An August Throwback

Another month passes, summer is coming to an end, September (finally!) hits us with some much needed rain and a direly wished for drop in temperature (or maybe that's just me). Soon, my semester is going to start so I tried to cram a lot of books into one month, which kinda worked well?

So, in total I read 21.25 books, which includes 5 graphic novels/mangas, and listened to 3-and-something audiobooks. I don't know how many hours/minutes of audiobooks that makes a day but I do know that I read a total of 6478 pages or about 209 pages a day, which I'm very happy with.

But let's wind back a bit and actually look at what it is that I've read in the month of August:

1. Maus by Art Spiegelman (4 Stars)
   
   
   A pretty fantastic Comic (or Graphic Novel? I guess because I read the bind-up it is a Graphic Novel but I believe it was published as Comics? I'm really not good at differentiating the two) about WWII. Touching and brutal, as most WW-stories tend to be, this one is not just about the war itself but also about the many relationships between people, not only within the WW setting but also outside of it.
   
   
2. The Return of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes #6) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4 Stars)
3. Queen of Shadows (Throne of Glass #4) by Sarah J. Maas (2.5 Stars)
4. The Hound of the Baskervilles (Sherlock Holmes #5) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4 Stars)
5. Cross My Heart and Hope to Spy (Gallagher Girls #2) by Ally Carter (4 Stars)
6. Fly on the Wall by E. Lockhart (4.5 Stars)
7. The Valley of Fear (Sherlock Holmes #7) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3 Stars)
8. The Walls Around Us by Nova Ren Suma (4 Stars)
9. Since You've Been Gone by Morgan Matson (3 Stars)
10. The Boy Most Likely to by Huntley Fitzpatrick
    
    
    A book I abandoned after the first 100 pages. Something happens (the child is introduced), which I didn't like and afterwards I simply couldn't gather enough motivation to continue reading. It just wasn't meant to be, apparently.
    
    
11. His Last Bow (Sherlock Holmes #8) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (3 Stars)
12. Ella, the Slayer by A.W. Exley (2 Stars)
13. Cracked Up to Be by Courtney Summers (which has no rating because I couldn't make up my mind about it and definitely not because it was bad or anything. On the contrary, it was quite brillant) 
14. City of Bones (The Mortal Instruments #1) by Cassandra Clare (2 Stars)
15. The Amber Spyglass (His Dark Materials #3) by Philip Pullman (2 Stars)
16. The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes (Sherlock Holmes #9) by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle (4 Stars)
17. Tokyo Ghoul #1 by Sui Ishida (3 Stars)
    
    
    I've been enjoying the Tokyo Ghoul series so far, they aren't completely awe-inspiring or anything (at least not in  my opinion) but they are solid and quite fun to read. Also, I really like the anime-format because it's perfect to read when you're busy or you just want to get your mind off of other things.
    
    
18. Tokyo Ghoul #2 by Sui Ishida (4 Stars)
19. Tokyo Ghoul #3 by Sui Ishida (4 Stars)
20. Anna and the French Kiss by Stephanie Perkins (2 Stars)
21. Goldene Zeiten by Daniel G. Spieker (4 Stars)
22. Tokyo Ghoul #4 by Sui Ishida (3 Stars)

As for the books I most enjoyed this august:

Maus, Fly on the Wall, The Walls Around Us, Cracked Up to Be, and The Hound of the Baskervilles/The Case-Book of Sherlock Holmes. All of these books are pretty different (What does a WWII comic, a mystery, and a severely depressed teenager have in common? Dunno, but they make for good books.) but I would highly recommend all of them. 

And the biggest disappointments?

Well, there was The Boy Most Likely to, which I obviously didn't enjoy seeing as I didn't even finish it, but also Ella, the Slayer which I hoped to me more interesting and silly (it was primarily boring), and Anna and the French Kiss, which (apparently) everyone loves but me. 

But as I said I also listened to a couple of audiobooks, which are:

1. The Narrow Road to the Deep North by Richard Flanagan
   
   
   I actually tried for a couple of weeks to listen to this but it was just sooo boring. Obviously, not every aspect of it was but every time the story changed to what's-his-name fucking some chick or other it completely lost me. I'm pretty sure I listened to about a third but I couldn't carry on any further.
2. The Adventures of Tom Sawyer by Mark Twain (3 Stars)
   
   
   A good book, but nothing overly exciting. Actually, this was an accidental re-listen (I didn't realize that the reason the story seemed so familiar was because I had already listened to it until it was almost over) but I'm pretty sure I picked up on a couple of things that I didn't really mind about the last time so, luckily, it felt anything like a waste of time.
   
   
3. Eligible by Curtis Sittenfeld (3 Stars)
   
   
   Quite funny and enjoyable. It wasn't what I expected (I pictured more drama) but it did keep me interested. Although I have to warn you not to listen to this on speakers if other people are potentially around; I guarantee they will always barge in right when someone is talking about penises or having sex.
   
   
4. The Little Prince by Antoine de Saint Exupéry (always, always, always 5 Stars, more if I could, all the stars if I could)
   
   
   Listening to The Little Prince has been much-needed. I've been going for way too long without listening to it again. It always makes me happy and sad and content listening/reading this book. Wonderful, absolutely and utterly wonderful.

And that wraps up my throwback for this month. I hope you've had a great (reading-)month and had a lot of fantastic books to devour. I'll see you in a bit and until then: Have a great day and happy reading!