Reads of Summer 2018

Man, it’s been a while since I’ve posted. My deepest apologies. I’ve got another Anna Rant on the back burner, I promise.

Anyway, on to it.

Top Four of This Period (in no particular order this time)

The Goldfinch by Donna Tartt

This book was just as incredible, although maybe not quite as good, as The Secret History. Donna Tartt’s writing in this book is just stunning. At times, I felt as if though I were studying a painting rather than reading a book because her description is so vivid – which is quite appropriate for a book that revolves around a painting. This novel is also very character-driven, which I absolutely adore.

A Study in Scarlett by Arthur Conan Doyle

I have read a few of the Sherlock Holmes stories, but this was my first time starting out the series. I actually read this one because I decided to join YouTuber and Twitterer Merphy Napier. She reads two classics a month and invites anyone who wants to to join her. I really enjoyed this book, although I was quite surprised to find out that I enjoyed the second half (written about a puritanical society, and not about Sherlock at all) more.

Vera by Oscar Wilde

This was my favourite of the three plays in the collection of Oscar Wilde that I read recently. This play focuses on the Russian revolution and has one of those beautiful, meaningful, and tragic ends that Wilde is so good at writing.

Broadview’s collection of Victorian Short Stories

Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE the Victorian era and its writings. This collection was fantastic – I don’t think there was a certain story in it that I disliked. I also really appreciate the introduction to each author and the incredible beginning that summarized the main themes of the time period itself.

Most Disappointing Reads

I usually don’t do this, but I read a surprising amount of books that I did not enjoy as much as I did this period. Starting in alphabetical order, the first one was A Clue to the Exit by Edward St. Aubyn. I had high expectations for this book because all the others I have read from him were so incredible. His wit and sarcasm are still in this books, but it just wasn’t as good as his others. I was also sad about The Little Friend by Donna Tartt for a similar reason to the last – Tartt’s other books were so incredible that while this one was good, I couldn’t enjoy it as much because it just was not as good as the other two. I also did not enjoy The English Patient by Michael Ondaatje, which was also a very hyped-up book. I found it boring. The last disappointing book I read was All That I Am by Anna Funder. I picked it up because of the PopSugar challenge (read a book with someone who has the same first or last name as you) and because it was a historical book. It may be because I read this book right after All the Light We Cannot See, which was excellent, but this book was very blah. It also pushed a lot of political correctness that would not make sense for the time period, which annoyed me.

Alphabet Challenge

(newest ones are in red… included a few from after the summer period since I’m making this post late)

Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland; At Last; A Short History of Canada; A Clue to the Exit (Edward St. Aubyn); A Study in Scarlett; All the Light We Cannot See; All That I Am (last two read for that PopSugar challenge that I will examine at the end of the year)

Blood Sisters; Bird by Bird; Bad News; Bell Jar, The

Cautionary Tales for Children; Commonplace (Christina Rossetti); Complete Stories, The (Clarice Lispector); Cinder

Death of a Salesman; Dracula; Duchess of Padua (Oscar Wilde)

English Patient, The

Freemasonry

Guernsey Literary and Potato Peel Pie Society, The; God or Nothing; Goldfinch, The (Donna Tartt)

Helping Boys Succeed in School; How to Read a Book

If Were Villains; Inferno; “In the Beginning…” (Pope Benedict XVI)

Journey to Easter

Kristin Lavransdatter

Lord of the Flies; Leaves of Grass; (The) Last Apprentice; Lost for Words; Little Friend, The (Donna Tartt)

Metamorphosis; Mother’s Milk; Money Manipulation and Social Order

Never Mind; Need to Know

Plath: Poems; Poems of Gerard Manley Hopkins; Princess Saves Herself in this One, The; Privilege of Being a Woman, The; Promoting Reading for Pleasure in the Primary School

Quincas Borba

Reforming Education, Resurrection (Machado de Assiss); (12) Rules for Life

Sad End of Policarpo Quaresma, The; Some Hope; Saltwater Joys; Searching for Marilyn Monroe (this and the last one were written by two friends of mine); Salome (Oscar Wilde)

Theater of Nelson Rodrigues, The (vol. 1 and vol. 2); To Kill a Mockingbird

Victorian Short Stories (Broadview collection); Vera (Oscar Wilde)

Write Voice, The

 

Letters left: O, U, X, Y, Z (will most likely be skipping the last three)