As most people know, last month I was feeling very stressed about work and I found it was really affecting my reading. I am pleased to say that this month my reading was better than average and this is thanks to the BookTubeAThon. If you are not aware, I am a BookTuber as well as a blogger and I have been creating videos most of the year in an effort to improve myself. I found it has built confidence and really helped my ability to articulate all my bookish thoughts. I hope it might help with all thoughts, but only time will tell. BookTubeAThon is a week long readathon where people in the BookTube community come together to read and complete challenges.

This event happened in the first week of August from the 3^rd to the 9^th. I was unsure if I should take part in the readathon but decided I need to push myself a little bit and created my TBR video in preparation for the week. While one of the challenges was to complete seven book for the week (which I failed) I think it did a world of good. I also managed to finish six books in the week. The first book I read was Mislaid by Nell Zink which I found problematic, I did talk a bit about my issues in my BookTubeAThon Vlog video, so I will not go into too much details here and you can wait for my review (I am very behind so might take a while) for that. The next book I read was Bad Nature, or With Elvis in Mexico by Javier Marías, which was translated by Esther Allen. Now this was for a challenge were a read a book without letting go of it (which is a stupid challenge) but obviously I needed something quick. I am not sure who recommended this novella so I cannot thank them but this was an amazing read. It explored some interesting ideas of translations, and the relationship between the translator and everyone else. This was written in Spanish, translated into English and it talked about a Spanish translator, which gave it a very meta feel.

After that, I read Where I’m Reading From by Tim Parks and this book is different than I expected, I thought it was a memoir about reading but it turned out to be a collection of essays. I also finished another non-fiction book on audiobook; The Lucifer Effect: How Good People Turn Evil by Philip Zimbardo which just reminds me I want to read so many more books on psychology. This book sparked a blog post recently too. I then read In Watermelon Sugar, the first of three books I read as part of a Richard Brautigan read-along for the month, and after that was an espionage novel called Leaving Berlin by Joseph Kanon and these were all the book I managed to read for BookTubeAThon. The last book would have been Motherless Brooklyn by Jonathan Lethem but I got so sucked into this novel, I wanted to take my time and savour all it; it ended up being my favourite for the month.

This readathon was a lot of fun; I read a decent amount of books, even if I did not complete all the challenges. It really got be back into reading, and I managed to keep a decent amount of momentum for the rest of August.  The next book I did complete was The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, which was for a buddy read. I do not know if I am any good at buddy reading but it is fun to have someone to talk to about a particular book; it also makes it a more social activity. For my in-real-life book club we had to read The Green Road by Anne Enright and that was recently long listed for the Man Booker Prize. I really enjoyed the way Enright took fragments of each person’s life and combined it into this domestic drama; some people in the book club had a bit of a problem with that style of writing but for me it just worked.

I have already mentioned In Watermelon Sugar but I also read a collection of poetry call The Pill Verse the Springhill Mine Disaster by Richard Brautigan. I like his poetry style; they are short poems that often pack a big punch. I then read Trout Fishing in America by Richard Brautigan to finish off my Brautigan read-along, I plan to read more of his books in the future but this was a great introduction to this author.

I then went onto a bit of a non-fiction kick when I read Bonk by Mary Roach, You’re Never Weird on the Internet (Almost) by Felicia Day, Postmodernism: A Short Introduction by Christopher Butler and My Reading Life by Bob Carr. All very different books but I am starting to love non-fiction books and I think books like Bonk and Postmodernism: A Short Introduction are good ways to do that. Mary Roach is a wonderful writer and I think I have found an example of the writer I would like to become in her book. I will have to practice more and read everything Mary Roach has written but it is nice to have a goal. Also Felicia Day’s memoir talked a lot about goals and failures so Never Weird was really helpful in that aspect.

The last novel I read this month was the final book in Jeff Lindsay’s Dexter series, Dexter is Dead; I have been reading these books all my reading life and it is a little sad that the series is ended. Lindsay’s writing style is not that strong but he helped me get into reading. At one point I did want to write like him, I love the inner struggle of Dexter and the moral questions that are explored but the series was a bit of a hit or miss. However there is a real sense of nostalgia going back to those books for me, and this is one of the few series that I have actually completed.

