August is one of the few months of the year where I don’t mind if it passes too quickly. In the Gulf Coast, it’s a month for holing up inside and giving thanks for freon and electricity. The unexpected presidents obsession from July bled well over into August, but things soon livened up. It was a good month for the ol’ TBR ascent, with numerous titles going down for the count. To reach my goal before the year’s end, I need to be reading 6.66 books per month (it really is Mount Doom!), and so far I’m averaging 5.75. The biggest news this month, though, is that I began grad school classes for an MLS (focusing on digital management), which is why I have a few more “pending reviews” than usual. I’ve been pretty good about that this year.

Climbing Mount Doom:
My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok
Skeleton Keys: The Secret Life of Bone, Brian Switek
Night Witches: A Novel of World War 2, Kathryn Lasky
The Dumbest Generation: How the Digital Age Stupefies Young Americans and Jeopardizes our Future, Mark Bauerlein (will be short rounded with another)
The Day of Atonement, David Liss
The Four Winds, Kristin Hannah
The Parasitic Mind: How Infectious Ideas are Killing Common Sense, Gad Saad (review pending)

Classics Club Strikes Back:
My Name is Asher Lev, Chaim Potok

Readin’ Dixie:
Started reading The Mind of the South.

The Big Reads:
I am really close to finishing The Jewish Annotated New Testament. Tried to finish it yesterday but didn’t quite make it.

Coming up in September:
I haven’t read any Star Trek in over a year (seriously, early August 2022), so I need to remedy that. Maybe I’ll do something around “Star Trek Day”, which is Sept 8. Will definitely finished off JANT .