I’m taking a break at the moment from the usual TBRs I set myself with my TBR jar game that I run on my YouTube channel. I’m still battling with the feeling that I’m catching up, and so sticking to mood reading/reading ARCs until I feel I’m on top of things. My guess at this stage is that I might be TBR-jar free until January (but I do miss picking from them!)

Nonetheless, in the meantime I wanted to share with you the books on my radar that I’m tackling to achieve this. I’ve got a mix of review copies, audiobooks and books off my actual TBR. It’ll be great when I get on top of the review copies because then, who knows, maybe I’ll see my TBR go down for once! (I’m not convinced it’s physically possible to shrink your TBR at this point, though).

Advance Readers Copies

I was sent this one by Harlequin Australia, so thanks very much to them. This came out in late September and firstly, I adore the cover. I’ve also been in a real mood to read Australian historical fiction and this is about a famous shipwreck off the coast of Western Australia.

Nothing tickles my fancy more than a story set where I live, particularly historical fiction! That almost never happens. So the shipwreck this follows is the Batavia which sailed and wrecked in the early 17th century. I know that this is going to be a dual timeline, with a character (a boy) finding something about the shipwreck in the late 20th century – but more than that, I’m going in blind!

Interned was sent to me by Walker Books Australia and I’m quite excited to start it. It came out at the end of March (but I think my copy came sometime later). In any case, this is overdue a read. It’s more Australian historical fiction, this time looking at what happened to people who ‘looked’ like the enemy during WWII, which one character being German.

I’ve been reading a little more middle grade historical fiction lately and I really enjoy the simplified plot lines that you can read about as an adult. It also gives a great perspective on the impact of events on younger people during this time, which is nice to see when I’m usually one for reading about adults!

Truthfully, I can’t believe I haven’t read this yet. I’m slowly losing faith in myself that I’m ever going to read it – but I will!

This is the fourth book in the Chorus of Dragons series and I had really wanted to read this before the fifth book came out (which it now has). There’s something glorious but intimidating about these books and I am struggling to find time for it.

This is really a book I would love to see benefit from me ‘getting on top’ of my reading, because then I might feel less rushed/pressured to get through this and can simply enjoy the ride.

If you don’t know, this is adult fantasy with intense, convoluted plot lines that are some of my favourites I’ve ever read. Jenn Lyons is a spectacular author and I can’t recommend this series enough.

Audiobooks

I’m pretty close to finishing Harrow the Ninth so this should be an easy win for me. This has been a bonkers sequel, being book two to Gideon the Ninth. The first book has fast become one of my favourite books I’ve ever read, but I confess at the near-90% mark, I’m still pretty confused with what’s going on in Harrow.

I really love the listening and reading experience of this and despite my confusion am thoroughly enjoying myself. But if I’m honest, this might cop a lower rating from me just because it’s so nonsensical. I do hope to do a reread of this (in physical format) to make more sense of it in the future.

This series is fantasy and about necromancy. It’s full on and weird, but also glorious.

Off the back of Harrow, I’m not sure if this will actually be the next audio I pick up, but I’m leaving it here for now. A Darkling Plain is the fourth book in the Mortal Engines series, and whilst I really liked books one and two, three lost me a little bit.

As such, I’ve been holding off reading this for some time but I think I need to bite the bullet and get on with it. I’m not doing as much driving in August so audiobook progress is going to slow right down. I don’t think I’ll necessarily finish this this month, but it’d be nice if I did!

If you don’t know what this series is about, it’s steampunk at its best. And much better than the horrid movie they made of it.

Rereads

Don’t be too shocked that I’m actually rereading books for once! I’ve been going through Harry Potter again for nostalgia sake (and also to read along with my boyfriend, who’s reading them for the first time!) and totally loving it.

Obviously I’m now up to book six, and am halfway through it. I’m hoping to finish my reread of it in August.

I can never get over how much I love this series – I know it’s a bit taboo because of author-reasons right now, but the story itself will always be magical to me. Once I finish this, I plan to head straight into book seven.

TBR

When it comes to my physical TBR this month I’ve got a few things lined up, but outside of review copies I’m unsure how many of these I’ll really get to. A Court of Silver Flames is a book I’ve been ‘currently reading’ for literally over a year. I’m absolutely loving it, as I have with most of Maas’s other books, but I’m a distracted person and keep putting it down and forgetting about it.

So here’s to hoping that in August I might just focus and polish the damn thing off. It’s so good so far, I think I’m 200/800 pages at the moment, or thereabouts, and I have no complaints as of yet.

Everyone I know has been raving about this, and I want to go see the movie, so I’ve bumped it up my TBR to see what all the fuss is about. This is a bestseller in nearly every bookstore at the moment, and it’s just crazy.

I’m curious to see if I end up liking it, because I’ve heard a solid mix of people loving it and other people finding that it didn’t live up to the hype for them. So we shall see.

And because why read one famous book when you can read two, I’ve got Evelyn Hugo on here as well. This has come highly recommended from several people whose opinions I trust, and apparently the ending is a doozy.

I’m really, really looking forward to reading this and sincerely hope I love it as much as everyone else. I’m quite excited to pick up some popular books like these last two, because I don’t read books just for the hype that often!

And finally we have the next enviro-science book that I want to read. This is Jane Goodall’s memoirs, a public figure I’ve become familiar with via David Attenborough. Something I’ve really been getting more into and sharing more so on my YouTube channel is my love of non-fiction books, and particularly those about the natural world and climate change.

I’m trying to get into a habit of regularly having one of these books on the go, and this is the next one I fancied reading. The plan is to pick it up in August, but likely read it over a few months.

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What books are you hoping to read in August?