What did you read in June?

[Vespasia]

What did you read last month and how would you rate them?

How are you progressing on your annual reading goal if you have one?

[tacokick]

I don’t have a goal.

This month started out slow but I knocked out a lot at the end because so many books came in at once.

Truth Be Told by Kia Abdullah (ok)

Beautiful Trauma: An Explosion, an Obsession, and a New Lease on Life by Rebecca Fogg (What a freak accident!)

Not So Perfect Strangers by L.S. Stratton (ok)

Hysteria by Megan Miranda (bad)

Take it Back by Kia Abdullah (tabloidy)

Testimony: Inside the Evangelical Movement That Failed a Generation by Jon Ward (scary this guy is a reporter)

A Nearly Normal Family by M.T. Edvardsson (interesting)

Closer by Sea by Perry Chafe (great)

Charm City Rocks by Matthew Norman (cheesy)

Before You Knew My Name by Jacqueline Bublitz (slow)

My Murder by Katie Williams (good)

Don’t Call Me Home by Alexandra Auder (disjointed)

The Five-Star Weekend by Elin Hilderbrand (breezy)

What Lies in the Woods by Kate Alice Marshall (ok.)

Cassandra in Reverse by Holly Smale (ok)

She Started It by Sian Gilbert (not bad)

Zero Days by Ruth Ware (bad)

The Only One Left by Riley Sanger (not bad)

This Is Not a Book About Benedict Cumberbatch: The Joy of Loving Something–Anything–Like Your Life Depends On It by Tabitha Carvan (this woman was puzzling)

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid (bad)

Penance by Kanae Minato with Philip Gabriel (Translator) (fine)

Family Style: Memories of an American from Vietnam by Thien Pham (interesting)

America the Beautiful?: One Woman in a Borrowed Prius on the Road Most Traveled by Blythe Roberson (I think it was supposed to be funnier than it was but it was good)

Fragments of the Lost by Megan Miranda (fine)

You Can’t Stay Here Forever by Katherine Lin (flat)

We Were Once a Family: A Story of Love, Death, and Child Removal in America by Roxanna Asgarian (sad)

The Favor by Adele Griffin (weird)

The Art Thief: A True Story of Love, Crime, and a Dangerous Obsession by Michael Finkel (poorly written)

[travella]

4* - Good, would recommend
Lady Tan's Circle of Women By Lisa See
Kindred by Octavia Butler

3*- OK

The Magnificent Lives of Marjorie Post by Allison Pataki
Stateless by Elizabeth Wein
The Last Lifeboat By Hazel Gaynor

2*
All That Is Mine I Carry with Me by William Landay (2.5*)

DNF
The Paris Daughter By Kristin Harmel

[charlatti]

If you use goodreads, do you have an efficient way of making your monthly list? I either C&P from goodreads to a doc and delete all the weird formatting, or I have to type it up manually, neither is very quick.

I'm at 57 for the year -- I don't really set a goal. I put a number for where I think I'll end and change it if it starts to feel like pressure.


All the Sinners Bleed by S.A. Cosby 5* (excellent)
You Are Here by Karin Lin-Greenberg 5* (has mixed reviews, but I really liked it)

The Last Drop of Hemlock by Katharine Schellman 4* (very much enjoy this series)
Cloud Cuckoo Land by Anthony Doerr 4* (very good but not as memorable as All the Light)
The Late Mrs. Willoughby by Claudia Gray 4* (cute)
Dark Sacred Night by Michael Connelly 4* (enjoyable page turner)
The Killing Code by Ellie Marney 4* (nicely done YA mystery)
Playing It Safe by Ashley Weaver 4* (another fun series)

The Shadow Cabinet by Juno Dawson (kind of dragged, not as good as the first one) 3*
The Endless Vessel by Charles Soule 3* (cool concept, not as well done as it could have been)
The 19th Wife by David Ebershoff 3* (meh, interesting enough — which also applies to the rest of my 3* books)
The Memory of Animals by Claire Fuller 3*
Soy Sauce for Beginners by Kirstin Chen 3*
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez 3*
One Last Lie by Paul Doiron 3*

For the First Time, Again by Sylvain Neuvel 2* ( read the first two, should have stopped there)

[dearprudence]

Jul 6, 2023 16:12:11 GMT -5 charlatti said:

If you use goodreads, do you have an efficient way of making your monthly list? I either C&P from goodreads to a doc and delete all the weird formatting, or I have to type it up manually, neither is very quick.

I don't read enough books in a month for this to be an issue! I just manually type the 6 or 7.

This month I read:
Lifelines - would recommend
Here for the Drama - fine
For the Love of the Bard - would recommend
Pineapple Street - fine
Say More About That - fine
Not That Kind of Ever After - fine
Crazy to Leave You - would recommend

My reading goal for the year was more nonfiction and more books I already own and I'm doing pretty well. I've read 8 nonfiction books this year and 12 books I own.

[Vespasia]

This was a pretty mediocre month for me. Both in terms of number and quality of books read. 

5 Stars:
The Hollow Places by T. Kingfisher

3 Stars:
Where They Lie (Nora McTavish, #1) by Joe Hart
Mary Jane by Jessica Anya Blau
Killing Moon (Harry Hole #13) by Jo Nesbø


I'm at 34/52 for the year so ahead of my goal. 

[ufcasey]

4 stars:
The Connellys of County Down by Tracey Lange
Emily Wilde's Map of the Otherlands (#2 in series) by Heather Fawcett
The Light Pirate by Lily Brooks-Dalton
Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews (re-read)

3.5 stars:
Happy Place by Emily Henry
Blood Kissed by Keri Arthur

2 stars:
Make a Wish by Helena Hunting


I am currently sitting at 47/75, 9 books ahead of my goal per goodreads

[mrspez07]

I had a very big strong month with a vacation and some good books. But Inhavent finished anything in two weeks.

Audio:
He’ll Bent by Leigh Bardugo 3*
Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez 5*
A Good Girl’s Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson 4*

Visual:
Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson 4*
BookLovers by Emily Henry 5*
White Women: Everything you Already Know about Your Own Racism by Regina Jackson 3*
Pretty Things by Janelle Brown 4*

29 of 65 books, 4 behind schedule according to goodreads