Books Read in August 2026

 

I only read 5 books this month. Don't get me wrong. Five books in a month is fine. But I have a minimum of 15 books I want to read before the end of the year, and if I only read 5 a month I won't even finish those. Woe is me.

However, with the exception of one book, I was very happy with my reading for the month. And the one book I did not enjoy was on my classics list and was a worthwhile read, so I cannot complain too much about that.

Here are the five books I read in August:

Nonfiction

Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote (2010) by Gordon A. Martin, Jr.

This book is an impressive account of one trial (United States vs. Theron Lynd) in Forrest County, Mississippi that affected the voting rights of blacks in Mississippi in 1962. The author, Gordon A. Martin, Jr. was a lawyer at the time and worked on the trial, traveling often between Washington, D.C. and various parts of Mississippi to find witnesses for the trial and to prepare them for trial. Twenty seven years after the Lynd trial, he traveled back to Mississippi to interview the witnesses in that trial, and discuss their experiences and the changes in Mississippi since that time. The book is very well written. See my review here.

Fiction / Horror

Frankenstein (1818) by Mary Shelley

I was going to say that almost everyone is familiar with the Frankenstein novel by Mary Shelley, but actually that is not true.  Many people, including myself until I read this book for the first time at 77, are familiar with the Frankenstein story as told through various films, and there is a world of difference between the adaptations and the book itself. I do think this is a worthwhile book and many readers have enjoyed it and praised it. However, it wasn't a good fit for me. I expected to like the book, and it is not long, under 300 pages. But it took me forever to read and there were portions I had to read multiple times to get what was going on.

The edition that I read has an introduction by Elizabeth Kostova, where she admits that she discovered (while reading it to prepare for writing the Introduction) that she had never read it before. I can understand how that could happen. ... with all the movie versions and the pervasiveness of the Frankenstein story in popular culture. The novel first came out in 1818, but the edition I read had the revisions made by Mary Shelley for the 1831 text. The editor of this edition, Maurice Hindle, notes the differences between the original edition and later editions. 

Crime Fiction

Mortmain Hall (2020) by Martin Edwards

This is the 2nd book in the Rachel Savernake mystery series. I enjoyed the book but it is the kind of mystery that you have to pay a lot of attention to, so it was slow going for me. The story is set in 1930. It starts out on London's Necropolis Railway, which was very interesting. I had not heard of that railway, but Glen had told me what he knew. It was a train operated especially to transport coffins and mourners from London to a cemetery in Surrey.

The plot was complex and I was puzzled about what was going on the whole time, as I was in the first book in the Rachel Savernake series. Rachel is an unusual protagonist. In the end it all came together well. It is definitely in the style of a Golden Age mystery, with a list of the clues in the book (called a Cluefinder), added following the end of the book. The author noted that Cluefinders were used by some authors of that time, such as J.J. Connington, Elspeth Huxley, John Dickson Carr, and Edmund Crispin.

The Cyclist (2020) by Tim Sullivan

This is the second book in a series that features an autistic police detective. Detective Sergeant George Cross is quite capable in his job, in fact the cases he investigates have a very high conviction rate, which means that he (and his team) provide enough evidence to convict. However, he is difficult to work with because he is not very good at interacting with anyone. He doesn't know how to "play nice." This adds more interest to the story. 

In this book, George has a new team member, and both of them have to adjust to different ways of working together. The mystery plot was very good, and I learned a bit about competitive cycling. Plus the ending was very unexpected. 

The first book in the series was published in 2020 and the ninth book will be published in 2027. At this point, I plan to read them all.

Death of a Dude (1969) by Rex Stout

I bought this copy of Death of a Dude at last year's Planned Parenthood book sale. I had two copies in mass market paperback editions but I have been trying to find copies of the Nero Wolfe books in editions with more readable type. It is a very old book club edition but any hard cover edition of a Nero Wolfe book that isn't a book club edition is going to be too expensive. It had been a while since I reread this book so I did not remember much of the story. 

There are so many things I liked about this book:

• The setting is very different. Archie is staying at Lily Rowan's ranch in Montana (rustic setting), and Harvey Greve, the manager of the ranch, is charged with murder. Archie tells Wolfe that he won't be home until he can clear Harvey's name, but it seems like an impossible task. So of course Wolfe has to come solve the crime, because he needs Archie back at work.
• I always like it when Lily Rowan has a large role in the mystery novel. She and Archie have had a long term relationship throughout the series.
• This book was published in 1969, very close to the end of the series, and has a more modern feel than the earlier ones.

