Category: What I’m Reading

August 2021 Reading Round-up

So, its not quite the 31st of August, but I suspect I may not get through another book before the end of the month, and while I have the momentum to start blogging, I might as well take the opportunity while I have it to do so.

A fellow reader friend of mine has made considerable note about my lack of finishing books since middle of last year – I left a high-stress demanding program and changed companies DURING A PANDEMIC, managed to walk away with a class certificate in Data Visualization, and haven’t yet pulled all my hair out. So, to have not one but two completions this month is honestly more than I’ve had in about two years. I’ll take the win.

This month, I stayed with a more-chill rom-com/romantic storyline rather than my usual chewy yet engrossing epic fantasies or all-encompassing science-fiction. I needed to not engage the brain too much, though I’ve been bouncing around on re-reading Foundation, and maybe even pulling out Dune again before their stories show up on the screen.

Possibilities: A Contemporary Retelling of Persuasion

Author: Debra White Smith
Series: The Jane Austen Series (6 titles)
Format: Kindle
Rating: 3/5
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | GoodReads

I don’t know what it is, but there are a thousand different retellings of Jane Austen’s stories. One of my BFF’s has probably read all the published versions of Pride and Prejudice out there. But for a single gal over the age of 22, Persuasion speaks to me differently. Anne, or in this case, Allie, is the quintessential relatable good lady. Frederick is dashing and a perfect gentleman. What this book gets right is a better way of handling Allie and Frederick’s first breakup. The book shortens the schedule from Persuasion quite a bit, which is fine most of the time. I’m not sure I liked how the author handled Louisa’s character (Louise), but I can see where she felt she needed to go there because of the modernizing of the plot and the dying of old chivalry. I wanted more Allie and Frederick towards the end.

Overall, the book moved quickly and the modernization was well handled. Will it ever replace Persuasion itself for me? No. But does it stand on its own? Yes.

Matchmaking for Beginners

Author: Maddie Dawson
Series: Marnie & Patrick (2 titles)
Format: Kindle
Rating: 3/5
Amazon | Barnes and Noble | GoodReads

I’m not sure how I ended up with this book… I suspect that Amazon may have recommended it as I’ve done a bit of contemporary rom-com type book shopping. I wanted to like this more, but as I was being led to what I thought was a big showdown between Marnie and Noah’s mother, I realized there were simply not enough pages left in the book to cover everything I wanted. There is a sequel to this, A Happy Catastrophe. Its summary starts a few years later, so what I was hoping for at the end of this book may not be in the next. To be honest, I may just put the sequel in the long list of to-reads and maybe like one of Aunt Blix’s spells, it may sparkle and call to me one day.

September 2021 Nerdy Forecast

2020 left us without much in the way of new nerdy awesomeness, and the delay of movies into theatres in 2021 has tried, but failed, to subside my nerdy excitement for what is hopefully coming next month and the near future. Here’s what I am looking forward to in September:

Movies:

1. Shang-Chi and the Ten Rings – September 3rd
Take my money, Disney! I love, love, love the Marvel Cinematic Universe. I already have my tickets purchased for opening night. I plan to rewatch the Iron Man trilogy before going to see this to gleam what I can recall from the Ten Rings aspects from Iron Man and Iron Man 3.

Shang-Chi and the Legend of the Ten Rings Official Trailer

2. Dear Evan Hansen – September 24th
I’m actually torn on seeing this – on the one hand, I want to see it first on the stage, as it was created. On the other hand, Ben Platt’s performance in the original showings in Chicago, Off-Broadway, and Broadway have been lauded and celebrated.

Dear Evan Hansen Official Trailer

Television Show Premieres:

1. Foundation – September 24th – Apple+ Streaming
Now, I’ve been waiting for this to come out since Apple announced it was coming out with Apple+ TV back in 2018. Foundation was to be the centerpiece, and I fully expected it to come out when the service started. Now, don’t get me wrong, Apple has released several amazing shows (Ted Lasso, anyone?) but I’ve been more than patient to see how Apple was going to turn one of my favorite novels into a show.

Foundation Official Trailer

2. American Rust – September 12th – Showtime
Do I like Jeff Daniels as an actor? Well, I did travel to New York to see him as Atticus Finch in To Kill a Mockingbird. I’ve noticed him as a pretty decent actor all the way back to Speed back in 1994, and loved his work on The Newsroom. So when he headlines a show, I’ll give it a chance.

3. Dan Brown’s The Lost Symbol – September 15th – Peacock Streaming
I LOVE Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. I will always love Tom Hanks as Robert Langdon. But I’m willing to give this a shot. I didn’t enjoy the book nearly as much as I did his earlier works – I felt like Dan Brown changed his writing to accomodate a wider audience after the success of the Langdon movies, and he let go of subtlety and made sure we connected the dots over and over and over again to the point that the book was no longer an intellectual exercise for me. But the plot was solid, and so I’ll give this a chance.

New Book Releases:

This is certainly not a listing of books I will read in September, let alone in the rest of the year. But these are books that I’m excited a favorite author of mine has published, and they will appear at some point on my reading list, usually sooner than later.

1. The Nature of Middle Earth – J.R.R. Tolkien – September 2nd
Yes, J.R.R. Tolkien has been dead since 1973, but his son, Christopher, has been lovingly and carefully piecing together the greater story of Arda up until his death in January 2020. This may be the last of the books that highlight stories of the Silmarillion and the Ages of Arda to come out.
The Nature of Middle Earth – Amazon
The Nature of Middle Earth – Barnes and Noble
The Nature of Middle Earth – GoodReads

The Nature of Middle Earth Cover – Original Image by Amazon