I had to write this August 2024 Book Blog Wrap-Up a little earlier than usual since I’m in Maine. I decided to leave my laptop behind and travel light. It’s an annual tradition of my husband’s family and I always enjoy the fresh air and Maine-caught lobsters. So this post is mostly accurate with regards to stats and books completed this month. I hope everyone in the U.S. has a good Labor Day Weekend!
Book Reviews
I posted four book reviews in August. From earliest to latest they are:
- Dyscalculia by Camonghne Felix
- Lore of the Wilds by Analeigh Sbrana
- Adelaide by Genevieve Wheeler
- Under the Henfluence by Tove Danovich
Blog Statistics
Every month I share some statistics from Google Analytics because I think it helps put expectations into perspective for other micro-bloggers like me who are out there. These statistics are from Google Analytics 4.
My top five posts for total page views, as of Thursday (August 29) evening, are:
- Book Review: Assistant to the Villain by Heather Maehrer: 2,775 views
- Arthurian Retellings Reading List: 1,046 views
- Book Review: Fall of Ruin and Wrath by Jennifer Armentrout: 712 views
- 2024 Mid-Year Freakout Book Tag: 417 views
- ARC Review: Two Twisted Crowns by Rachel Gillig: 292 views
August was a great month with respect to stats. This is the first time a single post hit over 2,500 views in one month. My blog also hit a new monthly views record with close to 11,000 visitors. Some of that is because I got a lot of views on my ASSISTANT TO THE VILLAIN post due to its sequel hitting shelves earlier this month.
Finally, I reached my 2024 goal of 200 blog followers. At the time of writing this post I currently have 202. Welcome aboard, folks!
#BeattheBacklog
I finished five books for this challenge, can you believe it?! These books were all on my TBR prior to 2024 and I read them. Go me! The books in question are: WITCHFUL THINKING by Celestine Martin, YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang, THE MONUMENTS MEN by Robert M. Edsel, IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros, and PAHUA AND THE SOUL STEALER by Lori M. Lee. By the time this post goes live, I possibly will have finished my sixth book for #BeattheBacklog: HESTER by Laurie Lico Alabenese.
Other Bookish Items
I finished eight books in August:
- DAYS AT THE MORISAKI BOOKSHOP by Satoshi Yagisawa
- WITCHFUL THINKING by Celestine Martin
- YELLOWFACE by R.F. Kuang
- THE MONUMENTS MEN by Robert M. Edsel (audiobook)
- IRON FLAME by Rebecca Yarros
- PAHUA AND THE SOUL STEALER by Lori M. Lee (audiobook)
- NO CHOICE by Becca Andrews
- HESTER by Laurie Lico Albanese
I sold about a dozen books to my local used bookstore. They weren’t moving on Pangobooks, but the store was happy enough to take them. I won’t say no to making a little bit of money back from those book purchases.
I participated in Trope-ical Readathon. My reading selection is here. I didn’t read as many books from that TBR this time around, but I’m proud I finished IRON FLAME (finally).
I attended the Library of Congress National Book Festival for the first time. It was at the Walter E. Convention Center in Washington, D.C. and wow there were a lot of people!! The main draw for me was Rebecca Yarros’s presence. I had hoped to get my copies of FOURTH WING and IRON FLAME signed by her. Unfortunately, though, the signing line closed before 1:30 pm for a signing start time of 4:00 pm. I couldn’t even get there before 1:30 pm, so I lost before I even began the race. Not to mention I don’t want her autograph so badly that I’m willing to camp out three or more hours beforehand.
I was disappointed enough to consider bailing on her author talk later that evening. However, I’m glad I stayed (even though it was live streamed). I appreciated learning about her inspiration for her series. In short, the erasure of history in real life (she mentioned the censoring of America’s history of slavery as an example) and how that impacts future generations was a big inspiration. So was how a constant state of war affects a society, of which she has personal life experience as a military spouse.
Non-Bookish Items
Garden harvesting is in full swing! We hit peak cucumber and tomato production this month. I only had two pickle jars for fridge pickles and now I have too many pickler cucumbers! (That’s a good problem to have.) I have some squash growing in grow bags as well as some winter squash vining out around the house. This year I experimented with starting squash plants later to try to avoid the pernicious vine boring beetle. Fingers crossed they stay away!
I took our cat to the vet this month. I was really nervous about what her bloodwork would say since she’s almost 14 years old. Happily, everything came back normal and I felt so relieved. She lost some weight over the past year, so the vet advised us to increase her food intake a little. Of course, our cat is happy to take on the challenge of eating more food!
Congrats on a great month! The book festival sounds like our LA Times Festival of Books in Los Angeles, which is full of famous, popular and celebrity authors. And tons of people. I haven’t been in years but I remember when it first started up it was small and intimate and easier to get books signed and meet authors. Everything always gets bigger, lol. Hope your September is good as well.
Thank you! I’ve never been to the National Book Festival, but I heard from others that they didn’t used to have such popular authors, that it was more smaller or indie authors. But I think it’s good to see so many people show up for these things, even if it makes it crowded. Three cheers for reading!
Iād like to give Witchful Thinking another try. I think it wouldāve worked for me if I was in the mood for it.
Oh man! I totally missed and forgot about the National Book Festival. That weekend got so busy.
If you like small town romances, you’ll probably like WITCHFUL THINKING. For me, it was ok.
Sorry that you missed the Festival! š
That talk by Rebecca Yarros does sound interesting although I totally get why you wouldn’t want to spend 4 hours of your life just to get books signed.
Yea, I do not want nor do I have time to spend that many hours in line!! That’s the last time I’m going to try for a Yarros signing.
Hope you have a great time in Maine! And congrats on your backlog progress, I always love when I can give attention to “older” books. Lastly CONGRATS ON YOUR BOOK STATS that is absolutely amazing!!
Thanks! Maine was lovely. I’m so pleased with my backlog progress these last couple of months. It’s helped me free up some shelf space (even though I still have books on the floor, lol). And yea, those stats! I’m surprised! I don’t know if I’ll see that again in September, but it was cool to achieve that in August!
your month seems amazing!! I’ve been hoping to read yellowface.
your stats are great omgg!!
love this post!!
I just found your blog, and I’m in love with the aesthetics and posts, it’s so wonderful! <3
You should read YELLOWFACE! It’s very bingeable and is a great commentary on so many things. Thanks for stopping by! š
Wow, overall it sounds like you had a great month! Glad all is well with your cat, and congrats on your blog milestones!
It was a great month! Thanks for the kitty well wishes! ^_^
What a great month of reading and stats for the blog, too! š I can’t believe that the signing line closed three hours before it actually began. Nowadays I can hardly fathom spending that much time waiting around for something, even if it’s an author or even artist that I really like. I have no patience (and my body feels too old, lol). š I hope you have an amazing September!
I’m so happy about my reading progress…the stats were a nice surprise, too! I also have little patience for standing in line for 4+ hours. To me, a signature isn’t worth that much of my time, and I’m ok with that, lol.