The hottest part of the year has passed, and I couldn’t be happier about it. I am a cool weather person, and those hot and humid days basically shut down my brain. I dread summer every year.

But it’s going to be over soon! Hooray!

I read nine books in July. I figured I would get through more, but a couple of them were pretty long, so it took a while to get through of them, even though the longest one was an audiobook.

What I Read in July:

• The Angel of the Crows by Katherine Addison
• In the Month of The Midnight Sun by Cecilia Ekbäck
• Armistice (The Amberlough Dossier #2) by Lara Elena Donnelly
• The Mirror and the Light (Thomas Cromwell Trilogy #3) by Hilary Mantel, audiobook narrated by Ben Miles
• Invisible Kingdom: Vol. 1: Walking the Path by G. Willow Wilson, illustrated by Christian Ward
• The Plantagenets: The Warrior Kings and Queens Who Made England by Dan Jones, audiobook narrated by Dan Jones
• The Little Stranger by Sarah Waters, audiobook narrated by Simon Vance
• Uncrowned Queen: The Fateful Life of Margaret Beaufort, Tudor Matriarch by Nicola Tallis, ARC provided by NetGalley
• The Fifth Season (The Broken Earth trilogy #1) by N.K. Jemisin, audiobook narrated by Robin Miles
• Richard III: England’s Most Controversial King by Chris Skidmore

Statistically Speaking:

• 70% of the books were by women, 20% were by men, and there was a graphic novel written by a woman and illustrated by a man.
• 50% of the books were written by English authors, 30% were by Americans, and 10% each were by Swedish or Welsh authors. The graphic novel was written by an American and illustrated by an English artist.
• 45.5% were physical books, 45.5% were audiobooks, and 9% were ebooks
• 30% were historical fiction, 30% were history, 20% were fantasy, and 10% each were graphic novels (a fantasy) and speculative fiction
• 60% of the books were from my own shelves, 30% were from the library, and 10% were from NetGalley
• The years of publication ran from 2009 to 2020

My favorites of the month were The Mirror and the Light by Hilary Mantel (a reread) and The Fifth Season by N.K. Jemisin. My least favorite was In the Month of the Midnight Sun, but I didn’t actively dislike it. It was a mediocre read for me.

 

What I Plan to Read in August:

It’s an ambitious list:

• The Lion, the Witch, and The Wardrobe (The Chronicles of Narnia #1) by C.S. Lewis
• Prince Caspian (The Chronicles of Narnia #2) by C.S. Lewis
• The Voyage of the ‘Dawn Treader’ (The Chronicles of Narnia #3) by C.S. Lewis
• The Silver Chair (The Chronicles of Narnia #4) by C.S. Lewis
• The Horse and His Boy (The Chronicles of Narnia #5) by C.S. Lewis
• The Guest Cat by Takashi Hiraide, translated from the Japanese by Eric Selland
• The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher (short stories) by Hilary Mantel
• Giving up the Ghost by Hilary Mantel
• Amnesty (The Amberlough Dossier #3) by Lara Elena Donnelly
• Jade War (The Green Bone Saga #2) by Fonda Lee
• Her Smoke Rose up Forever (short stories) by James Tiptree, Jr.
• The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry
• Death by Shakespeare: Snakebites, Stabbings, and Broken Hearts by Kathryn Harkup
• Axiom’s End by Lindsay Ellis

There are a lot of books on this list, but I have a plan:

• The Narnia books are all short- about 200 pages each. I can easily read one each week until I’ve completed the series.
• If I read one short story from the two collections (Her Smoke Rose up Forever and The Assassination of Margaret Thatcher), I will have both books done by the 28th.
• Jade War is my selection for the upcoming round of Tome Topple, which runs from the 8th to the 21st. If I read 40-50 pages each day, I will finish in the allotted time.
• The Guest Cat is also a short book, which I could probably start and finish on one of my days off.
• I’ve been looking forward to Amnesty for a while, and I’ll probably finish it in 2-3 days.
• The others…. we’ll see how that goes. I also have two ARCs to read– Where Dreams Descend by Janella Angeles and The Four Profound Weaves by R.B. Lemberg. Where Dreams Descend is (overly) long, so I’ll need to focus on it because it’s coming out in a few weeks. The Four Profound Weaves is just under 200 pages, so getting through that one won’t be a major challenge.

While August is usually a hot, humid month, it has started out feeling positively autumnal, which means my energy levels are higher than they’ve been since June. I have a lot of reading and writing to do, and I’m excited to get to it all. At this rate, August is going to be a great month.

Don’t ruin it, 2020.