Reader Rayna

August is my birth month, and this year I turned 35! Wow, what a number. For some reason, when you’re young, you don’t think that you’ll get to your mid-thirties. Like, this is a far and nebulous age to be at (like maybe your parents or one of your parents were this age when you were small, but now here you are, and ahhhh!).

I didn’t do a whole ton of reading in August at all. I listened to one non-fiction book, read a chunk of Queen of Shadows, and that’s about it. I planned some of my Personal Curriculum, played some games, and consumed content. It sparked the desire to be creative again, though I haven’t taken a huge leap on actually being creative again just yet. Actually building up to it is part of the process, honestly.

I’m excited to see how September goes, and I know this is being posted a few days into September, so I’m already slacking, but I’m not going to let this little slip keep me down! I hope everyone’s month was fun, sunny, and full of joy!

What I Read

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• Everything is Tuberculosis by John Green – I listened to the audiobook for this one, and I found it to be both informative and full of heart. I learned a lot about this disease and just how much of an impact it has in the world. Check out my review here!

What I Started But Didn’t Finish

Queen of Shadows by Sarah J. Maas – My reread is going slowly but steadily, and I am enjoying my time doing so; I’m just not prioritizing reading lately. If I did that, I’d be unstoppable and probably be done with the series by now, to be honest lol
I’m 51% of the way through as of the end of August.

The Stats

What I Talked About

• July 2026 Wrap Up – Missed last month’s wrap up? Have no fear, it’s here! Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Book Covers With My Favorite Color – Spoiler alert: It’s pink! (If that wasn’t super obvious by my blog’s color scheme lol) Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Series I Want to Catch Up On or Start – It was my birthday when this posted (yay!), but I talk about series I want to catch up on. Some might be a surprise! Others, probably not so much lol Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Places I’ve Visited – I’ve actually been to several bookish historical sites in my own home state, but there’s still plenty I want to see as well! Check out the post here!
• Personal Curriculum: An Academic Year in Jane Austen – I’m jumping onto the trend train and taking on my own personal curriculum by reading each of Jane Austen’s works over the course of an academic year! Check out the post here!
• Top Ten Tuesday: Bookish Places I’ve Visited – I’ve been to several historical bookish places since I grew up in Massachusetts, and there’s still a few here in my state that I want to visit. Check out the post here!

Book Haul

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• Tender is the Flesh by Agustina Bazterrica, translated by Sarah Moses – I’ve heard a lot of great things about this short dystopian horror novel, and so I finally picked up my own copy. I hope to get to it this year, but if not, definitely next year.
• Circe by Madeline Miller – I’ve owned this digitally for a long time, but I finally decided to get a hard (paperback) copy. I haven’t read it yet, mind you, as I had a hard time with her writing style when I did try to read this book, but I hope now that I’ve gotten older and that I have more reading under my belt that I’ll be able to tackle this without issue!
• Swordheart by T. Kingfisher – I’ve tried Kingfisher’s Paladin’s Grace series out, but I wasn’t really vibing with the first book much at all, but I think I can give this one a try and I managed to read a full page in store before I realized I had made it to the end of the page lol That’s a good sign, right?
• A Fate Worse Than Drowning by Sarah L. Hawthorn – The bookseller at Barnes and Noble got me with this one at checkout! That was really the only reason I picked this one up, otherwise I most likely wouldn’t have. But it’s another spooky season type of book, so one I hope to try to get to this year.
• The Witch Below the Dreaming Wood by H. G. Parry – All I know about this book is that it’s an Arthurian retelling, and that’s all I really needed to know to want to try it out. I also watched a review of it by a booktuber I trust whose style of reviewing is thorough without giving anything away, and she gave this one a glowing review, so I definitely had to pick this one up.

