Don’t you just love balance? I mean, it’s so rare for things in life to be in balance that it’s a real treat when they are. That’s how I feel about my monthly reading progress. 

I gave three books perfect grades in August. It was one nonfiction book and two fiction. 

Doesn’t that just feel balanced?

My Favorite Books of August 2023

What I didn’t tell you before is that I read 17 books in August. That’s a lot of books, only to love three of them. But I gave a ton of books Bs. That grade means I thought the book was good, but it wasn’t life-changing. In other words, don’t ignore books I give Bs. Just prioritize the ones I give As.

Here are my reviews of the three books I gave perfect grades in August.

No Ego

My boss told me that she was rereading No Ego: How Leaders Can Cut the Cost of Workplace Drama, End Entitlement, and Drive Big Results. I figured if she was reading it twice, it was probably worth me reading once.

The book claims how we’ve been approaching leadership in the workplace is all wrong. We’ve believed that change is difficult and engagement drives results. Further, we’ve assumed that it’s the leader’s job to somehow spark that engagement in every employee. 

Instead, according to the book’s author, Cy Wakeman, we should look to individual employees for accountability. And we should stop measuring how we’re doing as leaders and how the workplace is or isn’t excelling based on everyone’s views. After all, all employees aren’t equal, nor do they bring equal value to your team. 

My mind was pretty blown when Cy first started writing about this concept, but I must admit that I came to agree. 

Also, I loved how Cy described individual accountability early in the book. She said we need to stop “BMW,” which is bitching, moaning, and whining. Instead of BMW, we should ask what a great response would look like in that situation and then do that.

The book gave me a lot to consider and discuss with our team. I’m still not sure I totally agree with it all, but I wouldn’t be surprised to find myself revisiting it in the future, too.

Hidden Pictures

I don’t usually like ghost or paranormal-type books. I save those topics for movies. But Hidden Pictures by Jason Rekulak was an exception. 

Mallory Quinn is starting her life over after rehab, and she needs a job. She feels like everything is starting off well when she gets a nannying position for Ted and Caroline Maxwell. The Maxwells pay her well, and their house is gorgeous. They’ve even thought of seemingly every detail in the guest cottage where Mallory will live. Oh, and their 5-year-old son, Teddy, is an adorable, kind little boy. Mallory feels like she’s hit the jackpot.

But something isn’t what it seems in the Maxwell house. Teddy starts drawing pictures of a woman’s murder and talking regularly about his imaginary friend. The more Mallory discovers about the house’s history and what happened there, the less convinced she is that Teddy’s friend is actually imaginary. Can she get to the bottom of the mystery before someone (maybe even herself) is seriously hurt?

The Surgeon

Dr. Anne Wiley has never lost a patient until today. She also never looks at her patient’s faces while she’s operating on them. But something made her look behind the screen to see the man’s face right before deciding how long or if her team should continue saving his life. What she saw astonished her. She hadn’t recognized him before, but she did now. And he’d done a terrible thing. Did her knowledge of his past result in his death? If so, did she murder him? Will she get caught?

I didn’t expect to love The Surgeon by Leslie Wolfe, but I did. It was one of those books that made me forget what time my alarm would sound the next morning because I needed to know what happened next.

Happy Reading!

There they are — my favorite books of August. This month’s favorites were unexpected, but I still found them fabulous. Don’t you love it when that happens? I hope you find something on the list to read and love. As always, happy reading!