August Reading Wrap-Up!

Hello Hello! Literally, where did the time go? I wake up, it's August 1st. I go to sleep, BAM, already September 1st??? The month of August was a decent reading month. Didn't have any 5 stars, yet there are some good ones that I'll discuss in this virtual pile of books. Without further ado, the books that I read in August: 

The ABC Murders by Agatha Christie - 🙅

So all of you know that I love a good Poirot mystery. Really, I do. I love Poirot and Hastings and all their little antics. So imagine my surprise when I decided to read one of the more famous Poirot mysteries and found it, dare I say.....boring? I know it is a literal crime against literature to call Agatha Christie mysteries boring, however, I have to remain true to my opinions and call this what it is, a bore.  It's a shame since the plot of this book sounded super interesting, even if it didn't deliver. The story starts with Poirot getting a mysterious anonymous note saying that someone will be killed in Andover (somewhere in England). After someone with a name starting with A dies and a railway guide is found near them, Poirot realizes that there's a serial killer on the loose, killing people with names in alphabetical order and in regions in alphabetical order. Despite the intrigue, the plot ended up being circular. And despite being a Poirot mystery, Poirot and Hastings barely received page time, with a lot of the emphasis being on the additional side characters. Overall, do yourself a favor and skip this Poirot mystery. 

Nightbitch by Rachel Yoder - 😐

In my subconscious quest to find weird books to read, I think I've finally found a weird one that might be too weird for me. This book was about a woman who thinks she's turning into a dog. Now I'm oversimplifying A LOT but the gist is that. We follow our unnamed protagonist, who is an artist, as well as a mother to a young son and a wife to a largely absent husband, as she tries to navigate her new body hair, weird growing tail-like appendage, and a new desire for raw meat. 

I think my main qualm with this book was that I didn't understand a lot of it. I thought the author was great and the writing was fantastic, but there were parts where I was like.....I don't know where I am right now. Although I will say, there are some really questionable scenes in this book. If you want to hear more of my thoughts, check out Episode 2 of the Useless Doctor's Book Club Podcast of which I am 1/3 of the host. Link here. 

The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain - 🙅

To no one's surprise, I read a thriller this month. Unfortunately, it wasn't even a good one. We're following this young woman, Riley, whose father just passed away. In the process of cleaning out his home, she ends up finding evidence that her older sister Lisa, whom she thought had died years earlier, is actually alive. So Riley begins the almost impossible task of trying to track down Lisa and in the process pieces together parts of the last few years of Lisa's life that she remembers. 

Credit should be given where credit is due and so I will say that I was thrown by some of the twists in this book. There were several that caught me off guard and that I wouldn't have seen coming even if they were right in front of me. HOWEVER, the ending of this book was just such a letdown. It's like, I was thrown by twist after twist and I was like, oh this seems like it's good. Yes Yes. And then...phft. Nothing. I cannot in good conscience give this book more than 2 stars after that bummer of an ending. 

The Maidens by Alex Michaelides - 😐

If you like dark academia or books that take place in schools that seem a little TOO ominous and weird, you might like this one. It's a book about a woman trying to find the murderer of a young student who was murdered at this prestigious university with some Greek Mythology elements at play in the mystery as well. Did I enjoy it? Meh. It was alright. My enjoyment was partially ruined by the stupidity of our main character and the stupidity of the ending. Honestly, there were so many more strange things about this book, but I don't want to dwell too much on it because we covered this book in Episode 3 of the Useless Doctor's Book Club Podcast. I'll link it here once it comes out!

The Familiar Dark by Amy Engel - 🍪

You know when you're just living your life and one day you just randomly come across a book that you decide to pick up that day and then it ends up being so good you just can't put it down so you just finish it in one day? Yeah, that's this one. What a book. This is my second Amy Engel book, the first being the incredibly intense and grotesque Roanoke Girls. Roanoke Girls was insane and even though it sounds gross to say I enjoyed it, I definitely found it a good read. The Familiar Dark was quite similar, albeit WAY less gross. The book takes place in the Missouri Ozarks and the author really immerses you within that world. It's evident that the author is from there. We're following Eve whose daughter dies at the beginning of the book. Eve takes it upon herself to find her daughter's killer, asking for her mother's help, whom she has not met in over 10 years. Eve was such a great character. She's strong, willing to go to great lengths to find information about her daughter's death. Amy Engel is just fantastic at writing believable, empathetic characters. You're on their side, even when that side may not be the right side. Overall, I'd highly recommend it. 

Marriage of Inconvenience by Penny Reid - 😐

This was a romance about a billionaire heiress and a smart cybersecurity expert guy nicknamed Dan the Security Man. The billionaire heiress has assumed a secret identity to avoid being found out and she lives in Chicago and works as a secretary for some CEO of some company. So she has this evil cousin who's trying to take over her fortune and is trying to prove her mentally incapable, so she NEEDS to marry a dude in order for her guardianship to be transferred to her husband (I... I don't even know). Who does she marry? Dan the Security Man. And then obviously they fall in love after getting married. 

Now I know what you're thinking. Pooja, why are you reading such trash? And my response would be, sometimes you just gotta revel in the trash romance that is out there and just enjoy the extreme unbelievability of this scenario, also I don't know okay. I just really enjoy the trope where people get fake married and then end up falling in love. It's good fun. The billionaire heiress and Dan the Security Man were cute. Was it surprisingly deep? Yes. Did anything make sense? No. Did I care? Also, no. 

Everyone in This Room Will Someday Be Dead by Emily Austin - 😐

Shifting gears in the latter half of the month, I read a book about a woman who somehow ends up working as a secretary in a Catholic church while trying to keep the fact that she is atheist and gay a secret from everyone she works with. This book was insanely funny at times and really sad at others. Our main leading lady, Gilda, is a hypochondriac, obsessed with death and dying, and finds herself getting intrigued by the life of the previous secretary, Grace, who had died a few months earlier. Gilda was overall a fascinating character. Her anxieties about her ability to live a meaningful existence were relatable. I think everyone has had the thought at some point, what am I doing with my life? While I wouldn't recommend this to everyone, I'd say to check this book out if you enjoy books with little to no plot and or books with characters who constantly self-sabotage themselves but in a very relatable way. 

Newcomer by Keigo Higashino - 😐

This was another book read for the Useless Doctor's Book Club Podcast! This is a Japanese detective mystery in which we are following a detective named Kaga as he tries to solve the murder of a woman who died alone in her apartment. The story is told in short sections, with each section focusing on a different set of characters, making the book feel a little like an anthology or a short story collection. In each section, Kaga ends up interviewing the set of characters and you find out how exactly they are connected to the mystery. Despite my relatively lackluster rating, I would still recommend this book if you are interested in more character-driven mysteries. But I'm going to hold off on sharing any more of my thoughts and tell you to look forward to Episode 4 of the Useless Doctor's Book Club Podcast. 

Alright folks, those were the books I read in the month of August. Did you read any good books? Any notably terrible ones? Let me know! See you next time!