That was my reading for the month of August; I am very pleased with my progress. You might have also known I have fully migrated over to Knowledge Lost and am now blogging about more than books. I hope to catch up on my reviews (I think I have 30 to write) but I might do some mini reviews. My goal is to explore more than just literature on my blog and on my YouTube channel. It is weird to think I have become addicted to YouTube but I think it has been great for me. Next month I plan to read Valley of the Dolls by Jacqueline Susann, Satin Island by Tom McCarthy, Choke by Chuck Palahniuk and reread The Handmaid’s Tale by Margaret Atwood. There are so many other books I want to read but lets see how I go. Let me know what your August was like in the comments below.

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It feels like a bit of a cliché to yet again say how fast this month has gone, but it is once again a true statement. This is not entirely true, work days feel like they drag on and on, with so many stressful situations; I can see just how big of an impact it is making to my reading life. I much rather sit and watch television (or YouTube videos) after a difficult day of work than try and do any reading. Having said that, I still managed to read nine books in the month of July which seems to be my average for the year.

The first novel I read was One Night in Winter which was in part a campus novel, exploring a romantic poet (Alexander Pushkin) set in Moscow just after World War II. The author, Simon Sebag Montefiore normally writes non-fiction and has written a few biographies about Joseph Stalin. I found this to be an enjoyable novel with some flaws but what I appreciated were the endnotes. Montefiore goes through all the historical inaccuracies and explains why he made these changes for this novel.

After that I read Nest by Inga Simpson which is a contemporary novel about missing children, and I had a few problems with this one. If I focused on the nature writing, then I would call this book beautifully descriptive and stunning but my issue was with the mystery in the plot. All the descriptive writing about nature felt like a way to avoid discussing what was happening with the children. So I ended up thinking this book was just far too evasive and I ended up being frustrated by this.

Emmanuel Carrère’s memoir on Eduard Limonov was my next book and I felt like this one read so much like a novel. Translated from the French by John Lambert, Limonov is an amazing book about the leader of the National Bolshevik Party in the 2000s. The media often portrayed Limonov as a terrorist but reading through this biography reminded me just how the media is influenced by the political leaders in charge of running the country (in this case Vladimir Putin).

Next came a novel everyone is talking about, and that is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara. I have a bit of a love/hate relationship with this book, and I really appreciate that from a novel like this. There is so many parts in the novel where you just want to throw the book at the wall. I then went onto re-read Interview with the Vampire by Anne Rice and this time around it was not an enjoyable read. I wanted to explore the character development of Louis, Lestat, and Claudia but since this novel is only 300+ pages and covers over 400 years this was impossible.

Then I went on to finally read In the Miso Soup by Ryū Murakami (translated by Ralph McCarthy) which has been on my TBR for a very long time. This was a short psychological horror that dealt a lot with culture clash and the idea of trying to solve loneliness with sex. I read another short novella called By Night In Chile by Roberto Bolaño (translated by Chris Andrews) and this is the story of Jesuit priest Father Urrutia who believe he is going to die. In the course of the night this priest reflects on his lives in a feverish daze. It starts off as a tender book but then you start questioning this narrator as it becomes clear that not everything he is saying is actually true.

I went on to read yet another novel in translation, The Story of My Purity by Francesco Pacifico (translated by Stephen Twilley) which tells the story of Piero Rosini who is determined to be a modern saint. Things do not go to plan, as he tries to live a pure life; I enjoyed the way this book explores theology and invoked a lot of questions about religion and how people often have a misconception on what the Catholic Church teaches on the topic of sex. Finally I decided to pick a mindless mystery novel, so I thought World Gone By by Dennis Lehane was the right choice. This did not require much effort to read and with my job stress I thought that was what I needed. However I think I may have outgrown modern crime novels and all the tropes found in the bestsellers.

As far as my reading goes, July was a pretty great month. In fact July was a good month, except when it came to working. At the moment I am currently reading The Windup Girl by Paolo Bacigalupi, Mislaid by Nell Zink, The Green Road by Anne Enright and The Lucifer Effect by Philip G. Zimbardo so I have plenty to read going into August. I also plan to read some Richard Brautigan in the month of August, I have an omnibus that feature Trout Fishing in America, The Pill vs. the Springhill Mine Disaster and In Watermelon Sugar in it, so I will try to read all three books. Let me know how July was for you and what you plan to read in August.

