August 2023 Reads
My “teacher summer” is over so it was a light month
August 2023 Books I’ve Read
So August has been a slow month for me reading-wise. Summer break is over and even before that I had summer professional development for several days (teachers really don’t just get the summer “off” ya know) and then my UTA Master’s classes started back up so I’m reading TONS…just not for personal pleasure!
Two of my master’s courses this semester are actually literature classes (multicultural literature and Adolescent Literacy) so you may hear about some of the YA and kids books I’m reading as I’ll likely be doing Goodreads reviews on them and am definitely counting them in my yearly book count!
Yellowface by R.F. Kuang
I must say I was quite pleasantly surprised by this book. From reading the premise I thought I would just loathe the narrator June, but while I can’t condone what she did, I was able to empathize with her and even almost came to like her. I’ve always secretly wanted to be a writer so getting an inside look at the publishing world was very interesting, and even though I know it’s fiction so it’s not exactly like that it was a nice little glimpse. There were some unexpected twists, but I did figure out some of the ending…thus the reason for four and not five stars. But over all this was a good solid entertaining read.
Did You Hear About Kitty Karr? By Crystal Smith Paul
I was drawn to this book by reading about its treatment of racial issues like segregation and living in the Jim Crow South, where many black folks passed as white. I’m not a massive fan of books about Hollywood and the movie industry, but this book really pulled me in, and it was, after all, interesting to learn about Hollywood during the Civil Rights Movement era. Kitty and many of the women in this book made some complex and controversial choices, and it was interesting to see their rationale.
Books I am currently reading:
All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby
This book is a thriller in every sense of the word. The action started in chapter one and hasn’t let up since. Very timely issues of race and gun violence in the book and so far I’m really liking the author’s writing style. This is the first of Cosby’s books I have read but I have a feeling it will not be my last. I’m a little over halfway through so stay tuned for the full review when I am finished.
If you’ve recently read any great books, I would love to hear about them! If you are on Goodreads, I would love to connect with you. I’m always looking for more interesting books for my ever-expanding “to be read” list, so check out my Goodreads page here, and let’s be friends.
