Hi Page Turners,
If you are subscribed to my newsletter you will have been the first to know exactly what books I have been reading during August. This is a wrap up of what I read this month. This month I read 11 books and it was a mix of 4/5* reads with a few being not so good. I hope you all had a fantastic reading month during August and don’t forget to comment below and recommend me your best books that you read. Equally you can rant about the books you didn’t enjoy as much.
I picked up a short translated fiction book about bookshops called Days at the Morisaki Bookshop by Satoshi Yagisawa. I really enjoyed this book, I loved how the bookshop was used as an almost balm to the main characters life and is a catalyst because her life changes due to this bookshop and events surrounding it. Read my full review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5733152459
I then picked up The Romantic by William Boyd. There was a Dickensian read about it I don’t know if that was the era it was set in or the characters or just the writing. I didn’t enjoy it as much as I wanted/or expected too but overall still an engaging read review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5736304548
He Started It- Samantha Downing- I picked this up as a bit of an impulse read and because it is about a road trip and coincidently I also went on a road trip I ended up enjoying this so much and really couldn’t stop reading it. Possibly one of my favourite thriller/crime reads of the year…but it could all change. Review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5747105703
I really wanted to pick up a fantasy so I picked up Gilded by Marissa Meyer. A fairy tale re-telling one of my favourite things to read especially if it is done well. I was majorly disappointed by this because the starting was so good and I had high hopes for it but as I read on I was left wanting to skim read so that’s what I did and it was possibly one of my worst reads of the month.
Lessons by Ian McEwan was a refreshing read after Gilded. I am a big fan of his works and this is another one added to the list. Lessons is ultimately about the lessons we learn in life and how they shape us and make us who we are today. I thoroughly enjoyed this and his writing is so vivid and so well written. Full review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4581434774
As Long as the Lemon Trees Grow- Zoulfa Katouh was another impulse read and it is an important and must read. This is a fictionalised account of how the Syrian war impacts children and how it leaves scars and shapes their childhood. Gut wrenching but so important everyone needs to read this- review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/4871320803
Julian Barnes- Elizabeth Finch- another short story I picked up. I didn’t like this as much as I expected too again. It was just okay for me not a mind blowing book.
He said She said- Erin Kelly- I read Watch Her Fall by the same author last year and it ended up as one of my favourite reads of the year so of course had high expectations. I think because I read some not so good books before I read this I just didn’t enjoy it as much as I think I would have if I read good books leading up to it. I liked it but not enough so I think this is going to be a re-read for me.
I picked up a non-fiction book to get out of my kind of slump and it was Manifest by Roxie Nafousi. Completely took me by surprise and honestly it has changed the way I approach life and certain situations I know a big declaration to say but so true. A book I know I will come back too- find my full review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5779461123
All The Dangerous Things- Stacy Willingham is a crime/thriller another book that creeped up on me because it was one of those that I kind of ruled and thought I won’t like instead I loved it and couldn’t stop reading it because it was written superbly and the plot was amazingly thought out- full review here- https://www.goodreads.com/review/show/5799449529
Circe- Madeline Miller- similar to Gilded a reimainging that I thought I would love (and with the hype of this book and seeing it everywhere I don’t know if that caused the high expectation for me or put me of the book so that I wouldn’t like it because I just couldn’t get into it).
That is my wrap up complete. A month where my reading experience went up and down with books I enjoyed so much to some books which I skim read. It has been one of my better reading months that is for sure. How has your reading experience been in the month of August and any 5* reads. Let me know in the comments below how your reading month went. Links to my socials and newsletter down below. Thank you for reading.
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With Love and Dua’s
Fiz @Every Page She Turns.
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