What did you read in June?

[whitepicketfence]

So, since it's July...what did you read last month? How did you rate it?

[whitepicketfence]

The Girl Who Kicked the Hornet's Nest (Millenium #3) by Steig Larsson***

1Q84 by Haruki Murakami***

The Maze Runner by James Dashner****

Number the Stars by Lois Lowry****

'Salem's Lot by Stephen King*****

Thirteen Reasons Why by Jay Asher*****

The Graveyard Book by Neil Gaiman**

[mayflowers22]

Fifty Shades of Grey- 5
Insurgent- 5
Fifty Shades Darker- 5
Damn I've been reading some good books this month!

[msmerymac]

Nick and Norah's infinite Playlist by Rachel Cohn and David Levithan ****
Swamplandia! by Karen Russell ***
In the Garden of Beasts by Erik Larson ***
Odd Girl Out: The Hidden Culture of Aggression in Girls by Rachel Simmons ***
The Carries Diaries by Candace Bushnell ***


Wow that was... not a lot of books. I'm in the middle of 2, but they'll count for July.

[dvmmama]

Well this is going to be embarrassing... June was a very fluffy month for me.

The 50 shades trilogy- I don't even know why I finished... I just had to know what happened. Thank God I got them free.

The Black Dagger Brotherhood series books 1-9- I enjoyed them for what they were. They kept me hooked all along. There is a long wait for the newest one at our library so I will probably get it sometime this month.

Every Precious Thing by Brett Battles- This is one MH really wanted me to read. He's into the whole suspense genre. It was okay. Not the best but entertaining none the less.

Magic Bites- ***
Magic Burns- ***

[charlatti]

All fours and fives this month:

The Mystery of the Blue Train by Agatha Christie
You Came Back by Christopher Coae
The Poisonwood Bible by Barbara Kingsolver
Catching Fire by Suzanne Collins
The Good Father by Noah Hawley
Dead Scared by S.J. Bolton
Bel Canto by Ann Patchett
The Tell-Tale Brain: A Neuroscientist's Quest for What Makes Us Human by V.S. Ramachandran

[writingwithheld]

I think a couple of these may have been May, but I never posted them so here they are.

The Bell Jar--- 5
The Kite Runner-- 5
Wuthering Heights-- 2
Pride and Prejudice-- 2
Beowulf-- 1
Their Eyes Were Watching God-- 3
Like Water For Chocolate-- 5

[rootbeerfloat]

Dead Until Dark, Charlaine Harris - 3
The Art of Racing in the Rain, Garth Stein - 3
The Guardian, Nicholas Sparks - 3
Sleeping with Paris, Juliet Sobanet - 3
The Lucky One, Nicholas Sparks - 4
Secret Lives, Diane Chamberlain - 3
Easy, Tammara Weber - 4
Looking for Alaska, John Green - 4
The Fault in Our Stars, John Green - 4
Big Girl, Danielle Steel - 2

[apelila]

For all the free time I have I really don't read that much! I'm not sure how you girls read 5-10+ books a month!

Let's Pretend This Never Happened - 5*
Fifty Shades Freed - 4*

Neither very deep or difficult to read... I guess I'm just a super slacker!

[charminglife]

Female Chauvinist Pigs: Women and the Rise of Raunch Culture by Ariel Levy - 3 stars

More Than Just Race: Being Black and Poor in the Inner City by William Julius Wilson - 4 stars

American-Made: The Enduring Legacy of the WPA: When FDR Put the Nation to Work by Nick Taylor - 2 stars

In the Water They Can't See You Cry: A Memoir by Amanda Beard - 4 stars

The Psychopath Test: A Journey Through the Madness Industry by Jon Ronson - 3 stars

The Story of Jane: The Legendary Underground Feminist Abortion Service by Laura Kaplan - 5 stars

All Dressed in White: The Irresistible Rise of the American Wedding by Carol McD. Wallace - 3 stars

Flat Broke with Children by Sharon Hays - 5 stars

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick - 3 stars

Methland: The Death and Life of an American Small Town by Nick Reding - 4 stars

Courtroom 302: A Year Behind the Scenes in an American Criminal Courthouse by Steve Bogira - 3 stars

