Turning the Page on August 2016

(The top right picture is the Cap Sleeve Lattice Top I finished knitting at the end of July, and the bottom right picture is coffee beans still on the tree!)

The Month:

*It was a pretty quiet August here. Jarrod worked some crazy hours (like several days of 2 p.m. to 2 a.m.-but-actually-5-a.m. shifts) and since I'm not yet working I've spent a lot of time reading, knitting, baking, blogging, sending postcards, watching the Olympics and talking to the cat. We did get to the beach a couple times, which was nice.

*I watched the 2015 BBC miniseries of "War & Peace" and I really, really enjoyed it! I don't know anything about the book -- other than that it's loooong -- but this film version was great. And it features some actors I already knew and loved, like Rose from "Downton Abbey," Professor Slughorn from the Harry Potter movies and Sydney Chambers from "Grantchester."

*Way back toward the beginning of the month, we hosted Julianne of the Outlandish Lit blog and her boyfriend for a couple days while they were stranded in Honolulu in the midst of an air travel nightmare. It was fun to meet another book blogger, and we enjoyed giving them a glimpse of the good side of Hawaii (i.e. anywhere but the airport) while they were here.

The Books:

Books read: 11
"The Moor" by Laurie R. King (4 stars)
"Cooking for Picasso" by Camille Aubray (3.5 stars)
"A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara (4 stars?)
"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" by J.K. Rowling, John Tiffany and Jack Thorne (3 stars)
"Redemption Road" by John Hart (3 stars)
"The Sound of Gravel" by Ruth Wariner (4 stars)
"The Invisible Library" by Genevieve Cogman (4 stars)
"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi (5 stars!)
"I Let You Go" by Clare Mackintosh (3.5 stars)
"The Things We Keep" by Sally Hepworth (4 stars)
"Sleeping Giants" by Sylvain Neuvel (4 stars)

Favorite book: "Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi. What a masterful novel!

Most intense read: "A Little Life" by Hanya Yanagihara. I've avoided writing a review because I still have so many conflicting feelings about this book, and I almost feel guilty for getting any enjoyment out of it because the subject matter is so difficult.

Biggest let-down: "Redemption Road" by John Hart. It was ok, sure, but I don't get the hype or the over-4-star Goodreads rating. "Harry Potter and the Cursed Child" was a bit disappointing too, but I wouldn't say it was a let-down exactly; I was already a bit skeptical going in.

September release I'm most excited about: There aren't any that I'm absolutely dying to read, but "Letters from Paris" by Julie Blackwell looks good. I enjoy dual narratives, and I love any novel that involves letters.

Book I'm most excited to read in September: I'm going to make a point to finally read "Morning Star" by Pierce Brown, the last book in the Red Rising trilogy. I may even re-read the first two books!

Books added to to-read list: 20 (way too many!)

Books added to maybe-to-read list: 14

Most intriguing TBR addition: "The Bear and the Nightingale" by Katherine Arden, which comes out in January. From Goodreads: "A young woman’s family is threatened by forces both real and fantastical in this debut novel inspired by Russian fairy tales." After watching the "War and Peace" miniseries this month, I want to seek out more novels set in Russia. I'm honestly not sure if I've ever read a book set there.

Books read from my summer reading list: 6

Books read from my must-read-in-2016 list: 0 (Must do better! I've got 18 books left to go and only four months. I did just request two books on the list -- "All the Light We Cannot See" and "The Magicians" -- from the library, so I'll make at least a little headway in September!)

Favorite bookstagram: I like the way this picture looks, but I also like the completely unplanned, ironic symbolism. Earl Grey tea and black and white cookies kind of fit with a novel about Britain's colonization of Africa and everything that followed. "Homegoing" was the best book I've read so far this year and I urge you to check it out! (Follow me on Instagram @knittinglindsay!)

The Knits:

I started working on a new sweater, the Earnest Cardigan by Joji Locatelli, as part of the Joji Fall KAL. And then, after hours and hours of work, I ripped the whole thing out. I had made a couple small errors that were bothering me, and then I knitted a few rows with some extra yarn that I'd bought that ended up being quite a bit lighter than most of my yarn, and I was so frustrated and disheartened that I decided to start over -- which, in hindsight, was a little rash. I keep putting off starting it again, but I'll get it back on the needles soon.

The Blog:

Favorite post: 7 Twitter-Sized Book Reviews. What a fun post to write! I had all but given up on writing reviews for these books, some of which I read waaaay back at the beginning of the year, and this was an enjoyable and no-pressure way to mention them. And since I don't normally use Twitter, it was fun to try to condense my thoughts into 140-ish characters!

Favorite link-up post: 13 Books With Refreshingly Underused U.S. Settings. I had a good time looking back at my past reads and reminiscing about some of the more unique settings.

New feature: Book Chat! My first entry in a new series of discussion posts was about book genres -- and why I don't really have a favorite anymore. I enjoyed writing the post -- it was a nice change from book reviews! -- and I'm excited to have many more Book Chat discussions in the future.

Also: I finally set up a Facebook page for the blog! You can find it here.

Book reviews:
"Cooking for Picasso" by Camille Aubray
"Redemption Road" by John Hart
"Harry Potter and the Cursed Child"
"The Sound of Gravel: A Memoir" by Ruth Wariner
"The Invisible Library" by Genevieve Cogman
"Homegoing" by Yaa Gyasi (my favorite book of the year so far!)