August has been hot and humid here in New York, just like it has been basically everywhere. I’ve still been spending a lot of time inside the house, but lately I have had fatigue that is off the charts, combined with nighttime insomnia. It’s really difficult to function in any way when my schedule is so mixed up and my mom doesn’t really understand fatigue. 

I did get to see my friends a few times in August, which was a great way to close out the official “summer” season. I’m really glad to see pumpkin and apple flavors on the menu at local coffee shops, because it means that we are that much closer to the fall arriving! Which also means leaves changing color, cooler weather (that’s the one I’m really waiting for), bonfires, and all pumpkin everything. Can you tell how much I enjoy the fall? Plus, it also means spooky season is coming up, so I’m planning to incorporate some appropriate reads in September and especially October. While waiting for the temps to cool off, I got some good reading done, including being nearly caught up on my NetGalley ARCs, but I still have some late physical ARCs to address. I made some progress there too, though. Here are some of my blogging and reading highlights from August:

• My blog keeps growing! I got more new followers (hey y’all!) and still have the same regulars who consistently like and comment, and I appreciate each and every one of you.
• I have 2 past due ARCs from NetGalley but they’re both from August and I’m currently reading one of them, and I have 7 from authors/publishers but I’m in the middle of one of them.
• I read 3 nonfiction books in August.
• I didn’t DNF any books in August. 

Here’s my breakdown of monthly/cumulative totals for August: 

August Totals:

• Books read: 16
• Books DNF’d: 0
• Pages read: 1,884
• Hours listened: 119.97 hours
• Average pages: 60.77
• Average hours listened: 3.87 hours

Genres Read in August:

• Fantasy: 5
• Historical Fiction: 3
• Memoir: 1
• Mystery/Thriller: 4
• Romance: 1
• Social Sciences: 2

Backlist vs. New Releases:

• Backlist books: 4
• 2024 releases: 12

Fiction Vs. Nonfiction:

• Fiction: 13
• Nonfiction: 3

Format Read:

• Print: 3
• Digital: 2
• Audio: 11

Age Range:

• Adult: 16

My favorite book of the month was: The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper.

Here’s what I read in August:

1. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Jew by Emmanuel Acho and Noa Tishby | Goodreads | Amazon
2. Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man by Emmanuel Acho | Goodreads | Amazon
3. The Temple of Fortuna by Elodie Harper | Goodreads | Amazon
4. Son of Hamas by Mosab Hassan Yousef with Ron Brackin | Goodreads | Amazon

1. The Phoenix Keeper by S.A. MacLean (Publisher/NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon 
2. Between Dragons and Their Wrath by Devin Madson (Shattered Kingdom Trilogy #1) (NG ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. The Astrology House by Carinn Jade (Libro ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. A Rose by Any Other Name by Mary McMyne (Libro ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. The House of the Witch by Clare Marchant (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
6. Monday Mourning by Kathy Reichs (Temperance Brennan #7) | Goodreads | Amazon

1. The Pairing by Casey McQuiston (NG ARC/ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
2. Sounds Like a Plan by Pamela Samuels Young and Dwayne Alexander Smith (NG ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
3. Goddess of the River by Vaishnavi Patel (Publisher ARC) | Goodreads | Amazon
4. Worst Case Scenario by TJ Newman (NG ALC) | Goodreads | Amazon
5. Mistress of Lies by K.M. Enright (The Age of Blood #1) | Goodreads | Amazon
6. Immortal Dark by Tigest Girma (Immortal Dark Trilogy #1) | Goodreads | Amazon

How did your August go? Did you read anything especially good? Feel free to share a link to your monthly wrap ups, I love seeing them!