About the photos:

All of the photos in this post were taken at our local nursery, while we were looking for plants and gardening supplies. The only plant I can identify is the yellow begonia at the bottom. My husband took all of the photos and processed them. Click on the images for the best viewing quality. 

Annual Book Sale 2026: My Son's Books

The Planned Parenthood Book Sale is held in September every year, and we have attended the sale for many, many years. My son usually spends most of his time in the science fiction and fantasy section, although we both also head for graphic novels after we walk in the door on the first day. He also keeps an eye out for science fiction and fantasy books for me and my husband.

In this post, I am featuring six of the books he bought this year.

The Cartographers (2022) by Peng Shepherd

This book sounds very interesting. Although it is categorized on Goodreads as Fantasy / Mystery Thriller / Magical Realism, I am most attracted to the mystery element.

From the description on the back of the book:

Nell Young’s whole life and greatest passion is cartography. Her father, Dr. Daniel Young, is a legend in the field and Nell’s personal hero. But she hasn’t seen or spoken to him ever since he cruelly fired her and destroyed her reputation after an argument over an old, cheap gas station highway map.

But when Dr. Young is found dead in his office at the New York Public Library, with the very same seemingly worthless map hidden in his desk, Nell can’t resist investigating.

The Neverending Story (1979) by Michael Ende

Translated from the German by Ralph Manheim

I don't know much about this book, although I have heard of it. My son had seen the movie years ago but had not read the book, so he wanted to read it. I will wait until he does that and see what he thinks before I give it a try.

From the description on the back of the book:

Unicorns, dragons, sprites, will-o'-the-wisps: the inhabitants of an enchanted world. And into this world – through the pages of an old book – ventures Bastian, a lonely boy of ten or twelve. But Fantastica is slowly decaying, its Childlike Empress dying. Only a real human being can set things right by giving the Empress a new name. Bastian takes up the challenge, and finds himself crossing the Swamps of Sadness and the Silver Mountains, meeting sorcerers and giants, bats and night-hobs, gnomes and racing snails, as he journeys bravely toward the Ivory Tower. Bastian's quest is filled with all the wonders of myth and fairy tale. It is a fantasy adventure that will capture your heart – and recapture the magical dreams of childhood.

Legends & Lattes (2022) by Travis Baldree

I am very glad that my son found a copy of this book, because I have been wanting to read it. The subtitle of the book is: "A Novel of High Fantasy and Low Stakes."

From the description on the back of the book:

After a lifetime of bounties and bloodshed, Viv is hanging up her sword for the last time.

The battle-weary orc aims to start fresh, opening the first ever coffee shop in the city of Thune. But old and new rivals stand in the way of success — not to mention the fact that no one has the faintest idea what coffee actually is.

If Viv wants to put the blade behind her and make her plans a reality, she won't be able to go it alone.

But the true rewards of the uncharted path are the travelers you meet along the way. And whether drawn together by ancient magic, flaky pastry, or a freshly brewed cup, they may become partners, family, and something deeper than she ever could have dreamed.

Colin Gets Promoted and Dooms the World (2025) by Mark Waddell

This book has a great title and a clever cover. I like the premise. And in addition, the author is Canadian. Admittedly the book is categorized as Horror / Fantasy, but I am hoping the Humor balances out the Horror. Assuming my son likes it, I will be reading it too.

From the description on the back of the book:

Colin is a low-level employee at Dark Enterprises, a Hell-like multinational corporation solving the world’s most difficult problems in deeply questionable ways. After years of toiling away in a cubicle, he’s ready to climb the corporate ladder and claim the power he’s never had.

The only problem is, he’s pretty sure he’s about to be terminated. Like, terminated. That’s tough, because his BFF has just set him up with a great guy. In fact, maybe he’s a little too great. And he asks a lot of questions ...

When Colin meets a shadowy figure promising his deepest desire in return for a small, unspecified favor, he can’t resist the urge to fast-track his goals. He asks for the one thing that will improve his life: a promotion. But that small favor unleashes an ancient evil. 

The Shambling Guide to New York City (2013) by Mur Lafferty

Another book by Mur Lafferty (Station Eternity) is already on my TBR SOON stack. That one is set in space; this one is set in New York City, a New York City with zombies, vampires and other monsters. 

From the back cover:

Zoe Norris is looking for a fresh start in New York City. She's found a seemingly perfect position as a travel book editor, but there is one thing holding her back—being human.

