August Reading Wrap-Up 2025
Hello! Welcome to my August reading wrap-up. After having a slow reading month in July, I read like mad throughout August, completing 17 books. I’ve already posted here about 5 of them, so I’ll link to those posts below. But mostly this is my chance to talk briefly about the 12 books I read that were neither new releases nor part of any of my reading projects.
As always, the links in the titles are to each book’s Goodreads page, in case you want summaries or more information. And I would greatly appreciate it if, should you choose to buy any of these books online, you would consider ordering from Bookshop.org through my affiliate link at the bottom of the page. I’ll receive a small commission from your purchase, at no extra cost to you, and Bookshop.org also gives some of its proceeds to independent bookshops in the buyer’s area. It’s just a nice way to help out independent bookstores while also helping me pay the blog bills.
On to the wrap-up!
Least Favourites – My 2-star Reads
The Locked Ward by Sarah Pekkanen
This was an ARC, but I was late getting it, late reviewing it, and I really didn’t like it, so I didn’t bother blogging about it. It started off well, but every twist fell flatter and flatter for me. And I’m pretty sure non-identical twins don’t work the way they’re written here. Lackluster thriller, imo.
Another ARC that I didn’t blog about. I didn’t enjoy it, but mostly for reasons of personal taste. The writing is fine, and it’s entertaining enough in a summer-thriller way. But I predicted the twist and the outcome, and I just don’t care about who’s-sleeping-with-whom storylines. All in all, I found it kind of average.
The 3-stars
Cold Comfort Farm by Stella Gibbons
This was a huge disappointment. I’ve been wanting to read it for years, and I finally sat down to it, expecting a light-hearted, funny, entertaining classic from 1930s Britain. What I got was a parody of something I’m not familiar enough with to understand. At least, I think that’s what I got. To be honest, I was confused and bored through most of it. I would have given it 2 stars, but I did at least like Gibbons’ writing, and some parts were entertaining.
Ducks: Two Years in the Oil Sands by Kate Beaton
This book won the Canada Reads competition a couple years ago, meaning it’s a book that every Canadian should read. So, being Canadian, I read it. Basically, it’s a graphic memoir about a woman from Cape Breton Island who gets a job in the Alberta oil sands just long enough to pay off her student loans. While there, she’s sexually harassed (and assaulted, so trigger warning) in the mostly-male environment, and… yeah, that’s pretty much the plot. There are important messages here, I guess, and engaging cartoon-style graphics, but I found it choppy and repetitive, which made it feel way too long.
(Also, paying some interest on a student loan isn’t a fate worse than what happened here, imo. I found it hard to empathize when she really didn’t need to put herself through it. We all have student loans to pay off, it really isn’t the end of the world. But I guess some people disagree.)
Deacon King Kong by James McBride
You’ll have to follow the Goodreads link for a summary of this one. I’ll be honest, I had trouble following the plot, and I’m not sure I fully understand how (or why) all the threads were linked or were even necessary for the story being told. I didn’t hate it – I even had fun reading it at times – but for me it was just kind of… there. Nothing in the writing or characters really pulled me in.
The 4-stars
Killer on the Road by Stephen Graham Jones
I reviewed this new release for the blog here. Brutal, gory horror from my favourite horror writer, though it isn’t among my favourites of his books.
A Truce That Is Not Peace by Miriam Toews
I reviewed this ARC for the blog here. Not an easy read by any means, since its subject matter is depression, grief, and suicide. And it might be too stream-of-consciousness for most people’s taste. But I enjoyed it.
American Psycho by Bret Easton Ellis
This is one of those books I wish I’d written an essay on for my degree. Yes, it’s over-the-top gratuitously violent and disgusting, but also brilliant and fascinating.
It just has SO MUCH to say about the shallow upper classes, and how rich and powerful people could literally be covered in a murder victim’s blood and their social circle won’t even notice/care. And the way Bateman walks through the world feeling unutterable boredom and thinking obsessive thoughts, and the way Bret Easton Ellis inflicts that upon the reader… wow. You could write a hundred essays on this book and still not have run out of things to unpack.
