My Pile of Possibiities for Atmosphere August!

[00:00:08]Hi readers, it's Lori. Welcome back to my channel Books and Kim Paper. And if this is your first time, hello. Welcome.

[00:00:14]Happy that you're here.

[00:00:16]Today we're going to talk about a pile of possibilities for Atmosphere August.

[00:00:23]So let's get started. Atmosphere August is one of the names for these months that I have selected for us to read something that is kind of fun, maybe, and connected to these prompts. So this is currently Jolly July, and I just finished a book in Jolly July that I will talk about soon. So that was fun.

[00:00:44]And for Atmosphere August, I, when I first named it that, I thought of all the ways in which atmosphere is really everywhere in books, right? It almost can't not be in a book. So you have a great opportunity to read whatever the heck you want in the month of August, if you should choose to join this read-along. We don't read the same books, and so that's always fine as well. But here are some that I could read during the month of August, and at least one of them I need to get back to.

[00:01:16]So I've already started it. One of them I've read before.

[00:01:20]So it would be a reread for me.

[00:01:22]And the rest of them would all be new.

[00:01:24]So the first one, which I have not read, but I think my partner did. This is a used copy of The Devil in Massachusetts by Marion L.

[00:01:33]Starkey. I have always been fascinated with this area of the United States, and in particular the Salem Witch Trials, which were so tragic because so many women were killed because of this belief that they were witches. And so it's dark, difficult, and also probably an important read, A Modern Inquiry into the Salem Witch Trials. I have been to Boston. I have been through that space where some of these women were actually hanged, and it was very emotional. I highly recommend that you go to that area, to Salem and to Boston and to a number of places in that space because it's a great great opportunity for you to study history. And I do love to study history.

[00:02:25]I just don't do it as much now as I used to. I feel like I'm being called and drawn back into that space though. So, this would be a good one if you really want to understand kind of what sparked the Salem Witch Trials, and then of course what happened during that space.

[00:02:42]So, it was 1692.

[00:02:45]And this particular Salem Village experience was like sort of the one that everybody thinks about when they think about witch hunts, but there were witch hunts in other cities as well. So, it underlines at the event in history of the power of self-righteousness, fantasy, and fear to turn decent people into fanatical persecutors.

[00:03:06]It happens.

[00:03:08]It happened [clears throat] during World War II as well as other wars, and the atmosphere in this is really dark. So, I think that this would be a great selection for Atmosphere August. Then I have this one.

[00:03:22]Completely different experience.

[00:03:25]A rector who's a bachelor, so he has as some of the people in this book did, he has his religious beliefs and he has things that he does to support other people's religious beliefs. But ultimately, this is a story about Mitford and the people who live there.

[00:03:41]And I loved this one. This would be a reread for me if I were to pick it back up. And I also got like five others in this series, and they sit on my shelves.

[00:03:53]There they sit. So, I would like to get back to this. I have said more than once, Father Tim is in these high green hills. The air is pure, the village is charming, and the people are generally lovable, but Father Tim wants something more. And the next thing you know, a dog shows up to be his companion, and there's lots of other relationships in here. This one is tiny print, but wait till you see the next one. It's not that tiny, but I loved this. I really did, and it's time for me to reread it. I've never parted with it, so that's why it looks so old, and I think I probably got it used in the in the time, too. All right, so the smallest print I've ever seen in my life, Ballykissangel, A Sense of Place. And when I saw that I still had this, A Sense of Place really stuck out to me because place is often the atmosphere.

[00:04:46]The atmosphere can also be people's feelings. It can also be the actual atmosphere in the space in a sense, but in this case it is Ireland, which I love. But here, you guys, this is the size of this I don't know. I just don't know. It has uh French flaps, it has deckled edges, and it has the tiniest print I've ever seen. Now, this also, if you have seen the series Ballykissangel, which I have watched more than once, you know that there are characters in that series, and so they are still here as well. So, this is I would suggest this is a novel that is based on the series, which doesn't happen as often as a series based on a novel, but yes, if you haven't seen this, I love her name, Assumpta. Assumpta.

[00:05:42]Uh if you haven't seen this, I highly recommend it.

[00:05:46]It was on BritBox, I think, for a while, but I'm sure it's still somewhere where you can find it. And my library actually has, I recently talked about this Kanopy, which is a place for you to go through your library to watch things for free, and it's often at I think on Kanopy, but it's also at my library, if you have a library that still has DVDs in that space, so you could probably get to it there as well.

[00:06:13]But I highly recommend Ballykissangel, and one of these days I'm going to get to Ireland. I swear it.

[00:06:21]All right, now for something completely different.

