On the first day of the year, I laid out my 2018 reading goals. Once again, I had to switch out a book! While I skimmed through That Old Ace in the Hole by Annie Proulx to make sure it wasn’t an experimental mess, I found it so boring that I threw it in the donation box on page five. *fingers crossed there are no August substitutions*
Here’s what’s on the list for August:
#1 Fat Fiction: August’s book is actually a memoir, This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare by Gabourey Sidibe
Brief Description: With full-throttle honesty, Sidibe paints her Bed-Stuy/Harlem family life with a polygamous father and a gifted mother who supports her two children by singing in the subway. Sidibe tells the engrossing, inspiring story of her first job as a phone sex “talker.” And she shares her unconventional (of course!) rise to fame as a movie star. . .
#2 The Oldest Book Shelved: She Drove Without Stopping by Jaimy Gordon, purchased February, 2013 when Gordon did a reading at the University of Notre Dame.
Brief Description: As she refuses to turn back from a terrain we all know is dangerous to women, Jane Turner’s wit wrestles with the violence she encounters on a risky odyssey. Jaimy Gordon has created a character so fresh, so self-consumed and self-righteous, that she reveals secrets of a special and particularly American type of woman.
#3 Newest Book Shelved: Ugly Town: The Movie: A Novel by Debra DiBlasi
Brief Description:Horror meets the American Dream in this politically timely, scathing, take-no-prisoners novel about Hollywood, suburban sprawl, racism, gun culture, automobile fetishism, love & hate, and what just may prove to be the American Nightmare. Award-winning author and screenwriter Debra Di Blasi returns to the scene of society’s crimes with comical, outrageous, angry, and horror-filled excoriations.
#4 Random Pick: Crackpot by Adele Wiseman
Brief Description: Hoda is a prostitute, but that is not the most important fact about her. Earthy, bawdy, vulnerable, and big-hearted, she is the daughter of an impoverished Jewish couple who emigrated from Russia to Canada to escape persecution. Growing up in a ghetto of Winnipeg, she experiences cruelty and bigotry early and fights back with humor and anger, which is something to behold as her young body takes on gargantuan proportions.
Grab the Lapels 
Thinking I need some kind of system like yours to plan my reading each month – might force me to chip away at the books I’ve had for eons.
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It’s a super thrill to see the pile of books I own get smaller every month!
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I like your planning system, too. I’ve heard that Ugly Town is good. I hope you’ll enjoy it.
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Do you remember where you heard about Ugly Town? Most people I talk to have never heard of Debra Di Blasi.
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I’m so sorry! I was confusing this one with another book. Apologies for the misunderstanding. I had something else in mind, and should’ve thought longer before commenting… 😳
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That’s okay. I was just surprised; Di Blasi runs in experimental small press crowds!
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Hope you have a great reading month! 😊
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Thanks!
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Nice books! I love the cover on Crackpot. I enjoyed the Proulx but I was just glad it wasn’t Accordion Crimes, which was soooooo gruesome!
I’m going off my usual list for August, as you might know. I read my books in strict acquisition order, apart from review books and things in series, but it’s All Virago / All August (which also includes books published by Persephone), so I’ll be dotting around from October 2017 to January 2018 acquisitions in the main, and one from I think March!
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I’ve learned a lot about Virago Books from you and Karen these past few years! I love that they all have that green color, too.
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I love that you give yourself the freedom to abandon a book after five pages. I’m trying to be better about that – I usually give it 50 pages but sometimes that’s too many!
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After 5 pages, I was tired of listening. At first, I thought I was having trouble getting the style of writing. When that happens, I have my husband read a page aloud to me, and that usually fixes things. He hit five pages and I was like, “just stop!!!”
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[…] to Danielle @ Books, Vertigo & Tea, Laila @ Big Reading Life, Evelina @ Avalinah’s Books, Melanie @ Grab the Lapels, and Annemieke @ A Dance with Books for being potential enablers for these efforts. I […]
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The cover of Crackpot is fab and a little disturbing…
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I’m excited to read it, a recent used bookstore find.
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Just wanted to drop by and say I absolutely love your system of setting the TBR! Sounds amazing and I’m interested in trying it out to see if it works for me!!
