AUGUST 2021 WRAP-UP
I published a recap post yesterday on my #20BooksofSummer21, which went really well this year.
Now is time for a shorter recap, just on the month of August. I thought this month zoomed by too quickly, but I did actually manage to read a lot.
At the beginning of the year, I was averaging almost 14 books a month (more than my usual numbers), and I thought it was just because I was listening to a lot of (short) books from the Bible (Old Testament).
Well, I didn’t listen to any Bible book in August (as a little break between Old and New Testament), and still managed to read 16 books, so I’m glad with the numbers.
August has now my best statistics for 2021 so far, as for number of pages read per day.
Another neat thing is that I finally caught up with all the reviews I needed to write for Netgalley books read in 2020! I just need now to write 3 reviews for Edelweiss Plus books read in 2020, and I will be up to date on these.
It was fun participating in #BoutofBooks.
And I announced an upcoming Read-along/ buddy-read (with Marianne at Let’s Read) on The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie.
📚 Here is what I read in August:
16 books:
10 in print
= with 3,035 pages, a daily average of 97 pages/day
6 in audio
= 41H01, a daily average of 1H19
12 in mystery:
- The Labors of Hercules (Hercule Poirot #27), by Agatha Christie
- The Witness for the Prosecution and Other Stories, by Agatha Christie
- Taken at the Flood (Hercule Poirot #28), by Agatha Christie
- Three Blind Mice and Other Stories, by Agatha Christie
- The Under Dog and Other Stories (Hercule Poirot #4), by Agatha Christie
- Mrs. McGinty’s Dead (Hercule Poirot #32), by Agatha Christie – these first 6 were as audiobooks, for The Classics Club
- Un Trou dans la toile, by Luc Chomarat – French ebook
- Tension extrême, by Sylvain Forge – French ebook
- Bomber’s Moon, by Archer Mayor
- A Fine Line, by Dan Burns
- The Madness of Crowds, by Louise Penny
- Le Village aux huit tombes, by Seishi Yokomizo – Japanese classic in French translation, for the Books in Translation Challenge and for The Classics Club
2 in nonfiction:
- History in English Words, by Owen Barfield – for The Classics Club
- Looking for The Stranger: Albert Camus and the Life of a Literary Classic, by Alice Kaplan
1 in historical fiction:
- The Illusion of Separateness, by Simon Van Booy
1 in literary fiction:
- Midaq Alley, by Naguib Mahfouz – for the Books in Translation Challenge and for The Classics Club
MY FAVORITE BOOKS THIS PAST MONTH
READING CHALLENGES & RECAP
Classics Club: 74/137 (from November 2020-until November 2025)
Japanese Literature Challenge: 12 books
#20BooksofSummer21: 37/20 books
Total of books read in 2021 = 113/120 (94%)
Number of books added to my TBR this past month = 18
OTHER BOOKS REVIEWED THIS PAST MONTH
GIVEAWAYS
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MOST POPULAR BOOK REVIEW THIS PAST MONTH
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MOST POPULAR POST THIS PAST MONTH
– NON BOOK REVIEW –
Six degrees of separation: from a postcard to a riddle
BOOK BLOG THAT BROUGHT ME MOST TRAFFIC THIS PAST MONTH
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Come back on Friday
to see the books I plan to read in September
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How was YOUR month of August?
Nicole at Feed Your Fiction Addiction
has created a Month In Review meme
where you can link your monthly recap posts
Thanks Nicole!
Words And Peace 
I’m really looking forward to The Madness of Crowds!
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Let me know if you want it as an ebook
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Hello! Seeing that you read The Madness of Crowds reminds me I should read another Louise Penny book. And I’m glad to see it was one of your favorites. I do like her writing!
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Yes, with fabulous theme. But as you know, you ‘ll get more of the series if you read it in order
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True – if I only had the time to dedicate to reading them all!
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One at a time…
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Yup
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Fantastic job with reading!! I should read an Agatha Christie or Louise Penny book soon! 🙂 Happy September!
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Louise Penny’s series is fabulous, but really much better if you read them in order (17 books so far)
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Wow nice. Those Christie’s are reminding me that I anted to try and read more of her stuff.
Thanks for the shout out as well!
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Yes, she’s good!
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It’s a wonderful feeling to be caught up on reviews.
You had a fabulous August, Emma.
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I wish I could one day catch up with reviews. So far, it’s only for Netgalley reviews due for a year …. sigh.
Well, if I read 16 books/month, it’s definitely hard to catch up…. another sigh…
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It has to feel so good to be caught up on reviews! You had a great reading month.
Have a good September!
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Unfortunately, just reviews due last year…
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August was a great month for you. How do you read so many books?
I am only at #8 or #9 in Louise Penny’s series, but I plan to make more progress on it in the next year.
I am very envious of you reading all those Agatha Christie books this month. And so many of them were short story books, I haven’t tried any of those. In the last year I read a lot of Hercule Poirot books but it has been a few months since I have read anything by her. I have to find some of my stand alone and Miss Marple books by Christie.
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My solution is I don’t have TV (nor children!), so my husband and I read several hours every night. Plus I listen to audiobooks when I do chores around the house: listening to a book while dusting or doing the dishes is fantastic! So all these Hercule Poirot are in audio, that’s a project I started last year. to listen to all HP in chronological order of publication.
After that, I also would like to listen to standalones by AG, though I have already read a good number of them
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Ah, TV. We do watch some TV or a movie (on DVD) every night, so that does affect my reading time. I am retired as is my husband so I do have control of my time. I have never gotten into audio books, but I have been told that listening to Agatha Christie books is a very good way to read them, and I will try it someday.
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Definitely. Choose especially those narrated by Hugh Fraser, he is excellent – better than David Suchet, even though I think David Suchet is the best Hercule Poirot on film. Audiobooks work really well for mysteries and actually nonfiction – though it all depends on the quality of the narrator. It’s always good to try a sample before borrowing or buying
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You made a good dent in your Agatha Christie reading challenge! I still want to read The Madness of Crowds. Seems right up my alley!
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Yes, the latest by Louise Penny is fabulous. It does work as a standalone, even better though if you have read the whole series
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Yay for getting caught up reviews! Feels really good to get them done. I’ve only read one Agatha Christie novel and it was a buddy read with my daughter. I really enjoyed it and often wonder why I don’t try to read more of them.
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Yes, she has so many amazing stories
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