Calendar Girls: August 2020

Hey all, Dani here.

Somehow we’ve reached the beginning of August already, and Damian and I just wrapped up Gen Con Online. Since we had already planned on having a hotel for the convention, we still booked one so we could have good internet, a comfy bed, and air conditioning. Is it stupid to say that we felt a bit spoiled over the weekend? Aside from picking up food from a couple local restaurants, we spent most of our time in our room, which was especially made easy by the fact that the room had a full kitchen in it. Oh, and I did a pretty big Barnes & Noble run for my birthday.

Anyway, it is the first Monday of the Month and that means it is once again time for a Calendar Girls post.

Calendar Girls is a monthly blog event that was started by Flavia and Melanie, but is now being hosted by Katie and Adrienne. They are all wonderful ladies, and you should check out their lovely blogs. Okay, so Katie is still on a brief hiatus for a few months, so for right now Adrienne and myself are all hosting Calendar Girls together.

So if you link back to Adrienne and me, we can keep track of all the book picks and posts each month. Thanks, everyone!

First, more about the Calendar Girls. It is designed to ignite bookish discussions among readers, and was inspired by the 1961 Neil Sedaka song, Calendar Girl.

Just like the song, each month has a different theme. Each blogger picks their favorite book from the theme, and on the first Monday of the month reveals their pick in a Calendar Girls post. Make sure to post back to the hostess’s post, and both Katie and Adrienne will make a master list for the month. The master lists allow everyone to see the other Calendar Girls’ picks and to pop on over to their blogs. Thus, we all get to chat about books and even make some new friends!

Oh, and you don’t have to identify as female to join the Calendar Girls. We welcome readers of all types. So if this sounds like fun for you, join us in all of the fun bookish conversations.

Finally, our very own host-on-hiatus Katie achieved a bingo during the Calendar Girls Springtime Whirl, and she has selected our July theme.

The August theme is…

One Time at Band Camp

Funniest Book

I don’t read a whole lot of books that are actually part of the humor category, but with most books I can usually find amusing moments within the pages. Off the top of my head I can’t think of too many books that I would really classify as funny, so this was pretty much a difficult topic for me to choose contenders, let alone a winner. Basically the Strange Planet alien comics are amusing, as is Looking for Group comic series. The Dragon Goes House-Hunting manga series also has a good few chuckles in it, and the My Hero Academia Smash is a chuckle-worthy retelling of the MHA series. Then there’s the Tales of Pell series which is a funny satire-fantasy series.

But if I’m completely honest, I had to look for those honorable mentions because I only had one book pop in my mind when I found out that this theme won. So let’s just go ahead and jump into my pick for funniest book.

This book deals with some heavy topics sometimes, but the way the information is presented just makes it feel a bit lighter. Plus the art style is ridiculous…and based on the art style you might recognize a few memes that came from the art/comics that were on Allie Brosh’s blog and eventually became part of this book.

What makes me sad is that Allie Brosh was going to write another book like this one, a sequel if you want to call it that, and unfortunately due to it bringing up issues with anxiety and depression and such, it was delayed a few times, and now it is indefinitely on hiatus. It has been like four years or so by this point, but I’m hoping that Allie finds herself in a better position, to where she can complete the second book. —–Umm…I just checked on Goodreads and apparently her second book might have a new release date…in September of 2020, so perhaps I will get to read Solutions and Other Problems soon.

I actually like books that can shine a light on topics such as mental health but do it in a way that is easy to digest and humorous. It makes it more relatable and I ended up flying through this book so quickly. I probably need to re-read it sometime, because it has been about five years since I read this one.

Actually, here’s my review from Goodreads in 2015: This book made me laugh so much, mostly because of the artwork depicting the stories. And yet, behind the humor is a serious look at how so many people likely think about themselves and their self-identity. There is also a large section dedicated to depression. The blend of reality (with just a touch of hyperbole) and humor is perfect.

All right, well that’s all from me for now. Be sure to check out the other Calendar Girls posts. I will be linking them down below as they get posted. I’ll be back soon with more bookish content.

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Other Calendar Girls posts to check out:

Adrienne @ Darque Dreamer Reads –

More to Come