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August was hot. While I felt like I made it through the first days of summer in a better mood this year, it seems my summertime seasonal depression had simply decided to wait a bit to sink in. That’s okay. I am grateful for that respite, and overall August was good. Both my baby squids have August birthdays, so we did some small-scale celebrating. Dance class started again, which is always the highlight of my week. I didn’t finish many books this month, but just three more books will hit my goal for the year, so I am well ahead of schedule. Here’s a breakdown of August’s books.

How to Own Your Own Mind

I listened to this audiobook exclusively while mowing the lawn. I was looking for something that would not require me to follow a storyline. I previously read Think and Grow Rich and reviewed it as part of my Self Help Fest and in my post about audiobooks that I *intend* to listen to annually. This book consists of transcripts of Napoleon Hill’s interviews with Andrew Carnegie. The good advice has been heavily referenced in nearly every book on personal development in the past century. The most interesting thing to me about this one was seeing how things that made someone remarkable back then – such as working outside of business hours – have become the bare minimum expectation in our current culture. It was interesting to think about the intent of his advice and how much influence it had… and how far away from those original intentions it has landed. I agreed with a lot of things in this book, and I disagreed with a lot. Some of it was really disturbing. In the end, I gave it 2 stars, because I feel like you can find all the good stuff in plenty of other books. Unless you are curious about the origins of this stuff, I suggest skipping this one.

Beneath the Sugar Sky (Wayward Children #3)

I have been reading the Wayward Children books between other books. Is it weird that I feel like these are light reading? I feel like that is weird, because people die. How is that light? I guess they just fit into a nice “since I finished this but I’m not ready to start that” kind of place. This is my favorite volume so far. Maybe because I’m a sugar addict. Maybe because I most want to see this world created on the TV series that is supposed to happen. I like this series, because at 45 years old I still relate to being the weird kid. 4 stars!

Heir of Fire (Throne of Glass #3)

Throne of Glass and I have a complicated relationship. For each thing that I like about these books there will always be something off-putting. When I went to dinner with friends and expressed my dislike of Rowan, I was assured that I will like him later. But could a book series just NOT try to convince me to like a guy who starts out totally rude? Like, if I wrote a post about my WAY-wrong ideas about relationships when I was a teenager, there would be something in there about how I thought relationships were just to have someone to fight with… so forgive me if I’m all about kicking the latest love interest to the curb the first time he acts like an asshat. I’m 1,000% over love-hate. Maybe I’m over all of it and should avoid romance altogether… or maybe we can have books that contain healthy relationships. Please, thanks. Aside from the (barf) romantic stuff, I liked what Celaena learns and remembers in this volume. I like really getting the magic started and acknowledging all of the stuff she has been hiding. I know there is more romance to come, but I am committed to finishing this series. That being said, I am taking a break after Heir of Fire to work on some longer book club choices. I will probably get back to the series after I finish Seveneves. I wish Goodreads allowed half stars, because I gave this 3 stars but 3.5 feels better.

The Body is Not an Apology

I had started this book some time ago and didn’t make it far, so I began the audiobook from the beginning. This is about radical self-love, but that doesn’t make it a feel-good book. As I mentioned my sugar addiction above, and my health issues over the past couple of years have impacted my recovery in that area, which is a difficult area anyway… suffice it to say, as a person with a body, I have issues with it. Sonya Renee Taylor doesn’t try to pretend like those can all just go away, be solved, or swept under the rug. Her path to radical self love is more about taking the hand we have been dealt and laying our cards face up on the table and taking a good look at them. Some people might read this book and have a huge shift overnight, but it’s probably more likely that we have tiny shifts here and there and incrementally adjust. Either way, I think this is a good book to give us something to think about. 4 stars.

Wake Me Up When September Ends

We are six days into September. I am writing this on my Labor Day holiday. Literally overnight, the weather has turned a bit cooler, which is good, because August has left me in need of a new capacitor for my air conditioner. The new part arrives from Amazon today, but if it stays cool, maybe I could wait to replace it. There are all sorts of creepy spider sacs behind that panel, which btw, I got bit by a spider in August and a few days ago one of the cats killed a little snake in the house. I’m excited for cooler weather. I am wondering what holidays will be like this year with vaccines but new variants. I have more concerts to attend, and the rest of the year looks to be as up and as down as the first eight months. It has my permission to get better and better though. Y’know, sometimes we just need to hear it: Permission granted. So there we go.

Leave a comment to let me know what you are reading or whatever is on your mind! Thanks!