August is traditionally a quiet month in Washington, DC. Congress is on recess and the whole town, it seems, follows their lead and heads out on vacation. But we here at the Independent didn’t slacken our pace. We posted 28 book reviews and 14 other book and author-related features in August. Did you miss any while you were at the beach? Take a look and browse through our site. To get you started, here are the five posts that garnered the most views in August:

1) Interview With Christopher Schroeder: Amal Ghandour speaks with the author of Startup Rising: The Entrepreneurial Revolution Remaking the Middle East. It turns out youth in the Middle East are fed up with stagnation, and - perhaps unexpectedly for American readers - one of the places they are turning is to entrepreneurship.

2) 13 Biographies To Watch For This Fall: It’s going to be a great fall for biographies, according to James McGrath Morris. He identifies a baker’s dozen to keep an eye out for.

3) August Exemplars: Poetry Reviews by Grace Cavalieri: Grace’s monthly roundup of books of and about poetry remains essential reading. 

4) Review of Ninety Percent of Everything: Inside Shipping, the Invisible Industry That Puts Clothes on Your Back, Gas in Your Car, and Food on Your Plate by Rose George: Well, the title’s a mouthful but Michael Causey advises you to go talk to the author if you see her a party. (We told her on Twitter we would love to talk about shipping and poo with her anytime she’s in D.C.)

5) Review of This Town by Mark Leibovich: Is it to Ron Goldfarb’s credit that I feel like I need a shower after reading his review of this quintessential Washington D.C. power brokers book?