September 2022 Wrap Up: fun and books and August too!

~reading

How many books that I planned did I read?

Well, do you remember in early September when I planned 4 books? Of those I read… two. 😂 But in total, I read 16 books. So.. I guess I went another direction with the month.

The Result:

Considering I feel like I did a lot besides reading in September, it certainly doesn’t look that way. xD Some highlights were re-reading the City of Bones series for the first two books and being way more uncomfortable with the incestuous flirting that goes on, even knowing how it resolves. Weird. I also read a few books that have been on my radar for a while, because I guess all my holds came in right now. Some were pretty great (I Named My Dog Pushkin, If You Could See The Sun, Smoke Gets In Your Eyes) and some were almost DNFd or at least a bit underwhelming (Sophie Go’s Lonely Hearts Club, The Bodyguard).

My reading was kind of all over, too. I read things on my tbr for a long time, and I read brand new releases, and I read books that aren’t even published yet. I read nonfiction books about death, and LGBTQ boy-band themed romances, and a character with kleptomania, and a ghost story about the world in-between, and a medical finding-myself journey. I read all kinds this month, and I loved it.

I’m falling headfirst into a nonfiction pile though, and I think that will continue! (Read: it already is continuing since it’s almost mid-October as I write this. xD)

Reviews posted in August & September:

• Review: A March of Kings by Morgan Rice
• ARC Review: You’re Invited by Amanda Jayatissa (8/9/22)
• ARC Review: The Year Without a Summer by Arlene Mark
• Review: Zara Hossain is Here by Sabina Khan
• Review: The Mirror Season by Anna-Marie McLemore
• Review: The Candid Life of Meena Dave by Namrata Patel
• Review: A Vow So Bold and Deadly by Brigid Kemmerer (Curse So Dark and Lonely #3)
• Review: Not So Pure and Simple by Lamar Giles
• Review: The Replacement Wife by Darby Kane
• Review: You Took The Last Bus Home by Brian Bilston
• Review: The Immortal Rules by Julie Kagawa

• Review: Nothing But The Truth by Holly James
• ARC Review: Happyish by Jeanette Escudero (9/20/22)
• Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments Book 1)
• ARC Review: Take It From Me by Jamie Beck (9/20/22)
• Review: The Bodyguard by Katherine Center
• Review: Honey & Spice by Bolu Babalola
• ARC Review: How to Heal a Gryphon by Meg Cannistra (10/04/2022)

~stats

• My reading was 13% nonfiction this month
• My top genres were Contemporary (7 books), Romance (6), and Young Adult (5)
• I mostly read books that were emotional, lighthearted, or funny
• My average rating was 4.05
• I traveled to Malaysia, Australia, Italy, Soviet Union, England, Canada, and China. In the United States I went to Texas, Connecticut, and New York.

~life

Oh man, actually, there’s been a lot. Like way more than I realized until I looked back at my calendar. August was skippable but September, man, September has done me well this year. 🥰 Highlights include a spontaneous concert, prairie dogs, live wrestling, catching up with a group of friends, and dinner at my favorite place near where I used to live. Lots of good stuff!

I’m also enjoying the wild range of weather that is normal for us this time of year. Super hot or so-cold-I-can-see-my-breath, or sometimes the first during the day and the second overnight. I’m not enjoying the ever-quickening darkness of the days but it’s inevitable here so meh. Plus we started planning our next vacation so I can just dream of warm and sunny days ahead. 😊

~blog

In my July wrap up, I noted that I’d been reading past few months about blogger stats and people tending to inflate what they thought was normal or average or a “successful” number. I posted the WordPress-tracked stats for my blog to try and help with visibility for people, and I’m going to again. The thing is, though, I made a point that July was a wild outlier. But then August still inched up to over 4500 views the first time ever from 4300 in July. Whoohoo! And then…. September. I thought, will this be the month I hit FIVE THOUSAND VIEWS?? Well…

• Views: 6426 😶
• Likes: 207 (actually a bit lower than usual)
• Comments: 80 (the lower side but not drastically)
• Followers: 377 total @ end of month, 15 new in Aug/Sep

So, yes, I hit 5000 for the first time and then some. I think this is due to a post I have about my thoughts on Sarah J Maas, and one of her books being banned or challenged during the month. I assume that’s some of the spike, but overall, DANG I have no idea.

Interestingly though, comments do not spike with views which is not very surprising. For someone to read a post, think about it, and decide to engage with a comment is pretty rare, I think. Especially since most of my views are from search engines where people want an answer or idea, not necessarily leisure reading.

Here are some of my favorite posts I worked on this month, in case you missed them!

• Things I Love and Hate About the Goodreads Redesign
• 20 Books of Summer 2022 – Complete!
• Frank Leslie’s Illustrated: You Wouldn’t Dare!
• Review: City of Bones by Cassandra Clare (Mortal Instruments Book 1)

And here are some of my favorite posts by other bloggers!

• Blog Tour: A Kingdom Of Flame And Fury By Whitney Dean @RRBookTours1 #RRBookTours by Misty @ Misty’s Book Space (this book sounds great!!)
• Do I Contradict Myself? | The Contradictions Book Tag by AnneMieke at A Dance With Books (a fun tag of exceptions)
• Autumnal reading plans by Holly at nut free nerd (hello again to blogging, Holly! :D)
• The Magical Readathon: Orilium Autumn Equinox 2022 by Dini @Dinipanda Reads (this explained a complicated tag that actually sounds really fun and manageable after reading this post!)