August was a HUGE reading month for me! I started at 11 books behind my 2024 Reading Goal and ended up being 7 books behind. This was a major achievement as for the first 3 books of the month Goodreads just kept saying ’11 books behind schedule’ which made me want to throw my phone at a wall. We spent 2 weeks dog-sitting in Brighton this month, so enjoy the puppy pics!
TLSIR’ = ‘Too Long, Should I Read?’
Before The Coffee Gets Cold by Toshikazu Kawaguchi
💫💫 TLSIR; No
This book has a cult following and I must say, I do not understand it. The writing style felt far too simplistic for the emotional plotlines the author was outlining. The internal monologues also felt way too long, especially as there was a time limit of having to travel back to the present day ‘before the coffee gets cold’ but then the rambling soliloquies made it feel like there was all the time in the world. Just didn’t hit for me I’m afraid.
A Good Girls Guide to Murder, Good Girl, Bad Blood & As Good As Dead by Holly Jackson
💫💫💫💫💫 TLSIR; Yes
I’m planning on writing a long ol’ review of this trilogy so will try not to go into too much depth here but…yes. A thousand times yes. I see why the first book blew up on TikTok during Covid and is now a BBC adaptation. The first and second books are especially gripping, and the third only feels less so because the former are SO good. I highly recommend them if you’re in a reading slump, these made me so excited to read again.
Rachel’s Holiday by Marian Keyes
💫💫💫💫 TLSIR; Yes
This is one of my sister’s favourite books and the only book from my August TBR 2024 that I read this month (oops). It follows Rachel, an unreliable narrator who believes she isn’t a drug addict and has no idea why her family have admitted her to a rehabilitation centre. From there, we go on an emotional journey as Rachel comes to terms with her foibles and failings. For a book that looks into themes of addiction, heartbreak, loss of self and strained family dynamics, I laughed a surprising amount of times. This book turned me into a Marian Keyes girlie for sure. I have The Break on my bookshelf and I’m looking forward to getting stuck into that this year!
Prince Caspian by C.S. Lewis
💫💫💫 TLSIR; Yes if you’re reading the series, No if it’s a standalone read
This is probably my least favourite of The Chronicles of Narnia I’ve read so far. I’m unsure whether it’s because I have read this book already so nothing felt new to me, or because I’ve seen the film so much it almost feels better than the book (sacrilege, I know). Anyway, we followed the Pevensies as they again got sucked into Narnia, eventually met up with Prince Caspian and helped him win battle against his wicked uncle and regained his rightful title, King of Narnia. Cool.
Really Good, Actually by Monica Heisey
💫💫💫💫 TLSIR; Yes
When a man says “You’re not like other girls” and you respond with “I am literally an amalgamation of every woman I have ever interacted with” that’s what reading this book felt like. It is stuffed with millennial references that make you realise ahhhh, everyone has had the same experiences as you. I liked Heisey’s writing of Maggie, the protagonist, who is dealing with the break-up of a 10-year relationship. There was a slow, subtle slide into Maggie being hugely unlikeable, undetectable by me until it was obvious how much her friends didn’t like her….and by that point, I didn’t either. But, the hope found as she pulled herself off rock bottom and started climbing the ladder of self-improvement felt very recognisable. We all become our worst selves after being with toxic people, but we have the strength to be better.
Things We Have In Common by Tasha Kavanagh
💫💫 TLSIR; No
This book sounded sooooo interesting to me! A girl obsessed with another girl, who one day spots the man who will abduct her! Unfortunately, this didn’t turn into the thriller / murder mystery / sapphic romance I was hoping it would. Instead, I was sucked into the world of a self-centred teen who didn’t want to help herself, or the girl about to be abducted, makes strange choices towards the abductor and then…helps him abduct more girls? I think I would have eaten it up if I’d read it when I was 16 but am just past the demographic now. It ended in an ambiguous fashion which made me realise that I am someone who needs closure in books.
French Exit by Patrick DeWitt
💫💫 TLSIR; No
My sister lent me this one and it was balls to the wall bizarre. It’s a book that’s so odd that you read the plot as though it is true? Like, a highly dysfunctional mother-son relationship, a talking cat (?!), a strange menagerie of friends…and I’m reading it all like it actually makes sense. I think if you like well-written prose with unhinged plot then you’ll enjoy this, but it was just a bit too weird for me.
The Satsuma Complex by Bob Mortimer
💫💫💫 TLSIR; Yes
Look, I am a huge Bob Mortimer fan. He wasn’t on my radar at all until one night I put on Gone Fishing for some light-hearted, cosy entertainment and I’ve been obsessed with him and Paul Whitehouse ever since. I finally signed up to our local library and The Satsuma Complex was just waiting to be picked up. This is such a holiday read / in a reading slump read. Is it going to change your life? No, it’s not. Are you going to be thinking about it for days after? No, definitely not. Are you going to remember the plot line after a week? …Okay no, not that either. BUT, are you going to have a really good time? Are you going to start, read and finish the book with a smile on your face? In a few years, are you probably going to think “Hmmm I don’t remember what happened in that book but I remember enjoying it, I’ll read it again”? YES. And that’s the beauty of Bob. Also, I’d always rather hear about even surfaces than uneven rather than even.
Happy reading!