• Brigands & Breadknives by Travis Baldree – This finally came out in paperback so I got it to match the other two editions I have in this world. I haven’t read this one or Bookshops & Bonedust yet, but my wife is at least caught up if nothing else!
• Daggermouth by H.M. Wolfe – I’ve been hearing a lot of good things about this dystopian romance for months now, so when I saw it in store, I caved and grabbed it. The edition is really nicely made, too, so honestly I’m not mad about it. Can’t wait to dive into it!
• The Bell Jar by Sylvia Plath – I saw this book, and the next few, on a recommendations post on Instagram for people who have or deal with identity grief (those that miss a version of themselves that no longer exist).
• Writers & Lovers by Lily King – This was on that same recommended list as The Bell Jar, and it frankly sounds like a fantastic book besides. I hope to read it within the next year or so.
• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner – On that same list was this memoir, and knowing it’s about a daughter who lost her mother (if you’ve been around, you know I lost my mom several years ago now), I’m sure this will resonate plenty with identity grief, as well.

• Sea of Charms by Sarah Beth Durst – Have I read the first two books in the Spellshop series? No. Did I get this just to match the other two hardcovers I already own? Yes.
• Every Spiral of Fate by Tahereh Mafi – The paperback came out so I could match my versions! (My wife has the hardcovers while I have the paperbacks lol)
• Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier – I’ve been hearing rave reviews for this classic for some time now, and in an effort to broaden my horizons in terms of genre and era of reading, I decided to pick myself up a copy.
• Where the Wildflowers Grow by Terah Shelton Harris – The synopsis of this book intrigued me, and the genuine nature of the author’s note at the front pulled me in, but also while I was checking this book out at the store I was asked by no less than three employees at the store if I needed help finding anything (this book was on a table at the front and I was just hovering and checking it out). I mean, I appreciate being asked, but that happened all within my first ten minutes in the store! lol
• Persepolis: The Story of a Childhood by Marjane Satrapi, translated by Mattias Ripa – I remember this powerful comic taking Booktube by storm years and years ago, and I saw it recently on a Banned Books table at Barnes and Noble, so I decided to pick it up. I’d been eyeing it a lot recently, anyway, so I decided it was time.

• Brave New World by Aldous Huxley – I’ve been seeing this classic pop up a lot recently, and though it’s a satire novel about a “utopian” society, it’s very much not that, and I’m very curious as to what happens in it.
• Nineteen Minutes by Jodi Picoult – This was on the Banned Books table at Barnes and Noble, and I even saw a post by Picoult on Instagram talking about how this was the most banned book the year after it came out. Color me intrigued.
• The Bright Years by Sarah Damoff – I’ve heard some great things about this novel, and the writing in particular, so I wanted to check this one out. And I hear it’ll devastate the emotions, so I’m ready for that, as well lol
• Lonesome Dove by Larry McMurtry – A Western? In my book haul!? Yup, that’s right, I’m jumping on this bandwagon. I’ve been seeing enough about this book for almost, what, two years now? I need to know for myself what’s up with this book.
• Piranesi by Susanna Clarke – And I’ve also seen a million reviews of this book by now that I need to finally read this book at some point over the next year for myself. No one gives away the plot, which is astounding, by the way. Kudos!

• The Shape of Monsters by Tessa Gratton – I have book one, and saw the second on shelves at the store and figured I may as well grab it while I see it in case I don’t see it again for whatever reason lol (sound logic, right?)
• Demon Copperhead by Barbara Kingsolver – I had seen this book and heard a lot of it when it first came out, and it’s having a resurgence, it seems, as I was sold on getting it myself. I was also sold on it because the author donated a bunch of her royalties to open a non-profit for a women’s rehabilitation clinic, I believe, which is incredible, and I know what some of the subject matter of the book talks about. (Practice what you preach!)
• East of Eden by John Steinbeck – I’m in my literary bag this month with the haul, that’s for sure, and so I got this book that’s essentially a retelling of the story of Adam and Eve, and Cain and Abel, which I find fascinating! I’m excited to read it at some point!
• Merriam-Webster’s Everyday Language Reference Set – Yes, that’s right, I got myself a reference set! This was honestly just a nerdy thing to get that I wanted to have on hand lol As an English major and a writer, I felt it important to have these in the house rather than to always have to rely on the internet to tell me words and whatnot. Sometimes it’s just really nice to have the tactile feel of things when looking stuff up, you know?