Books I Read in August

Either August felt longer than I realized, or my concept of time is completely whack. Personally, it felt like August flew by - how is September tomorrow? But also, how did I manage to read six pieces of literature in four weeks? Granted, granted, two of them were shorter: one being a long poem, the other being a collection of short stories. Something that wasn't new? A lot of memoirs. Three memoirs, folks! I keep telling myself to get away from them, but people are so interesting. It's what sparked my love of history, what continues my love of history, and what keeps my empathy in check. Give up memoirs? Maybe in the next life.

Anyway, I hope the summer has been kind to you as we move closer to a new season. After the scorching summer we've had, I'm looking forward to the cooling down September brings. Enjoy the book reviews!

Forward: A Memoir by Abby Wambach

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Memoir-Biography, Sports

Review: ** spoiler alert ** I didn't know much about Abby Wambach before reading this other than that she was a professional soccer player, and, more recently, Glennon Doyle is married to her. After reading Untamed by her wife, it led me down a rabbit hole of YouTube videos, some podcast episodes, and scrolling through her Instagram before I learned she had a memoir and that I wanted to read it.

Wambach comes across as the type of person who is cool and confident, and someone I want to be friends with. Her memoir revealed a totally different person than the one you saw in post-game interviews or on the field. She is/was someone who struggled with abandonment issues, wanting to be wanted and loved, and taking out feelings of rejection with alcohol and pills. She made sure to emphasize a sort-of Loki-esque "burdened with glorious purpose" soccer talent; she loathed and loved it all at once, and it defined her for a really long time. It was a heavy read, with a lot of dark times despite an outwardly successful soccer career, and a reminder that athletes - potentially your heroes - struggle hard behind the scenes (and sometimes front row and center).

I think this book would have been enhanced had it been written now or even a few years more down the road. It was fresh after her retirement, and I feel like she's at a much better place in life now to look back on her professional career with more wisdom and introspection. I find her memoir compelling anyway. Could it have been deeper? Or better written/conveyed? With more life experience, I think so. But that doesn't take away from what she's accomplished professionally and personally in the book. She had a lot of big failures in her soccer career from losing a state championship title in high school to breaking her leg weeks before the Beijing Olympics to pretty much everything in between personally, and she approaches these failures with humility. She also shows how someone can be confident in who they are, in their abilities in a lot of capacities, and still remain grounded.

I feel, amid all of her addiction issues, that she was still, at her core, someone to be admired by how she handled adversity. I could tell, at least, that her intentions throughout the book weren't meant to be boastful or prideful. She just knows who she is, what her strengths and weaknesses are, and how they're best shown, which is powerful for women especially to read. The work she does now for equality and the LGBTQIA+ community is special, and I'm glad I ended up reading this. But for real, Abby Wambach, can we be friends??

Sir Gawain and the Green Knight edited by Jessie Laidlay Weston

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: All-time favorites, poetry, Classic Literature

Review: This is the second time I've read this poem, the first time being so long ago, I don't remember if it was when I was in middle or high school. I mostly reread this because of the recent movie release of The Green Knight by David Lowery and A24. I wanted to refresh my memory, but also see how closely the movie stayed with the original tale. Turns out, the film took a lot of liberties. I won't discuss that here - I'll keep this review to the poem itself, but just as a short disclaimer: the movie pares down the story quite a bit, adds elements in a way I was disappointed with, and relies on beautiful cinematography over plot, which feels like a sin given how rich this plot is.

The poem itself is masterfully written. If we're going on all the classic elements of a story, it has all of them: the inciting incident of the Green Knight showing up to King Arthur's court to demand a challenge from one of his knights. The rising action of Gawain going on an adventure to meet his certain doom, and all of the tension building up while he stays with the Lord and fends off the advances of the Lady. The climax of meeting with the Green Knight, and everything that happens afterward. It's steeped with tension and desire, wonderful character building, masterful storytelling and imagery, and a twist ending. It's perfect.

So, the movie was a bit disappointing in that sense, but the poem is just as great as I remember it being. This edition I digitally read through my library, and it reads like a short story instead of a medieval poem, which I would recommend. Reading in its original form is very difficult for most people - this was a breeze.

In Our Time: Stories by Ernest Hemingway

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Classic Literature, Favorites, Short Stories

Review: In some ways, it's hard to believe this was published almost 100 years ago. When reading some of the stories, it feels modern and relevant: Men talking about women, the best baseball players being bought to win a World Series, the fight between man and nature and man and himself. But, in other instances, such as the racial slurs that repeat themselves unnecessarily, you're reminded Hemingway wrote this in a different time and in a way that, thankfully, hasn't aged very well in that regard.

I enjoyed this collection of short stories. Indian Camp, The End of Something, The Three Day Blow, Cat in the Rain, and Big Two-Hearted River Pts. I-II were my favorites. I am personally a big fan of Hemingway's writing style, and this is the beginnings of it: simplistic, to the point. I know he gets a lot of grief about that style with some calling it amateur or underdeveloped or downright bad, but I think the beauty of this style is that it leaves a lot open to the imagination. You get just enough information to paint the scene, but the details are left to you, and I think that's beautiful.

