AUGUST 2025 READING LIST
During the month of August, there were about ten days of final summer time exuberance before the school year commenced. During that time, I was traveling to the beautiful city of Seattle and stumbled across several new books to add to my bookshelf. Some were humbly nestled in Little Free Libraries, while others were found at a local bookshop, where they sold new and used books. Another I found tucked away at my local library. Little did I know that the one-dollar book about wilderness would have such a hold on me. I also learned about a book about adventure and discovery, written by a favorite author who brings non-fiction writing to life like no one else I have ever experienced.
Here are the books I read in August:
RIVER OF THE GODS BY CANDICE MILLARD
The Nile River is the longest in the world. Its fertile floodplain allowed for the rise of the great civilization of ancient Egypt, but for millennia, the location of its headwaters was shrouded in mystery. Pharaonic and Roman attempts to find it were stymied by a giant, labyrinthine swamp, and subsequent expeditions made no further progress. In the 19th century, the discovery and translation of the Rosetta Stone sparked a surge of interest in ancient Egypt. At the same time, European powers sent off waves of explorations intended to map the unknown corners of the globe - and extend their colonial empires.
Two British men - Richard Burton and John Hanning Speke - were sent by the Royal Geographical Society to claim the prize for England. Burton was already famous for being the first non-Muslim to travel to Mecca, disguised as an Arab chieftain. He spoke twenty-nine languages, was a decorated soldier, and literally wrote the book on sword-fighting techniques for the British Army. He was also mercurial, subtle, and an iconoclastic atheist. Speke was a young aristocrat and Army officer determined to make his mark, passionate about hunting, Burton's opposite in temperament and beliefs.
Yet there was a third man on both expeditions, his name obscured by imperial annals, whose exploits were even more extraordinary. This was Sidi Mubarak Bombay, who was enslaved and shipped from his home village in East Africa to India. When the man who purchased him died, he made his way into the local Sultan's army. Eventually, he traveled back to Africa, where he used his resourcefulness, linguistic prowess, and raw courage to forge a living as a guide. —Goodreads
I was already familiar with Candice Millard, having read her surprisingly captivating book on the presidency of James Garfield, “Destiny of the Republic: A Tale of Madness, Medicine and the Murder of a President.” I had never read a presidential biography (and I have read more than two dozen) that read more like a thriller or murder mystery. So engrossed, I read through the book rapidly, hanging on Millard’s every word about a deranged office seeker, Alexander Graham Bell's invention of locating the assassin’s bullet, and the life of James Garfield himself. It was to my delight that I discovered Millard had written several more books; however, River of the Gods sounded more intriguing than her book on Roosevelt or the other one on Churchill. I have always had a passion for Egyptian history, and the mystery of the Nile's source was closely aligned with my interests.
First off, Millard is brilliant at relating history. She has an incredible ability to captivate the reader with the depth of her research on each person in her books, as well as to show little to no bias when relating the life story of each individual. I developed a thorough dislike of Speke due to his hobby of big game hunting and his serious disregard for nature. However, Milliard relates the story of the English soldier with some sympathy, not allowing someone like me to write him off entirely. I naturally took the side of Burton, the academic and one who seemed more curious about discovery and learning rather than conquest. However, Millard weaves through different aspects of Burton's life that were not wholly likable. This leads to the inevitable path of staying focused on the premise, which was about these two men, who were both determined to discover the source of the Nile.
Millard also does well to give credit where credit is due, which are usually the unknown or unsung names that have not been written about throughout history. She recounts the story of Sidi Mubarak Bombay, a former slave who was initially sent to India. Without Bombay, neither Speke nor Burton would have made the discoveries they had or even lived to tell their tales. Until the very end, I was captivated by the sense of adventure, the intrigue, and the wonderful development of understanding more about a much lesser-known part of history.
Footnote: I listened to this book via Libby, and the narrator, Paul Michael, also did an excellent job of relating Millard’s words as well as giving voices to each person, enriching the reading (listening) experience.
