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August was a strange month. Looking at my books read list, I realise that I actually finished quite a number of books, but somehow it didn’t feel that way. I think, part of the reason for that is because I was just very busy in the second half of the month (I – temporarily – moved to a different city to start a scholarship), and part is because my dislike of Wuthering Heights (more below) put me in a bit of a reading slump where I did not want to pick up a book for almost two weeks. Audiobooks did get me out of that, but for some reason they never quite register as ‘reading’ for me. Despite all that, I did finish five books and am fully back in the (reading) saddle again for September.
Here’s what I read:

Seamus Heaney – North ★★★★★

Seamus Heaney is quickly becoming one of my favourite poets, and this collection – made up of poems full of politics, identity, and bog bodies – was a perfect match for me. I read the entire collection in a day, which isn’t something I do very often but which felt like exactly what I needed at the time.

Agatha Christie – The Moving Finger (audiobook) ★★★☆☆

I’ve been slowly making my way through Agatha Christie’s Miss Marple-series. This novel is one where Christie’s spinster detective barely features, and while I liked the book’s themes and occasional humour, I’m not sure I also like its narrator and the, frankly, somewhat flat side characters.

Dorothy L. Sayers – Whose Body? (audiobook) ★★★☆☆

My first foray into Dorothy L. Sayers’ Lord Peter Wimsey series. Solid, occasionally old-fashioned, and entertaining detective fiction despite the fact that I’m not sure what I think of Wimsey himself yet. I liked it well enough to continue with the series (and better as an audiobook than as an ebook), and I have been told some of the later installments have a little more meat to them.

Wendy Wood – Good Habits, Bad Habits (audiobook) ★★☆☆☆.5

I’m not sure I have a lot to say about this book except that it was okay but nothing to write home about. Backed up by a lot of data and studies, Wood tries to explain how habits are formed (and reformed) through context clues, friction, and repetition. She does that skillfully enough – even though I already knew most of what she had to say about habit formation – but doesn’t spend a lot of time actually translating those studies and explanations into manageable steps that would help a reader to transform their own habits. Oh, and while Wood is definitely critical of the whole ‘just do it!’ mentality, she completely neglects to talk about AD(H)D and other varieties of executive dysfunction, which to me seems to be something that should at least be mentioned in the context of habit formation and automation.

Emily Brontë – Wuthering Heights (DNF) ★☆☆☆☆

Every once in a while, I try rereading a book I read a long time ago, or that I never actually finished. Wuthering Heights is just such a book. I last tried reading it during my semester abroad in 2009, and back then I thought my annoyance with it was mostly caused by lacking English skills and troubles concentrating. Turns out, neither of those were an issue this time round, and yet I could still not get myself to finish the book. The reason, very simply put, is that I hate every single character in the novel, that I think most of them vindictive, cruel or downright stupid, and that I can not see beyond that enough to actually want to find out what happens to them. What is more, the fact that this book has such a large fandom and that everyone and their mom keeps telling me how much they just looooove the Brontës* did not help me get to terms with the fact that I just don’t. If I’m entirely honest, I’m not sure I’ll try this particular book again; I think three times might just be enough to convince me that this book is not for me. And yes, books that make me rage-quit do get one star, even if that is an extremely subjective rating.

*Newsflash: I don’t. I never finished Jane Eyre either, and while I liked Tenant of Wildfell Hall and Agnes Grey well enough, they will not make my favourite novels of all times list, either. It’s weird because I definitely enjoy both Gothic fiction and 19th century literature in general, I just don’t gel with these ladies. Apparently I prefer the mad scientists and deals with the devil variety of Gothic literature.

Robin Robertson – The Long Take ★★★★☆

I’ve had this book out from the library since before the corona crisis started (read: mid-February) and I’ve only now gotten round to actually finishing it. Which is a shame, because I loved this novel in verse that combines poetry, photography, and visiual techniques reminiscent of old movies into a stunning story about PTSD, identity, and post-war America.

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Other than these, I’ve also started C. Pam Zhang’s How Much of These Hills is Gold and James Hogg’s The Private Memoirs and Confessions of a Justified Sinner, which will carry me into the new month. Thanks to the move, I’m also a bit behind on my reviews for the 20 Books of Summer Challenge, but I hope to catch up on those in the next couple of days.