Moonlight and Love Songs Never Out of Date

Archie is scandalized by my reading choice.

I'm going to go ahead and interrupt the vacation posts, with a traveling by books in July one. Especially since it's almost September now.

In July I only read five books. Since I was able to travel in real life, I figure I was okay with such a low number.

1.) The first book I read in July was "Valley of the Dolls", by Jacqueline Susann. It was written in 1966, and at that time I believe it was very sensational and considered debauched, but now it's pretty tame. It was fun to go back to that time, but sad that the women felt like they had to over medicate themselves to deal with their relationships with men. I'm sure there are plenty of women who still feel that way even now. Sigh.

2.) The Second book trip I took was "Where the Red Fern Grows", by Wilson Rawls. I first read this book in third or fourth grade and the author came to our school to read from it. It took me to The Ozarks in the 1920's. It was a great adventure story and I'm always a sucker for an animal saga. It was perfect Summer reading.

3.) I read "Modern Lovers" by Emma Straub. It takes place in New York City and deals with parents who were in a band back in the day that was considered pretty cool, but now they have their own children in high school and how they have to pass that torch, while still dealing with their younger adult selve's issues. I really liked it and the writing was excellent. A nice two-for-one book trip.

4.) I read Christopher Moore's "Noir" when we were on vacation, so I didn't have tons of time to take that trip within our trip, but it was so crazy and fun. It takes place in San Francisco right after World War II. It reads like an old detective novel, but it has aliens in it too. I thought it was a hoot.

5.) The last book I read was "Where'd You Go, Bernadette", by Maria Semple. I have heard the movie isn't that great, but I was very entertained by the book, which takes place in Seattle and everyone is rich and there is a lot of talk of architecture, and the main character is at first, not very likable.

All the books I read in July were a lot of fun. Of course, they can't beat our actual vacation, but I haven't seen much in this world that could.