August 2024 BookSnacks
Vol. 20 — Autumn is just around the corner.
If you waited till Sunday to read this then it’s basically Fall so time for autumn-themed books!
The Crumbs Podcast
This one is all about 3 books that should be movies and 3 books that should not.
And now, on to the books of the month!
Currently Reading
Martyr by Kaveh Akbar
Read if you like:
I’m having trouble coming up with comparable reads…
But the internet is telling me Wandering Stars…and The Ministry of Time
Amazon—$18 | Barnes & Noble-$25 | Bookshop-$26
This book has sucked me in so far! The opening chapter(s) were so enthralling. The writing was impeccable, in my opinion. The dialogue was perfection. I am listening to it, which might affect how I feel about it and how you feel about it. A little synopsis for you:
Cyrus Shams is a young man grappling with an inheritance of violence and loss: his mother’s plane was shot down over the skies of Tehran in a senseless accident; and his father’s life in America was circumscribed by his work killing chickens at a factory farm in the Midwest. Cyrus is a drunk, an addict, and a poet, whose obsession with martyrs leads him to examine the mysteries of his past—toward an uncle who rode through Iranian battlefields dressed as the Angel of death to inspire and comfort the dying, and toward his mother, through a painting discovered in a Brooklyn art gallery that suggests she may not have been who or what she seemed.
Just Finished Reading
Just for the Summer by Abby Jimenez
Read if you like:
Slooooooow burn romances
Amazon-$13 | Barnes & Noble-$17 | Bookshop-$17
The premise of this book: two people believe they are cursed by being the last person someone dates before finding their soulmate. They decide to help each other break their respective curses and pretend to date but then obviously…it’s a romance novel so you should draw the obvious conclusion. I listened to this one and maybe that’s why I felt it was dragging on a bit. The middle just got a little drawn out and repetitive. BUT about three-quarters of the way in more interesting things happened and it had my interest once again. I’m not entirely sure I loved the ending and would LOVE to discuss it with you so if you’ve read it and have feelings please comment or reply to this email or message me! Please!
Vintage Read
Come and Get It by Kiley Reid
Read if you like:
Kiley Reid (Such a Fun Age)
Kevin Wilson (One plus One, Someone Else’s Shoes)
Tommy Orange (Finlay Donovan Is Killing It)
Amazon-$15 | Barnes & Noble-$15(B&N Special Edition!) | Bookshop-$27
I think I finally figured it out. I think. Reid doesn’t want to tell you what to think or what to feel about her characters. She wants you to figure that out. I think a lot of authors aim for that and end up telling us anyway, but not Reid. A few bad reviews from Goodreads to prove my point:
“…still not sure what the plot or point was.”
“plotless”
“largely plotless”
But the book has nearly 5,000 reviews on goodreads, which means people are talking. I honestly think the ‘plotless’ criticism is entirely the point the Reid is trying to make. Even with her first book, she doesn’t want to write the obviously salacious thriller or romance. She wants to write books about the way life actually happens and makes the reader ask themselves what they would or will do about it. Her stories have an intricate, slow build. It feels like something big is always around the corner, but what’s around the corner is often a traumatic, yet accidental, event that can be, and is, interpreted in many ways. Reid is trying to show us the drama, prejudice, the crazy and the injustice in the ordinary, everyday life. I don’t know that I’d say her books are favorites but they definitely make me think and that goes in my pro column.
For the Kids(and sometimes adults, too)
It’s early for Halloween books (but it’s not), and I think that’s okay to show you some of our favorite sPoOkY books!
Knight Owl (one of my very favorites)
The Scariest Book Ever (haven’t read it, but have seen a lot of praise for it)
Stumpkin (cute as can be)
Hardly Haunted (simple and silly and fun)
The Little Ghost Who Was a Quilt (my kids’ favorite)
The Little Kitten (I love Ollie’s adventures)
Ghosts in the House (simple and silly)
Sir Simon (the silliest)
Room on the Broom (the best spooky, fall rhyming adventure)
Gustavo the Shy Ghost (so sweet and charming)
The Fantastic Flying Books of Mr. Morris Lessmore (not necessarily spooky, but magical)
Snacks To-Go
🍫 You Are Here by David Nicholls: I love Nicholls’ writing so much. He has a gift for telling compelling and complex relationship stories but in an endearing and heartwarming way. It’s magic.
And that’s it! So happy you made it here this month.
There are now 178 of us here! I’m grateful for you!
I’ve decided to keep BookSnacks free for now! If you’d like to support me and my little newsletter, you can for about $5/month or about $4/month if you contribute yearly. To those already contributing, thank you so much for supporting me and this letter`—I really appreciate you.
Don’t forget to subscribe so you don’t miss the next one!
Talk soon,
Adri
Yay for 178! Congratulations! I read Just for the Summer over the summer and could see how it might be hard to audiobook. The therapy talk is a bit too on the nose but the story was cute! Also, isn’t Knight Owl sooooo cute? My kids love that one so so much. And if you haven’t checked out the most adorable cartoon adaptation of Room on the Broom, that’s a book that shines as a “film” lol. But seriously, they really fleshed out the cat in a way that I love.
I also felt conflicted about the ending of Just For the Summer👀 I feel like the original premise got lost in the shuffle of all the family drama, and the ending was just way too fast. I have that problem with a lot of romance books though. The third act conflict is wrapped up so quickly that it doesn’t feel like the characters did any work. I would have loved to see more of her healing journey with her family, but it was over in a few quick paragraphs