Books-by-the-Month: August

August is the month when summer begins to exhale. The days are still golden, but there’s a subtle shift in the light—a slant, a softness—that suggests we are quietly tilting toward autumn. 

It is a month of in-betweens: the last stretch of vacation before the return of structure, the heat that still clings while shadows grow longer. 

Reading in August is tinged with this same gentle melancholy. It is still the season for sprawling, immersive books—but it is also the moment for reflection, for voices that have been overlooked, for stories that stay with you as the season wanes.

In honor of August’s particular beauty—and its lesser-known holidays like Women’s Equality Day, Left Handers Day, and International Cat Day—here is a curated list of books to savor as summer leans toward its close.

1. The Awakening by Kate Chopin

For Women's Equality Day (August 26)

 

There is no better time to revisit—or discover—The Awakening, Kate Chopin’s quietly revolutionary novel about a woman’s search for autonomy in the stifling social climate of late-19th-century Louisiana. Edna Pontellier’s journey toward selfhood, sensuality, and artistic freedom was scandalous upon publication in 1899, but today it remains hauntingly fresh. Chopin’s language is luminous as heat rising off the sea, and her portrayal of a woman determined to live life on her own terms makes this a perfect reflection for Women’s Equality Day. Read it by the water if you can! Let the waves echo Edna’s restless longing.

 

Behold the multitude of covers!

2. Left Hand of Darkness by Ursula K. Le Guin
For Left Handers Day (August 13)

The sly nod to Left Handers Day is intentional, but The Left Hand of Darkness earns its place here not just by title but by brilliance. Le Guin’s groundbreaking sci-fi classic, set on a planet where gender is fluid and changeable, explores themes of otherness, empathy, and the slipperiness of identity. The cold, strange beauty of her world-building contrasts deliciously with August’s warmth, making it an ideal read for late-summer nights when you find yourself craving big, mind-expanding questions. It’s also a quiet celebration of non-conformity—something every left-hander can appreciate.

 

 

3. The Traveling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa

For International Cat Day (August 8)

 

To honor International Cat Day (which, of course is everyday in the home of Tatiana Angela Lansbury Romanov!!!), there is no better companion than The Traveling Cat Chronicles, a tender Japanese novel that follows a man and his beloved stray cat Nana on a journey across Japan. 

 

Told partly from the cat’s point of view, the story is suffused with gentle humor, emotional depth, and a profound meditation on friendship, memory, and letting go. It’s the kind of book that wraps around you like late-summer twilight—soft, a little sad, but immensely comforting. 

 

Top tip: best read with a real cat nearby. 

 

 

4. The Hours by Michael Cunningham

For the Bittersweetness of August
August is a month that tastes of endings, and The Hours—with its interwoven narratives of Virginia Woolf, a 1940s housewife, and a modern New Yorker—beautifully captures the delicate tension between life’s small domestic moments and its seismic emotional shifts. Cunningham’s language is lyrical without excess; his characters are complex and achingly human. The novel pulses with the weight of time, memory, and the choices that shape us. As summer begins to slip through our fingers, this novel reminds us of the exquisite, painful beauty of impermanence.

 

The Hours was made into a motion picture starring Meryl Streep, Julianne Moore and Nicole Kidman, but my personal favorite subsequent artistic rendering inspired by this novel is the 2022 opera in two acts with music by Kevin Puts and libretto by Greg Pierce. I was fortunate enough to bear witness to its world premiere, and while the three leading female performances were indeed formidable, my favorite aria and performance belonged to Kyle Ketelsen as the poet Richard, dying of both AIDS and, possibly, despair. 

 

Enjoy this snippet of his aria. Beyond masterful.

 

    

 

5. The Talented Mr. Ripley by Patricia Highsmith

For Sultry, Late- Summer Suspense

For those who like their Augusts with a dose of heat and danger, The Talented Mr. Ripley is the perfect noir-laden choice. Highsmith’s elegant psychological thriller unfolds in the sun-drenched landscapes of Italy, where charm, envy, and amorality blur together in the figure of Tom Ripley. 

 

Oooooo the sweltering days, the lingering sense that something is ending, the slanted golden light, the subtle menace that lurks beneath surface perfection. It’s a brilliant exploration of desire, deception, and the masks we wear.

 ________

 

August is a threshold: still steeped in summer’s sensual pleasures, but with the first whispers of change. The books we choose in this month carry some of that duality—light and dark, freedom and reflection, motion and stillness. 

 

Whether you find yourself drawn to bold women, speculative futures, philosophical felines, or moral ambiguity, may these selections accompany you through the golden hours ahead. 
 

There is time yet for one more story before the season turns.