Blog Post Round Up | August 2020

It’s the end of August/ beginning of September, which means it’s time for another blog post round up! But let’s back up for a quick second … AUGUST IS OVER. HOW DID THIS HAPPEN?? I mean I’m all for enjoying the weather and the changing of the leaves when Fall/Autumn rolls around in my neck of the woods, but this summer has just disappeared! I imagine a big reason is because of the pandemic and quarantine and all that. There’s still not much to do though I should be using weekends to enjoy the mountains more, but everyone and their mother is doing that as well.

Anyways, let’s head back to the fun stuff. Like all these great posts that my/our amazing fellow bloggers have given us! And I have to say, this month rolled out so many great posts!

Blog Posts

Krysta at Pages Unbound discusses libraries closing their buildings during the pandemic. And why they should. While it would suck not being able to walk through the library looking for books, it’s like any other closed space area – just more dangerous. My library just opened up again last week and of course masks are required at all times and only a certain number of people are allowed in at a time. She also posted this great discussion post asking if libraries are hurting publishers. I found it to be a really great read!

Vera and Sabrina at Wordy and Whimsical provide book recs based off of Taylor Swift’s new songs from her new album folklore. I don’t know that I would ever be able to provide a book rec based off of a song, but that’s okay. Because there are awesome bloggers like these two who nailed it.

The Captain at the Captain’s Quarters posts the winners of the Hugo Awards (and their thoughts about them). I don’t pay much attention to book awards though I feel like I should. I put several Man Booker winners and nominations from 2018 on my TBR, but haven’t really gotten around to reading them yet.

Stephanie at Adventures of a Bibliophile talks about why we shouldn’t read Shakespeare. She makes totally valid points considering that he wrote plays, so most of what we read by him doesn’t give us the intended impact when simply reading it. She also links to the Globe Theater where you can watch a couple of his plays for free! She also talks about how blogging has changed her reading habits. She hit the mark on every one of her points; they resonated a lot with me.

Samantha at Modern Witch’s Bookshelf posted Let’s Talk About Non-Fiction; TBR & why I struggle with prioritizing it. She put some great non-fiction books on her list and I totally understand some of reasons for wanting to pick up fiction instead.

Heather at Bookish Belongings talks about Book Twitter (she just made an account!) Twitter in general I find overwhelming .. and book Twitter is no different; I made an account years ago, but never really found the time to figure out the best way to use it. Hopefully Heather will have more luck! I also really enjoyed her discussion post on annotating.

Katie at Never Not Reading posed the question Love or hate the Neverending TBR? I think I’m a little of both. I can barely remember a time when my Goodreads TBR was a 100 or less and now it’s way beyond that. I do wish at times that I could cull it way down, but then I get FOMO and worry that I might come back to it. It’s a little crazy. She also gives 5 reasons not to sweat your stats. Totally agree on this!

Malka at Paper Procrastinators gives her thoughts on discussion posts and how she comes up with ideas. I’m similar to Malka when it comes to my discussion posts – they usually come from conversations, inspired by someone else’s post, or from reading a news article. Although she seems more disciplined to actually writing the post than I am!

The Orangutan Librarian gives us another great list about wonderful and whimsical fantasy worlds to get lost into this summer. I’m definitely all for Rivendell and Red London! She also gives her thoughts on why escapism is important. I’m totally on board with this! Reading to escape is not bad.

Nyx at Drizzle & Hurricane Books talks about why she rates all of her books 4 stars. I’m currently writing a similar post about how it’s so hard to rate a book I really enjoyed or loved, 5 stars. My reasons are close to what Nyx describes.

Marie at Drizzle & Hurricane Books talks about fake engagement and why she doesn’t believe in it (plus tips for real engagement!) I found it to be a really interesting post because it was a topic that I haven’t given a lot of thought to. I hardly see these types of engagement on book blogs though I have seen it on book IG. I definitely agree that simply blog hopping or commenting when you can is a more genuine route.

Ruby Rae Reads talks about her history with book reviews. I found it very interesting … I also liked her tips at the end!

The Bookish Twins talk about types of books they want to see more of. I’m on board with all of them! I enjoy most types of stories that fall under urban fantasy, like a book with Fae. Also Space thrillers.

The Serial Thrillers Blog gives us 8 summer vacation mysteries for August. Most of them I don’t know or haven’t read. But I like that there is a variety of authors.

Ariel at The Book View gives us a list of 10 retellings that we must read. Several of the series I’ve heard of, but never read. There’s maybe 1-2 books I have read. I will say that I’m curious about the Meg Cabot retelling of Arthur.

Shealea at Shut Up Shealea posted an in-depth and critical post about the 7 things she wish she knew before book blogging; I highly suggest all to read it! I will admit that I never once thought that there were such huge inequalities within the book blogging community. I guess, unfortunately, that that is part of living and blogging from the US. I will say that I never really thought about what I read and what I blog as being different or for even the possibility of that being the case.

May at Forever and Everly posted about her reading spreadsheet plus Google Sheets tips! I thought I was doing a pretty good job of info tracking for my reading, but compared to May’s, mine is very simple. Seeing hers makes me want to start tracking the month I read a book and a lot more about diversity than what I’m currently tracking.

In Other News

Book Riot made a quiz! QUIZ: WHICH LIBRARIAN FROM POP CULTURE ARE YOU? I got Mrs. Phelps from Matilda .. I’m a giver of books because I want people to love books as much as I do!

StarTrek.com provides a list of 24 Classic Sci-Fi and Fantasy Books To Read Based On Your Favorite Star Trek Character. I’ve only watched the recent movies and none of the seasons (though I’ve always been tempted). I only added the book rec for Kirk as it was the only one that I figured I might actually read.

The Washington Post‘s Readers have many opinions on how to cull your book collection — and also why you never should

Reader’s Digest: 15 Punniest Book Titles That’ll Give You a Good Laugh

Collider: Netflix Acquires ‘Fear Street’ Trilogy Based on R.L. Stine Books for Summer 2021

Discover Magazine‘s The Science Books We’re Reading in Fall 2020

Brit + Co: 12 New Books to Read When You’re Tired of Binge-Watching Netflix

Hello Sunshine + Mailchimp presents short form series Book Shook through this I discovered Mailchimp’s By the Books

Oprah Magazine‘s Here are Sen. Kamala Harris’s All Time Favorite Books

Vulture: 19 Books We’re Excited to Read This Fall

Forbes: 10 Books That Will Transform Your Career In Under An Hour

Forbes: Labor Day Reads 2020: New Books By Black Female Authors

Forge: 21 Books for a Better You in the 21st Century