It’s State of the TBR time again (a bit late in the day because the whole day keeps getting away from me, and because I keep putting off posting about incomings, I end up doing lots of weird mosaics etc in one go. So here we go.
So it’s slightly “fuller” than at the start of July but not tooo bad, not right along the shelf at least. The wonky pile to the right is review books publishers have kindly sent me, and most of those will come up for reading this month, but you might not hear about them for a little bit, until the reviews have come out. I finished 15 books in July again – that’s the same number three months running, which is pleasing. Quite a few have come in, though: see below. I read all but two of my 20 Books of Summer (but have altered my list!) and five of my seven NetGalley reads (one left to review) plus one ebook I was reviewing for Shiny New Books, and I finished my readalong with Emma book. I wasn’t too disappointed with that.
Currently reading
I’m currently reading Raynor Winn’s “The Salt Path” as my new read with Emma, certainly an easier read (though a more emotional one) than “London Underground”! Then Armistead Maupin’s “Logical Family” is my new Book 13 in my 20 Books of Summer (see notes below), and Maya Angelou’s “Singin’ & Swingin’ & Gettin’ Merry Like Christmas” is both Book 14 and next in my Maya Angelou readalong with Ali and Meg.
Up next
I’m still working my way through my 20 Books of Summer hosted by Cathy from 246 Books with her sign-up post here. My first two months were all about people’s lives that are different from mine, but I felt that I was burning myself out reading so many Black autobiography and allyship (or not!) books in a row, and also burning my readers out. I had Afua Hirsch’s “Brit(ish)” and Jeffrey Boake’s “Black, Listed” on the list and I’ve swapped them out (don’t worry: I will come to them, read them and review them when I’m back working through my TBR in order) for, respectively, the Armistead Maupin (LGTBQIA+ lives) and the second D.E. Stevenson above, which adds one book to my All Virago (and Dean Street Press and Persephone) / All August themed final month of 20 Books of Summer. I needed some fiction and I needed some lighter reads, and this felt like the right thing to do.
So I have Maya Angelou, who I’m already reading, then Dorothy Whipple’s “Random Commentary” which is her notes on her writing of the novels Persphone also publishes. Then the two D.E. Stevensons, “Music in the Hills and Winter and Rough Weather” are the two loose sequels to the wonderful “Vittoria Cottage” and the three Angela Thirkells, “The Headmistress”, “Miss Bunting” and “Peace Breaks Out” finally bring her Barsetshire series to a close (I’ve spent a while getting round to these).
In NetGalley reads, this is the set I have published in August (“The Reading List is a July book I don’t want to miss):
“The Reading List” by Sara Nisha Adams is an intergenerational story on the power of reading, “Sugar” by Bernice L. McFadden is a reprint of a book set in a small town in the American South, and Naomi Shragai’s “The Man Who Mistook his Job for his Life” is about the effect your real life has on your work life.
I do have a couple of other June/July stragglers but these are the books I really want to read this month. don’t want to overload myself, either!
Books in (many, many books in, again!)
I’ll divide this into print and e-book incomings. I did trip up and buy two bargains on Kindle. The print books are a mix of gifts and review copies, sorry to have mixed them all up but I took the photos as they came in
First those slightly naughty Kindle books. Emmanuel Acho’s “Uncomfortable Conversations with a Black Man” has been on my watch list for a while, and looks at how he has had to discuss various matters with White colleagues and friends. “Kiley Dunbar’s “The Borrow a Bookshop Holiday” was a recommendation I had to snap up. I need to find another ebook source as am becoming more and more disillusioned with Amazon (“thank you to my customers and staff for sending me to space” – eugh).
I’ve not done too badly this month as in I haven’t “won” a million NetGalley books … There’s the aforementioned “The Man Who Mistook his Job for His Life by Naomi Shragai, out this month, then Bobby Duffy’s “Generations”, which looks at boomers, Gen Xers, etc, Charlie Brinkhurst-Cuff’s (ed.) “Black Joy” – stories of Black joy which are important to read as well as stories of pain. Then Dennis Duncan’s “Index, a History of the” (great title) and finally Richard Osman’s “The Man Who Died Twice”, of course the sequel to “The Thursday Murder Club” which I’ve had to pick up (cheap from The Works).
OK, here we go with this mishmash (sorry!). Rob Deering’s “Running Tracks” is an Unbound book I subscribed to about running and music (hooray!). Jane Setter’s “Your Voice Speaks Volumes” is a review copy and looks at accents in English. Carola Oman’s “Nothing to Report” and “Somewhere in England” are two Dean Street Press books I bought with my Book Token Splurge. Paul from HalfManHalfBook kindly sent me Nicholas Royle’s “White Spines: Confessions of a Book Collector” and Karen from KaggsysBookishRamblings also kindly sent me “Dancing on Ropes” by Anna Aslanyan which is about interpretation and translation. Ali from HeavenAli gave me “I Am Not Your Baby Mother”. “Goshawk Summer” by James Aldridge was a lovely surprise from Elliott & Thompson, who thought I might like it, and I have “Lion City: Singapore and the Invention of Modern Asia” by Jeevan Vasagar to review, too. Thank you to the publishers for the review copies!
Of course I have my two Anne Tylers for the month: “Back When we were Grownups” and “An Amateur Marriage”. That makes a few books on the TBR for August, but I think I can do it …
What are your reading plans for August? Are you joining me for some Anne Tyler?
Wendy
Aug 01, 2021 @ 17:20:31
You made a lot of progress on your TBR this month. I lost my 80% NetGalley badge which means I’ll be cracking into a few of those this month. So many books, so little time!
