Catching up on Classics (and lots more!) discussion

What are your reading plans for August? I can't think of anything snappy to say about August, but I will say it's quite hot here!! I might stray a bit from Group Reads or Challenges this month and just read books I own.

I have started Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (1923) . This is the first book by this author I have read.

I am thinking about World Without End (Kingsbridge 2) published 2007 by Ken Follett. I also might pick up book 2 in the Haimish MacBeth mystery series Death of a Cad by M.C. Beaton (1987).

The Group Reads I am interested in are "The Eyes" by Edith Wharton and perhaps The Body in the Library by Agatha Christie (1942).

I have to admit I just am not making much progress on Les Miserables. It hasn't caught my attention yet.

I'm going to read Mansfield Park, finally (I wanted a different version of the e-book I have had).

I'm going to read Jane Eyre.

Going to continue to read A Storm of Swords by GRRM. I think I am the only one who loves Davos' chapters than Arya's. The latter's chapters contain no suspense because I knew (view spoiler)[she would not die. (hide spoiler)]

I'm going to read Genius in the Shadows: A Biography of Leo Szilard, the Man Behind the Bomb. I am well on my way. In my opinion this is the perfect book for those trying to better their English and also for people who don't want triggers in their books. The book contains more than 700 pages. What a find.

Will try to keep up my good reading pace from july - but it will be harder now that my summer holidays are over.

Currently reading:
Corelli’s Mandolin (bingo challenge)
The Seven Necessary Sins for Women and Girls (feminist book club)
Dial A for Aunties (feminist book club)
The Boy in the Red Dress (audiobook, sync)

To read
Swanns verden 2 (group reads challenge) - started
The Nine Tailors (series challenge)
I skyggen af krigen
Fremmed
Senfølger
Espeløvet
Skærsild
A Closed and Common Orbit
Three Tasks for a Dragon
For the First Time, Again
We Keep the Dead Close: A Murder at Harvard and a Half Century of Silence (feminist book club) - started
Poverty, by America (audio, goodreads challenge)
The Symposium (audio)
Tekst (audio)
We Are the Light (audio, Q author)
In the Lives of Puppets (audio, goodreads challenge)
Øvelser i mørke (Nominee Danish Broadcasting Prize 2025)
Under en anden himmel
Spående Vølve
Happy Place (goodreads challenge)
Never - started
Opklaringen af et meget omtalt mord (audio, not on goodreads)
The Awakening Land: The Trees, The Fields, & The Town (pulitzer prize challenge) - started

I normally declare 6 titles per month, but I've been overpromising a bit of late, so will restrict to
August "Core 4":
Fortunata and Jacinta Pérez Galdós, Benito 1887 (doorstop) - first half...
The Worm Ouroboros Eddison, E.R. 1922 (fantasy-old)
The Violent Bear It Away O'Connor, Flannery 1960 (1960's)
The Life Before Us Gary, Romain 1975 (gift)

I got a little bogged down in July, but have some shorter reads coming that may help.

Currently Reading
Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (almost done)
The Hollow Hills by Mary Stewart
Spiderweb by Penelope Lively

Hope to Read
The Eyes by Edith Wharton
Bring Up the Bodies by Hilary Mantel
The Daring Young Man on the Flying Trapeze and Other Stories by William Saroyan

For Women in Translation Month
View with a Grain of Sand: Selected Poems by Wisława Szymborska
Flowers of Mold by Ha Seong-nan
The Wall by Marlen Haushofer
Secondhand Time: The Last of the Soviets by Svetlana Alexievich

My goal this month is to work some nonfiction into my reading.

Women in Translation Month:
The Seventh Cross by Anna Seghers

To finish the Century Challenge:
Guard Your Daughters by Diana Tutton
A Morbid Taste for Bones by Ellis Peters

Nonfiction candidates:
Fighting for Life by S. Josephine Baker
Survival in Auschwitz by Primo Levi

I look forward to Spinster September!

August goals
I should be finishing up my challenges this month. I've finished 14 (and bingo), and I have 5 books to go: two novels, a play, and two novellas.