Zoe isn't going to let anyone—not even her blood-drinking boss or her death goddess coworker put her off from delving deep into the monster underworld. But her job, not to mention her life, might be in peril when the line between monster and human starts to crumble...with Zoe right in the middle.

Roadside Picnic (1972) by Arkady and Boris Strugatsky

Translated from the Russian by Olena Bormashenko

My son bought another book by the Strugatsky brothers at the 2025 book sale. He read that one and liked it, so naturally he bought this book when he saw it this year. It looks like a great edition, with all the extra information. This one sounds more interesting to me, so I will probably read it after he does.

From the back of the book:

Red Schuhart is a stalker, one of those young rebels who are compelled, in spite of extreme danger, to venture illegally into the Zone to collect the mysterious artifacts that the alien visitors left scattered around. His life is dominated by the place and the thriving black market in the alien products. But when he and his friend Kirill go into the Zone together to pick up a “full empty,” something goes wrong. And the news he gets from his girlfriend upon his return makes it inevitable that he’ll keep going back to the Zone, again and again, until he finds the answer to all his problems. 

First published in 1972, Roadside Picnic is still widely regarded as one of the greatest science fiction novels, despite the fact that it has been out of print in the United States for almost thirty years. This authoritative new translation corrects many errors and omissions and has been supplemented with a foreword by Ursula K. Le Guin and a new afterword by Boris Strugatsky explaining the strange history of the novel’s publication in Russia.

Annual Book Sale 2026: My Husband's Books

Every year in September we attend the Planned Parenthood book sale, which lasts ten days. This time we visited five times. My husband's special interests at the sale are architecture and books about history; also fiction, including mysteries and science fiction.

Below are six of the books Glen purchased at the 2026 Planned Parenthood Book Sale.

The Garden Against Time: In Search of a Common Paradise (2024) by Olivia Laing

This book has a lovely cover. Since I enjoy gardening and especially the results of gardening, I think I would like to read it also.

From the dust jacket:

In 2020, Olivia Laing began to restore an eighteenth-century walled garden in Suffolk, an overgrown Eden of unusual plants. The work brought to light a crucial question for our age: Who gets to live in paradise, and how can we share it while there is still time? Moving between real and imagined gardens, from Milton’s Paradise Lost to John Clare’s enclosure elegies, from a wartime sanctuary in Italy to a grotesque aristocratic pleasure ground funded by slavery, Laing interrogates the sometimes shocking cost of making paradise on earth.

Gun in Cheek: A Study of "Alternative" Crime Fiction (1982) by Bill Pronzini

This book was published in 1982. At that point, Bill Pronzini had published seven novels in his Nameless Detective series, which now consists of a total of 41 books. He has written other mystery series, edited many anthologies, and much more.

A description from Goodreads, for a different edition:

Welcome to the very best of the very worst in 20th-century mystery writing. Author Bill Pronzini takes a good-natured look at the genre's "alternative classics" in a retrospective of unintentionally hilarious crime fiction. Populated by the usual private eyes, arch-villains, amateur sleuths, and femmes fatales, these tales offer uniquely amusing reading that's as memorable in its own way as the works of the great mystery writers.

In addition to their pure entertainment value, these excerpts and witty appraisals of the "worst" in mystery fiction provide a historical perspective on the development and mores of modern-day crime stories.

The Lost Pianos of Siberia (2020) by Sophy Roberts

My husband read this book shortly after he got it at the book sale. He liked it a lot. It has maps and some photos. There is also a website.

Description from the dust jacket:

Siberia’s story is traditionally one of exiles, penal colonies and unmarked graves. Yet there is another tale to tell.

Dotted throughout this remote land are pianos — grand instruments created during the boom years of the nineteenth century, as well as humble, Soviet-made uprights that found their way into equally modest homes. They tell the story of how, ever since entering Russian culture under the westernizing influence of Catherine the Great, piano music has run through the country like blood.

The Lost Pianos of Siberia is largely a story of music in this fascinating place, following Roberts on a three-year adventure as she tracks a number of different instruments to find one whose history is definitively Siberian. Her journey reveals a desolate land inhabited by wild tigers and deeply shaped by its dark history, yet one that is also profoundly beautiful — and peppered with pianos.

The Fate of the English Country House (1997) by David Littlejohn

Glen has a good number of book on country houses. This sounds like a good addition to his collection.

