I have no idea what day it is, let alone what month. I am reading more consistently again, however, and I am grateful for that. I intend to get back into the swing of reviewing more as well. Here are some of the titles for August (and July, because I missed them). Click on any image for more information about the book.


A well-written, enjoyable history of the spa town’s role as a proto-Vegas. I had no idea Arkansas was so instrumental in casinos, gambling and the mob.

from the publisher: Gangsters, gamblers, and gamines: all once flocked to America’s forgotten capital of vice, a place where small-town hustlers and bigtime high-rollers could make their fortunes, and hide from the law. The Vapors is the extraordinary story of three individuals—spanning the golden decades of Hot Springs, from the 1930s through the 1960s—and the lavish casino whose spectacular rise and fall would bring them together before blowing them apart.

Read an excerpt.
Hardcover: 400 pages
Publisher: Farrar, Straus and Giroux (July 7, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250086116
ISBN-13: 978-1250086112

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.


As far as I am concerned, publisher Pushkin Vertigo can do no wrong. They find classic mysteries and translate them into English, often for the first time.

from the publisher: In the winter of 1937, the village of Okamura is abuzz with excitement over the forthcoming wedding of a son of the grand Ichiyanagi family. Then, on the night of the wedding, the Ichiyanagi family are woken by a terrible scream, leaving no trace but a bloody samurai sword, thrust into the pristine snow outside the house. The murder seems impossible, but amateur detective Kosuke Kindaichi is determined to get to the bottom of it.

Series: Pushkin Vertigo
Paperback: 192 pages
Publisher: Pushkin Vertigo (August 4, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1782275002
ISBN-13: 978-1782275008

I received an advance copy from the publisher via NetGalley.


It’s a bit choppy but interesting to read the actual diary entries from a woman who travelled quite a bit during the Victorian era. It’s also a good reminder that all you need to do is write just a few sentences about your day. It doesn’t have to be amazing prose.

from the publisher: The Journals of a Victorian Traveller contains the transcribed and edited journals of Julia Biddulph who travelled the world with her husband during the last two decades of the 19th Century. The journals had remained unread since being rescued from the ruins of a bombed house in Canterbury during the Second World War.

File Size: 2137 KB
Print Length: 267 pages
Publisher: The Book Guild (June 24, 2020)
Publication Date: June 24, 2020
Sold by: Amazon.com Services LLC

I received an advance copy via NetGalley.


I haven’t started this one yet, but I’m always interested to learn more about how our mysterious minds yet.

From the publisher: Over decades of study, University of Virginia psychologist Dennis Proffitt has shown that we are each living our own personal version of Gulliver’s Travels, where the size and shape of the things we see are scaled to the size of our bodies, and our ability to interact with them. Stairs look less steep as dieters lose weight, baseballs grow bigger the better players hit, hills look less daunting if you’re standing next to a close friend, and learning happens faster when you can talk with your hands.

Read an excerpt.
Hardcover: 304 pages
Publisher: St. Martin’s Press (July 28, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 1250219116
ISBN-13: 978-1250219114
Product Dimensions: 6.4 x 1 x 9.6 inches

I received a copy via NetGalley.


I got hooked on this series of detective novels set in post-WWI India. Sam Wyndham and Sargeant Surendranath Banerjee solve crimes in Calcutta. They are fast-paced with enough character development to be interesting.

from the publisher: Leaving Calcutta, Captain Sam Wyndham heads for the hills of Assam, to the ashram of a sainted monk where he hopes to conquer his opium addiction. But when he arrives, he sees a ghost from his life in London—a man thought to be long dead, a man Wyndham hoped he would never see again.

Series: Wyndham & Banerjee Mysteries
Hardcover: 352 pages
Publisher: Pegasus Crime (May 5, 2020)
Language: English
ISBN-10: 164313468X
ISBN-13: 978-1643134680
Product Dimensions: 5.5 x 1.6 x 8.2 inches

I borrowed a copy from my local public library.


What are you reading in the dog days of summer?