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Let me know how it goes! Thanks for stopping by. I’m always interested in new blog friends. I’ll check out your site today ☺️
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Definitely will do! And yaay, same here! Thank youu ❤
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I’m usually pretty good at figuring out early whether a book is for me or not. Helps save a lot of time and energy. I really like that cover for Crackpot and has a really interesting premise. Hope you enjoy all the reads you pick up this August!
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Thank you! I’ve started Ugly Town. It’s odd, but it’s odd enough that I want to see where it goes.
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I’m excited for you to read Crackpot and let us know how it is! Yay Canadian cities! I’ve only spent a small amount of time in Winnipeg (it’s not exactly a popular place here) so we will see what kind of role it plays in this book!
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Wait, what unpopular things happen in this unpopular…Winnipeg??
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there’s just a lot of crime there-general racism towards the indigenous population, lots of female indigenous women in particular tend to ‘disappear’ from there. It’s also really freaking cold, all the time.
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Oh, good lord. I did not know any of this.
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yah, Canada has it’s own racism problems too, it’s quite terrible actually. I’m writing a review on a book about it right now!
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As always, a completely intriguing collection of books! Of all the books you’ve listed, I am most intrigued to hear what you think of This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare. All my exposure to Gabourey Sidibe comes from your blog and she sounds FASCINATING. I am quite intrigued to hear if her memoir is really as riveting as it sounds. 🙂
Crackpot sounds challenging and intriguing as well. Is this a new acquisition? What made you decide to select it as your random pick?
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I think I picked Crackpot up thanks to the title when I was at a used book shop. When I go to stores like that, I typically spend a couple of hours running my eyes over each fiction title. I love it. I chose this book as my random title thanks to some adjectives in the synopsis: “earthy, bawdy, vulnerable, and big-hearted.”
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We definitely need to check out a used book shop together. I imagine us picking up books from all over the store and sharing campy covers and brilliant titles and intriguing synopses. ❤️
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You’ll have to be very patient, as I take forever to get through those kinds of stores. LOL!
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[…] nominate the following three people: Melanie | Maren | Callum. Also, if you want to do this yourself, feel free to consider yourself […]
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Can’t wait to see what you think of This is Just My Face: Try Not to Stare! I’ve actually never seen Precious, BUT have obviously heard amazing things. Are you listening to it via audiobook? Just wondering if she narrates it herself… I would assume she did?
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I think she does narrate it herself, but I have an e-book copy I had pre-ordered! Precious is really, really, really hard to watch. It’s so…awful in an amazing way.
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It looks like you have some heavy reading planned! I’ve actually never heard of any of these books, though I tend to stick children’s literature so perhaps my ignorance is not surprising. 😉 I’m particularly intrigued by your description of Ugly Town, though: “Horror meets the American dream.” What a hook!
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I’ll have the review for Ugly Town up next week. It was a trip! It had some great characters.
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I’ll have to check it out!
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I can’t believe we’re about three weeks into August already! I haven’t been reading as much as I’d like, but maybe I would manage to fit more of it in if I set out my reading goals at the beginning of each month.
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It certainly does keep me trucking along. This schedule keeps me at one book per week, which isn’t too much. If I realize I am not liking a book, I consider how far into the month I am and how many books I’ve already read for the month, and I will abandon it after this assessment.
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What?! You’re reading Crackpot this month? Have you started it yet? I just picked that one up myself not long ago – also at a used book store. I can’t wait to read it, but am so bogged down right now!
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I started it and read 50 pages. I didn’t finish. It’s not a bad book, it’s just too meandering for my brain right now. The main characters are a Jewish family, so I’m going to give my copy to Jackie @ Death by Tsundoku.
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Well, at least I won’t have to catch up to you! 😉
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[…] yet again changed a book on my intended reading list. In August, I was scheduled to read Crackpot by Adele Wiseman. It was an interesting novel […]
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I enjoy discovering new books and authors via your blog. I admit all of these are new to me. I am taking notes for when my current ‘I want to binge on happy romance’ mood goes away.
You have a great reading system btw, I really like it! 😊👍
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Thank you! It’s been working nicely all year.
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[…] to Danielle @ Books, Vertigo & Tea, Laila @ Big Reading Life, Evelina @ Avalinah’s Books, Melanie @ Grab the Lapels, and Annemieke @ A Dance with Books for being potential enablers for these efforts. I couldn’t […]
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