All the books I read in August and what I thought of them

In August I remembered how to read, which you can tell because I read 8 books. At the time of writing (the middle of September), I have once again forgotten how to read. It's maybe an annual thing. I'm reading the Republic!! However it is for school and I have a lot of problems with it, and I'm going to get to review it twice next month because I am reading it for two classes at the same time, and it's the same translation, and it's a library book. Longtime readers may be familiar with my deep-seated aversion to buying books. I am winning so severely. I am avoiding buying books, and I have TWO WHOLE SCARS (or maybe one scar and one long-lasting bruise) from my knitting needle puncture wound, one on each side of my hand. I would like to go back and find the urgent care doctor who told me it wasn't such a deep wound and tell her I told her so. So in many aspects of my life I am killing two birds per stone. Someone should have killed Plato with as many stones as was necessary before he wrote the Republic.

✨✨✨

The Penultimate Peril by Lemony Snicket (rerereread)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is the best book in the series and anyone who disagrees with me has bad taste, which is okay. It takes all kinds. This book is not doing the interesting questions of morality like The Carnivorous Carnival, but the hotel is just a fantastic setting, and I really like the way the Baudelaires dodge Frank/Ernest’s questions. I have just stolen half of my vocabulary from Lemony Snicket.

🏨🏨🏨

Winnie-the-Pooh by A.A. Milne (rereread)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I printed out the Latin translation of this book to read over the summer and then I read about five pages and gave up. But I can sort of read Cicero now so I am coming back for the Latin version for sure. I did read the English version, as you see. These books are so so charming and it’s a real shame more people don’t read them.

🐻🐻🐻

The Bear and the Nightingale by Katherine Arden (rerererereread)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I’m forced to conclude that this might be my favorite book in the trilogy for reasons I am going to explain later. I am a big fan of books where nothing happens, and the biggest thing that happens in this book is cold weather. It’s such a vibe.

🐎🐎🐎

The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams (rererereread? I lost count)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

Admittedly this is less of a book and more an extremely extended, extremely British joke, but I still enjoy it. It’s a wild experience to reread this book and realize that I stole a significant fraction of my personality and my vocabulary from Douglas Adams when I was 13. I found phrases in this book that I say and I didn’t even remember where I got them from. 

🛸🛸🛸

Ace by Angela Chen

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

I read this book because Isaac from Heartstopper read it. I love Isaac from Heartstopper and I made two whole edits of him. Such an icon. This book was really interesting. The chapter about what’s the difference between romantic and platonic love was wild because the author probably doesn’t but seems to suggest that the difference between her best friend and her boyfriend is that she likes her boyfriend more than her best friend, which doesn’t seem like a good definition. Anyway, Alice Oseman has done so much for me. 

💜🤍🖤

The Girl in the Tower by Katherine Arden (rerererereread)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐

This is my least favorite book in the series, although the bar is admittedly very high. It is just so serious. Does it have to be this serious? It annoys me to no end that Vasya doesn’t want to cut off her long hair when she’s pretending to be a boy. Also, there’s a lot of kissing. I don’t really have an opinion on that, it’s just an observation. Actually, my opinion is that I don’t really like the central relationship, especially in this installment. I think Vasya and Morozko get together because there’s no other obvious male character for Vasya to become involved with. Like, you don’t really like each other, you’re just associates (no disrespect to any of my associates reading). 

🏰🏰🏰

The Winter of the Witch by Katherine Arden (rerererereread)

rating: ⭐⭐⭐⭐⭐

I don’t harbor the grievance against this book that the main relationship is illogical as I think the main couple develops a much stronger bond than in the last book, so I guess the disparity is kind of the point. It makes sense to me that they have a very close relationship at this point, and that relationship might as well be romantic. My new grievance is that the magic system is vibes-based to the point of being nonsensical. Evidently the best way to keep a frost demon from disappearing is to “see him and remember.” That doesn’t mean anything. I understand that it’s meant to represent that traditions survive by people remembering to observe them, but this book is actually not just an extended metaphor, it’s a literary masterpiece. My blog is in fact not old enough for me to have a glowing review of this book from the last time I read it, so you’re just going to have to believe me that I love it with all my heart, the last several sentences notwithstanding.

🍄🍄🍄

Who Will Run the Frog Hospital? by Lorrie Moore

rating: 4.5

What a good question. Another book recommended this book, but I don’t remember which one. It was great! I enjoy books that have no plot and feel like eavesdropping on a stranger’s weirdly personal conversation, especially a conversation where they are trying to make sense of the past. In this book the protagonist tries to love people but it doesn’t work out. I would recommend it to members of the Rachel Cusk hive (Maya) and My Brilliant Friend fans.

🐸🐸🐸

To give an update on the sweater I was going to block last month, I did block that sweater and I really didn't like how it turned out, so I'm going to unravel that sweater, too. I'm still working on the fourth sweater. I'm optimistic about this one (I'm delusional).