Month In Review: August 2020

How on earth is it September already?! Seriously, how is it possible that we only have four months left of this year?! I’m not sure where 2020 is going, although I can’t deny I’ll be glad to see the end of it. August was all about our redecorating project and moving in afterwards, and we’ve spent the month painting like crazy and getting everything ready to move in next door. We finally managed to do so about two weeks ago, and although there are still some minor tasks to complete, we are more than happy with the result so far. The whole ordeal did leave me feeling slightly slumpy though, so fingers crossed a little relaxing (and yes, baking!) will chase that slump away before it sticks…

Below two ‘before’ (or rather ‘during’ as I forgot to take pictures before we first started) and ‘after’ shots in case you were wondering why I have been absent lately. 😉 Also, I’m in love with my new bookcase!!! ❤

Next: the bookish numbers.

• Number of books read in August: 8
• Total number of books read in 2020: 165
• Total number of pages read in August: 2.670
• Total number of pages read in 2020: 55.262

As I already suspected, I wasn’t able to read much during August. It’s a miracle I even made it to eight books at all to be honest, even though it’s been ages since my total has been this low. In fact, the last time I read less than 15, let alone less than 10 books, was back in April-May 2018 when we went on our Eurotrip… That said, at least I did enjoy most of the books I picked up last month, so that is at least something I guess.

AUGUST 2020 READS

4.5 STARS: This one was almost perfect. Surely fantastic!

The Day We Meet Again – by Miranda Dickinson // When I Was You – by Amber Garza

4 STARS: Wow, this was really good. Close to amazing!

Dark Pines – by Will Dean // The Last To Know – by Jo Furniss // The Memories We Bury – by H.A. Leuschel

3.5 STARS: Great read. Really entertaining!

Road Out Of Winter – by Alison Stine

3 STARS: It was a nice read, but not fantastic.

Bad Parts – by Brandon McNulty

2 STARS: It was ok. But mostly ‘meh’. 

Deadly Waters – by Dot Hutchison

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I’ve decided to only join a limited amount of 2020 to focus more on the joy of reading without obligations again… And somehow I’m well on my way completing most of them without even trying haha. Sadly, I wasn’t able to finish the 20 Books Of Summer challenge in time though; it didn’t really come as a surprise given I was too busy to read during most of the month.

# CHALLENGES #

• • Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge: DONE!! 150/150
  • Goodreads 2020 Reading Challenge UPDATED: 165/200
  • 2020 Beat The Backlist Challenge: DONE!!! (38/50 books read published in 2018 or 2017 and 52/30 books read published 2016 or before. A total of 90/80 books.)
  • Reading Through The Centuries: DONE!!! 5/5
  • 2020 Netgalley & Edelweiss Challenge: DONE!!! 62/25
  • 20 Books Of Summer 2020: 17/20 FAIL!!!

As for my other goals… My ARC/backlist ratio situation became even worse, and I don’t expect things to improve soon as I have a huge pile of ARCs I needed to work through ASAP. Whoops? I really need to focus on the remaining goals again too, although I admit the TBR pile one is pretty hopeless. xD

# OTHER READING/BLOGGING GOALS #

• Read at least 3 (modern) classics (rereads don’t count) DONE!! 3/3 (Chitty Chitty Bang Bang // A Study In Scarlet // The Curious Case Of Benjamin Button)
• Complete at least 10 series (rereads don’t count) 6/10 (Feverwake // Lacey Flint // If I Stay // The Bird And The Sword Chronicles // The Hundred-Year-Old Man // Archie Sheridan & Gretchen Lowell)
• Reread at least 2 books DONE!! 2/2 (Deep Blue Trouble // Pippi Longstocking)
• Bring my physical TBR pile below 600 books and keep it that way. 752/600
• Read at least one book over 800 pages 0/1 (highest page count 774 pages; She Has A Broken Thing Where Her Heart Should Be)
• Keep ARC/backlist title ratio below 40% 49,7%
• Read at least 2 books in Spanish DONE!! 2/2 (Harry Potter Y Las Reliquias De La Muerte // Entre Senderos De Lavanda)
• Read at least 1 book in Dutch DONE!! 1/1 (Moederkruid)
• Read at least 15 international authors and/or translations DONE!! 15/15 (Dark Mother Earth (Croatia DNF) // My Sister, The Serial Killer (Nigeria) // Perfume (Germany) // Death Deserved (Norway) // Blue Night (Germany) // Pippi Longstocking (Sweden) // Sister (Norway) // The Girl In The Tree (Turkey) // The Creak On The Stairs (Iceland) // The Guest Cat (Japan) // Moederkruid (The Netherlands) // The Accidental Further Adventures Of The Hundred-Year-Old Man (Sweden) // The Child (Germany) // Entre Senderos De Lavanda (Argentina) // Fruit Of The Drunken Tree (Colombia))
• Read at least 10 TBR jar picks 5/10 (Like This For Ever // What We Saw // The Storied Life Of A.J. Fikry // Evil At Heart // Broken Hearts, Fences And Other Things To Mend)
• Join at least 5 challenges during the year DONE!! 5/5
• Keep my Netgalley ratio above the 80% 96%

Stay safe and happy reading!

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