Unorthodox: The Scandalous Rejection of My Hasidic Roots by Deborah Feldman - 3 stars

Cheap: The High Cost of Discount Culture by Ellen Ruppel Shell - 3 stars

The Good Soldiers by David Finkel - 5 stars

As Texas Goes...: How the Lone Star State Hijacked the American Agenda by Gail Collins - 2.5 stars

In Defense of Food: An Eater's Manifesto by Michael Pollan - 1 star

Obviously I've been on a non-fiction kick, but it has been a good way for me to focus on the quality of what I'm reading as opposed to the quantity of books for my Goodreads challenge. I want to particularly highlight two books - these are perhaps two of my three favorite books I've read this year - Flat Broke with Children and The Good Soldiers. I don't recommend reading the Good Soldiers in a public place because I teared up many times reading this book and I'm not usually a crier.

[GilliC]

Jul 2, 2012 8:25:35 GMT -5 charminglife said:

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick - 3 stars

Willing to share more opinions on this one?

I have a computer security background, so I follow Mitnick on Twitter and have been thinking of reading his book since it came out, but I never got around to it. It's still high on my TBR list, though, so I'd love to know what you thought!

[GilliC]

Lord of the Flies - 5 stars
I was impressed by how well the story was told for both a juvenile and an adult audience at the same time. I also appreciated that Golding took the time to explain his symbolism instead of expecting the reader to pick the story apart.

Catcher in the Rye - 2 stars
Meh. I never read this during my angst-filled teenage years, and I think I missed out. I found it boring and tedious.

The Elegance of the Hedgehog - 4 stars
I loved the language (even in translation) and the insights, so the weak plot didn't bother me much.

The Handmaid's Tale - 4 stars
A great novel, but a victim of its own hype. I remember being blown away by Brave New World, and I think I would have had the same reaction to this one if it was my first foray into the genre. On the heels of so many other great dystopian classics I enjoyed the religious and feminist slant, but having heard so many raves I was expecting a bit more.

[duckduck]

The Name of the Star-- 3
The Handmaid's Tale-- 3
The Name of the Wind-- 5
The Sugar Queen-- 4
On the Road-- 5
Making Waves-- 4
Dance Upon the Air-- 3
A Great Catch-- 3
Faefever-- 4
The Ride of Her Life-- 4
Tumbleweed-- 4
Gone to Green-- 3
On the Island-- 4/4.5
Persepolis-- 3

Four audiobooks and a bunch of lighter stuff-- hey, it's summer. For Christian fic readers, I really enjoyed the Lake Manawa Summers trilogy by Lorna Seilstad. I got the first one (Making Waves) for free on Nook and wasn't expecting much, but I liked it so much that I actually bought the other two. Nice light summery reads.

[charminglife]

Jul 2, 2012 10:04:22 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Jul 2, 2012 8:25:35 GMT -5 charminglife said:

Ghost in the Wires: My Adventures as the World's Most Wanted Hacker by Kevin D. Mitnick - 3 stars

Willing to share more opinions on this one?

I have a computer security background, so I follow Mitnick on Twitter and have been thinking of reading his book since it came out, but I never got around to it. It's still high on my TBR list, though, so I'd love to know what you thought!

I liked it. Honestly, I didn't know too much about Mitnick and his hacking before reading the book, but for someone without that background it was really accessible. For me, the best parts were his tales of 'social engineering' - how he was able to convince people to give him names, passwords, access, etc - that was fascinating. I was surprised to learn that much of his early hacking was done on the phone company - I'd never associated hacking with the phone, but given the time it makes sense.

By no means is it a heavy read - some of it is very colloquial and I thought it could have used some editing, but I'd still recommend it. Enjoy!

[chicacocodrilo]

Only got to a couple in June:

The Fire in Fiction by Don Maass, four stars
The Hummingbird's Daughter by Luis Alberto Urrea, five stars

[secretlyevil]

Nothing of any substance and I am irritated because of it. I miss wandering the book store looking for a new book. Maybe I'll give the Kindle a rest.

[binichic]

I read Celia's Journey by Heather Muzik. For a limited time, it was in the "free" section on my Kindle Fire, so I gave it a try. It was SO good! I cried like a baby through the whole thing, but I couldn't put it down. It was very real. I liked all of the characters, even though I didn't always agree with them. I also liked the ending, because it didn't offer any easy fixes. The story progressed naturally. I felt like I had been on a journey of my own after reading it! I definitely recommend!

