August Round Up

 Here we are again, another month and I still continue with this round up even though I'm pretty sure I'm the only person who reads it! Never mind. It exists as a diary of my monthly reading. My fears that my age was slowing down my reading were unfounded. I'm back to my average eight books a month total with a decent variety of genre.

First up was a birthday gift. Amy Jeffs' Saints. I've read her previous two books and thoroughly enjoyed therm. I won't say I didn't enjoy this, but I felt it lacked the impact that the other two had on me. It was interesting enough and as usual Amy's research is impeccable but I felt it was lacklustre  compared to the first two.

Next, in a real genre switch, was Amy Lilwall with The Water That May Come. I say genre switch because I read somewhere that this is categorised as cli-fi. Yes, you read that correctly. It's short for climate fiction, I guess. I found it to be an utterly compelling and riveting read until perhaps the latter stage is when I felt it fell off a bit. It was sent to me by the brilliant Isabelle Kenyon from Fly on the Wall Press. It's not published till October so I'm sitting on my review until then. 

William Shaw is one of those authors whose books I will always read. The Red Shore is billed as an Eden Driscoll mystery which suggests it might be the start of a new series. I've no problem with that. I've enjoyed all of William Shaw's detectives, Breen and Tozer, Alexandra Cupidi and the stand alone novels. All crime stories, all well plotted with flawed yet endearing characters. Stories that keep you guessing right till the end. Keep 'em coming, William.

I was waiting to collect a Library book that I'd reserved. And I wasn't the only person that had reserved it so I wanted to make sure I wasn't in the middle of a lengthy tome when I picked it up and I could begin it straight away. I had this book by Susanna Clarke sitting on my shelf. It suggested from the blurb that it's a Christmassy tale, but I didn't mind that. I've loved both of Susanna Clarke's books. In fact, Piranesi is on my forever shelf, it's so wonderful. This didn't disappoint. Quirky, magical, enchanting, it tells of Merowdis who can talk to trees and animals. It has the feel of an allegorical tale and I've a feeling this is going to go on my forever shelf too. (My forever shelf is those books that have such an impact on me. I want to read them again before I die).

And here's the library book I was waiting for! Sophie Haydock's Madame Matisse. I loved The Flames so I was really excited to see what she'd come up with next. Again it's art themed. I reviewed it on my blog here.

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2025/08/madame-matisse-sophie-haydock.html

I read a Robert Harris book when I was the fortunate recipient of the entire long list for the Walter Scott historical fiction prize in 2023, Act of Oblivion. I enjoyed the book and I gave it to my yoga teacher who is a Harris fan and she reciprocated by giving me her copy of Pompeii. I thoroughly enjoyed it and found it very engrossing. I like the way it was seen through the eyes of four different characters and I think I engaged most with the young engineer, Marcus Attilius. Harris always makes his books believable. The research is incredible. And I learned a lot about aqueducts.

Next up, another Library book, Atmosphere by Taylor Jenkins Reid. I was very excited to read this as I loved her previous two books. And this was wonderful. I wrote about it on my blog.

https://bookphace.blogspot.com/2025/08/atmosphere-taylor-jenkins-reid.html

Finally, this month a book from the good folks at HQ stories Phoenicia Rogerson's Aphrodite. There was a whole spate of Greek myth influenced fiction a while back and I thought maybe the infatuation with mythology had ended. But it certainly hasn't. This was joyous. A quirky, witty romp through the lives and loves of mortals and gods with Aphrodite as the main character. I suppose I may find it irreverent but I didn't. I just love the audacity of the goddess of love! Girl Power, heck yeah!