I’ve decided to do monthly updates as a Wednesday post, instead of tacking them onto my weekly update posts. That being said, my last weekly update post listed all of my August reads, so I won’t be including them here.

Also, I cannot figure out how to do one of those nifty infographics with all my books. I’ve downloaded both Pic Jointer and PicFrame and have Canva and I just can’t get it to work! I’ll keep trying, but it may be a while.

So…August.

August was not my best reading month of the year, for two reasons. First of all, I had some DNF’s early in the month that got me off my groove. Then, we went on vacation. Those of you who, like me, are married to non-readers probably know the challenges of trying to read when others just don’t “get it.” So, vacation reading was pretty minimal.

But, my numbers aren’t horrible and I did have a few gems in there. Let’s get to the stats:

Total Books Read: 11 (this includes one middle grade audiobook, Rump by Liesl Shurtliff) which I listened to with my son. I haven’t included this in my monthly update post as it really was his book, and his rating (5 stars!) is not figured into my monthly average:

Average rating: 3.6 stars (B+)

Format breakdown:

• Print: 6 books
• Digital: 3 books
• Audio: 2 books

Genre breakdown:

• Fantasy: 2
• Historical Fiction: 2
• Mystery: 6
• Thriller: 1

September Goals

As we enter into the fall, my reading becomes a bit darker. I already have a few horror novels set aside for October, but I’m also listening to a horror novel now. I’d also like to read more books in translation and from other countries. This might be a goal that comes to fruition more towards the end of the year, but I at least have it in my mind now. Oh, and I want to whittle down my currently reading list. I do have two slow and steady books that I will have finished by the end of the month (Cutting for Stone by Abraham Verghese and Whereabouts by Jhumpa Lahiri), but I’d like to cut the list down by a bit more.

My bottom line goal is to read 12 books, which is doable as long as I stay focused. Fortunately, with the kids back in school and the hubs back in his home office, things should be smoother sailing.

I also hope to have figured out how to do a neat graphic for next month. Tips are welcome!