The Almost-5-stars
I read this for my Top 100 Canadian Books of All Time read of the month. I posted about it here. It’s a difficult book to read at times, but absolutely genius. Greek gods Hermes and Apollo give human intelligence to 15 dogs at a veterinary hospital in Toronto, and watch as they develop language, culture, and social structure. I wasn’t thrilled with every turn the plot took, so I couldn’t quite give it 5 stars… maybe 4.5. But I was riveted. Really enjoyed it.
Several People Are Typing by Calvin Kasulke
Sooooo weird… but also hilarious and extremely clever. It’s mostly written through texts or chatroom comments sent between coworkers, one of whom believes his consciousness has been downloaded into the company’s Slack channels. Much chaos (and a couple of office romances) ensues.
Not Quite Dead Yet by Holly Jackson
I reviewed this new release here. I really enjoyed it, aside from a couple of nitpicks that kept it from being a 5-star experience. Probably my least favourite of the Holly Jacksons I’ve read so far, but still loved it.
The 5-stars
Joy Moody Is Out of Time by Kerryn Mayne
I reviewed this ARC here. Fantastic cover art, unique premise, brilliant depiction of mental illness, and unreliable narrators done right. Loved it.
Good Girl, Bad Blood by Holly Jackson
I loved A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder, but I think I loved this sequel even more. I’m not sure why. I just really enjoyed the way it explored repercussions from the first book, and the way Pip was dragged back into her sleuthing ways by the disappearance of someone close enough to her inner circle to make sense that she would but not so close that it seemed contrived. I love Holly Jackson’s writing, I adore Pip, and I was fully engaged in the mystery all the way through. Loved it.
The Never Girls: Books 1-3 by Kiki Thorpe and Jana Christy
My 5-year-old niece told me these are her favourite books right now, so I read the first 3 so I could talk about them with her. And I absolutely loved them! Four little girls find themselves in Never Land, where they have adventures with fairies and learn to talk with animals and basically live the dream. It’s all the innocent wonder of Never Land without the violence of Captain Hook and his pirates, and I loved every second of it.
The Last House on Needless Street by Catriona Ward
Another unreliable narrator done right. Another brilliant examination of mental illness from the inside, too. This book is weird and wonderful in so many ways. To some degree, I feel as though the twist was predictable… and yet it still surprised and impressed me? Brilliantly written. It left me speechless and excited to read more from Catriona Ward.
World War Z: An Oral History of the Zombie War by Max Brooks
If you’re looking for a contained story within the zombie apocalypse, this isn’t it. And that’s exactly why I LOVED IT. I always feel like apocalypse fiction isn’t broad enough. If the whole world is going through a thing, I want to see more than a handful of characters in one or two settings. World War Z takes us all over the world, and the research that must have gone into each country and culture is impressive. Sure, we’re kept at arm’s length from the action as each character narrates their experiences to the person compiling the “oral history,” but we still get to know and feel for each narrator through their storytelling. I loved everything about this.
And the Favourite-Read-of-the-Month Award goes to…
Poison for Breakfast by Lemony Snicket
Forget James Joyce – this is the stream-of-consciousness odyssey the world needs. Sure, I get it, Lemony Snicket’s style isn’t for everyone. But I find him hilarious, and his philosophical insights are surprisingly profound scattered in amongst the silliness. No one would react to receiving a note saying, “You had poison for breakfast” by walking around town interviewing shopkeepers and philosophizing. But that isn’t the point, is it? What the point is… is up to the reader to decide.
And that’s the end of my 17-book August reading wrap-up. In case anyone’s curious, I did end up blacking out my Summer Book Bingo board! I did not, however, finish a Star Trek book during the summer-long Book Trek readathon. But I’ve slowly been listening to Andrew Robinson’s A Stitch in Time and enjoying it, so it hasn’t been a total loss.
I hope you found some great reads this August, too. And here’s to discovering new favourites in September! Happy reading!