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As I look back at the first half of 2015, I tend to wonder where all the time went but I also think about the 55 books I have read so far this year. As most people know, I have decided to do some more re-reading and focus on translated fiction; in particular Russian literature, where I am determined to specialise and become somewhat of an expert. Sure, it is a big task but there is something about the challenge that excites me. It has revitalised a joy for literature that I feel was missing. This does not mean I am going to stop reading and reviewing other things, I just have a goal in mind.

However, this has not translated too well to my blogging at the moment. Ever since taking a few weeks off to go to New Zealand, I have struggled to get back into reading and reviewing. I did get sick for a few weeks and I was feeling stressed with work but I plan to get back into the swing of things. I did think maybe BookTubing was causing me to neglect my blogging but I do not think that this is the case, but only time will tell. I am still determined to have my blog document my reading journey and BookTube is just allowing me to explore different options and hopefully get better.

I have read a very small amount in June, nothing too bad; I managed to finish six books this month. The first was a very interesting book called Sweetland by Michael Crummey, which explored the concept of isolation and heritage. The story started off a little shaky and I found myself being more interested in the secondary characters but then it really kicked into high gear. This novel was picked for my real life book club and I am not sure if I would have read it otherwise, but I am glad I did. One thing I love about book club is having books picked for me to read and discuss; I have discovered so many gems because of it.

I also read The Russian Debutante’s Handbook, which is the first novel by Gary Shteyngart. I love Shyteyngart and have wanted to read everything he has written. I would have disliked this book if I did not know anything about Gary Shyteyngart or have read his memoir Little Failure. There are a lot of autobiographical elements, which I may have missed if I had not been interested in this writer. I also read a novel, which might well be my favourite for 2015, Girl at War by Sara Novic. This is the perfect book for me, it reminds me of my love for All That is Solid Melts into Air last year and A Constellation of Vital Phenomena the year before. There is something about these books that I love, I think it is my interest in the eastern bloc and the people’s struggle that I am drawn to.

Next I read How To Be a Heroine by Samantha Ellis, a literary memoir where the author went back to all her old favourites and looked at the women within the books. This was part literary criticism but I had issues with the author’s opinions towards the theories and really effected my enjoyment of the memoir. I then picked up Dog’s Heart by Mikhail Bulgakov, which was translated by Antonina W. Bouis, to continue my interest in Russian literature and Bulgakov as well. This novella is also known as Heart of a Dog but this depends on the translation. Finally I read Double Indemnity for the Literary Exploration book club, which was a re-read for me and I posted a review for this book yesterday.

I am starting to get back into the swing of things and I hope to get back to reading and blogging as well. I am currently reading a heavy book that happens to be over 700 pages as well and that is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara, I am enjoying the novel but it is taking some time to work through it. Also I am reading One Night in Winter by Simon Sebag Montefiore, I am loving this novel and I do not want it to end, so I think I have been taking my time with the book. That was my reading month; it was not my best but it also was not that bad. How was your reading month?

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May has been a big month for me. I have been preparing for a trip to New Zealand and I also took time off before hand to get some reading done. In fact, I have scheduled this post in advance, so it will be posted on the right day. This does mean I will not be talking about my entire month of reading but just the highlights upon writing this. If you do want to see a full monthly wrap up, you will just have to subscribe to my YouTube channel and wait for it to be posted. I think I went into May with eleven reviews I still needed to write, and then add all the books I have read so far and I am so far behind. I get on a roll with my reading and it is much more fun reading than writing reviews. About a year ago I wrote my book blogging manifesto, which I have been reflecting on. So much has changed but my goals are still the same. I just need to remind myself to get back into writing more frequently.

Looking at the Literary Exploration book club, we tackled translated fiction this month (a favourite of mine) and we read Wolf Totem, a Chinese novel by Jiang Rong and translated by Howard Goldblatt. I am glad we finally got to books in translation and I hope it encouraged many people to read more novels from other countries. As a reminder next month we are moving onto hard-boiled/noir theme and reading Double Indemnity by James M. Cain and I am looking forward to re-reading this classic.

This month has been a wonderful month for reading but I am still very behind in blogging. Highlights of the month have included Get Shorty by Elmore Leonard, Aquarium by David Vann, The Two Faces of January by Patricia Highsmith and a re-read of Anna Karenina for my Russian lit project. However, I am packing some great books to take away with me, including more Russian classics, so I think by the time this post goes up, I would have had a wonderful month. I am sad that I was not able to do a longer wrap up post talking about my entire reading month but a much need vacation was a better option. I will be back to a normal wrap up next month; but I would love to know what everyone else read this month.

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