August Sunday Salon

I've decided to try out posting for The Sunday Salon, only I'm going to limit these posts to summaries of last month's reading. I'm starting a little late, but this will be my August round-up. 

In August, I participated in The Middle Eastern Literature theme read on LibraryThing, it ran July through September and I've read quite a few Middle Eastern-themed books over the past few months. In August, I finished The Lemon Tree, by Sandy Tolan. 

I have also been taking the a free internet course Fantasy and Science Fiction: The Human Mind, Our Modern World from Coursera. It's a fun little class (notwithstanding some growing pains for the system and the persistence of mean "anonymous" people on the forum). For that, I read: Alice in Wonderland, by Lewis Carroll; Dracula, by Bram Stoker; and The Bells and The Philosophy of Composition, by Edgar Allan Poe. 

As group reads for the 1001 Books You Must Read Before You Die group on LibraryThing, I read Agnes Grey, by Anne Bronte; and attempted to read White Teeth, by Zadie Smith. I gave up on White Teeth because it had too much crudity and obscenities, though I thought it was a rather witty book. 

I read Beauty, by Robin McKinley as a group read with The Green Dragon on LibraryThing. The Embittered Ruby, by Nicole O'Dell for a group read at a Christian Fiction group ACFW...I'm leading the discussion for it in October. Skios, by Michael Fryan for the Booker 2012 longlist. 

And, finally, I read Inheritance, by Christopher Paolini; Al Capone Shines My Shoes, by  Gennifer Choldenko;  and Riptide, by Douglas Preston & Lincoln Child just for fun. 

I finished only one issue of The Economist and one issue of New Scientist. 

I've been preparing to read Paradise Lost, by John Milton, and have made a few new posts on my blog. 

In September, my plans are to participate in the R.eaders I.mbibing P.eril VII challenge, I'll continue with the Fantasy and Science fiction class on Coursera, I'll continue reading Booker longlisted books (at least those that are available in the US), I'll START reading the Wellcome Trust Book Prize longlist (at least those that are available in the US), and at the end of the month I'll start another Coursera class in Greek and Roman Mythology. So I'll have a busy month ahead! :)