Hello!
I hope you’ve been having a good weekend. I’ve been enjoying the cooler weather here in Ohio. Longer walks and patio reading with a light sweater on sure feels like fall🍂. I know we’re all officially settled into September, but I want to give you a brief August reading recap because I had such a high quality reading month—three five star reads and a few other notables equals a stellar reading month:)
I’m also sharing the September release I just finished and some great links I’ve been collecting for you:)
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Let’s get to the books & more…
My August Reads
Honey by Victor Lodato - 5 ⭐️ audio is excellent
This story, narrated by 82 year old Honey, captured me from the first page and I ended up bingeing it. I mostly listened because the audio narration by Carrington McDuffie brought Honey1 to life. When we meet her she’s returned to New Jersey and is attempting to live her remaining years in peace, but life has other plans for Honey. Brilliantly combining the past and the present, we learn that growing up, Honey’s dad was a mobster and she quite literally knows where bodies are buried.
Honey is a complex woman who loves art, wine and fashion, but she’s having a reckoning with herself about her past and she takes readers along for the ride. I laughed and was taken completely by surprise to cry as well. Honey will be at the top of my list of most memorable characters this year. Another backlist winner!!
Trespasses by Louise Kennedy - 5 ⭐️ audio is great *full audio review here
Abscond: A Short Story by Abraham Verghese - 5 ⭐️ - review here
Bonjour, Tristesse by Francois Sagan - 4.5 ⭐️ - review here
Love Forms by Claire Adam - 3.75 ⭐️ - review here
Lonely Crowds by Stephanie Wambugu - 3.75 ⭐️
I love an intense female friendship story and this debut delivered on that premise. The cover and this blurb caught my eye….a volatile friendship between two outsiders who escape their bleak childhoods and enter the glamorous early '90s art world in New York City, where only one of them can make it. I love a NYC story and set it in the past and make me wonder what happened that only one friend could make it and I’m in! I did a combo print and audio (the narration by Shayna Small was great).
The story revolves around Ruth and Maria with Ruth narrating. We meet the girls in childhood and I thought the author kept the story there for the perfect amount of time to allow me to know them and become invested in their lives. Ruth’s voice was strong and I felt for her so much. Wambugu’s writing elicited so much emotion while bringing different time periods alive. Their friendship was intense and took unexpected turns, one of which I have complicated feelings about.
What keeps this from being 4 stars or more for me is the ending—I’m SO mad about it! I won’t say more, but as a reader who was invested in the lives of these characters, I felt cheated. That being said, I’ll be reading whatever Stephanie writes next.
Isabella’s Not Dead by Beth Morrey - 3.25 ⭐️ - review here
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Book I Just Finished
No Ordinary Bird: Drug Smuggling, A Plane Crash, and a Daughter’s Quest for the Truth by Artis Henderson - memoir
I mentioned this as one of my most anticipated fall reads in my recent podcast episode with Katie and while it was interesting on the whole, I didn’t love it.
This is the father-daughter story that centers on the life of Lamar Chester, Artis’s father who was killed in a plane crash the day he took five year old Artis up for a ride with him. Her father was an experienced pilot who went from flying for an airline to becoming one of the biggest drug smuggler’s in Miami during the 1970s. What Artis explores in this memoir is a combination of her memories of her dad and her awareness as she’s gotten older that maybe “the accident” as his plane crash had always been to her was not an accident at all.
I have a hard time critiquing memoirs because this is her story. But this is also a story with a lot of players, facts, and details surrounding what ended up becoming a huge case involving the DEA and other government organizations. I listened to this and for the first 50% I found her storytelling to be compelling. She made her dad come alive with stories while weaving in facts and details. There were times, however, that I wondered about her objectivity. It was certain word choices and phrases in particular that made me think this.
The pace and story stalled for me around the 50% mark and I began to lose interest. Perhaps it was the audio narration because she narrated and her voice had a slow, melancolic tone that often lacked emotion and came across as her reading straight from court documents, news stories etc. I ended up Googling to find out more, so if this interests you I say give it a try.
Links I Loved
I walk outside everyday all year long so The Gentle Magic of Walking spoke directly to me - This Morning Walk
I’ve never read Wuthering Heights, but the brief synopsis that goes with this article makes me think I should? I’m open to being persuaded:) Jacob Elordi and Margot Robbie in Wuthering Heights: Everything We Know About Emerald Fennell’s Next Project - Glamour
The most anticipated late summer/fall movie adaptations - I’m going to see Caught Stealing tonight! - NYT gift link
The Best Hotel Pillows for a Five-Star Sleep Experience - Architectural Digest
Love this fall new release list The Most Anticipated Books of Fall 2025 - Time
Catherine Newman’s House Is a Joyful Jumble of Books, Games and Cats - I enjoyed this so much and I can’t wait to read Wreck (out Oct 28)! Cup of Jo from
Easy Buffalo Chicken Dip (3 Ways) We’ve been getting buffalo chicken dip at one of our fav restaurants, I think I’m going to try making my own - The Crumby Kitchen
From the archives….
The Reading Lounge: Books With Fall Vibes 🍂
Like many of you, I love fall reading. I especially love that we all approach our fall reading in different ways. Some of us enjoy gothic mysteries, some horror, some new literary fiction, some long books, some nonfiction….and the list goes on. Last week I shared
What have you been reading this week?
Thanks for reading & have a great Sunday!
Renee
and the fantastic supporting characters
I am a Wuthering Heights devotee so I'm in favor of you trying it! It is a love triangle (or maybe more like a multigenerational love hexagon?) so it might be up your alley!
I finally read Lonesome Dove! I’d been meaning to for a long time. I liked it.
You most definitely should read Wuthering Heights. It is very dark. My favorite film version is the black & white 1939 with Sir Laurence Olivier as Heathcliff. The book is not very long.