August Summary, September Preview

Kim @ Traveling in Books

Sep 5

When these monthly summaries come around, I'm usually wondering where the time went. Not so for August, which was ridiculously hot and so stretched on for about half a year. I'm glad it's gone. Good riddance to August. Bring on fall!

What I Finished Reading in August:

August was a fairly decent reading month. I finished several titles from my physical TBR, checked out a few new releases, and read a couple of books I'd been intending to reread but never really got around to before this. Could I have read more? Sure. But I was lacking energy thanks to the heat waves and was also working on a bunch of writing projects.

And I got hooked on the ITV show, Endeavour, so ended up watching most of the series twice. That took up some time. I have no regrets.

I read thirteen books in August:

Silver Nitrate by Silvia Moreno-Garcia, audiobook narrated by Gisela Chípe
The Weaver and the Witch Queen by Genevieve Gornichec, audiobook narrated by Nina Yndis
Every Rising Sun by Jamila Ahmed
The Last Bus to Woodstock (Inspector Morse #1) by Colin Dexter, audiobook narrated by Samuel West
The Heron's Cry (Two Rivers #2) by Ann Cleeves, audiobook narrated by Jack Holden
Galatea by Madeline Miller
Once Upon a Tome: The Misadventures of a Rare Bookseller by Oliver Darkshire
Destiny Disrupted: A History of the World Through Islamic Eyes by Tamim Ansary, audiobook narrated by the author
Faces of Love: Hafez and the Poets of Shiraz by Hafez, Jahan Malek Khatun, and Obayd-e Zakani, translated from the Persian by Dick Davis
Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier, audiobook narrated by Anna Massey
The Long Call (Two Rivers #1) by Ann Cleeves, audiobook narrated by Ben Aldridge
Waltz into Darkness by Cornell Woolrich
The Horde: How the Mongols Changed the World by Marie Favereau, audiobook narrated by Anne Flosnik

Statistically Speaking:

69.2% of what I read was written by women, 23.1% was written by men, and 7.7% was written by various authors
38.5% was written by English authors, 23.1% was by American authors, and 7.7% each were by Mexican-American, Afghan-American, Pakistani-American, Persian, and French authors
7.7% of what I read was translated from Persian. The rest was written in English
30.8% of what I read were mysteries, 23.1% was nonfiction, 15.% was fantasy, and 7.7% each were poetry, general fiction, horror, and historical fiction
61.5% of what I read came from my own shelves and 38.5% came from the library
61.5% were audiobooks and 38.5% were physical books
Publication years ranged from 1938 to 2023

My favorite new-to-me books were Every Rising Sun, Once Upon a Tome, and The Weaver and the Witch Queen.

I didn't care so much for The Last Bus to Woodstock, which was a disappointment as it is the first in Colin Dexter's Inspector Morse series, which was the inspiration for the show Endeavour. But there were some very uncomfortable scenes thanks to mid-twentieth-century misogyny. I might give the next book a try to see if it's any better about that, but I'm not eager to dive into it at the moment. I also didn't care for Waltz into Darkness, as it was billed as this major suspense story but I didn't find it very suspenseful.

StoryGraph TBR, August 1: 133
Physical TBR, August 1: 47

StoryGraph TBR, September 1: 103
Physical TBR, September 1: 39

I've been making steady progress on reducing my Physical TBR, which is great. I sat down with my list a couple of weeks ago and came to the conclusion that there were a few books I simply wasn't going to read at all, so I removed them and I felt better for it. I've had some of these books for years, and it's okay to realize that my tastes and preferences have changed.

I doubt I'll read all thirty-nine of these books before the end of the year, especially as many of them are academic texts about Medieval history, and thus take a long time to get through. A few of them are very long, and will also take a long time to get through. Given that I started the year with something like eighty owned and unread books, and I haven't stopped buying books (though I've certainly bought fewer in the past few months), I think I'm doing just fine with this goal.

What's On Tap for September:

From my Physical TBR:

Landmarks by Robert MacFarlane
The Night Listener by Armistead Maupin
Iza's Ballad by Magda Szabó, translated from the Hungarian by George Szirtes
Black Flower by Young-Ha Kim, translated from the Korean by Charles LaShure
The Ivory Tomb (Rooks and Ruin #3) by Melissa Caruso
Snow Crash by Neal Stephenson

I'm on the hold list for a few library books, so assuming they arrive before the end of the month I'll be reading these, too:

The Raging Storm (Two Rivers #3) by Ann Cleeves
Thornhedge by T. Kingfisher
The Inheritance of Orquídea Divina by Zoraida Córdova

I have also downloaded (via Hoopla) but not begun the audiobook of The Wordhord: Daily Life in Old English by Hana Videen, narrated by Sara Powell.

All in all, I have yet another solid month of bookish plans ahead of me. Assuming work doesn't get super crazy out of nowhere, and assuming the weather doesn't remain hot and unpleasant, it should be a good month overall.