Books Read in August 2024

There is one advantage to looking back on my August reading six weeks later. I was very glad to see that most of the crime fiction I read was from older books, published between 1925 and 1978. 

Here are the books I read in August...

Nonfiction / Letters

The Mitfords: Letters Between Six Sisters (2007) by Charlotte Mosley  (Editor)

I enjoyed reading this very much, even though it was 800 plus pages long and took me over a year to finish. In some ways it was like a social history of the UK, covering the effects that different times had on the Mitford sisters. Most of the letters seem to have been between Deborah, Diana, and Nancy, but Deborah also kept in touch with Jessica, who moved to the US, became a US citizen, and lived a very different life from her sisters. Although each letter was clearly identified as to who was writing and who was the recipient, plus date written and location of the letter writer, they were not an easy read because the sisters always used nicknames when writing to and referring to the others. I would only recommend this to those who are very interested in the Mitford family; the letters allow the reader to see a different side of them that doesn't come through in the biographies. 

Science Fiction / Time Travel

A Symphony of Echoes (2013) by Jodi Taylor

This is the second book in a time-travel series. The main protagonists are historians or technical people who provide support for the historians. They all work for St. Mary’s Institute of Historical Research. This book was a very fast-paced adventure. It strains one's ability to suspend disbelief at times, but it moves so fast that you hardly notice. The characters are engaging but there are a lot of them to keep track of. The story is a combination of hopping around in history, and the adventures that come along with that, and a good bit of humor and some romance. 

Crime Fiction

Birdcage (1978) by Victor Canning

This is the fifth book in a very loose series about the Birdcage group, a covert British intelligence agency. I love this series, even though the books are often very dark. See my review.

The Madonna of the Sleeping Cars (1925) by Maurice Dekobra

This is a fun and sometimes entertaining espionage story from 1925, but it did not work well for me. It seemed much more like an adventure story with some political intrigue. See my review.

A Great Reckoning (2016) by Louise Penny

This book is the 12th in the Armand Gamache series by Louise Penny. I enjoyed it immensely. See my review. 

The Lady in the Lake (1943) by Raymond Chandler

This is the 4th book in the Philip Marlowe series. My favorite thing about reading Chandler's books is his beautiful prose. See my review.

Curtains for Three (1950) by Rex Stout

This book in the Nero Wolfe series consists of three novellas: "Disguise for Murder", "Bullet for One", and "The Gun with Wings". See posts on these here and here.

The Case of the Late Pig (1937) by Margery Allingham

This is the 8th book in the Albert Campion series. It is unusual for this series because it is told in 1st person narration by Campion. It is very short at 148 pages and I got confused with all the characters at times, but I enjoyed it still. Allingham is one of my favorite Golden Age authors; I put her at the same level as Agatha Christie although their writing style is entirely different. 

Currently reading

I am now reading Then We Take Berlin by John Lawton, published in 2013. This is the first book in the Joe Wilderness series. I think others in the series are set in the 1960s, but so far this book has focused on Berlin and other parts of Germany at the time World War II ended.

The three photos at the top and bottom of this post are from years ago (2011 and 2012) when we visited the Santa Barbara Zoo, the grounds of the Natural History Museum, and Rocky Nook Park. Click on the images for best viewing quality.