[00:06:25]The atmosphere here is literally very strange. This is Illuminae, which is the first book in The Illuminae Files series, and this is the tagline is First Survive, Then Tell the Truth, Amy Kaufman and Jay Kristoff.

[00:06:42]I've had book two and book three for a long >> [laughter] >> This is a chonker, but it also has a variety of things in it that would keep it from being as long maybe as it seems to be. For example, this is one of the pages.

[00:07:02]So, it has a very unique setup, epistolary based, and lots of text messages, some things that are crossed out in documents, um yeah, all kinds of different mixed media.

[00:07:18]Really, this is not a drill.

[00:07:21]I love it, but I've never gotten to it.

[00:07:24]And you know how I am, I'm just kind of getting back into the fantasy space.

[00:07:28]However, this one is literally >> [laughter] >> atmospheric.

[00:07:34]2575 is the year this is set in. Two rival mega-corporations are at war over a planet that's little more than an ice-covered speck, but now with enemy fire raining down on them, exes Kady and Ezra, who used to be a couple, are barely even talking to each other and [snorts] are forced to escape on the evacuating fleet. So, this is these people going up into space. And if I like this one, I have Gemina. And then I have the last one, which I can't recall what it's called, but this would be a big book summer.

[00:08:10]It would also be a lot to take on.

[00:08:13]>> [laughter] >> Something a little smaller in that vein is The Astral Library by Kate Quinn, and I just recently acquired this. I do adore Kate Quinn.

[00:08:25]This is [clears throat] a departure from some of her other historical novels. As I'd mentioned not long ago, I of course also love that this has sprayed edges, but that's not the reason why I bought it.

[00:08:37]The atmosphere right here is incredible, but you probably saw from the title that Astral Library means that this is in some sort of a fantasy space, right?

[00:08:48]This is the Boston Public Library, where Alex Watson >> [snorts] >> has been in foster care with not the best life and the best people, and she's always loved books. So, she goes to work in this library, meets the librarian.

[00:09:07]She takes her on and under her wing, and the next thing you know, she discovers that there is a a different space and atmosphere in this [clears throat] library than she would have anticipated.

[00:09:23]Can't wait, and this would probably be an easy one for me. You guys know, I said this before, but great tagline, great addition.

[00:09:33]Kate Quinn, can't go wrong, right?

[00:09:37]On the same vein, I got this one recently, too. So, I just talked about this not long ago. This is the Astronaut Wives Club by Lily Koppel. I think it's Koppel or Capel.

[00:09:47]This was part of a book bargain space used book seller like um auditorium is the word I'm looking for in New Orleans that I got to go to with my kids uh couple of months ago.

[00:10:02]But, this is a true story about these women who were the wives of the astronauts that went up into They are the Mercury 7 astronauts, and they went up into space, and they had these women had an extraordinary life as a result of their husbands becoming famous for having done this. This was at the beginning of the space age, really. And, there was a lot of fear. There wasn't any certainty that these men were going to come back.

[00:10:29]And, [snorts] so these women really must have had a tricky life. But, they had tea with Jackie Kennedy. They were on the cover of Life magazine, and they grew into be fashion icons.

[00:10:40]>> [snorts] >> So, Annie Glenn, who was John Glenn's wife, Rene Carpenter, Trudy Cooper, um yeah, there's just a a number of them, and I can't wait to get to this. I would like to read a non-fiction. This one is not even 300 pages. So, I could get through this easily, but I just think the atmosphere of this and of their relationship as a group would probably be very entertaining. So, I would like to see if that's true. Now, this one is a little bit darker, deeper, weirder, and I've had it for a bit.

[00:11:16]And, it's in an atmosphere that none of us ever want to experience. Trust me on that. But, this is For Whom the Bell b e l l e Tolls, and this one is by J.C. Allyn, and I've had it since it came out. This one also is gorgeous. I can't tell you I that I don't buy books because of their sprayed edges, although I know a lot of YouTube content creators really collect sprayed edge books. I get them when it really feels like this is something that is more than just sprayed edges. So here's the internal flap of this.

[00:11:53]But this is about Lily, which I'm hub because my grand dog's name is Lily and Lily isn't really thrilled as she's found herself in the afterlife. Who would be? So she's really actually kind of drawn there. She really feels like, you know, this might be her best job ever because she's been her career has really been in customer service all of her life. So she now begins to help hell's demons and directing souls to their rightful circles with more than a hint of sass.

[00:12:26]So here's what I'm going to read you because I think this is funny. It says a memo from the help desk, which is spelled hell, right? Okay. The following are for all future employees. Please note that these are not rules. If they were, the personality type often drawn to the help desk would be would break them out of spite. Instead, consider the following to be guidelines. Things will get weird. Depending on your sense of humor, it might be funny, but I can guarantee things will at some point get weird.

