Coffee and … A Bookish August

This month has been a real rollercoaster here at Somewhere HQ, but here I am with a coffee and a quick bookish wrap up. Join me?

The Coffee:

This week’s Steampunk coffee is the Banka Farm from China. I don’t know that I have ever had a Chinese coffee before, but this one, with tasting notes of black cherry compote, chocolate and raisin, is an absolute delight. Especially after I spent a week drinking instant coffee!

The Books:

August, to be blunt, has been an absolute shit show for us. The start of the month saw S celebrating his 10th birthday, which was a definite highlight. We hired a hot tub for the weekend, he had a little BBQ with his godmothers and my sister and her family who came to stay for the weekend. We spent the Saturday at the beach (they did paddle-boarding, I looked after the tiny ones), we went rockpooling and then we visited a food festival.

And it all went downhill from there when I got a call about my great Aunty. She’s been unwell for a little while but this was the “she would like you to come now, we are not expecting her to be here much longer” call. I stayed with her for a week until she passed away last Sunday. It was definitely not an easy week for any of us, and now I am deep into making funeral arrangements and settling her affairs (you think the bit where someone passes will be the hardest part, and then there are 900 things to do afterwards and they are all grim. I am so sick of people ending calls with “I’m sorry for your loss. Have a great day!”)

I have not been blogging (and it may be a few weeks before I am back to doing that properly) but I have been reading, so I am here with a little wrap up of the month. I nearly didn’t do one, but then I realised I have never missed one, and I like to look back on them later and see how my reading went, so here I am.

Number of books read: 11 Pages Read: 3463

StoryGraph Stats: In August, I read mostly YA Contemporary and Fantasy between 300 and 499 pages long (no real surprise there). It was a 50/50 split between medium and fast paced books.

The moods of the books I read this month were:

Books I Read:

Agnes at the End of the World by Kelly McWilliams – Absolutely brilliant. A cult book set at the end of the world with my favourite elements of both and an awesome main character. Loved this one. 

The Bad Mother’s Book Club by Keris Stainton – I’ve never read a Keris Stainton book I didn’t like, and I loved this one. It’s clever, witty, and made me laugh, but also touches on some more serious topics. I loved the characters and their lives, especially Emma and Maggie. 

A Burning by Megha Majumdar – Cleverly written story that weaves together three lives: a muslim girl accused of terrorism, her teacher, and the girl she is tutoring. A devastating read. 

This Poison Heart by Kalynn Bayron – Absolutely in love with this book. It has Greek mythology, magic, plants mysteries, and the best family you could ask for. I cannot wait for the sequel. I’ll be thinking about this book for a while. 

The Way Back Almanac 2022: A Contemporary Seasonal Guide Back to Nature by Melinda Salisbury – A gorgeous Almanac for finding your way back to nature. I love the way each month is split into different sections, including folklore and discussions with people about their journeys with nature. Mostly, I love that it’s accessible for everyone no matter how much space, time and access to the outdoors you have.

Every Little Piece of My Heart by Non Pratt – Loved this story of friendship, mystery, and making new connections told by four different characters. It also has brilliant chronic illness rep. 

Last Lullaby by Carol Wyer – Another brilliant book from Carol. This one hit me in the feels as it involves the murders of mothers with young sons, but the mystery kept me on my toes to the end. Looking forward to reading more about Natalie and the team. 

Rules for Being a Girl by Candace Bushnell and Katie Cotugno – This book filled me with feminist rage. I loved Marin and the things that happened to her made me so, so angry. Brilliantly written, I didn’t want to put it down. 

Chosen by Kiersten White – I loved being back in the Buffyverse with this book. I really enjoyed seeing Nina grow and develop as a slayer and the new tensions with her sister Artemis.

The Crooked Mask by Rachel Burge – A fantastic sequel to The Twisted Tree. I loved the circus setting, the development of the Norse myths, the mystery, and being back in this world with Martha again. 

A Kind of Spark by Elle McNicoll – A beautifully written book with an autistic main character about speaking up and being proud of who you are. I loved how Addie related to the witches and campaigned for them, and how supportive and brilliant her family are. A brilliant read. 

Storygraph: 99/100. It’s pretty clear I am going to pass my target at this point. I am intrigued to see how far ahead of it I get with 4 months left in the year. I may increase it when I hit 100.

Read Diversely Challenge: 14/20. I am still on track to complete this one by the end of the year.

Diverse Reading Challenge: 22/38. I need to make more progress on this one, so I will probably target by TBR next month to tick off some more of these!

TBR: I ended July with 93 books on my TBR and am now down to 81. I bought a couple of books as I had not taken enough reading material to my Aunty’s. They were not in the book buying rules, but I am giving myself a free pass this month.

Unread Shelf: 12/24. I am behind on this challenge, so this is another one for targeting next month’s TBR!

Beat the Backlist: 36/52. This one is going okay. I am plodding along with it anyway!

Next month releases I am looking forward to are:

Precious Catastrophe by Dierdre Sullivan

Only on the Weekends by Dean Atta

Dragon City by Katie and Kevin Tsang

What books are you looking forward to in August? Any that should be on my list?

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