Books Read in August 2025

*Book group selection | bolded means favorite

Middle Grade

*The Trouble with Heroes by Kate Messner
*Graciela in the Abyss by Meg Medina, Anna Balbusso, and Elena Balbusso

Young Adult

*All the Noise at Once by DeAndra Davis

Grownup Fiction

Beartown by Fredrik Backman and Neil Smith (Translator)
Summer People by Elin Hilderbrand
The Unselected Journals of Emma M. Lion: Vol. 1 by Beth Brower

Crosstalk by Connie Willis

While I could see exactly where the romance was going, this book kept having other twists that surprised me. A very fun read, once I got over how overbearing Briddy’s family was.

Grownup Nonfiction

Million Dollar Weekend: The Surprisingly Simple Way to Launch a 7-Figure Business in 48 Hours by Noah Kagan
Not Your Gran’s Sewing Book: Easy Alterations for the Perfect Fit at Any Size by Allie Luecke
Design-It-Yourself Clothes: Patternmaking Simplified by Cal Patch
How Not to Wear Black: Find your Style, Create your Forever Wardrobe by Anna Murphy
I’ve Got Your Back: The Indispensable Guide to Stopping Harassment When You See It by Jorge Arteaga and Emily May

SEW…The Garment-Making Book of Knowledge: Real-Life Lessons from a Serial Sewist by Barbara Emodi

As you might have noticed, I’ve been reading a lot of sewing books. They are all a little bit the same. But not this one. Emodi does have real-life lessons that were helpful to me. This one is on the list of books to buy.

Movie Quiz August 2025

We were without our quiz-show companions, and it showed with a measly 114 points. Still, it was a fun night. And, as the theme was “heroes” Matt was on fire identifying many obscure super heroes I had never encountered.

Favorite names:

The Rambo Connection
August: Multnomah County
Spaceballs: The Quiz Team: The Quest for More Points
Lowest 2 Lowest Movie Quiz Score (they ranked twelfth, five spaces above us)
Too Close for Missiles, I’m Switching to Puns

K-Pop Demon Hunters Sing Along

Matt was introduced to K-Pop Demon Hunters by his niece and nephew. Like all media children are into, he went into it with a good-uncle attitude and didn’t expect to like it.

But he really enjoyed it. When he returned from Indiana, he showed it to me, and I also greatly enjoyed it, far more than I expected.

When I noticed there was going to be an in-theater sing along for two nights, I told Matt and he wanted to go. So we went.

First of all, I was surprised at the turnout because anyone with a Netflix account can watch this movie with the captioning turned on and sign along. No need for a separate trip to the movie theater.

I didn’t hurry to buy tickets, because Cinemark had it playing hourly and their theaters are roomy. But when I checked at noon, the showing we planned to go to in the evening was nearly sold out. Thankfully, there were still two seats together.

What I hadn’t counted on was all the kids (and adults) dressed like various demon hunters. They were incredibly fun to see. On our way out, two women stopped to take a picture of their character-specific hair.

The sing along was fun, but muted by the stadium seating. Count K-Pop Demon Hunters as one of the happy surprises of 2025

Anniversary Dinner at Mucca

For our fourth anniversary, we had the four-course prix fixe menu at Mucca. It was quite good.

Here we are with our desserts. I got the Tortino al Cioccolato and Matt got the Mousse di Pistaccio e Limone. Like all the things we chose, we traded halfway through.

They also gave us a little happy anniversary bonus, too.

I also really liked Cappellettie alla Norma, which was eggplant-filled cappellettie tossed in garlic butter, celery, and a red-wine gastrique roasted bell pepper tomato sauce

Anything Goes at the Broadway Rose Theater

While there was not as much tap dancing as I would have liked in Anything Goes, this was a very fun musical! It had a great Art Deco set and costumes (rented from the Utah Festival Opera and Musical Theater, so you might get to see them too), memorable songs, and fun shenanigans.

It was a lovely afternoon at the theater.