[00:12:55]Two, dealing with souls can take a toll on you. Cope with that however you need to. A lot of us prefer puns.

[00:13:04]Leave snacks unattended in the break room at your own risk.

[00:13:09]If you see a three-headed dog that is not a regular hellhound, please call the underworld. Cerberus has gotten out again. And always read your memos. I'll see you in hell. Good luck, Lily.

[00:13:23]Love to get to this. Also would work for a big book summer. This one is chunky as well. So, without the bonus chapter, 624 pages.

[00:13:34]I think it's worth every page though. Uh I hope so anyway. If it's not, I'm going to be very disappointed cuz that's why I bought it. And then here's one I started and didn't finish. Buddy reading with my friend Andy who's so forgiving, A Drop of Corruption by Robert Jackson Bennett.

[00:13:51]Talked [clears throat] about it multiple times. Book two. Not going to tell you a whole lot about this, but it does pick up where Anna and Din kind of left off in book one, even though that one was kind of settled into that space. It So, it's it it does continue in the same atmosphere, but it also um has a different plot. Something else happens in this particular case. So, I don't want to tell you a whole lot about that, but if you want to start with book one, that is called A Tainted Cup or The Tainted Cup. The Tainted Cup.

[00:14:23]I really enjoyed it a lot. I think I gave five stars. If not, I know I gave it four >> [snorts] >> cuz I don't know that I cried. But anyway, I love the designs of these. I love the way that he writes these. There was nothing wrong with this. I got to page 162 and chapter 22.

[00:14:41]And then I This is funny. This is ironic. Believe in yourself. This was my um bookmark. I would like to finish this this year. That is a goal for me. There is a third one coming out. I can't remember when. It may have already come out cuz I've been a little daft about getting into the space of what's coming next, but I'm catching up here.

[00:15:05]And I really like this author. I like the way he set up this atmosphere, this setting. It And that's really true for all of this. So, this setting is somewhere in a mystery place.

[00:15:19]This one is in hell. So, you could um go there if you wanted to temporarily.

[00:15:26]This one is in a fantasy library, also great. This one is in a group of women who are real-life women who were actually in this little club and their husbands went into the literal atmosphere.

[00:15:41]This one is very speculative sci-fi and epistolary, which I think would be a lot of fun even though it is a chonker as well. This is the month of chonkers with the exception of Valley of the Dolls except that even if it is only 224 pages long, my friends, it doesn't mean that it doesn't feel like double that because of the tiny size of this print. I may have to get this on audio or something because that just seems like it's unfair, but there you go.

[00:16:14]>> [laughter] >> You could go to Mitford, which is a sweet little place for you to really feel the love, the atmosphere of friendship, the atmosphere of spiritual reunion, and of belief in others, and of some kind of cranky people. So, you know there's always cranky people in the atmosphere. And then we have some of the crankiest of all, The Devil in Massachusetts by Mary Ann Starkey.

[00:16:39]And this actually might be one of the scariest things I have read because it really actually happened. But, this is the atmosphere of the Northeast, which I actually really do adore despite the choices that they may have made back then in 1672.

[00:16:59]Is that what I said? 1692.

[00:17:02]So, I hope you enjoyed this video even though it is a bit dark, but um I really I if I could read all of these and take the entire month of August off, I would do it in a heartbeat, but I don't think that that's going to work. So, for now, I will just say that when August 1st comes in, I will pick the one that at that moment is calling me into one of these atmospheres, and I will maybe join you there should you choose one of these as well. So, let me know in the comments below which ones of these you might be interested in, which ones you might have read. I would love to hear anything about what you thought about them if you did. If these are completely out of your genre, and you also want to have something that is atmospheric August, then you can share some with me that you think you would read for atmosphere August. Even if you're not participating, I'd love to hear about that as well. Somebody asked me the other day if I was going to do this again next year, and I said, "I think so." Um but I I think it, you know, maybe it won't gain a lot of movement, so it just kind of depends on if it's something people still want.

[00:18:10]Also, they asked me if I was going to use the same categories for the months, or if I was going to make new ones, and I don't know the answer to that yet. So, let me know if you had new categories for the months, which ones you would choose that you could apply books to.

[00:18:25]Um I did not look at my ebooks and in particular because I had a pretty large stack, but I might take a look at those, too, and see if there's something that I might just want to bring to you that would be digital in nature rather than physical. So, we'll see.

[00:18:41]I am just playing around, having a good time, and getting back into the groove.

[00:18:46]So, I hope you are, too, and I thank you so much for watching, and as always, happy reading. Bye.