What I Read in August 2020
I have read 39 books this year. This is a higher number than what I read in either 2018 or 2019.
There are people out there who attempt to read 52 books in every year. I am not one of those people, at least not in any official sense. But if this is my goal, I only have 13 books left to go, which would require three months of three books and one book of four. That isn’t my goal. I don’t have a goal here. But I am enjoying this streak that I am on.
Eight of these 39 were read in August. This creates a challenge. In my monthly blog posts, I attempt to discuss all that I read in the previous month. Eight is a lot.
It’s not a contest, but here’s my favorite of the books I read in August. More on it below.
Books Finished
Bible Adventures by Gabe Durham
Sun and Shadow by Ake Edwardson
Dead Wake: The Last Crossing of the Lusitania by Erik Larson
HHhH by Laurent Binet
The Commitments by Roddy Doyle
A Perfect Spy by John le Carré
The White Album by Joan Didion
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison
Books Partially Read
2666 by Roberto Bolano
Between the World and Me by Ta-Nehisi Coates
John Henry Days by Colson Whitehead
My Struggle: Volume 3 by Karl Ove Knausgaard
Books Abandoned
None
One Liners About What I Read
When dealing with a list this long, I think I have no choice but to do quick hits. Here is a brief take on each of these. Some will receive further discussion below. Here is the list of books, this time with one liners:
Bible Adventures - This book is from the label Boss Fight Books, same as Postal by Brock Wilbur and Nathan Rabin, which I read (and loved) earlier this summer. I wanted more in that vein. I chose Bible Adventures because it sounded like something I’d enjoy and because it’s written by Gabe Durham, the founder of Boss Fight Books.
Sun and Shadow by Ake Edwardson - I wanted to read something different. The kind of thing I wouldn’t normally read. This is a murder mystery, set in Gothenberg, Sweden. More gruesome than I was ready for. Not something I would read again.
Dead Wake - I’ve only read one Erik Larson book before. In the Garden of Beasts. This was good. I learned a lot from it. Not really my style, but glad I read it. There’s something to be said about a book that manages to be a page turner while telling a true story whose ending you already mostly know.
HHhH - This is the one re-read this month, aside from the ongoing 2666. It reads as if it was written as a rebuttal to authors like Erik Larson, a response to the idea of presenting historical narratives as truth. I know I don’t need a favorite book in a list like this but, yes, HHhH is my favorite book I read in August, one of my favorites read this year, and perhaps one of my favorite books of all time. (That’s why there’s a photo of it above.)
The Commitments - I wanted more Roddy Doyle after finishing Love, so I jumped into this. A quick read. Not easy, exactly, because of the amount of dialect used to tell the story.
A Perfect Spy - We are up to five JlC novels within the last year. This is probably the best of them. I discovered it by googling around, finding some recommendations for what le Carre to read after finishing the Karla trilogy, and learning Philip Roth called it “the best English novel since the war.”
The White Album by Joan Didion: Reading CHAOS led me to this. I read the quote where Didion refers to the Manson murders as being the event that ended the 1960s and I wanted more of where that came from.
Song of Solomon by Toni Morrison: Another excellent novel by an author I somehow didn’t read until 2020—although I liked Beloved better. Like a few novels I’ve read over the last year, I think I need to learn more about this novel.
“Would you read this book again?”
The more I read, the more I come back to this question as being the one that measures a book’s worth the most. Is it something you would read again?
I recall a conversation I had with a coworker at my first marketing agency job. He was a developer. He enjoyed Asimov and blogged about the opera. We would often talk about what we were reading.
Him: Read anything good lately?
Me: Yes. The Intuitionist by Colson Whitehead.
Him: Haven’t heard of that. Is it good?
Me: Yeah, but I don’t think I would read it again.
I remember the way he looked at me after I said that. Like I had just said I don’t think I would’ve enjoyed fighting in the First World War or I’d prefer not get food poisoning this weekend.
Him: You read books more than once?
Me: I like to read books more than once.
Him: I have never considered reading the same book twice.
My statement that I would not read The Intuitionist again offered no information to him. He did not read books twice. People he knew did not read books again. A needless statement, clarifying nothing.
So, let’s do a run through this list again, with the lens of would you read it again?
Worth a second read?
Bible Adventures: Sort of. I expect to give at least parts of this another read. I learned a lot about the weird Christian entertainment industry and found the book to be laugh-out-loud funny.
Sun and Shadow: No. I liked it, I’m glad I read it, but no.
Dead Wake: No, but some sections could be worth another read or at least a skim. (I underlined a few spots that I found particularly interesting, especially when the subject matter touched on conspiracy theories.)
HHhH: This was already a re-read but, yes, I’d probably give it one more.
The Commitments: No, I can’t think of any reason to read this a second time. I have other Roddy Doyle I need to get through. I expect to re-read his Bullfighting soon. But this one doesn’t need another read from me.
A Perfect Spy: I could eventually read it again, I think. Like a lot of mysteries, there might be gained from a reading experience where you know where the whole thing is headed.
The White Album: Not the entire book, but I expect to re-read a few of the essays, especially the first one.
Song of Solomon: I liked it and I can see myself reading it again but not anytime soon. In the case of Morrison, it makes more sense for me to read more of her novels before I start re-reading the ones I’ve already read.
I realize would you read it twice is not the only question of a book’s worth or your appreciation of it. There are other questions one can ask when determining whether a book was good or not.
Who would you recommend this book to?
Are you in a hurry to read another book by this author?
Are you glad you read this book?
But the one I keep coming back to is “would you read this book again?” Note the question isn’t will you? You aren’t committing to reading the book twice. You don’t have to read it again any time soon.
Now, for an unrelated endorsement: I have started a new blog about the need to omit needless words. Go check it out.