August Wrap Up!

August has been a strange one. I had a great first week, then a slumpy bit, then a panicked final week, so some of my August reads feel like such a long time ago!

Goodreads Challenge

During August I read 46 books, so weirdly I exactly matched last month! That brings me up to 328 books read this year, which is fantastic – I crossed that 300 mark, which was my original year-end goal. I’m now aiming for 365 books read in 2021 – I’ve done it before, so let’s hope!

My Owned TBR

It was a real stretch, and even a week ago I didn’t think I was going to make it, but I did it: I got my TBR down to 365 books! That’s just a single year’s reading for me (on average) so I’m really starting to feel good about my downwards progress. This month it was mostly actual reading, rather than DNFing or unhauling unread books, too, so that’s a lot of effort there. I’m really proud – that’s 25 books down from the start of August. I also read all but two of the books from my Twitter Friends Pick My August TBR post!

Since I’ve hit a major TBR goal, and term’s starting again tomorrow, I’m going to give myself a slightly easier ride in September, and only aim to get down to 360 by October 1st. It’s a reduction of just five books, but any downwards movement is still good, and it will give me a bit of breathing space. 

Having a lower TBR goal is also designed to let me shift focus a little – I want to tackle sequels this month! I have a lot of sequels and later books on my TBR for which I really ought to reread previous books to refresh my memory, but when I’m rushing headlong into reducing my numbers, I rarely feel like I can spare the time to reread, as it doesn’t move the needle downwards. In September, I’d like to tackle at least a couple of these that have been hanging on for a while. I’d definitely like one of them to be a reread of A Memory Called Empire so I can read A Desolation Called Peace! 

Physical Review Copies

I’ve been focusing on ebooks as far as review copies go, as I noticed my NetGalley percentage had slipped a bit. I’ve been keeping on top of newer review copies, particularly kids’ ones, but I’ve not knocked out many of my older, adult review copies. The sequel focus I mentioned above will hopefully let me crack on with the large amount of second books I need to review!

I made a tiny bit of progress on my 20 Books of Summer challenge, by which I mean I read one more book. The review will be going up this week or next, so I’m going to count it, but that still means I only managed to do 9 of them. I’m going to leave the remaining 11 as a priority, even though the challenge is finished.

Wrap Up

Least favourite: While Beauty Slept by Elizabeth Blackwell

Favourites: A Posse of Princesses by Sherwood Smith (terrible title, but great book!); Marshmallow Pie On Stage by Clara Vulliamy; Catalyst Gate by Megan E O’Keefe

Shortest: Tiptoe Tiger by Jane Clarke and Britta Teckentrup

Longest: Catalyst Gate by Megan E O’Keefe

I’d love to read more wrap up posts, so leave me a comment below if you have one!