August 2022 Wrap-Up

Welcome to the wrap up for August, my friends! It’s a few days later than I had originally planned and I am so glad to finally have time to share this. 🙂 Let’s get started.

Kriti’s Month

Deciding on a book and getting into it had gotten hard for me in previous months so I created a list of books that I could pick from when I was in need. I only read one of them… flexible planning at it’s best!

Total books read this month: 8
Number of personal picks: 4
Review copies: 4

• I started the month with Interpreter of Maladies by Jhumpa Lahiri which I loved so much that I had to share about it on the blog right away. This book gave me one of the quotes about immigration that I will never forget and ended up sharing during my bridal shower. You can find the book on Goodreads and my review and quote here.
• Next, I finally finished Elsewhere by Alexis Schaitkin. The latest novel by the author of Saint X, this one made me reflect on motherhood and its challenges through a small far off community. Magical realism mixed with a little bit of horror, this was an interesting read and I plan to share about it in detail. Read the synopsis on Goodreads.
• Amanda Pampuro gave me her short story, Wish List, and it was fascinating! I had never read the perspective of Artificial Intelligence as it evolved with a teenage girl, watching her online and shopping adventures, nudging her with similar items. Learn about it on Amanda’s indie recommendations post.
• Clouds is a coffee table book with short poetry and photographs of clouds taken by photographer John Meyer. 
• Made for More was another highlight for me this month. This book by Lindsey Sealey is written for girls – teenagers and new adults – but it has so much to offer to me, including inspiration for becoming more confident, strategies to make more time for things I want to do and how to get to know myself better. More on this one in the near future! I need to go through all my notes. Read about the book on Goodreads.
• Chase Connor was the first indie recommendations feature this year where he shared about his novel, A Surplus of Light. Since readers of Aristotle and Dante Discover the Secrets of the Universe are supposed to enjoy it and I am a huge fan of that series, I decided to give this short book a read and loved it! Read synopsis on Goodreads.
• If you have ever watched Shark Tank, you have interacted with Andrew Daily’s work, he is the Production Manager of the show. La Entrada is a graphic novel that he created with Alex Vede. I quite enjoyed the storyline and art. Read about the book on Goodreads.
• With the wedding coming up, my Pinterest feed had some book recommendations related to relationships and that’s how I ended up finding and reading John Gottman’s What Makes Love Last. With scientific research as backing, Gottman analyzes marriage relationships, shares interesting facts about people and living, and provides lots of strategies to be a better communicator with your partner. This one was a highlight for me too. I learned so much! Find the book on Goodreads. There is an audiobook available too.

I read some amazing and thought provoking books in August and my list of books I am itching to find the time to write full review posts about is growing. There are 11 books on there! Once the wedding and my travels are done, I am excited for the renewed energy to get back into blogging. I am also very proud of having been able to keep up as much as I have and that would be impossible without the authors who have been contributing. 🙂

Total TBR: 260 (August 1) -> 270 (September 1)

I found so many books I want to read! From my personal collection, I bought The Orphan Keeper by Camron Wright, the story about a child who was abducted in India. Another Pinterest reel recommendation was The Mastery of Love by Miguel Ruiz. Three upcoming publisher commitments that I am looking forward to are:

• The Cloisters by Katy Hays – November 2022, Atria Books – Book about a group of researchers and a mysterious set of tarot cards 
• The Mitford Affair by Marie Benedict (one of my favourite authors!) – January 2023, Sourcebooks Landmark – Benedict is back with another story about historical figures – this time three sisters between the World Wars. I can’t wait to learn what happened.
• The Milky Way by Moiya McTier – August 2022, Grand Central – The autobiography of the galaxy.

The Noteworthy: A random collection of findings

1. A recent show I watched: I have been loving Locke and Key on Netflix and you can expect to see a full post about that in the near future. This dark young adult fantasy show about a house with magic keys has been my go-to and I binged like 5 episodes yesterday. Season 2 is much better than most show’s seasons twos.
2. My journal is split into two sections nowadays – daily writing and collections. I plan to separate this altogether into two journals once this one finishes and am excited to create a book cover that will hold both. I am going to take my step mom’s help. Check out this video if you want to make your own book cover with fabric! It’s the one I am following.
3. Made for More mentioned Taylor Swift’s Mirrorball and I got a whole new take on this song because of the book. Also, Taylor is coming out with her next album, Midnights on October 21.
4. If you are an avid reader of indie books or want to try them out, the first ever Indie Ink Awards, put on by WriteHive and sponsored by Inked In Gray, is here! All nominations will be done through IndieStoryGeek.com and review copies will be available for you to review through the site. You don’t need to have a blog to participate. To sign up to be a judge, fill this form by September 5th. I highly recommend taking this opportunity to discover some new books! I am excited to see which ones I get assigned to read. 

That’s all for my update for August. 🙂

Ariel’s Selection for August

Notes and Summary: 

This month was a busy month that flew by. In the middle of it all, I was able to participate in two B2Weird Tours and Trope-ical Readathon. Even though I only finished 6 books, all of them were overall really good reads and they all turned out to have some fantasy element to them! Overall, I call this month a success!

Top Genres: Fantasy
Top three book moods: Mysterious, Emotional, Reflective
Number of Books: 6

Bookish Highlights of the Month:

• Notable Netgalley: Babel
• Most Anticipated: The Monsters We Defy
• Prettiest cover: A Venom Dark and Sweet

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What was your favorite read for August? Tell us about your month in the comments.

September is a busy month for us with Kriti’s wedding (we’re meeting up!!!) so expect sporadic posts from mid September to mid October.

Thanks for reading! Have a wonderful September. 🙂