Pam Webb

Reading Roundup: August 2025

August has traditionally signified the end of summer for me since returning to school was just around a calendar flip away.

However, retirement means I will be still in bed (probably) when the school bus rumbles past our house. And I will most likely be reading since that has become part of my routine due to still waking up at 5 am (dratted body clock) after so many years of doing so and not wanting to start my day quite that early.

All that reading as certainly impacted my accumulative reading states. To date my Goodreads Reading Challenge total is now at 116, nicely surpassing my 101 goal. I’m wondering if I can hit 200 this year. Hmm…

Five star reads of August:

The Last Escape by ECR Lorac

Aptly named, The Last Escape is the last mystery readers will sleuth along with Inspector Macdonald. After 40 (!) mysteries to solve it appears the unflappable CID man will retire to Lunesdale on the farm he purchased a few stories back (Crook o’ the Lune). Once again Lorac begins the novel with a smidgen of backstory which leads into the principal players and when a crime is committed Macdonald is on the scene.
These books have been all interlibrary loan derived and I have found each one does well as a standalone. I have many more cases to solve with the Scottish inspector and look forward to the next book that comes my way.

Harry’s Trees by Jon Cohen

A grown up fairytale complete with one simple fairytale embedded in the plot makes this an unusual book and entertaining tale.

I was embarrassed to realize as I got into the story I had read it before—that “Gee, this is a lot like another book I’ve read” feeling. This either means I’m reading too many books or I read the book too fast or the story didn’t resonate at the time.

This time the story did resonate as it was a fun lounging-in-the-summer-hammock read.

Just Like Beverly by Vicki Conrad

An excellent picture book biography of beloved children’s book author Beverly Cleary. Focusing on her as a child who lived books and wanted stories about children just like her provides a better understanding of how her stories have a timeless appeal. Illustrations and text are complementary and the additional material adds to the overall appeal.

I’m looking forward to the cooler days of fall and I am anticipating some really good reads coming up as my TBR list is quite plump.