I am a week late getting my August reads up. I had planned to share them on Friday, but I ended up taking the day off. Over the weekend, I got a lot of reading done but did very little online work. But today, I finally had time to sit down and get my August reads done.
![Backlist Books Challenge August Reads](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Backlist-Books-Challenge-August-Reads-768x1024.jpeg)
August was a good reading month for me but not great. Fall and winter is usually my best reading time. It isn’t that I read more during the fall and winter, but I think I enjoy it more.
Reading a book and drinking a cup of hot chocolate while sitting by the fire is my favorite way to spend a fall or winter evening. I can’t wait for cooler days and a cozy read.
And while I have loved my backlist books challenge that I did for 2021, I have also formed quite a list of books published in 2021 that I can’t wait to read come January.
August Reads
![Enchantress of Numbers book](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Enchantress-of-Numbers.jpg)
Enchantress of Numbers by Jennifer Chiaverini
The Enchantress of Numbers is a historical fiction book about the life of Ada Lovelace, who some have called the world’s first computer programmer. You can read my full review here.
![The Englishman's Daughter book](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/The-Englishmans-Daughter.jpg)
The Englishman’s Daughter by Ben Macintyre
I really enjoyed The Englishman’s Daugther. It is a nonfiction book published in 2003, so it was one of Ben Macintyre’s early books. It is the story of four soldiers hiding from the enemy in a tiny French village during WWI. This is a time and setting that I knew very little about. I enjoyed reading this because I learned a lot about what a French village went through during WWI. The writing in the book though was a little bit hard to read at times. It just didn’t flow well and was a slow read for me. I am glad I read it, but it is definitely not a narrative nonfiction type of book. I think part of that is probably due to this being one of the author’s first works.
![The Man Who Loved Books Too Much](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/08/The-Man-Who-Loved-Books-Too-Much.jpg)
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much by Allison Bartlett
The Man Who Loved Books Too Much is a true crime book published in 2010. I shared about this book in my post about nonfiction books about books. You can read my full review here.
![Life from Scratch book](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Life-from-Scratch.jpg)
Life from Scratch by Sasha Martin
Life from Scratch has been in my to-read pile for several years. It is a food memoir published in 2016. The author is a food blogger, who cooked her way around the world by cooking food from every country. You can read my full review here.
![Under the Painted Sky book](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Under-the-Painted-Sky.jpg)
Under the Painted Sky by Stacey Lee
Under the Painted Sky is one of the two fiction books that I read this month. Yes, I only read two fiction books this month. I really do read more nonfiction books. You can read my thoughts about this one here.
![Black Death at the Golden Gate book](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Black-Death-at-the-Golden-Gate.jpg)
Black Death at the Golden Gate by David
Yes, I am one of those people that read about plagues and pandemics during a pandemic. Black Death at the Golden Gate was published in 2019. Before the current event happened. The timing of its release could not have been better, but I don’t think this book got the attention that it deserved. You can read more of my thoughts here. Hint: I think this is a book more people need to read because most people have no idea of what the U.S has gone through over the years.
![Make Something Good Today book](https://fromourbookshelf.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/09/Make-Something-Good-Today.jpg)
Make Something Good Today by Ben and Erin Napier
I listened to Make Something Good on audio while working on an online project that was tedious. This was a great book since the project took a lot of time, but not a lot of thought. I don’t really know why I chose this book except that I loved memoirs. I have never watched Ben and Erin’s show, but now I want to. Ben and Erin narrated this book and they made it come to life. I loved their southern accents. Their story was fun and interesting. Their success comes from hard work along with a love of family, friends, and the place they came from. You can tell that they truly care about the small town they live in and the people that live there. I am sure the print version of this would be great too, but the narration on this one is so good that I highly recommend that audio version.
Both of your memoir choices sound interesting! I also can’t wait for cooler weather and cozy reads. Bring on fall!
So far in September I’ve enjoyed a last minute summer romance with “Well Met”, a couple of nonfiction books including “How to Be Fine”, as well as some early atmospheric reads for autumn like “Magic Lessons” and “Mexican Gothic”.
I have seen several people on social media recently mention How to Be Fine. It sounds like an interesting and fun nonfiction read.