Other than that, I have some challenges from other groups that I'm working on, and I'm eager to read some new books I've picked up.


Challenge books to read/finish in August
✔️Ibsen: The Master Builder (1852)
✔️Flaubert: Madame Bovary (1856)
✔️Harwood: Horror - A True Tale (1861)
✔️Wodehouse: Something Fresh (1915)
✔️Singer: Yentl the Yeshiva Boy (1983)

Non-challenge books to read/finish in August
✔️Plutarch: Roman Lives: A Selection of Eight Lives (100)
✔️Shakespeare: Othello (1603)
✔️Tolkien: The Return of the King (1955)
✔️Herbert: Dune (1965)
✔️McCaffrey: Dragonsong (1976)
✔️Martin: A Game of Thrones (1996)
Gaiman: Coraline (2002)
✔️Smith: The Accidental (2005)
✔️Pratchett: Raising Steam (2013)
Orange: There There (2018)
✔️Awad: Bunny (2019)
✔️Haynes: Pandora's Jar: Women in the Greek Myths (2020)
Novik: The Golden Enclaves (2022)
✔️Mohring: Relative Hearts (2023)
✔️Millar: Ava Anna Ada (2024)
✔️Mohring: The Boy Who Reads in the Trees (2024)
Perry: Enlightenment (2024)
✔️Wilkinson: Lublin (2024)

Long reads
Augustine: Confessions: A New Translation (484)
Jordan: The Great Hunt (1990)

Maybe...
Patchett: Commonwealth (2016)


Challenge completions this month
Challenge #3a - Decade Challenge - 8/6/24
Challenge #3b - Century Challenge - 8/8/24
Challenge #15 - A-Z Title Challenge - 8/12/24
Challenge #16 - A-Z Author Challenge - 8/4/24

Remaining challenges
#3a (Decade) - 2 to go
#3b (Century) - 1 to go
#15 (A-Z Title) - 1 to go
#16 (A-Z Author) - 2 to go

I will finish The Dollmaker by Harriette Arnow and An Afterlife for Rosemary Lamb by Louise Wolhuter.

I should finish South Moon Under by Marjorie Kinnan Rawlings, started but stuck on my kindle app.

Lambs of Men by Charles Dodd White is also waiting for me on my kindle app.

I want to listen to James by Percival Everette.

And I am sure my book club will add to my August list, but not decided yet.

August plan...


Finish reading:
Sophie’s Choice by William Styron
The Idiot by Fyoder Dostoevsky

Re-read:
Slaughterhouse-Five by Kurt Vonnegut Jr.
Far From the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy

Read:
Legends & Lattes by Travis Baldree
A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers
Buddenbrooks: The Decline of a Family by Thomas Mann
On Agate Hill by Lee Smith

Lynn wrote: "I am thinking about World Without End (Kingsbridge 2) published 2007 by Ken Follett. I also might pick up book 2 in the Haimish MacBeth mystery series Death of a Cad by M.C. Beaton (1987).

WWE is a very entertaining sequel to the great PoTE, although far inferior. WWE is also more likely to be more readily enjoyed than the removed and rather relatively inaccessible Les Miserables. So go for WWE :)

So in August I read

Part of (about half) Whose Body? by Dorothy L. Sayers (1923) . This is the first book by this author I have read.

The Group Read The Eyes by Edith Wharton (1910) August 10, 2024 3*

Two more short stories
Sarrasine by Honoré de Balzac(1830) August 31, 2024 4*
Two Friends by Guy de Maupassant (1883) August 31, 2024 5*

I finished An AfterLife for Rosemary Lamb, James, The Go-Between and London is the Best City in America. I am still reading The Dollmaker and South Moon Under.

I have been getting a bit behind with my month-stamped reading, but better late than never
August "Core 4" late declaration:
Fortunata and Jacinta Pérez Galdós, Benito - first half... - shaping up for 5 Stars...
The Worm Ouroboros Eddison, E.R. - DNF
The Violent Bear It Away O'Connor, Flannery - 3.5
The Life Before Us Gary, Romain - 4.5