August was a fairly slow month, reading wise, primarily because I got bogged down in David Weber's Off Armageddon Reef, which I eventually abandoned. It's presumably a good story, given its high rating on GoodReads, and I liked the premise: Humanity hides away on an alien planet in an effort to save itself from a ruthless alien race.

Sounds interesting, right? I sincerely wish I had found it as interesting as other readers, but I simply could not finish this one. Well. It happens.

Before I get into the stories I actually finished, I want to share a wonderful event Richard (my bestie/editor) and I attended in August, a magnificent reading by local author David Joy hosted by City Lights Bookstore at the historic courthouse in downtown Sylva, NC. David comes off as a good ol' boy from the backwoods, and he may well be, but he's also an intelligent, insightful man and has a lovely sense of humor. I haven't started any of his books yet (Richard's read the first two and loves them), but the first one is sitting on my to-be-read shelf, waiting for my attention.

Joy's fiction is considered to be Appalachian Noir in some circles and a tad literary in others. Given the fact that he's an award-winning author, that's probably to be expected. He's currently on a book signing tour, so if you're at all interested in hearing him speak, which I highly recommend, check out the events section of his website to see if he'll be near you anytime soon.

I've included his memoir Growing Gills: A Fly Fisherman's Journey below as well, for those who may be interested.

Author Donna Everhart appeared at City Lights Bookstore a few days after Joy's event, to promote her new release The Road to Bittersweet, but we were obligated elsewhere and had to miss it.

Now, on to more of the stories I've read.

I love short stories, and so I tend to read them fairly frequently. Not so much this month; as I said, I got a little bogged down in Weber's book, plus I've been writing and blogging quite a bit, which leaves less time for reading. I did manage to squeeze in two shorts, "The Magician Deletes Her Feed" by Kate Lechler and "Peanuts Aren't Nuts" by Courtney Zoffness.

I also managed to finish reading five novels and a non-fiction title, Amazon Decoded: A Marketing Guide to the Kindle Store by David Gaughran (only available on his website), which is part of my ongoing continuing education in marketing.

Of the five novels, I'd read Grave Sight by Charlaine Harris at least twice before, back when I worked at a local (ish) library. I was looking for a quick, light read after having to set aside Weber's book, and that's exactly what I got.

Three of the other books I read this month are notable either for their literary merit (as with Where Late the Sweet Birds Sang by Kate Wilhelm and The Pearl by John Steinbeck) or for their deep insight into modern social and technology issues (Little Brother by Cory Doctorow).

The Screaming Staircase by Jonathan Stroud is notable because it's not any of those things. Rather, it's one I picked up with several other titles in an effort to increase the number of reads available in my at-home library for younger readers. I'd read Stroud before, when my son was younger, and remembered enjoying his works. This one turned out to be a delightful Horror, something I don't normally read after dark when I'm alone.

Silly me, but I did with this one and ended up sleeping with one eye open. The finish is that creepy. The buildup is slow and requires a bit of patience, but it ends on a bang and is well worth the read.

Generally speaking, I usually read several books concurrently, usually one fiction, perhaps one anthology, and several non-fiction titles. Reading a variety of non-fiction at once keeps me from overloading, although it also draws out the amount of time it takes for me to actually finish reading a title.

Right now, I'm reading 2001: A Space Odyssey by Arthur C. Clarke. The particular edition I'm reading contains an introduction by Clarke explaining the origins of the story and how it was written. I enjoyed that as much as I've enjoyed the story. Hopefully, I'll finish it this weekend.

During David Joy's book signing event, he mentioned that when he's writing fiction, he only reads poetry so as not to absorb the voice of another writer. I'm not much for poetry, but I decided to give it a go and chose a collection of Robert Frost's works as a start. I absolutely adore his poem "Desert Places," and who doesn't like "The Road Not Taken"?

I confess, I'm skipping over some of the longer works. What can I say? I don't have the patience to decipher meaning from obscure rhymes. I've enjoyed a couple of the shorter pieces, however, and will mark those down for future study.

My main non-fiction read right now is Emotional Agility: Get Unstuck, Embrace Change, and Thrive in Work and Life by Susan David. Yes, I read self-help. It helps me and it helps my characters. 'Nuff said.

Oh, and I've already gotten a short story idea from reading it, something devious and a little terrifying. We'll see how that one works out.

I picked Emotional Agility up primarily because of the front cover pull quote by Susan Cain, the author of Quiet, one of my favorite non-fiction books. If you haven't read Quiet and you're an introvert or have an introvert in your life, I urge you to pick up a copy.

Finally, I'm reading two books geared toward authors: Plot Gardening by Chris Fox and Mailing Lists Unboxed by Patty Jansen. I don't pick these up often, mostly because I have so little reading time that I'm concentrating on fiction and my main non-fiction title. It's possible I'll still be reading them both at the end of September when I compile next month's list! And that's pretty normal for me. It often takes me a while to read non-fiction, as I'd rather take my time and absorb as much as I can in the first pass than rush and miss something.

And now, I'll leave you with a few books in my to-be-read pile that I'd like to read soon, some fiction, some non-fiction. Enjoy!