[Pippin]

I hit 5 last month. Not too bad for my crazy schedule.

A Game Of Thrones aSoIaF #1 - 5 stars
Mesmerized - 1 star
The Sacred Band, Acacia Trilogy #3 - 3 stars, very let down by the way it wraps everything up.
Before I Fall - 5 stars! Quite possible my new favorite book!
A Certain Slant of Light - 3.5 - 4 stars

All in all I am pretty happy with what I read in June. Only one book made me want to toss it out the window, too bad its on my Kindle lol.

[marytini]

Slow month for me b/c I had to study for my boards instead of read for leisure.

The Great Gatsby, F. Scott Fitzgerald - 3 stars
Ashes, Ilsa Bick - 4 stars
The Life of Bright Ideas, Sandra Kring - 3 stars
Running Away to Home: Our Family's Journey to Croatia in Search of Who We Are, Where We Came From, and What Really Matters , Jennifer Wilson - 3 stars
Objects of My Affection, Jill Smolinski - 3 stars
The Language of Flowers, Vanessa Diffenbaugh - 4 stars

I am also still working on Anna Karenina.

[GilliC]

Jul 2, 2012 10:43:48 GMT -5 charminglife said:

Jul 2, 2012 10:04:22 GMT -5 GilliC said:

Willing to share more opinions on this one?

I have a computer security background, so I follow Mitnick on Twitter and have been thinking of reading his book since it came out, but I never got around to it. It's still high on my TBR list, though, so I'd love to know what you thought!

I liked it. Honestly, I didn't know too much about Mitnick and his hacking before reading the book, but for someone without that background it was really accessible. For me, the best parts were his tales of 'social engineering' - how he was able to convince people to give him names, passwords, access, etc - that was fascinating. I was surprised to learn that much of his early hacking was done on the phone company - I'd never associated hacking with the phone, but given the time it makes sense.

By no means is it a heavy read - some of it is very colloquial and I thought it could have used some editing, but I'd still recommend it. Enjoy!

Thanks for the input! Now I'm even more interested, because I'm intrigued by the social engineering side (and admit that I've dabbled a bit in the distant past).

Did you know that there's still a market for phone hacking? A government official recently had his GMail account hacked, because he was using cell-phone authentication for it. Which would normally be safer, except that someone called the cell phone company pretending to be him and asked to have the calls temporarily redirected (to the hacker's phone). Then they could use the phone authentication to change his email password and log in! Apparently you can set a password with the phone company to keep strangers from redirecting your calls, but some companies will only do it if you ask!

...Yeah, I know too much about this.

[Dusky]

One Good Knight by Mercedes Lackey - 5
Article 5 by Kristen Simmons - 3
The Gathering by Kelley Armstrong - 4
Firelight by Sophie Jordan - 3
Nightshade by Andrea Kremer - 4
All Just Glass by Amelia Atwater-Rhodes - 5
Will Grayson, Will Grayson by John Green and David Levithan - 4

[2curlydogs]

The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks by Rebecca Skloot - 4
Lady of the English by Elizabeth Chadwick - 5
City of Shadows: A Novel of Suspense by Ariana Franklin - 4
Heresy by S.J. Parris - 4
Four Queens: The Provencal Sisters who Ruled Europe by Nancy Goldstone - 4


ETA: I just realized I'm up to 29 books for the year. That's more than I read in all of 2011. RawK!

[pthermal]

Insurgent *****
Little Bee ****
Whitethorn Woods ***
Handle With Care **
Wuthering Heights ****
Miss Peregrine's Home for Peculiar Children (finishing up) ***

[AJL]

Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
Dreams of Joy by Lisa See
Outliers by Malcolm Gladwell
The Rose Garden by Susanna Kearsley
Mariana by Susanna Kearsley

[BlackCanary]

America's Women: 400 Years of Dolls, Drudges, Helpmates, and Heroines by Gail Collins- 5

A Game of Thrones (A Song of Ice and Fire, #1) by George R.R. Martin- 5

I did not read a lot in June. I blame Game of Thrones. That book took forever!