Read:
Eagle & Crane – Suzanne Rindell (G.P. Putnam’s Sons, 2018)
Tom Lake – Ann Patchett (Harper Collins, 2023)
The Tiger’s Wife – Tea Obreht (Random House, 2011)
Night Theater – Vikram Paralkar (Catapult, 2020)
Bottled Goods – Sophie van Llewyn (Harper Perennial, 2020)
Did Not Finish:
Cursed Bread – Sophie Mackintosh
Sun House – David James Duncan
Currently Reading:
I’m a Fan – Sheena Patel
The Glass Blowers – Daphne du Maurier
2023 GOALS:
Books Read: 69/100 (6 in August)
Translated Works: 6/15 (zero in August)
Books I Already Own: 18/30 (Tom Lake – does this count when I bought it new this month? I don’t care, I’m counting it and Ann Patchett is an Always Buy for me; The Tiger’s Wife – purchased at a Library Book Fair)
Books From the TBR pre-2020: 12/20 (Eagle & Crane since 2018, Night Theatre since 2019 and Bottled Goods since 2019)
Current TBR: 207 (previously 209)
Thoughts: Hi, it’s me! The book blogger who wrote not a single review this month! Did I take August off? Yes! Did I plan to do so? No!
When I go a couple of weeks without posting reviews I start to feel kind of stressed and like I’m falling behind. Which is silly because this is a blog which I write only for myself and for my own enjoyment. I earn zero money and have zero obligations. Once I reminded myself of this, I accepted the fact that no further reviews were going to happen in the month of August. Mid to end of August was a busy work period for me plus we had family visiting plus we squeezed in a final camping trip. This week Peter went back to work and school starts next week.
So I didn’t read a ton in August but I read some good quality stuff. I had an ARC of Sun House and I feel that I really gave it a solid effort but it’s a massive book and I wasn’t loving it and deciding to DNF it freed up a lot of my time.
Tom Lake was easily the hit of my reading month and I’m excited to share more about what I loved about it. The Tiger’s Wife was a surprised hit too and a book I keep thinking about. Bottled Goods kind of flowed along with it when I read them almost back to back, both dealing with some Eastern European history (though very different novels). I liked Night Theatre but I think it may have been a little overhyped for me because I didn’t fall in love with it the way I hoped I would.
Seeing as we’re now at the end of August, how did I do with my 15 Books of Summer Reading Challenge? Let’s see…
June
Telling Secrets – Frederick Buechner
The Garden Party – Katherine Mansfield
Wilder Girls – Rory Power
The Sleeping Car Porter – Suzette Mayr
Scandal – Shusaku Endo
July
The Parables of Grace – Capon
Of Love and Other Demons – Gabriel Garcia Marquez
The Tiger’s Wife – Obreht
In the Lake of the Woods – Tim O’Brien
Sun House – Duncan
August
The Cocktail Party – T.S. Eliot
The Catch – Fairbrother
The Flanders Road – Simon
The Glass-Blowers – Daphne du Maurier
Travels with my Aunt – Graham Greene
Look at how strongly I started off? Look at how well I did in June?
And I made a solid effort in July. I was still trying.
And then…it’s like I just gave up in August. It’s like I didn’t pick up a single one of my August books until August 27th when I started reading The Glass Blowers as if that would make up for everything. (Yes, I was a student who crammed for most tests.)
I still really enjoyed participating in this challenge. It gave a focus to my reading and it helped me read several books that had either been on my TBR for a long time or that I’d had copies of for years. Overall, I read 22 books in June, July, and August and 9 of those were from my list.
Karissa Reads Books 
I’m looking forward to hearing what you think of Tom Lake! The only Patchett I’ve read is Bel Canto, which I didn’t really get on with – but it was a story issue rather than a writing issue, and I felt like I might really love the right story from her.
I will review it! I do love her writing so I’m going into it with a bit of bias but I found Tom Lake to be such a lovely story.
I feel like you posted several times in August. Didn’t you share family photos and vacation stories? For me, it’s only a concern if a blog goes dead silent, not if they quit reviewing books. Sounds like you had an excellent, very full August!
I did write some family/life posts, you’re right. I had a really great August and it’s sad to see it come to an end even while i’m excited about getting back into the routine of a school year.