I was thinking that it felt mildly reasonable to be wrapping up August in October… except then I realized it’s actually already November! Whoops!
Favorite August Read
Actually, I’m going to put a nonfiction read in this slot! I just thoroughly enjoyed the humor and ridiculousness of The Horologicon so much. While Persuasion was objectively my favorite read of the month, I always like to choose a new read when I can!!
Most Disappointing August Read
Weirdly, another nonfiction read! While Leave No Stone Unturned was objectively a worse read, I didn’t have very high expectations for that one. However, The Home Edit looks like it is going to be so useful and interesting, but it was pretty much just nice pictures without a lot of substance.
Other August Reads
- 1*
- Leave No Stone Unturned by Jeanne Glidewell
- 2.5*
- Sail Away by Lisa Jackson
- 3*
- Murder Most Unladylike by Robin Stevens
- 3.5*
- The Bonesetter’s Daughter by Amy Tan
- Emily of New Moon by L.M. Montgomery (I’ll be reviewing this one in the September reviews with the other two books)
- The Life-Changing Magic of Tidying Up by Marie Kondo
- Million Dollar Baby by Lisa Jackson
- My Lady Jane by Cynthia Hand, Brodi Ashton, & Jodi Meadows
- The Nature of Small Birds by Susie Finkbleiner
- The Outlaws of Sherwood by Robin McKinley
- 4*
- The Bottle Imp by Robert Louis Stevenson
- The Cross & the Switchblade by David Wilkerson
- The Dark Wind by Tony Hillerman
- Dr. Jekyll & Mr. Hyde by Robert Louis Stevenson
- Edenbrooke by Julianne Donaldson
- An Irish Hostage by Charles Todd
- 4.5*
- Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince by J.K. Rowling
- 5*
- Persuasion by Jane Austen
August Stats
- Total Number of Books Read: 21 (1 Kindle, 20 physical)
- Total Pages Read: 5656
- Average Star Rating for July: 3.57
- Longest Book: Harry Potter & the Half-Blood Prince (542 pages)
- Shortest Book: The Bottle Imp (31 pages)
- Oldest Book: Persuasion (published 1817)
- Newest Book: The Nature of Small Birds and An Irish Hostage were published this year.
- Number of New-to-Me Authors: 12
August DNFs
None this month!!
TBR Update
This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of August.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into six different tabs:
- Standalones: 498 (down two!!)
- Nonfiction: 127 (holding steady)
- Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…): 644 (holding steady!)
- Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 252 (down two!!)
- Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 112 (down one!)
- New Arrivals – (I have a lot of books that I have been gifted or that I pick up somewhere and they get put on my “oh I’m so excited about this shiny new book” shelf… and then of course don’t actually get read.): 146 (down two!!)
TBR Update
This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of July.
For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into six different tabs:
- Standalones: 500 (down three!!)
- Nonfiction: 127 (holding steady)
- Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…): 64 (down two!)
- Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 254 (up one)
- Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 113 (down one – I actually finished the 87th Precinct books!!!)
- New Arrivals – (I have a lot of books that I have been gifted or that I pick up somewhere and they get put on my “oh I’m so excited about this shiny new book” shelf… and then of course don’t actually get read.): 148 (up two)
Current Reads
Right now, I’m only in the middle of two books. A group on Litsy is reading through all of L.M. Montgomery’s books, and this month we are reading Chronicles of Avonlea (and Further Chronicles, but that will be the second half of the month). My everyday book right now is The Ghost Bride, which has been on my TBR since 2014 and finally came up on the random number draw I use to determine my next book lol
Last Time on “Up Next…”
Did I actually read my probably next five reads from last time?
- The Birdwatcher by William Shaw – yes!! 3.5*
- The second half of the Shetland Island mysteries – nope! But they are still in a pile by the library bookshelf. Hopefully this month!!
- Dangerous Crossing by Rachel Rhys – yes!! Slow overall and didn’t like the ending – 2.5*
- The Third Victim by Phillip Margolin – yes!! 3.5* and guess what! It’s actually the first book in a series!! WHY
- Rosaline Palmer Takes the Cake by Alexis Hall – kind of! I “had” to read this one for traveling book club, but skimmed after about page 100. Wow, the MC was SO TERRIBLE, plus the entire book was nothing but f-bombs on every page, which I just find SO annoying and completely unnecessary.
Up Next…
The probable next five(ish) reads…
- The Sentinels of the Galaxy trilogy by Maria Snyder – this series has been on my radar for quite a while because I enjoyed Snyder’s Chronicles of Ixia soooo much.
- Waiting for Tom Hanks by Kerry Winfrey (plus the sequel, Not Like the Movies, if the first book is any good) – another one that has been floating on the peripheral of my TBR for a while, just because it sounds like my kind of fun.
- The Copenhagen Connection by Elizabeth Peters – my next random TBR read. Peters can be hit or miss for me, but when I like her books, I really like them.
- Doctor’s Boy by Karin Anckarsvard – This one has been on my shelf for YEARS. I really enjoyed Anckarsvard’s Nordvick mysteries, so whenever I saw this one back in the day at a library discard sale, I picked it up, yet have never read it!
- Rosalind by Clarice Peters – the next book from my ebay box of Regency romances!!!
So that’s (finally) a wrap for August. Time for September reviews!!!
The Aroma of Books 