Thursday, September 7, 2017

August Wrap-Up

August Snapshots















1. Cheyenne samples garbage. Vet bills ensue. August started with one of my dogs getting sick. Really, really sick. Like, dramatically-flopping-on-the-floor-shivering-and-drooling sick. After a trip to the emergency vet, we determined that the dog ate some old enchiladas and some mystery garbage out of my sister’s trashcan. The dog is better now, but she was miserable for days. I was going to end this segment by saying that Cheyenne learned the hard way that “what goes in must come out,” but that would be a lie. She didn’t learn crap from this experience. If you put a big platter of trash enchiladas in front of her right now, she’d gobble them in a heartbeat. #NoRegrets



This tweet is the story of my life




Cheyenne, pictured here being incorrigible






2. The Internet broke. Panic ensued. My Internet broke in the middle of August. It took about six hours to fix it. I spent six hours without access to Twitter. I’m pretty sure I should add this to my list of near-death experiences.









3. The sun disappeared briefly. Alcoholism ensued. Did you guys see the solar eclipse? Supposedly, I could see 91% of it from my house, but it was so cloudy that I didn’t see much of anything. The clouds were pretty, though. Also, my mom made a DIY eclipse viewer out of a wine box. This is undoubtedly the most “mom” thing I have ever witnessed.


Mom watching the eclipse


 
The dogs, pictured here being impressed by the eclipse



















4. Game of Thrones was on. Nonstop fangirling about Game of Thrones ensued. Guys, the season is over, and the next one doesn’t start for years. What am I supposed to do with my life? While I was recovering from GoT, I watched Fantastic Beasts and Where to Find Them. It was cute and fun and I recommend it, but NO ONE GETS BARBECUED BY DRAGONS in that movie! I miss Game of Thrones . . .









5. Redneck neighbors acquire never-ending supply of fireworks. Philosophical questions ensue. Where do rednecks get so many fireworks? And why do they think it’s okay to set them off every single night during the summer? And why do they set them off during the day? You can’t even see fireworks during the day. Just . . . why?










Books I Read


I read 12 books in August. Most of them were pretty good, too.






The Game of Love and Death – Martha Brockenbrough (reread)
So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed – Jon Ronson
Purple Hibiscus – Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Inside Out & Back Again – Thanhha Lai
Rebecca – Daphne du Maurier
Weird Things Customers Say in Bookstores – Jen Campbell
Treasure Island – Robert Louis Stevenson
Good Bones and Simple Murders – Margaret Atwood
My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman
The Bombs That Brought Us Together – Brian Conaghan
Fantastic Mr. Fox – Roald Dahl
My Cousin Rachel – Daphne du Maurier



I also made progress on my challenges. Click here to see how I’m doing.






Best Books of August





1. My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry – Fredrik Backman
2. So You’ve Been Publicly Shamed – Jon Ronson
3. Good Bones and Simple Murders – Margaret Atwood






Most-Viewed August Reviews











Most-Viewed August Non-Reviews









All The Things!



All The Things (AKA number of unread books on my TBR shelf) = 20 books.

I’m currently reading Company of Liars by Karen Maitland.








What did you do in August?















32 comments:

  1. We were pretty close to the eclipse, but it was a bit anti-climactic. It didn't really get dark, only dim. We did have the glasses, though, so we could look directly at it.

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    1. The eclipse was pretty anti-climactic for me, too. I was so excited for it, but I mostly just saw clouds.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  2. Oh my gosh, I laughed out loud through so much of this. Your dog, your mom, your neighbors. So funny. :D

    I can't even remember now, but I think we were in a 91% totality zone for the eclipse, too. I was able to see it at the very last minute, but I wasn't falling all over myself to see and ordering eclipse glasses for a million dollars or anything. Some people I know did do that and I was just like ???

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    1. I tried to watch the whole eclipse, but there were too many clouds. It was very disappointing.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  3. Oh that stinks about your dog. UGH. I love your moms way of viewing the eclipse. Yes to GoT!! That next season will be forever. Not happy about that. Looks like a great reading month. Hope September is great too.

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  4. Nice pics! I have a cat that did something like what your dog did- got a hold of some trash and threw up all over. And would happily do it again. Stupid cat. And Game of Thrones- ugh. Two years??

    And lol about rednecks- why are there so many of THEM? They live here too, and you'd think it was an Army training exercise over there. I heard some over Labor Day, because.. you know, any excuse apparently.

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    1. My neighbors are the loudest people ever. They have an outdoor TV, and they spend the whole night shouting at the TV and shooting off fireworks. I don’t understand. Don’t they need to sleep?

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  5. Ooh so glad you like The Game of Love and Death too!! I ADORE that one!

