July in Review

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I read/listened to four books this month.  One, This is the Water, I reviewed in a separate post, so check it out here. 

1. Saga: Volume One by Brian K. Vaughan and Fiona Staples: This is a compilation of the first five issues of Saga, a comic about a couple from two different factions in an interplanetary war, who have a child, and must run to keep their family intact.  It is told from the future point of view of their daughter as they travel across planets and meet many different types of creatures, friends and foes.  I don't usually get into fantasy, but something about the grittiness and humor of this comic really appealed to me.  I buzzed right through the first volume, and was definitely disappointed to find that my library didn't have volume two.  I guess I'll have to buy it.

2012/ Image Comics/160 pages/Public Library

2. The Fever by Megan Abbott: I started this one on my phone as a galley, and it expired before I finished.  So, since it is a mystery, and I was about 40 pages from the end, I had to go to my local book store and read the end.  I mean, I couldn't wait to get it from the library.  And that is a testament to the story, since I really didn't know - at least not 100% - what was going to happen.  The book is based on a true story of a group of high school girls who broke out in a bout of hysterical illness, and the parents who attributed the illness to all sorts of environmental factors (dirty water, vaccines- the usual suspects). The girls in this book are a group of friends, one of whom is the narrator of the story, and the other two who are the first to break out in some sort of illness that causes a series of frightening seizures and tics, and which soon spreads across the female population at the school.  However, unlike the real story on which the incident is based, at least one of these girls' sickness is caused by something outside her own mind.  Abbott is a master of writing about the dark side of teenage girls in a way that feels genuine and not based on stereotype (well, not entirely).  I always enjoy her style of noir.

2014/Little, Brown/ 320 pages/ eGalley via the publisher and NetGalley

3. Let's Explore Diabetes with Owls by David Sedaris (audiobook):  This is the audiobook that I listened to while watering our huge yard each day before the start of the monsoon rains.  This is a task that I hate, so I was happy to have David Sedaris' familiar voice there to make me laugh.  I don't even like to read Sedaris books, because they are so much better read by the author on audio.  If you haven't tried many audiobooks, this would be a great place to start.  I love the essays in the collection about travel and family, and I don't so much love the fictional pieces at the end.  Sedaris is really at his best when he writes from experience.  I can't wait for the next collection.

2013/Hachette Audio/ 6 hours 25 minutes/ Audible subscription

So, that's it for me.  What books kept you company through the hot summer days?