WILDERNESS AND THE AMERICAN MIND BY RODERICK NASH
The wilderness was the basic ingredient of American civilization. From the raw materials of the physical wilderness, Americans built a civilization; with the idea or symbol of wilderness, they sought to give that civilization identity and meaning. —Goodreads
I happened to find "Wilderness and the American Mind" at my local library for a dollar, and I cannot express how much that one dollar has been an investment I hardly expected to occur. Nash beautifully expressed both a history and a philosophy on the topic of wilderness. I walked away from the book newly educated and with a longing for space away from the over-civilized world.
One topic I thought intriguing was man's fear of the wilderness, and if left to their own devices, men would revert to some primitive nature. This seemed both wildly absurd and completely obvious. A man (or woman) has a choice, moral ones even, when faced with a dilemma or finds themselves positioned to seek survival. However, extreme circumstances and environments can cause a shift in morals and ethics, all in the sake of survival. This brought to mind how savage people can be in city spaces surrounded by civilization, technology, and numerous modern advancements. And yet, people do not prioritize their health, the well-being of others, and often shirk their community responsibilities, are willing to lie, cheat, and steal if unthwarted, and even lack, to some degree, an absolute belief in the value of human life. This led me to think about the struggles the country is facing and how much of it could be due to the lack of natural spaces needed to decompress the overstimulated mind, as well as the overwhelming reality that our cities and towns have become a type of wilderness in and of themselves.
Because of Nash, I have now been exposed to the names Aldo Leopold, Henry David Thoreau, John Muir, Wallace Stegner, Wendell Berry, Edward Abbey, Ralph Waldo Emerson, and Gary Snyder. I was familiar with several names, but had not appreciated their contribution to the efforts in both conservation and appreciation of natural places. One line pulled from John Muir hit at the heart of a physical struggle I had not been able to find the words to explain:
“Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wilderness is a necessity; and that mountain parks and reservations are useful not only as fountains of timber and irrigating rivers, but as fountains of life.”
I have been that tired, nerve-shaken, and two words that precisely describe the exhaustion of these modern times, over-civilized. After reading Wilderness, I attempted to find a place in the wild untouched by human hands or the influence of contemporary society. I was to be disappointed. It wasn’t until I was traveling to a national forest that I finally found space to breathe, and yet I found my time there not nearly long enough to heal.
I was also intrigued by the history of the land of the Americas and how, to the known world, by current historical standards, the New World appeared to be a fresh start, a clean slate, where all the development and mistakes of the eastern hemisphere (namely Europe) could be given another chance at a better life. What floored me was the hungry appetite of industry and how much people like Leopold and Muir had to fight to conserve precious land and natural monuments despite this second chance.
The central theme of Nash’s books is the precarious balance of human consumption versus nature conservation. On the one hand, utilizing natural resources and destroying habitats and wilderness is essential for providing the basic necessities of life: food, water, and shelter. On the other hand, there are ecosystems, small worlds that live in nature, and the recognition of the therapeutic attributes of nature, which lends to the idea that nature should be preserved and even protected. Battles over land near Yosemite, the promise of mining near the Grand Canyon, and the potential for timber in the Redwood forests have all been battles between commercial interests and conservation efforts. It is a battle we still face today, and studies in the fields of ecology and biology only further our understanding of the indispensability of wild places.
“We need wilderness to get away from the technology that gives us the illusion of mastering rather than belonging to the environment. In wilderness, we sense ourselves to be dependent members os and an interdependent community of living creatures that together derive their existence from the sun.”
I conclude by stating that, considering this book had a Third Edition imprint (there are also fourth and fifth editions) on the cover, I assumed the book would read more like a textbook rather than a riveting history. I was inspired by the portrayals of those who dedicated their lives to exploring the wild places and advocating for national parks and forests. My life will never be the same after reading this book, as it moved me to recognize my exhaustion from being over-civilized and not connected enough to the natural world. I long to read more, having added many of those whom Nash spoke of in his book to my reading list. I also now have a longing, so strong and vibrant that it is unshakable. I hunger for space away from power lines, planes, cars, and the noise of all of society's inhabitants. Away from the beeping, screeching, humming, scraping, crying, shouting, squealing, and booming noises of urban life. However, as I have found, finding a patch of wilderness in the 21st century is more challenging than one might think.