    And omg your dogggg. I'm glad she's okay but that must've been incredibly scary. My dog gets super anxious and actually chewed his own foot so badly it got infected once. Gah. Dogs. They like to keep us busy. BUT THEY ARE PRECIOUS. <3

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    1. My other dog chews her feet until they bleed. She does it because she has skin allergies. She’s always scabby and oozy. It’s gross.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  6. I'm experiencing severe withdrawal from Game of Thrones alreay. During the winter I plan to read the books so that should cover about 35 days...thankfully I have LOTS of posts still to do and that should last until the new series finally comes on...Fireworks-hate them. Bonfire Night is the one part of this time of year that I hate as we get fireworks all week and through every night.

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    1. I’m looking forward to your GoT posts! I own the first book, so I’ll read it eventually.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  7. Nice photos. And yes, it probably won't learn from experience what not to eat :)

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  8. My favorite part of this post is your mom with her wine box eclipse viewer. So funny! I'm glad your pup recovered---one time my dog ate a full bag of Halloween candy (chocolate, of course), wrappers and all. Yeah, no lessons learned there either.

    Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction

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    1. I can’t imagine how much vomit a bag of Halloween candy would produce. That must’ve been awful.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  9. I love that your mom made an eclipse viewer out of a wine box. That is just all kinds of awesome. Sorry to hear about the dog getting sick. My dogs would totally do do that. It sounds like I have time to get all caught up with Game of Thrones before the next season :) I hope you have a great September!

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    1. Yes, it looks like you’ll have YEARS to get caught up on GoT. I can’t wait that long.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  10. I missed the eclipse, but NJ didn't have a great view. A day without internet is hard. Super Storm Sandy left us with electricity for 8 days. It was the WORST! You don't realize how much time you spend on the internet until it is gone. I think I went to bed at 7pm because there was nothing to do, and we couldn't waste gas going places.

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    1. Wow, 8 days without electricity would suck. I’ve gone weeks without electricity, but I was camping, so there was other stuff to do.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  11. Awesome month you had! Glad you enjoyed the Hate U Give and I hate it when the internet goes out! Here's my monthly wrap up:

    http://rabbitearsbookblog.blogspot.com/2017/09/august-monthly-wrap-up.html

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  12. I'm glad Cheyenne is OK, AJ! It's scary when our dogs eat something that make them sick :(
    Our internet has been wonky for a while, too, and I just figured out last night why that was... my husband had put the router underneath the chest of drawers in the entrance, instead of on top of it. Everything works fine now.
    Have a wonderful week ahead and happy reading! I hope September will be an excellent month for you!
    Lexxie @ (un)Conventional Bookviews

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    1. I’m glad you were able to solve your Internet problem. It seems like any tiny thing can break the Internet.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  13. My Grandmother Asked... is one of the books I absolutely loved reading too! I am liked so much. I love seeing your mum watching the eclipse. I had my laptop break down last week, so I know the feels about being away from the internet D:

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    1. I loved My Grandmother Asked . . . ! It’ll probably be one of my favorite books this year.

      Aj @ Read All The Things!

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  14. I always enjoy your humor in your posts. i know about dogs and eating things they shouldn't--my daughter left her Halloween candy on the floor of her closet. The dog ate more than half of it and vomited several times and was okay afterwards. Then the same dog ate my daughters nontoxic crayons and I cleaned up rainbow poop for a couple of days. Great pic of your mom! We saw an 85% eclipse here and got to see most of it between clouds.

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  15. What beautiful doggies! The cover for "Fantastic Mr. Fox" is really great!

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  16. I don't think I've visited your wrap up yet - I've been having such a busy month. Sorry!
    But your wrap up was very amusing. I even showed the lion-dog meme to my mom and she said it's so true :D sorry about your dogs... I'm glad it's all better now though.
    I can't believe you only have 20 things on your TBR! I literally have more than 550... arghhhh
    Wishing you a good September though :)

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  17. Ohh you have the most beautiful dogs! If it makes you feel any better, one of my dogs ate my youngest kiddo's raisin bagel and raisins are poisonous to dogs eeks. I had to give him hydrogen peroxide to make him get it out. And it wasn't working so on the phone the vet kept having me up his dose and then it finally worked, but it worked too well. And he was sick so much I had to take him to the vet hospital. GAH!!!! And YES they never learn *hangs head in shame for them*. Here's hoping they stay far away from the garbage and that you don't ever have to deal with that again. *hugs*

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  18. Your dog looks so cute but that has to be so scary. An old school friend found his dog trembling and rushed to the vet but wasn't in time. :( I quite like the set up of your wrap up! :D

    I read Treasure Island last week but I had bit more higher hopes for it.

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  19. DOGGIES!!!!

    I love 'Weird Things Customers Say in Book Shops!'

    Re: bad neighbours. Research your local fireworks laws. Sometimes there're restrictions on when they're supposed to be let off, when they can be purchased, etc. and then an anonymous tip might be in order... (can you tell that I have neighbour issues? Lol.)

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