I almost forgot I was going to continue doing this until I saw Liz’s August post on Adventures in reading, running, and working from home. 

So, here we are. The books I added in August, in order from most recent to least. My thanks to the bloggers who have told me about these books (I think!).

Take Six Girls: The Lives of the Mitford Sisters by Laura Thompson

I’ve always been fascinated by the Mitfords, wondering how they could have ended up such diametrical opposites after having such a close childhood, it seems. I have read a couple of biographies only to discover that the authors were biased in some way. (I didn’t know the Guinesses were relatives until I was well into the bio written by two of them.) So, when I saw a brief write-up of this one by Kate on Books are My Favourite and Best, I added it to my list.

In the Shadows by Chris MacDonald

FictionFan has been talking up Chris MacDonald lately, so why wouldn’t I listen? Anyway, it sounds right up my alley.

Off the Beaten Path by Eloise Corvo

I already have no idea where I heard of this book or if I just was attracted by the cover. If you know that I read your blog and you recently reviewed this book or another in this series (because I have an idea that I actually read about the second book in the series, so I went back for the first book), let me know. Anyway, I like the cover, and the setting on Lake Michigan might have attracted me, because I’m originally from Michigan.

Little Spark by Jess Kidd

My knee-jerk reaction when I hear there’s a new book by Jess Kidd is to put it on my list. I am fairly sure I read about this book in a review by Helen of She Reads Novels.

Model Home by Rivers Solomon

I have read about Model Home in several places lately, but I believe I put it on my list after reading a review in the New York Times. I thought it may have been on their list of the 50 best thrillers in the 21st century, but it turned out it wasn’t. I think I read about it elsewhere as well. Its description as “a new kind of haunted-house novel” got me right away. I love haunting stories.

Who Among Us? by Mario Benedetti

I didn’t remember where I heard about Who Among Us?, but when I googled it, FictionFan‘s blog came up immediately, so I’m guessing it was from her. And this is a classic situation for me where I already don’t remember anything about the book. But that’s okay. I rarely try to remind myself what a book is about before I start it. I like to have an open mind.

An Ocean and a Day by Hannah Richell

Brona’s review on This Reading Life showed up as soon as I googled this book, since I couldn’t remember where I heard about it. I knew that one of my Australian friends reads a lot of books about grief. That is not my thing, but the memoir sounded interesting.

The Things We Never Say by Elizabeth Strout

This is really silly, but I bought a Strout book recently thinking it was her newest one, and it was one I had missed. I didn’t realize that until I started reading it. Since I always buy her books, ever since Olive Kitteridge, I immediately put this one on my To Do list to make sure I didn’t forget it. And, of course, lots of people have been reviewing it.

Apple Tree Yard by Louise Doughty

And for my final addition for this month, I see that I’m back to Kate on Books are My Favourite and Best for her review of Apple Tree Yard. I have a lot of new thrillers on the list, I see, and this is one of them.

So, what new books have you discovered lately? New to you, I mean.

I’m stealing an idea from Liz of Adventures in reading, running, and working from home. She’s started listing the books she adds to her wish list each month. I think this is a great idea if only for myself, to keep track. In my case, I’d be working with the To Read list on The Storygraph, but I ran into an unexpected hitch. In The Storygraph, you can look at your To Do list in order of most recently added, but what it does not do is keep track of the date you added something to your list. At least, not that I can figure out. And I looked at the Stats page to see if I could run a report, but as soon as you select To Read for the books you want to look at, the date function goes away. So, you can only look at stats for the To Read list in total.

I have a question in to customer support, but in the meantime, I figure I’ll have to try to remember which books I added in July, and then going forward I can keep track by looking at my last post about it.

I also thought this would be a nice way to keep track of why I added books to my list, that is, where I heard about them, but I find I already only remember this information for a few.

Going backwards from the most recently added:

Who Killed the Curate? by Joan Coggins

Kaggsy of Bookish Ramblings wrote a review of this Golden Age mystery and another in the series, Why Did She Die? I was sufficiently intrigued to add the first book to my list

Furious Violet by Sarai Walker

I often read the reviews of books from The New York Times, and their review five days ago interested me enough to add this psychological thriller.

A History of France in 21 Women by Katherine Pangonis

This’ll teach me. Because I know I read about this book on one of the blogs I follow, but I can’t remember which one, and looking through my comments doesn’t help. Perhaps it was mentioned by one of the blogs I follow that posts reviews of a bunch of books at a time. If you recognize that you reviewed this one lately, please let me know! You should get credit! Perhaps this was a book for Paris in July?

One Two Three by Laurie Frankel

This week I finished reading the book for the September session of The Marriage Plot (Literary Wives rebranded), which was Family Family by Laurie Frankel. I enjoyed that book so much that I decided to look for another book by her and came up with One Two Three.

They Stole a City by Lauren Collins

I’m pretty sure I heard about this book on an NPR radio program (OPB, Oregon Public Radio) while I was driving to art class. It’s about a shameful event in 19th century Wilmington, North Carolina, that was subsequently so suppressed that people don’t know about it. Look at that! Two nonfiction books added to my list this month!

The South by Colm Tóibín

I don’t really go looking for Tóibín’s books, but when I see one mentioned, I always get it. This one is an older work by him, and I think someone either reviewed it this month or just mentioned it, and I thought, here’s one I haven’t read yet. I don’t even know what it’s about.

Unseen: Blind spots and why we miss what matters most by David Lewis

Three nonfiction books! I heard about this book on one of the science programs on OPB. It sounded intriguing.

The Great Wherever by Shannon Sanders

I have no idea. I could have heard about this on NPR, but I think I actually saw it on one of The New York Times lists of the books they liked so far this year.

Blunt Instrument by Amy Bloom

Amy Bloom wrote a mystery? What’s not to like?

Heather by Caitlin Mullen

I have no idea where I heard of this book. If you reviewed it lately, fess up!

Prairie Edge by Conor Kerr

Ditto! I know that Simon of Stuck in a Book went to Canada lately and bought a bunch of books. Maybe there? Yes! Here’s his review.

The Rediscovery of America: Native Peoples and the Unmaking of U. S. History by Ned Blackhawk

I think I know where I heard of this book. I follow blackhawkfitness on Instagram, which despite its name is posts by a knowledgeable indigenous person about native culture. I’m pretty sure he talked about this book. If not, it got mentioned on NPR. Four nonfiction books!

I am stopping here, because the next book on the list is Solace House by Will McLean, and I’m pretty sure it’s been there for a while. On the other hand, the next one after that is Hunger & Thirst by Claire Fuller, and that seems more recent. But I’ll leave it at that. Next month, if people seem interested in this post, I will know exactly where to stop!