An August TBR?

I never have a planned TBR for a month - or even a week. I read by mood. But this month, I have decided to make a slight variation to that.

This year I have been extremely good at keeping a record of what I have read. I have all sorts of things marked down in order to keep track of important things (how many books I have read - 67, what genres I am reading - pretty much everything) to random things (how many 1000+ paged books I have read this year - the answer is none). This has, however, made me aware that 59% of the books I have read are by male authors. Now, I don't have any objections to the male gender, nor do I feel the need to boycott them as authors. I am not that kind of feminist (and I have a particular fondness for many male authors' works, such as Neil Gaiman). But it has made me aware that the discrepancy is so close.

So I have decided that I am going to read only female authors in August. There. I have said it. Now I have to do it! With luck, by the end of the month, the difference between the two will be minimal!

Here are some of the books I am thinking about reading. (These are all from my TBR pile.):

It isn't the most vibrant set of covers I have put together...
Jonathan Strange and Mr Norrell would also fix the answer to the 1000+ paged books for the year. Shew! That is a big, intimidating book - not for my brain, but for my wrists!!! How on earth to get through that without cracking the spine?!. I was quite surprised to learn that Lionel Shriver was in fact a woman (thanks booktube!).
There are others I could read, for example, the remainder of the Madd Addam trilogy, or other books by Amy Tan or Isabel Allende. I think I still have a book by Leigh Bardugo, but I am putting that off because I didn't enjoy the first one, and I don't like getting rid of books I haven't read yet. It is an option for this month though, although more a last option.

I am currently reading:

I left The Night Circus at work on Tuesday, so I had to pick up something else! I did not plan to read these two at the same time. Both of these books are giving me the 'I am going to love this' vibe so far. I think I am feeling it a little more for The Secret History, but that could have a lot to do with picking up The Night Circus directly after The Storied Life of A.J. Fikry - which I loved, adored and wanted to climb into. (In other words, it gave me a book hangover of note.)

There are also the books that I have finished reading already this month, two of which I am yet to review here:

Wish me luck!