Month in Review: August 2024

Literature

August was a month where I celebrated my summer Moomin binge, covered two more Oz books, and also knocked off three categories for the Nonfiction Reader challenge.

Here’s what I read during August:

Moominland Midwinter, Moominvalley in November, Comet in Moominland, Moominpappa at Sea by Tove Jansson – Moomin Week, Women in TranslationThe Scarecrow of Oz, The Sea Fairies, Sky Island by L. Frank Baum – Ozathon (plus related works)The Secret of Splint Hall by Katie CottonThe Discovery of France by Graham Robb – inspired by Paris in JulyThe Crimson Thread by Kate Forsyth Madame Bovary by Gustave Flaubert – Summer in Other LanguagesRemarkably Bright Creatures by Shelby Van PeltMurder Must Advertise by Dorothy Sayers – Reread

See my reviews on The StoryGraph

Language

You’ll notice I read a lot of whimsical and magical books this month, which I think I needed as a counterweight to my major challenge of the summer, getting through Madame Bovary in French. It defeated me in college (I read the English translation on the sly), but this time around I was greatly helped by the advent of e-books, which allow me to look up words without all that tedious searching in dictionaries. Aside from a lot of unfamiliar vocabulary, I found that the language was not too difficult, as Flaubert’s devotion to realism means he describes many things in great sensory detail, rather than using lots of obscure figurative language — though he does also do a good metaphor on occasion.

That said, one is often supposed to read between the lines. I had the feeling I missed a fair amount of what was communicated in more subtle ways, though I did certainly get the gist of the story, a very sad and pessimistic one. No wonder I needed regular doses of Moominmamma as an antidote!

Isabelle Huppert as Madame Bovary

Life

Another notable event in August was that I graduated from my two-year training in spiritual direction. When I started the program, I wrote one post about it thinking I’d do that on a regular basis, but ended up not doing a single follow-up post! It was quite an intense experience and seemed to need its own space. Our online graduation was very moving as our group of nine wonderful women blessed one another for our future ministry. Meeting such amazing people is what keeps me going when bad news seems overwhelming. There is also so much goodness, often working quietly and humbly. It gives me hope to know there are individuals of such generosity and courage out there in the world.

What gave you hope this month?

Linked at The Sunday Post at Caffeinated Book Reviewer, the Sunday Salon at Readerbuzz, and the Monthly Wrap-up Round-up at Feed Your Fiction Addiction