Description from the dust jacket:

In The Fate of the English Country House, David Littlejohn describes the past glories and troubled present condition of "the stately homes of England," both those that continue to serve as private houses, and those that have been turned into museums, tourist attractions, convention centers, hotels, country clubs, schools, apartments, hospitals, even prisons. By means of extensive conversations with their owners and managers (the book contains more than 50 photographs of the houses), the author takes us on a private tour of these remarkable places and evaluates the many proposals that have been put forward for their survival.

In the opening chapter we meet three near-neighbors in Oxfordshire, whose personal accounts introduce many of the themes of the book: the 11th Duke of Marlborough, whose family has been living at Blenheim Palace since 1710; the 21st Baron Saye and Sele, whose ancestors built romantic, moated Broughton Castle between the fourteenth and nineteenth centuries; and the Honorable Ann Harcourt, mistress of Stanton Harcourt Manor, which has belonged to her family since the twelfth century.

Dinner with King Tut: How Rogue Archaeologists Are Re-creating the Sights, Sounds, Smells, and Tastes of Lost Civilizations (2025) by Sam Kean

Another great book cover. I hope the information inside is as good as the cover.

From the dust jacket:

History all too often neglects the tastes, textures, sounds, and smells that were an intimate part of our ancestors’ daily experience, but a new generation of researchers is resurrecting those hidden details, pioneering an exciting new discipline called experimental archaeology. These are scientists gone rogue: They make human mummies. They carve ancient spears and go hunting, then knap their own obsidian blades to skin the game. They build perilous boats and plunge out onto the open sea—all in the name of experiencing history as it was, with all its dangers, disappointments, and unexpected delights.

Beloved author Sam Kean joins these experimental archeologists on their adventures as they resurrect the lives of our ancestors, following in their footsteps at exotic locations across the globe, from remote Polynesian islands to forbidding arctic ice floes. He fires medieval catapults, tries his hand at ancient surgery and tattooing, builds Roman-style roads—and, in novelistic interludes, spins tales of the lives of people long gone with vivid imagination and his signature meticulous research.

Sword Beach: D-Day Baptism by Fire (2025) by Max Hastings 

Glen and I are both interested in World War II history, but Glen has actually read a lot of nonfiction books about that subject, whereas I mostly stick with documentaries, movies, and historical fiction. 

From the dust jacket:

Max Hastings’ Sword Beach tells the story of a handful of British soldiers and their critical role in D-Day’s parachute and seaborne offensive. On Sword, the codename of one of the two beaches assaulted by the British, scores of soldiers were killed by the first shots that they ever heard fired in anger. One British corporal insisted on apologizing to his enemy prisoners, and the Free French troops, 120-men strong, suffered 60 percent losses in the first days of fighting. With his signature blend of drama and detail, Hastings show how the men who landed on Sword played a critical role in Britain's preeminent landmark victory and the most spectacular battlefield event of World War II in the West.

Short Story Wednesday: The Tiger in the Grass: Stories and Other Inventions

 

This short story collection is divided into 5 sections. First is the story "The Tiger in the Grass," which I enjoyed very much. The starting point was that the protagonist's son was dying and he had requested that she write a short account of her long life. I could not tell if it was autobiographical or not. I suspect it was a mix. Either way, I enjoyed it. It was a poignant story, but not too sad.

The next section was titled "First Work." The stories were shorter, and beautifully written, but not memorable. 

The third section was titled "Mexico." Harriet Doerr spent many years in Mexico, and these stories seem to be based on her experiences there and her view of the country and its people.

In that section, I read "Sun, Pure Air, and a View." A woman has moved to Mexico after a legal separation from her husband. She is in her early forties and has two children who don't keep in touch with her. She doesn't know where they are and she worries. She has a home in a small town in Mexico because her husband died shortly after they separated and left it to her. I also liked that story; the story was clever and realistic, for the most part. 

Overall I appreciated the stories here mostly for the beautiful writing, and the sense of place. I have not read either of Doerr's two novels and I would like to do that. She published her first novel, Stones for Ibarra, in 1984 at the age of 74, after she had completed her B.A. degree.

What is left for me to read in this collection? There are four stories left in the Mexico section. I look forward to those. Next are four stories in a section called "Memory." Some are very short, some medium length. There is one last story, "Evie: A Life." Readers have praised that story. So I will return to those stories, and I expect them to be good reads.

Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote by Gordon A. Martin, Jr.

