August 2025: Books I Read Last Month

Written by Graeme My apologies for no post last month.

I had family visiting and then friends visiting and my entire July was a write-off. I had the article as a to do list item but never got to it and when I finally had some time to myself – on July 29th – I realized it’d be silly to write it now and may as well just wait for this month.

Especially considering the fact that I barely read anything in July, so this would be a pretty empty article.

Let’s go through my June Reads first:

Prey Series by John Sandford: I started listening to this decade old series, and I thoroughly enjoyed the first one in it, “Broken Prey”. It had a solid story to it, and it had great narration.

Unfortunately, I can’t say the same for the second, “Shadow Prey”. That one was just a mess, and at the 35% mark I even turned up the speed to 1.5x on the narration just to get it over with. Just such a horrible start to it with various characters being introduced then killed off and just zero flow to it. I’ll continue to listen to this series but oof – that was a bad second outing by Sandford.

Kill Your Darlings by Peter Swanson: I am a big fan of Swanson but this one missed the mark in my opinion. It was one of those “murder mysteries” which had an event occur, then was told backwards. A concept I usually enjoy but this one was just incredibly dull with nothing really interesting happening, unlikable characters, and monotonus details.

From Time to Time by Jack Finney: I visited New York City for the first time ever so this felt a fitting book to read. I enjoyed it a bit more than the first one simply because I recognized the streets he was referencing, but it was still overly descriptive of NYC. It had an excellent final act involving the Titanic however, which really brought it up a few notches.

The Best Lies by David Ellis: I’ve read three of four Ellis books now, and this may be the best of them all. It was a bit tough to keep track of and if you alternate, I’d recommend reading over listening just because things were a tad complicated. A superb story however that will keep you hooked, and has great humour in it.

The Women by Kristin Hannah: Read as part of the I Care About Books Podcast. First time I’ve read Kristin, and within about 2 chapters I could tell I would really enjoy this book. Due to it being part of the book club I may have went in with some overcritical thinking, and due to that there was a few parts that dragged it down for me – particularly how it ended. But maybe that’s also me being cynical. Either way – an excellent book and I can see why it’s so highly regarded.

July Reads:

The Woman in Cabin 10 by Ruth Ware: This was a re-read, as I wanted to read it prior to reading hte sequel and watching the upcoming adaptation. I’m a big fan of Ruth Ware but I remember not liking this book too much. Going back to it again – I’m stunned that this is the book that really skyrocketed her career. To be polite: she has written a LOT better than this. It was a chore to finish it.

None Of This Is True by Lisa Jewell: I listened to this one. Started in June, finished in July. It was a superb thriller with very high production value and one I’d recommend listenign to over reading.

That’s all for me – July has been a bit of a struggle with reading. I’ve been trying to get books going to no luck due to either time constraints, or just not enjoying them. Hopefully August is a lot better!