My August reading list

Some fantasy, some classics, some graphic novels, and some “rogue archaeology”

Photo by Josh Hild

Last month, I set myself a target of just five books. I blew through that in less than a week. As I noted a few months ago in my other blog, Unhack Your Brain, sometimes you achieve far more when you set out to do less. July was certainly one of those months.

Three books really stood out: Fluke by

Brian Klaas

is one of the best non-fiction books I’ve read in a while. It’s about randomness, determinism, and free will, and it’s at once quite nihilistic and remarkably inspiring. I also very much enjoyed reading a lot of Louis L’Amour’s short stories: often cliched, but masterfully told.

But the biggest surprise was Lois Duncan’s I Know What You Did Last Summer. The movie (which I hadn’t seen until a couple of weeks ago) is terrible. The TV series is (apparently) worse. And the remake movie (which I didn’t even know about until a few days ago) is even worse. But the book is actually pretty damn good. It’s set in the 70s, which I didn’t expect, and it’s not a slasher. In fact, nobody gets killed at all, other than the initial victim. (Oh, sorry… spoiler alert. But you probably weren’t going to read it, were you?) It’s unsettling, uncomfortable, and well-written. Duncan absolutely hated what they did to her book, and I don’t blame her.

I’ve been reading a lot this year!

On another note, I was more than a little irked to discover that the BBC is shutting down both BBC Sounds and the BBC News Web site to US-based listeners. I’ve always enjoyed listening to BBC audio drama, partly because it’s a little taste of home, and partly because it’s way superior to pretty much everything else out there. However, after a little investigation, it turns out that the situation isn’t as dire as I feared. A lot of the older material is available on YouTube and The Internet Archive, and much of the more recent stuff is available on Spotify - most of it officially put up there by the BBC themselves - so I can still get my fix of shows like Vampyre Man, Last of the Volsungs, War With The Newts, and the biography of Hedy Lamarr.

Just as an aside - would you be interested if I posted a list of the audio stuff I’m listening to as well as the print books? Let me know in the comments.

Anyway, here’s what’s on the shelf this month. Some fantasy, some classics, some graphic novels, and some “rogue archaeology” - always the most entertaining kind!

• The Last Wish, by Andrzej Sapkowski: the first book in the Witcher series is a wonderful selection of short stories based on Eastern European folklore. I haven’t read this since the TV series came out, so I’ll be interested to see whether that’s changed my view of them. I have to say, I like Henry Cavill as Geralt, but I still prefer the way the characters are portrayed in the game. (Witcher III, that is - I haven’t played the others.) I really should get around to reading the rest of the books, in which Sapkowski develops the bigger story arc.

• The Cruise of the Dazzler, by Jack London. His first novel, and his only work explicitly for children. The only copy I could find in Maine’s library system came in an omnibus with Call of the Wild and White Fang, plus a bunch of short stories, so I’ll probably read those too.

• Beau Geste, by P.C. Wren. I’ve seen the 1926, 1939 and 1966 film versions, but I’m not sure if I’ve ever read the book. If I enjoy it, I may find myself trying to dig out the sequels, Beau Sabreur and Beau Ideal. I didn’t even know they existed.

• The Spy Who Loved Me, by Ian Fleming. I had a sudden hankering to re-read my favorite Bond novel. It’s nothing like the movie, and very different to the other Bond books.

• Somna, by Becky Cloonan and Tula Lotay. Folk horror graphic novel, set in a 17th century English village.

• Cormac McCarthy's The Road: a graphic novel adaptation, by Manu Larcenet. I have absolutely no idea what to expect: I haven’t read the book or seen the movie. All I know is that the book is highly regarded and won a Pulitzer.

• Dinner with King Tut: how rogue archaeologists are re-creating the sights, sounds, smells, and tastes of lost civilizations, by Sam Kean. I’ve always loved the idea of experimental archaeology, especially when it comes to food. If you really want to know how people used to live, you have to experience it - or at least, try to.

  

  This sits above my desk. One of the most satisfying models I’ve made.

• Stretch goal 1: 20,000 Leagues Under the Sea, by Jules Verne. I haven’t read this in decades. Like She, which I read last month, it’s another of those books I got as a school prize fifty years ago and haven’t actually opened.

• Stretch goal 2: The Goat-Foot God, by Dion Fortune. 1930s occult thriller: not as good as some of her others. I’m particularly fond of The Sea Priestess and Moon Magic, and I’ve lost count of the number of times I’ve read The Secrets of Doctor Taverner. This one’s never really grabbed me as much, but I figured it was time for a re-read. I can foresee this leading to a re-read of a bunch of Dennis Wheatley novels. Maybe even some Clark Ashton Smith and Crowley’s Moonchild, who knows?

• Stretch goal 3: The Book of Air and Shadows, by Michael Gruber. An intellectual property lawyer is at the center of a deadly conspiracy and a chase to find a priceless treasure involving William Shakespeare. Looks entertaining.

• Stretch goal 4: Yellowface, by RF Kuang. This month’s book club selection doesn’t really appeal to me. It reeks of “book club fiction” (which, as I explained recently, I despise) and frankly, I have plenty of other things I’d rather read. I’m probably not going to get to this one. I may not even bother picking it up from the library.

I can already see how the rest of the year’s reading is shaping up: lots of follow-ups to the things I’m reading in August, and I’m really looking forward to diving into more Stormlight. And I still have more Salman Rushdie to re-read. Maybe I’ll skip Midnight’s Children and go straight to Shame and Satanic Verses.

What’s on your bookshelf this month?