 

This description at Goodreads is excellent:

Forrest County, Mississippi, became a focal point of the civil rights movement when, in 1961, the United States Justice Department filed a lawsuit against its voting registrar Theron Lynd. While thirty percent of the county's residents were black, only twelve black persons were on its voting rolls. United States v. Lynd was the first trial that resulted in the conviction of a southern registrar for contempt of court. The case served as a model for other challenges to voter discrimination in the South, and was an important influence in shaping the Voting Rights Act of 1965.

Count Them One by One is a comprehensive account of the groundbreaking case written by one of the Justice Department's trial attorneys. Gordon A. Martin, Jr., then a newly-minted lawyer, traveled to Hattiesburg from Washington to help shape the federal case against Lynd. He met with and prepared the government's sixteen black witnesses who had been refused registration, found white witnesses, and was one of the lawyers during the trial.

Decades later, Martin returned to Mississippi and interviewed the still-living witnesses, their children, and friends. Martin intertwines these current reflections with commentary about the case itself. The result is an impassioned, cogent fusion of reportage, oral history, and memoir about a trial that fundamentally reshaped liberty and the South.

My thoughts:

Count Them One by One: Black Mississippians Fighting for the Right to Vote is an impressive account of one trial (United States vs. Theron Lynd) in Forrest County, Mississippi that affected the voting rights of blacks in Mississippi in 1962. The author, Gordon A. Martin, Jr., was a lawyer at the time and worked on the trial, traveling often between Washington, D.C. and various parts of Mississippi to find witnesses for the trial. Later Martin became a Trial Court judge. Twenty seven years after the Lynd trial, he traveled back to Mississippi to interview the witnesses in that trial, and discuss their experiences during the trial and how they had experienced the changes in Mississippi since that time. He combines his experiences while working on the trial and the interviews with the witnesses in the 1990s into a moving account of their story.

I am grateful that the author decided to write this book. It was an eye-opener for me, often depressing to read about the treatment of blacks who wanted to be able to vote. It was wrenching at times to look back to the 1960's and read about what life was like in the South at that time. At that time I was in my early teens and I was living in Alabama. 

Reading about civil rights and the disparities between whites and blacks in the American South is a depressing experience for me. But this book was uplifting in many ways because a dedicated group of people put so much effort into the case and it made a difference. Ultimately the outcome was that black people in Mississippi were able to register to vote and take a part in determining their future.

I liked that this book focused on one aspect of that subject, and one particular court case. That made it easier to feel like you knew the participants better and could empathize with their plight. The writing was excellent, and I liked the approach to the subject, with the emphasis on the witnesses and the preparation for the trial.

It was sobering reading this book at a time when voting rights are again being threatened.

This book is dedicated to Gordon A. Martin, Jr.'s daughter:

For my daughter, Constance, who as a baby moved to Washington with Stephanie and me and who never lost interest in this book.

Constance Martin is a fellow book blogger at Staircase Wit. I have enjoyed reading her blog for years. I know that she is proud to have a father who played such an important role in the  struggle for civil rights and documented the efforts of those participating in the trial.

Short Story Wednesday: Books from the Book Sale

 

Since I already own so many short story collections and anthologies, not to mention all my husband's short story books, I always plan to avoid those books at the Planned Parenthood book sale. This weekend, on the second day I visited, I got stuck in front of the table of short story collections and bought a lot more of them than I should have.

Below are three of my new short story books. None of them are very long, which is a good thing. 

Walk the Blue Fields by Claire Keegan

Claire Keegan is an Irish writer who has gotten a lot of attention (and awards) for her novels and short story books in the last few years. I have some of her books in eBook format, but have not yet read any of them. So I picked up a paperback edition of her second book of short stories. From the back of the book: "Walk the Blue Fields is an unforgettable array of quietly wrenching stories about despair and desire in modern-day Ireland."

166 pages, 7 stories.

Seasonal Work by Laura Lippman

Laura Lippman is a well-known American mystery author and journalist; she worked for the Baltimore Sun for many years. In 2003, she published the first book in the Tess Monaghan series. Monaghan is a private investigator, based in Baltimore. Lippman has also written a good number of standalone mysteries. I have read two mysteries in the Monaghan series, but none of the standalone books, which I have always thought were about subjects too tense for me. The short stories in this book were written between 2009 and 2020, and Tess Monaghan is in some of them but not all of them, I think. 

322 pages, 11 stories.

The Shell Collector by Anthony Doerr

I have read nothing by American author Anthony Doerr. He is the author of All the Light We Cannot See, for which he won the Pulitzer Prize for Fiction, and Cloud Cuckoo Land. I was interested in this book of short stories because I thought reading them might get me interested in his novels.

218 pages, 8 stories.