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Liz Dexter
Aug 01, 2021 @ 18:02:37
Oh no! Mine is just about hanging in there but I do need to pick up those books this month! At least the TBR isn’t in piles, that’s when I know it’s bad!
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radiosarahc
Aug 01, 2021 @ 17:55:55
Great choices! I too am attempting to dent the tbr list, it’s out of control 🤦🏻♀️
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Liz Dexter
Aug 01, 2021 @ 18:03:04
Thank you! It is hard, isn’t it – so many lovely books out there and review copies keep arriving …
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radiosarahc
Aug 01, 2021 @ 18:04:42
Really hard, I’m easily distracted and forget how many there are 🤣
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joulesbarham
Aug 01, 2021 @ 17:56:30
Wow! Your reading is as complicated as mine – except that I have read and reviewed all the Angela Thirkell books already! Isn’t it strange how many books on one theme seem to emerge together – I am having quite a run of Sherlock Holmes books at the moment, as well as the ever present WW2 sagas…still if variety is the spice of life you have certainly taken that on board!
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Liz Dexter
Aug 01, 2021 @ 18:04:27
It’s only this month it’ll be this complicated, then 20 Books will be done, and at least I get to overlap it with All Virago etc / All August! I like to have a challenge through the year too but two books a month is a bit much. And yes, I did want to read the Hirsch for a women’s perspective but it was all a bit much.
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kaggsysbookishramblings
Aug 01, 2021 @ 18:05:03
Lovely pictures and a nice healthy looking TBR! I think you’re sensible to swap some books around – personally I find myself getting a bit weary if I read too much of the same kind of thing, so I always go for variety. Impressed you’re getting to the end of the Thirkells – I didn’t get with her at all. But I adored White Spines so I hope you enjoy it too!
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Liz Dexter
Aug 02, 2021 @ 07:49:17
I’m assuming even less hunting in these Thirkells at least. I will be glad to reach the end of them though I’ve really enjoyed the wartime ones, as they were written at the time, and made the decision not to carry on after that as I’m aware the quality diminishes a bit! And thank you for your reassurance on the change, I feel like I can do better justice to those books by spreading them out a bit, too.
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heavenali
Aug 02, 2021 @ 16:59:11
15 is a great reading month, and you read such a brilliant variety of stuff. I am hoping to start that Maya tomorrow night, as I am into the last 100 pages of the chunkish In Memory Of Memory, for #Witmonth. For me August is juggling Viragos and Witmonth books, and hopefully moving at some stage.
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Liz Dexter
Aug 04, 2021 @ 08:45:47
I was pleased to get that many read, though did have that week off (though then did read two 500+ pagers!). I have a nice variety this month as well, though mainly fiction and a few memoirs. I’m enjoying Maya. And I hope you get those books out of boxes before you finish the ones you kept out TBR!
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Cari
Aug 04, 2021 @ 20:15:02
This post is always so bad for my wishhlist, which I love. Very curious what you think of Emmanuel Acho’s book. I enjoyed it very much, but reviews are mixed. So far I only swapped out one 20 Books title, but that may turn into three as I just can’t get into another.
Mt. TBR is just. Ooph. I visited the office one last week – some I’d forgotten about
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Liz Dexter
Aug 05, 2021 @ 06:36:06
Oh, that’s interesting it’s had mixed reviews – I don’t think I’ve seen any, I just had it on my radar from somewhere! So you’d left books in your office and only just discovered them? Almost like new books, right?!
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Cari
Aug 06, 2021 @ 17:43:50
exactly! A box that had come in from BookOutlet just before the shutdown and one or two I had on my office shelf
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buriedinprint
Aug 09, 2021 @ 20:56:09
That collage photo is especially striking (of the new arrivals). I don’t think I’ve seen those spines of the Stevenson editions (maybe I would know the front covers). She’s great fun. That Angelou is one that I remember reading very quickly.
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Liz Dexter
Aug 10, 2021 @ 05:08:34
The front covers have the usual house shape frame as seen in the Omans further down, and I can’t remember what else! I’ll try to photograph their fronts for their reviews, if I remember!
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buriedinprint
Aug 10, 2021 @ 14:19:22
Ohhh, I know what you mean: thank you!
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Thomas
Aug 18, 2021 @ 02:24:17
Wow congrats on 15 books three months in a row! At this moment I have read 55 books this year so you are definitely outpacing me, though regardless of the number I am glad we are both finding enjoyment and satisfaction through reading. Are you ever afraid that you may run out of space for your books, or do you feel like you’ll always be able to create more space (/do you ever donate or sell books)?
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Liz Dexter
Aug 18, 2021 @ 20:48:52
Well, I’m not in graduate school so probably have more time for recreational reading! And fear not, my house is not about to burst. I’m very careful about what I keep, only things that call into one of my collections or something I know I’m going to re-read. Everything else gets passed to friends or I register them on Bookcrossing and give them away on public shelves!
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Thomas
Aug 20, 2021 @ 13:08:51
Ooooh that’s so smart about giving away books as well as your intentionality about what to keep! I might move in the middle of next year and am already apprehensive about all my books, though also apprehensive about giving them away. We’ll see!
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Liz Dexter
Aug 21, 2021 @ 18:04:18
I bet you can do it! It’s quite liberating and lovely to share good books, too, or find just the right readers for the ones you loved slightly less.
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Book review – Anna Aslanyan – “Dancing on Ropes” | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
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Book review – Rob Deering – “Running Tracks” | Adventures in reading, running and working from home
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