A selection of quotes and pictures to represent August’s reading:

commonplace book
noun
a book into which notable extracts from other works are copied for personal use.

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How poor are they that have not patience! What wound did ever heal but by degrees?

Othello by William Shakespeare (1603)

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‘Cornelius might well have done that,’ Bodkin revises, looking up at the vicar. ‘Folk are like books written in another language. I know them by their cover but can’t always fathom what’s inside.’

Little Spark by Jess Kidd (2026)

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The world in which we live is one of error and mistake. Rumours break like waves in some nameless river, dappling our sleeves with falsehood.

Troubled Waters by Ichiyō Higuchi (1893-95)

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‘I know! Roman tombstones in an Abbey, a gaol made out of bricks from a Roman fort – and a witch held there before her trial. This place is amazing. It’s like around every corner, there’s a new “old” thing to discover, and they’re all connected.’

The Snow Witch by Kirsty Ferry (2026)

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‘I think’ he said, ‘you will be surprised. They love you, and if we love someone then we want what’s best for them, not for us. Tell them, don’t be frightened of it.’

The Curse of the Saltmarsh Girl by Clare Marchant (2026)

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I have been told I tend to overthink things. Well I have known enough people to underthink things and could put a little more thought in their decisions.

The Calamity Club by Kathryn Stockett (2026)

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“Time goes a different pace in different places. Some places you come back to, and you feel that time has been busting along at a terrific rate and that all sorts of things will have happened – and changed.”

By the Pricking of My Thumbs by Agatha Christie (1968)

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Only looking at me with Searching Eyes and saying: Such vast Questions. Of course, you must appreciate that we can never know all the Answers. However, I feel that the Questions themselves are most important. Would you not agree?

The Matchbox Girl by Alice Jolly (2025)

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She wanted to believe them but knew with her logical mind that tales were spun for gold every day. Did she really want to know if there was heartbreak and disaster in her future? Was it better to live as a butterfly and not know that winter was on its way?

The Crownless Queen by Elizabeth Chadwick (2026)

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‘I know exactly what you mean,’ Gabriel said. ‘It’s unimaginable if you project, or revisit or posit it – your recent history, I mean. No, no, inconceivable – not me, I could never have done that. But when you have done it, when it has happened, it just becomes experience. Something that you lived through.’

Cold Sunset by William Boyd (2026)

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I feel a bit exhausted and then decide I don’t have to be in a rush. I don’t have to physically go anywhere anyway. I can travel through time and space just by lying down on my sofa if I have the right book in my hand.

The Agatha Christie Cure by Cathy Rentzenbrink (2026)

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The example par excellence is the commonplace book: a notebook kept by every Tudor grammar school pupil, and many adults, to record pithy phrases and useful sayings for later deployment in personal letters, or professional text such as sermons.

The Story of Tudor Art by Christina J Faraday (2025)

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Favourite books read in August:

Little Spark, The Calamity Club and Cold Sunset

Authors read for the first time in August:

Ichiyō Higuchi, Christina J. Faraday, Alice Jolly, Cathy Rentzenbrink

Places visited in my August reading:

Italy, Cyprus, England, Japan, USA, France, Austria, Russia, Greece

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Reading notes: My August reading mainly focused on trying to finish the 20 Books of Summer challenge, which I successfully did! If you missed my summary, here it is. I’m pleased I was able to make one of my 20 books count towards Women in Translation month. In addition to the challenge books, I also read a few others which I haven’t written about yet – Othello was a re-read and I’m intending to follow it up soon with two modern retellings I have on the TBR.

I’ve already discussed some of my plans for September which include taking part in RIP XXI and Short Story September. I also need to read my book for the latest Classics Club Spin, The Kraken Wakes by John Wyndham, so it’s going to be a busy month!

Have you read any of these? Which quote is your favourite this month?