at the end of December.
During these past few months, I read a lot of books aloud to my children and then, starting in July with the advent of my Epic Walks, I began listening to lots of audiobooks. I’ve noted which are which in the list below. Links are to reviews on Goodreads, which I should cross-post here but don’t.
September:
New Boy by Tracy Chevalier (audio)
Memory’s Last Breath by Gerda Saunders (audio)
The Vegetarian by Han Kang (audio)
The Woman Who Would Be King: Hatshepsut’s Rise to Power in Ancient Egypt by Kara Cooney (audio)
The Small Hand by Susan Hill
The Road by Cormac McCarthy
Eileen by Otessa Moshfegh
The Accident Season by Moïra Fowley-Doyle (audio)
August:
The Circle by Dave Eggers (audio)
The Long-Lost Home (The Incorrigible Children of Ashton Place, #6) by Maryrose Wood (read-aloud)
The End of Mr. Y by Scarlett Thomas
Nory Ryan’s Song by Patricia Reilly Giff
July:
A Guide to the Good Life: The Ancient Art of Stoic Joy by William B. Irvine (stopped reading)
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates (audio)
The Diabolic (The Diabolic, #1) by S. J. Kincaid
The Magic of Reality: How We Know What’s Really True by Richard Dawkins (stopped reading)
The High Crusade by Poul Anderson
June:
Rodzina by Karen Cushman (stopped reading)
From the Mixed-Up Files of Mrs. Basil E. Frankweiler by E. L. Konigsburg (re-read, read-aloud)
A Natural History of Dragons by Marie Brennan
Rebels of the Heavenly Kingdom by Katherine Paterson (read-aloud)
Fahrenheit 451 by Ray Bradbury (re-read, read-aloud)
Parable of the Sower by Octavia E. Butler
May:
A New Earth: Awakening to Your Life’s Purpose by Eckhart Tolle (stopped reading)
The Sand-Reckoner by Gillian Bradshaw (read-aloud)
April:
Voices (Annals of the Western Shore, #2) by Ursula K. Le Guin
Gifts (Annals of the Western Shore #1) by Ursula K. Le Guin
The Twenty-One Balloons by William Pène du Bois (read-aloud)
The Last Star (The 5th Wave, #3) by Rick Yancey
The Infinite Sea (The 5th Wave, #2) by Rick Yancey
Commodore Perry in the Land of the Shogun by Rhoda Blumberg (read-aloud)
The 5th Wave (The 5th Wave, #1) by Rick Yancey
The Capture (Guardians of Ga’Hoole, #1) by Kathryn Lasky
Goodbye, Columbus and Five Short Stories by Philip Roth (stopped reading)
Stargirl (Stargirl, #1) by Jerry Spinelli
The Irony of American History by Reinhold Niebuhr (stopped reading)
Life of Fred: Pre-Algebra 2 with Economics by Stanley F. Schmidt
The Golden Goblet by Eloise Jarvis McGraw (read-aloud)
Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll (re-read, read-aloud)
Catalyst (Insignia, #3) by S.J. Kincaid
March:
Pretty Monsters: Stories by Kelly Link
The Dogs of Babel by Carolyn Parkhurst
The Strange Case of Dr. Jekyll and Mr. Hyde and Other Stories by Robert Louis Stevenson (read-aloud)
Currently Reading:
Maggie’s Door by Patricia Reilly Giff (read-aloud)
Ghostland by Colin Dickey
Children of Blood and Bone by Tomi Adeyemi
To-Read in October:
October and thereafter, I will attempt to read at least one title per month from the second round of my Cavalcade of Classics. Goals for this October, in addition to completing the books I’m currently reading:
The Epic of Gilgamesh
Gilgamesh Among Us by Theodore Ziolkowski
The Odyssey by Homer (Emily Wilson translation)
The Remains of the Day by Kazuo Ishiguro (on audio)
What books have your read recently that speak to you? What books are you excited to read in October?
Imperfect Happiness 