August 2012 Reads

Finished 41 books in August (with several others in various stages of being read/re-read).  There was more variety this month, perhaps due to the dueling challenges set before me (I think Dunja's was the more enjoyable by far).  Read/re-read more YA and adventure novels and while I still have reviews to write for many of those, I felt a bit reinvigorated as a reader getting in touch with some childhood favorites and seeing them through somewhat new eyes.  Here are very brief thoughts on the books read:

261  Leonardo Sciascia, The Wine-Dark Sea (very good; moved me at times)

262  Leopoldo Brizuela, Una misma noche (2012 Premio Alfaguara winner; Spanish; very good)

263  Astrid Lingdren, The Brothers Lionheart (re-read; already reviewed)

264  Karl May, Winnetou:  The Apache Knight (already reviewed)

265  Karl May, Winnetou:  Die Bücher I-IV (German; already reviewed)

266  Emilio Salgari, Sandokan alla riscossa (Italian; already reviewed)

267  Emilio Salgari, Il corsaro nero (Italian; already reviewed)

268  Emilio Salgari, The Black Corsair (already reviewed)

269  Henryk Sienkiewicz, In Desert and Wilderness (already reviewed)

270  Rudyard Kipling, Captains Corageous (review forthcoming)

271  Beverly Cleary, Ramona and Her Father (re-read; childhood favorite still outstanding)

272  Judy Blume, Tales of a Fourth Grade Nothing (re-read; another great childhood favorite)

273  Rafael Sabatini, Captain Blood (review forthcoming)

274  Richar Zacks, The Pirate Coast (history; very good narrative history of the First Barbary War and William Eaton's role)

275  Chelsea Monroe-Cassel and Sariann Lehrer, A Feast of Ice and Fire (cookbook; easy-to-follow recipes, with pictures of virtually all the recipes)

276  Alan Lightman, Good Benito (very good)

277  Alice Vieira, Viagem à Roda do Meu Nome (Portuguese; already reviewed)

278  L. Annette Binder, Rise (outstanding debut collection; almost certainly will appear at some point on my year-end lists, if I do such this December)

279  Victoria Hoyt, Save the Pearls Part One:  Revealing Eden (already reviewed)

280  Isaac Bashevis Singer, When Shlemiel Went to Warsaw & Other Stories (review forthcoming)

281  Rudyard Kipling, Kim (review forthcoming)

282  Danilo Kiš, Psalm 44 (short, but devastating novel to read; very good)

283  Rafael Sabatini, Scaramouche (review forthcoming)

284  Palmer Cox, The Brownies:  Their Book (review forthcoming)

285  Hilary Mantel, Bring up the Bodies (took me the first 1/3 to get used to the rhythm of her rapidly switching PoVs, but it builds to a crescendo as she approaches the trial of Anne Boleyn; very good)

286  Ferenc Molnár, I ragazzi della via Pal (Italian; review forthcoming)

287  Christopher Buehlman, Those Across the River (meh about this being a World Fantasy Award finalist, but it's not worse than mediocre)

288  Beverly Cleary, Ramona and Her Mother (re-read; Cleary is one of my all-time favorite juvenile/children's writers)

289  Beverly Cleary, The Mouse and the Motorcycle (re-read; see above comment)

290  Lavie Tidhar (ed.), The Apex Book of World SF 2 (very good anthology; might have more to say later)

291  Thomas Rockwell, How to Eat Fried Worms (re-read; very good story; kinda wished I had sent this to Dunja for reading ;))

292  Neil Gaiman and Michael Reaves, Interworld (YA SF tends to be mediocre at best for me; this was at best mediocre)

293  Danilo Kiš, Early Sorrows (Kiš's stories come too close to breaking my reader's heart in a variety of ways.  But I forgive him for doing it, as this was an outstanding read)

294  Fainna Solasko (translator), Kutkha the Raven (review forthcoming)

295  Carlos Fuentes, Agua quemada (very good)

296  Shirin Dubbin, Keeper of the Way (already commented on it)

297  Shirin Dubbin, Chaos Target (see above)

298  Marcel Schwob, Vies Imaginaires (French; very good)

299  Alan Garner, The Owl Service (very good, but I want to re-read it before reviewing it)

300  Thomas Wolfe, The Web and the Rock (re-read; this Wolfe is one of my all-time favorites; first half of one of the more personally meaningful two-volume works I've ever read)

301  Nick Mamatas, Sensation (very good)


Thoughts on these?