With his discussions of war, relationships, bull fighting, and just living this life, most of his stories explore the concept of death (and, therefore, what it means to live), which doesn't make this a nice, light read. It can be a quick read, but the content is heavy.

Overall, a big fan of In Our Time.

The Puma Years: A Memoir of Love and Transformation in the Bolivian Jungle by Laura Coleman

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️⭐️

Shelves: Environmental, Favorites, Memoir-Biography

Review: Going into this book, I was afraid it was going to be an "Eat, Pray, Love" situation where a privileged white woman selfishly goes to a place to "find herself," soaking up the culture and the people of this place, only to leave without really any personal growth. While I wrestled with that a lot throughout this book, especially having grown up within a religious institution that believes in "mission trips" and student missionaries and "they changed me more than I changed them," this didn't prove to be the case. This definitely wasn't a, "and then I came and fixed all the problems."

This book struggles at times to be overly written with a lot of descriptive detail that is beautiful at first, but then can feel worn out at times. I had read other reviews that said the author was too emotional, which I don't think is the case. If you've ever been in a situation like she was (which, I can't say many people probably have - the condition of the rescue that she works at sounded awful), building strong, primal bonds with deeply hurt animals, you would probably be emotional most of the time too. And, because this is a book about an animal rescue, there are a lot of descriptions of . . . poo. It wasn't an idyllic setting like Rome or Bali, but rather the mosquito-infested jungles of Bolivia.

By the end of the memoir, I thought the author had adequately explored the concerns any traveller has: how do you leave a place a) better than you found it, and b) in a way that you won't forget what you learned? Coleman showed us, the readers, ways you can still remain a part of a place in a responsible way. She points out the importance of local support/caring, local management, and local involvement. When she writes that environmental issues are social justice issues after describing heartbreaking wild fires due to detrimental forest destruction, how millions of wild animals are killed during every habitat loss, and how that causes more animals who have been pushed out of their homes to be stolen and sold or killed, hopefully the connection of the overarching thesis of the story is made. By telling the stories of these rescued animals, Coleman implores us to care more about this one planet we live on.

While the environmental message isn't slapped in your face often, I found that the more I grew to love each animal in the story, the more my heart broke when she discussed the environmental issues she witnessed firsthand. When she discusses her privilege at being complacent about politics her whole life because no one where she came from ever had to worry about the mountain they live on being harvested for trees or catching on fire, most people could and should resonate with it. She points out most of the Western world's privilege simply by discussing her own.

I thoroughly enjoyed this book by the end. I had my issues with it, but her bond with Wayra the puma and every other beautiful creature of the Bolivian rainforest really touched by heart. Her message was important, and it also helps that the proceeds from this book's sale goes back to the animal rescue she wrote about (so that means, I will probably go buy a copy! I got this for free from Amazon FirstReads).

Greenlights by Matthew McConaughey

Rating: ⭐️⭐️

Shelf: Memoir-Biography, Book Club

Review: I appreciated some of his points of view, and what he was trying to do. I think he has good intentions and is a good person - just not someone I would be friends with. It just, overall, fell flat for me. I'm not a Matthew McConaughey fan, so when my book club picked this, I wasn't necessarily thrilled. Having taught high school in Texas for a couple years - especially around the general area that McConaughey grew up in - I was well acquainted with this type of lifestyle and attitude, and I wasn't enchanted by it. The macho, hyper-masculine attitude of his father, and the bizarre relationship of his parents were all weird but not unknown to me. I'm glad he wears who he is with pride, but deciding to go on "life-changing" journeys because of a series of wet dreams doesn't really speak to my soul.

It was a firm reminder that not everyone should publish their journals, not everyone is a poet, and talking in bumper sticker slogans isn't always as deep as it can seem. Kudos for the idea, but poor execution. This book wasn't for me, and that's fine.

The Midnight Library by Matt Haig

Rating: ⭐️⭐️⭐️.5

Shelves: Beach Reads, Modern Literature, Favorites

Review: Overall enjoyed this little escape of a novel, but I did find it predictable and slightly unoriginal (this coming from having watched Loki first, having read The Time Traveler's Wife, having been familiar with the whole idea of a multiverse concept). There was also a terrifying moment where I felt I was re-reading Daisy Jones and the Six, and didn't like it at all, haha. But I kept thinking, as I was reading, how fun this book would be if it were ever made into a movie!

On a serious note, though, I think this book does touch some important topics. A mid- to late-20s Ashley would have really needed this book and the message that blatantly says: yes, there are 1000 different avenues your life COULD have gone down, but you're in this one, and what will you do with this one precious life? I think it's a good reminder for those of us that tend to get caught up in all the little things that go wrong in our days, or allow small bumps in the road to derail us. It was fun to journey with Nora into all of her possible lives.

This book felt relatable, and I appreciated the obvious messages of never taking the life you've been given for granted. I would find this book to be a slap in the face if I were actually depressed, I think, but being on the better side of my mental health issues, it was a pleasant reminder wrapped in a gentle package. A good reminder, a great little escape, even if a bit predictable.