Olive, August afternoon 2015

I looked over at Olive this afternoon and all but lay down on the floor. The ‘dog days of August’ are here, the slow, humid torpor of air and heat and cicadas. Oh, to nap. But I am running out of time to finish the stack of books I challenged myself to read this August. The excuse to rise early, read late, haunt the library and demand titles from everyone I meet in June and July.

Yes, August is Reading Marathon Month.

I should be writing. There are two projects burning a hole through my work table. But I like to use August to jump-start my new year of work, to hit the ‘refresh’ button, to sing some new cadences into my head. My personal back-to-school shopping list is eclectic. In the New England stun of heat and moisture, I turn the limp pages and live elsewhere in the words. I fully believe this makes me a better writer. And person.

Wait for it. You want the list. Ok. But you have to promise me you will respond in the ‘comment’ area with some of your reading favorites this summer. Anything. Because while I thought I would publish this blog when the stack was gone, I am being a little sneaky: I’ll show you mine, if you show me yours. Predicted to hit high 80’s next week and I still have a few more days to add to the pile.

Alexandra Dane’s August Reads

The Nightingale – Kristen Hannah

The Backs of Small Children — Lidia Yuknovitch

A God in Ruins — Kate Atkinson

Tinkers — Paul Harding

Euphoria — Lily King

Dead Wake — Erik Larsen

Our Souls at Night — Kent Haruf

Blood on Snow — Jo Nesbo

Blender Girl Smoothies — Tess Masters

A Dream of Summer, Poems for the Sensuous Season

Between the World and Me — Ta-Nehisi Coates

The Storyteller — Jodi Picoult

The Boys in The Boat — Daniel James Brown (Still unread)

A little fiction, non-fiction, poetry, mystery, food, history and current events. The best. I am grateful for the freedom to plunge.

Where did the pages take you this summer?