August Reading Recap
And just like that, summer is coming to an end. With the actor and writer’s strike, I had more time to get some good summer reading done. In a rare turnout, I would recommend all of this month’s books. Some of my favorite books from this summer have been American Prometheus, Anaximander, The Wager, White Cat Black Dog, and Packing for Mars. What have been your favorite books that you’ve read this summer? Comment below!
The Parrot and the Igloo: Climate and the Science of Denial by David Lipsky
Quick Synopsis: The story of how climate change and climate change denial came to be.
Strong Points: Unlike the other climate doom and gloom books I typically read. It reveals the political motivation behind climate change deniers. It was broken up into three parts: technology (how we got to the problem we have today), scientists (how we discovered global warming was happening), and climate change deniers. The author prefaced the book by saying it was okay to read the sections in any order the reader would like to. This was very well researched.
Weak Points: The author’s writing was a little strange at times. For example, if he wanted to say two companies started the same year, he would say, “In the year 2012, company one and company two started kindergarten together.” It made it choppy and hard to read at times.
Writing Style: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
Kala by Colin Walsh
Quick Synopsis: The lives of six teenagers were changed forever when their friend went missing without a trace in their small Irish village. Back in town after many years, three of these friends meet up after their friend's suspected remains are discovered in the woods. They are transported back to that horrible night.
Strong Points: What a page-turner! The last 50 pages had me on the edge of my seat. Walsh’s voice was strong, which resulted in strong characters and a very vivid setting.
Weak Points: When switching between characters, something exciting would happen through one character’s POV, and the author would then switch to the next character. I get why authors do this, but it also drives me crazy.
Writing Style: 5/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Highly Recommend
The Quiet Tenant by Clemence Michallon
Quick Synopsis: Rachel was kidnapped five years ago and hasn’t left the shed since. That is, until her kidnapper, Aidan, is forced to move, moving Rachel from the shed into their house with his family. He relies on Rachel to keep quiet. Aidan is very beloved in their small town. Nobody would believe Rachel even if she did escape, right?
Strong Points: It was a page-turner, and I finished the book very quickly. It's usually not a genre I read a lot of, but it was a nice change of pace.
Weak Points: The outcome didn’t feel rewarding. There was so much buildup, but not a lot of payoff. The character of Emily was very irritating, and the red herrings never came to fruition. This resulted in a frustrating book that didn't live up to its potential.
Writing Style: 3/5
Characters: 3/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 3.5/5
Recommend
August Blue by Deborah Levy
Quick Synopsis: Elsa, a piano prodigy, freezes on stage at one of the biggest performances of her career. She escapes to Athens, where she tutors and travels around Europe. Here, she sees an imaginary doppelgänger who follows her throughout her travels. In search of herself and coming to terms with what she wants out of life.
Strong Points: The writing was strong. I liked the many layers in this book. Elsa observes her doppelgänger playing with a mechanical horse’s strings, much like how she feels her life is pulled by people telling her how/when to perform. It was also short and sweet. I would read it again and probably pick up on other layers of the story.
Weak Points: Not the most memorable book. I enjoyed it while I was reading it and would recommend it; however, I also felt that once I closed the book, I didn’t think about it again.
Writing Style: 4/5
Characters: 4/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 3.5/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
Edison’s Ghosts: The Untold Weirdness of History’s Greatest Geniuses by Katie Spalding
Quick Synopsis: Turns out there are a lot of things history’s biggest geniuses couldn’t do that us average Joes can do. For example, you might not be able to understand much of theoretical physics, but he couldn’t swim. Spalding tells us stories of the dumb stuff these master minds did.
Strong Points: I listened to this one instead of reading it, and the reader’s voice was great. The author’s writing was funny. I liked the concept of people having different strengths and weaknesses and how that doesn’t make someone “better” than someone else because of it. These brilliant and larger-than-life people are so celebrated for their niches when, in reality, they are more like you and me than we think.
Weak Points: Some of the stories weren’t as entertaining and scandalous as others. I felt like maybe those weaker stories could have been cut out and still would have been a solid book.
Writing Style: 4.5/5
Plot: 4/5
Flow/Pacing: 4/5
Overall Rating: 4/5
Recommend
American Prometheus: The Triumph and Tragedy of J. Robert Oppenheimer by Kai Bird and Martin J. Sherwin
Quick Synopsis: Coined “the father of the atomic bomb," American Prometheus does a deep dive into Oppenheimer’s life before and after the Trinity test and how it changed the world.
Strong Points: After watching Oppenheimer, I became obsessed and wanted to know more. Oppenheimer is a fascinating character who lived an interesting and intense life. There’s so much to love about this book. While it is a little on the denser side, it was very readable, and I flew through it. I like the quotes at the beginning of each chapter and how they appear in the chapter. It was like a little scavenger hunt.
Weak Points: Not at all the author’s fault, but there were a lot of people named Robert in the book. (According to the social security website, it was the 5th most popular name in the early 1900's.) It got a little confusing to keep all of the Roberts apart.
Writing Style: 5/5
Plot: 5/5
Flow/Pacing: 5/5
Overall Rating: 5/5
Highly Recommend
"And yet, it was the irony of Robert Oppenheimer's odyssey that a life devoted to social justice, rationality and science would become a metaphor for mass death beneath a mushroom cloud." - American Prometheus by Kai Bird
