I don’t usually do a reading round up or do a book haul post. That said I thought it might be interesting (for me at least), if I had a look at how many books I manage to read in a month and compare it to how many arrive in the house. I know for a fact that the one in one out policy is never implemented, though I am trying to reliquish some books to make room for the kids.

I don’t read many books each month, at least not compared to many bloggers, though none bloggers will probably wonder where I get my time to read as many books as I do. Because of that it is more than likely that the scales will be tipped towards incoming books rather than outgoing ones (i.e. read books or those given away). I am lucky in that I sometimes receive books for review, though at the moment I get very few books sent to me so the bulk of my incoming books tend to be the ones I have bought. This month though I was surprisingly restrained. Now where’s my gold star…

First up what entered across the threshold of Casa Emson.

1. The German House by Annette Hess – kindly sent for review from the lovely Harper Via together with books 2 and 3 below.

2. It Would be Night in Caracas by Karina Sainz Borgo.

3. Lost in the Spanish Quarter by Heddi Goodrich.

4. Missing Person by Sarah Lotz – kindly sent for review by Hodder and Stoughton.

5. Elizabeth and Her German Garden by Elizabeth von Arnim – kindly sent to me by the lovely Madam Bibilophile.

6. Rubbernecker by Belinda Bauer – sent for review from the lovely Dead Good Books.

7. Faces on the Tip of My Tongue by Emmanuelle Pagano – the final book in my 2019 Peirene subscription, a prize I won last year.

8. The Essex Serpent by Sarah Perry – a lucky charity shop find.

9. A Baby’s Bones by Rebecca Alexander. I’d heard someone talk about the next book in this series on Twitter so bought myself the first one to try out.

10. Murder Underground by Mavis Doriel Grey. I always snap up a British Library Crime Classic if I see one.

11. Firewatching by Russ Thomas, kindly sent for review from Simon and Schuster.

12. The Therapist by Nial Giacometti, a prize won on Twitter

13. The Secrets We Kept by Lara Prescott, sent for review by Windmill.

14. Rule Britannia by Alec Marsh, sent for a blog tour review.

15. The Wild Book by Juan Villoro – a Twitter prize.

16. The Waiter by Matias Faldbakkem – a Twitter prize.

17. The Flower Arranger by J J Ellis – sent for review

18. An Orc on the Wild Side by Tom Holt – sent for review by Orbit

19. Starve Acre by Andrew Michael Hurley – sent for review by John Murray

20. The Whisper Network by Alex North – kindly passed on by another blogger.

21. Last Orders and the Star and Sixpence by Holly Hepburn – a Twitter win (along with some gin!)

22. I also had a book sent  from Avon but I forgot to take a note of it before I lent it to my mum!

Outgoings (otherwise known as those I read).

1. Nothing to Report by Carola Oman.

2. The Vanished Bride by Bella Ellis

3. Slow Horses by Mick Herron.

(I am also half way through a book but we’ll include that in September’s book balancing exercise.)

I lent 6 books to my sister-in- law, gave 3 to my husband’s aunt and sent one over to a lovely fellow blogger. I also gave a bag with 9 books to charity and sent a duplicate copy of another book in the post to another fan of the same series.

So 22 in, 23 out which I don’t think is too bad. A step in the right direction (towards a house that can actually fit people in it and not just books). Hopefully the balance will continue into September.