The summer will be coming to an end this month (in some ways. The weather won’t get there, but for most of us schedules and activities will cease to be summery before September). Which means it is plausible that you real readers still have a stack of “summer reading” on an end table or bookshelf somewhere. Meaning that you haven’t quite finished all those books you lined up for beaches and car rides and airports. Which means that I don’t need to go overboard with the recommendations this month. (Maybe I am just looking for an excuse to write a short entry this month as I am also catching up on some summer things that got submerged under an avalanche of busy.)

The major holidays in August are my birthday. And lots of other birthdays. So what do I even send your way as far as recommended reading? I have already given you summer reading recommendations, so I think in honor of myself I will just give you a few of my favorite books, but concentrating on books you haven’t thought of in a while or that I don’t get to talk about as much on the blog. Because it’s my birthday.

Anne of Green Gables, L. M. Montgomery. I re-read two series every year or two, and one of them is the complete series following Anne of Green Gables. I am also working on an adaptation. And thinking of becoming a Montgomery scholar. I often want to apologize for all this, when it seems like I am hopelessly backward for loving something old-fashioned and out-of-touch. But I am often surprised by just how legion the fans of Anne are… and where I find them.

Till We Have Faces, C. S. Lewis. Just when you thought you had a grasp on the many genres of Lewis, here comes this book: a re-telling of the Cupid and Psyche myth for adults. I have re-read this book several times. It is short. It is surprising. And I adore it.

Winnie-the-Pooh, A. A. Milne. So maybe you have thought about Pooh recently, but have you thought about reading the books? You don’t have to be a kid. They are funny and calming and, well, just great writing. And you could follow it up with The House at Pooh Corner and Now We Are Six. It’s especially a great read if you need a mental break or if you are not feeling well.

Rosencrantz and Guildenstern Are Dead, Tom Stoppard. I am actually a Tom Stoppard fan and a Shakespeare fan, and this play (and a great movie made from it by Stoppard himself) that spins off from Shakespeare characters in Hamlet is an excellent foray into both worlds. If you like to read plays, then this is the very top of my list. (You will need some knowledge of Hamlet to fully appreciate it.)

Frog and Toad Are Friends, Arnold Lobel. Lobel is one of my most-reviewed authors on The Starving Artist, because I love his simple, calm, old-world style. His wife, as well, was a talented artist who wrote a memoir I love about her experiences during the Holocaust, No Pretty Pictures. Are Frog and Toad gay? They are certainly gay icons. It turns out, or so they say, Lobel was gay and lived a double-life as a gay man and a husband and father with his life partner, Anita. There are probably gay themes to explore in Frog and Toad if you want to, but the thing is, Frog and Toad are not literally gay, as in they are not presented that way (for multiple reasons, including that there was no way that would have been published then). They are friends and I am so happy to be in a space with two same-sex friends who care for one another and enjoy one another. I seek out books that portray loving and deep friendships and I’m happy to sit there with Frog and Toad any day.

Where the Wild Things Are, Maurice Sendak. Sure, Sendak is a genius with illustration, but it wasn’t until I was an adult that I really appreciated Where the Wild Things Are. Now, I give it as a gift at every baby shower I go to. Why? Because I wish for every child that they have a home they can return to, no matter what sort of wild rumpus they get up to in this very big world.

The Hound of the Baskervilles, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle. I am also a Sherlock Holmes fan and this is my favorite of his stories/books. It’s short. It’s a great read if you are winding up for Halloween or if you like gothic fiction or classic detective tales.

Brand New Ancients, Kae Tempest. Not that many of us still read poetry once we leave school. Sadly. It hasn’t always been this way. But when I read my way through a list of favorite poems I was blown away by this modern, novella-length poem. The best way to enjoy it is read aloud by the artist since it’s meant to be performed, but I also loved reading it myself.

Orphaned Believers, Sara Billups. This isn’t a book for everyone, but it is a book for me and many others. It is part-memoir about a woman and her dying father, it is part history of the evangelical church, and it is part hope and call-to-action to all the masses who feel “orphaned” from the evangelical church. This book was calm in the storm and lighthouse on the shore for me when I was figuring out where to go from some of my disillusionment and disappointment regarding the American Church. We are certainly not alone.

Ruby Redfort series, Lauren Child. I love Lauren Child, which began with reading the Charlie & Lola books aloud to my kids (with an accent, of course). I am head over heels when it comes to her illustration style; (I am a collage artist as well). And I find her writing to be whimsical and down-right fun to read. Ruby Redfort is her series meant for older kids, so I find it a little more relatable, but I also love Clarice Bean, and Lola of course.

How to Train Your Dragon series, Cressida Cowell. If you think you’re all set with just watching How to Train Your Dragon or any of its spin-offs, you are sorely mistaken. The 12-book series has almost nothing to do with the Dragon franchise. Instead, you’ll read the first book and find that you are charmed, tickled, and intrigued. The books are wildly imaginative and in the review, I call both Cowell and her college friend, Lauren Child (!), children who have never quite grown up, like Willy Wonka and/or Roald Dahl.

Carry On, Mr. Bowditch, Jean Lee Latham. I might be overdoing how highly I recommend this book, but it was a surprise for me and I utterly enjoyed it. Need some out-loud bedtime reading? Maybe try this one. As for why I have so many children’s books on this list… Not sure. Maybe because reading them will give your mind and emotions a break. Maybe because I have read more overlooked children’s books than adult.

For my birthday, I received one book (at least so far) and that is Coming Home by Brittney Griner. Now, I have revealed before that I like to read the occasional famous-person biography, but I have to have some sort of reason. For this one, I really wanted to know what it was like in a Russian prison camp; it’s not every day that you get to hear what being taking prisoner in Russia really means. There’s Solzhenitsyn’s Gulag Archipelago and the Pulitzer-winning Gulag, but those are about the Soviet Union’s prison camp system in the 20th century. I don’t know how typical Griner’s experience was, but I am willing to read what she went through and hear what she has to say.

As for anticipated publications of the month, we have:

The Housekeeper’s Secret, Iona GreyThere Are Rivers in the Sky, Elif ShafakThe Truth According to Ember, Danica NavaYou Will Never Be Me, Jesse Q. Sutanto

If I See You Again Tomorrow, Robbie Couch (Obviously, I already read it.)Cat’s Cradle, Kurt VonnegutThe Marriage Portrait, Maggie O’FarrellRadiance, Catherynne M. ValenteTwelfth Night, William ShakespeareMartyr!, Kaveh AkbarI am also going to a reading for ADHD Is Awesome by Penn Holderness

The best books I’ve read in the past month are:

Dreadful, Caitlin RozakisIf I See You Again Tomorrow, Robbie CouchI also read the first half of Midnight’s Children by Salman Rushdie before it was pushed back to October (for one of my book clubs). It is excellent but dense and I am looking forward to finishing it in the fall.