“Whenever the light of civilization falls upon you with a blighting power… go to the wilderness… Dull business routine, the fierce passion of the marketplace, the perils of envious cities become but a memory… The wilderness will take hold of you. It will give you good red blood; it will turn you from a weakling into a man… You will soon behold all with a peaceful soul”
CHEERFUL WEATHER FOR THE WEDDING BY JULIA STRACHEY
It is a brisk English March day, and Dolly is getting ready to marry the wrong man. Waylaid by the sulking admirer who lost his chance, an astonishingly oblivious mother bustling around and making a fuss, and her own sinking dread, the bride-to-be struggles to reach the altar. "Dolly knew, as she looked round at the long wedding-veil stretching away forever, and at the women, too, so busy all around her, that something remarkable and upsetting in her life was steadily going forward.” —Goodreads
I found Strachey’s short novel at a Little Free Library in Seattle during my visit over the summer. The Ballard neighborhood is full of these buy nothing meets literature structures that come in all kinds of shapes, sizes, and themes. I had never heard of Strachey, but the classic, minimalist artwork of the cover led me to think I may enjoy it or at least glean something from its pages. Also, the enticement from the back cover of a bride tipping back a bottle of rum was too irresistible to pass up.
The writing was more whimsical and funny than I had expected it to be. With everyone running around, there were all sorts of characters with their own thoughts and opinions on the quickly advancing nuptials. I was kept in suspense the entire book of whether or not Dolly would go through with her wedding, even though she believed her betrothed was the wrong man, or if she would pick up her skirts and race off with her former admirer.
Where I struggled was the lack of character development. I understand the excitement of beginning a story en medias res, but I wanted to know more about the characters. Perhaps with more pages, I could have understood more of Doll’y’s final decision, but without that knowledge, I felt her character lacked depth.
THE MAKING OF A MARCHIONESS, PART I AND II BY FRANCES HODGSON BURNETT
The story follows thirty-something Emily who lives alone, humbly and happily, in a tiny apartment and on a meager income. She is the one that everyone counts on but no one goes out of their way to accommodate. Her fortune changes, however, and the second half chronicles her adaptation to her new life and the dangers that arise from those who stand to lose most from her new circumstances. —Goodreads
After reading one Persephone Book, I decided to pull another off my bookshelf that I had been meaning to read for a while. “The Making of a Marchioness” appeared on my radar, as I am a huge fan of Hodgson Burnett and had not been familiar with her works beyond the ones meant for children. What caught me off guard was how utterly different each part of the book turned out to be. The first read like a fairy tale, while the second brought in dark and sinister plot lines and characters.
In the first part, Emily is portrayed as having a benevolent and kind demeanor, yet she is depicted as a woman without ambition. I found it hard to relate to her lack of any goal or plan for the future. What I did love was how kindly people took to her, whether they belonged to the upper crust of society or the working class. There is something so charming when a character can dance between two worlds.
In the second part, I liked the intrigue of the envious heir, Alec Osborn. The genre did shift, and the suspense felt more like the Georgette Heyer books I have read recently, with all the marital intrigue and miscommunications. Suddenly, a plot of murder ensues, all the while the relationship between Emily and Hester, Alec's wife, teeters back and forth. I did find Emily’s innocence to be rather unconvincing and could not fully believe she was oblivious to the dark motives of those she invited into her home.
Regardless of the parts that felt a little far-fetched and less believable, I could not put this book down. Emily’s lack of selfishness was refreshing compared to many characters I've read, who are only out for themselves. Moral questions and altruism are common themes in the works of Hodgson Burnett, and that worked well with the tie-in of the covetous heir. The ending was superb, with things falling into place rather neatly, yet with a sense of satisfaction.