Books I Read In August

You can tell that I was in my history phase this month when you look at my book list for August. I've had a lot on my plate at work, and I'm studying Exodus for our youth group series starting tomorrow. The history books have been a great relaxation tool for when I need a pick-me-up.

The Art of Gathering by Priya Parker - the one work-related book I read over the past few weeks is also one of the best about the hospitality industry that I've ever read. It combines interpersonal communication and the world of event planning in ways I'd never thought about. I may not look at large-group travel the same again.

The Last Outlaws: The Desperate Final Days of The Dalton Gang by Tom Clavin - I knew about the Dalton Gang from reading a book about Jesse James, so it was fun to read a little deeper into their history, too. A lot of these outlaws came through Iowa, so that was particularly fascinating. It's difficult to read about all the things criminals have done to other people over the decades and centuries, and this book went into some pretty grim details.

The Woman at the Well by Dale Evans Rogers - the queen of the Western screen was an amazingly beautiful person, and her autobiography is a true testimony to what God did in her life. You wouldn't believe the personal horrors she went through, but she relied completely on her faith in the Lord to keep moving forward. An uplifting, encouraging read.

Lincoln's Spymaster: Allan Pinkerton, America's First Private Eye by Samantha Seiple - this Scholastic book is aimed at upper-level student readers, which made it so interesting for an adult like me. Much better than reading a 600-page volume on everything the man ever did, Pinkerton's life is detailed in story form and interspersed with pictures and lists that help visualize the scene. 

Our Assassinated Presidents by Stewart M. Brooks - while it may seem a tad morbid, I thoroughly enjoy the details behind the stories that we've always heard. My history classes in school never went beyond a cardboard cutout of our leaders, so to see how they were real people, just like us, is fascinating. 

The Roswell Legacy by Jesse and Linda Marcel - again, there's more to the history than meets the eye. Jesse's father was the first officer at the alleged space ship crash site in 1947, and Jesse himself saw pieces of the debris at his own kitchen table as a boy. I hoped this wouldn't be an out-to-prove-a-point story by someone with an agenda to sway the people, and I wasn't disappointed. It's a very interesting, science-based explanation of the event and some possibilities of what happened after the fact.

Dave Barry Slept Here: A Sort of History of the United States by Dave Barry - this is one of my favorite books of all time, right up there with Dave Barry's Book of Bad Songs. I rarely laugh out loud when I read (though I do cry and occasionally look confused), but this book is the exception. Everything in history occurred on October 8 to make memorizing dates easier, women and minorities are constantly achieving great things, and the important documents of our country have been "paraphrased" to be more truthful and easier to understand. A classic and absolutely perfect.

What was on your TBR pile in August?