“The person who deserves most pity is a lonesome one on a rainy day who doesn’t know how to read.” – Benjamin Franklin

While August didn’t give me many (or any) rainy days for reading, it did give me lots of days where it was too hot to do much else but sit still inside. I was able to finish five books this month! One I had started much earlier, but I’ll still count it as five books read in August. This will also be the last time you’ll see Brandon Sanderson on the reading list for awhile. Although he has several other books, I’m going to explore some other series while I wait for the next of the Stormlight Archives to be published. Enjoy my thoughts and happy reading!

Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer – I’ve been listening to this book for a couple months actually, usually when I’m doing chores around the house or on a walk with the dog. I can’t remember exactly how I can across this book, but I really enjoyed listening to it in small snippets. It’s not quite gripping enough to listen to for hours, but nice little 30 or 45 minute chunks worked for me. To be honest, I’m not sure I’d have liked reading it as much as I liked listening. The author herself narrates and she has a beautiful soothing voice. Kimmerer is a native Potawatomi woman who works as a biology professor in upstate New York. The book is part memoir, part ecology activism, and part cultural history. She tells the story of growing up apart from her Potawatomi culture and the story of her rediscovery later in life. She also very eloquently conveys the connection she feels to the land through her cultural ties and mythologies along with her academic training in biology. At one point she explains the tenets of the honorable harvest. The ones that stuck out to me the most and I think will stay with me are to never take the first one you see, as it may be the last one; take only what you need and only what is given; take no more than half; and give in reciprocity for what has been given.

Dawnshard by Brandon Sanderson – This (relatively) short novella fits into the one year gap between Oathbringer and Rhythm of War in the Stormlight Archive series. While it doesn’t seem like it moved the larger story forward much, it helped in the world building of mythology for the story. It was a pretty quick read and I enjoyed it, but it isn’t a necessary inclusion if you are interested in getting into the series. In fact, there was another novella that took place earlier in the timeline that I opted to skip and I don’t think I missed much because of it. In Dawshard, one of the characters we met during interludes of an earlier book opts to go on a voyage to try and save her pet/companion. Their trip comes up against many obstacles before they determine someone is deliberately trying to stop it from happening. Eventually they get to their destination and find much more than they bargained for.

Rhythm of War by Brandon Sanderson – This is the fourth novel installment of The Stormlight Archive and it was just as good as the last three! Unfortunately, this is the most recently published so it’s as far as I can go with this series for the time being. We see our characters split up into different groupings to achieve various objectives. Kaladin is put through grueling tests yet again, we learn a lot more about the nature of the tower, and Shallan and Adolin go on a journey in Shadesmar. While overall I really enjoyed the book, a couple of the characters seem to take a very long time to overcome their inner demons. I get that things aren’t nice and neat when it comes to addressing inner darkness and mental health issues in the real world, but I do think dragging them out for too long can wreck havoc on the pacing of a good novel. However, I’m happy to forgive Sanderson that one sin when the rest of the story marches along very nicely.

The Push by Ashley Audrain – Whew! This book was…complicated. I had read a review of this that called out the heaviness of the topics. Post-partum depression, loss of a child, divorce, mental illness, etc… And it was a lot at times. The story follow a young mom who struggles to bond with her first born daughter and then finds her second born, a son, incredibly easy to connect to. A terrible tragedy happens that rips the family apart and causes all kinds of suspicion and accusations. I would 100% NOT recommend this to any of my young mom friends!!! I felt like this book was 80% of the way to being perfect. The main character narrates much of the story through 2nd person perspective as she writes her side of the story to her ex-husband. There was such a great opportunity to make her more of an unreliable narrator, but even when she starts doing some crazy strange stuff, I never found myself not believing her. Which made the “twist” ending not seem very twisty to me. So…I don’t know. I don’t think I’d recommend it.

The Wife Upstairs by Rachel Hawkins – Now this one! 100% enjoyed reading. It’s a retelling of Jane Eyre, kind of. You’ll recognize the trope of a young woman hard on her luck who catches the eye of an older and richer widower. But things aren’t what they seem and a lot of twists and interesting past details are uncovered throughout the book. The ending irked me a tiny bit, I just felt that the premise wasn’t built on a super firm foundation, but other than that I found this book very readable. I think I finished it in just a couple days actually. Would recommend to anyone looking for a kind of romantic, kind of thriller-ish book!