Monday, July 1, 2024

*Monthly Update* May and June 2024

 You may have noticed that I did not post a monthly update post at any point in June, and there is a very good reason for that. It's because I realized I still needed to do it on like the 20th, and at that point, I might as well just wait another week and a half and combine two months into one. Although it's more likely that you didn't notice, because frankly, you've essentially forgotten I exist as a blogger, which is fair considering how inconsistent I've been at posting the past couple years. It's fine, I'm not going to hold that against you. Anyway, in May I had wanted to read 22 books and I failed...I only read 21 (although I was less than 100 pages from finishing book 22, and a significant amount into three others that had I spent any of the time I read those books on book 22, I would have met my goal, so it almost counts). 

In June I wanted to read strictly LGBTQIA+ books, and I did read a fair number of books that qualify (although I read a couple that don't). I also only read 13 books in June, which is a drastic reduction that I'm attributing largely to the fact that I stopped listening to audiobooks while driving to and from work, and also to the fact that I started doing my walks on the treadmill in my basement with a book in front of me instead of at the Nature Center with an audiobook (because it got hot!) I don't read as fast as I listen, but that's okay. By the end of the year, I would like for audiobooks to only account for 33% of my reading for the year anyway, and they're currently at like 42% so I've got some work to do to adjust that imbalance. 

Finally, in May I'd said that I was going to aim to write more reviews than books I read. That didn't happen at all. As in I didn't write a single review the last two months (oops!) Review writing was even part of why I was slowing down on book reading in June (well that was at least my intention). So now I'm even further behind on my review writing, but I get a weeks paid vacation from my job in July and with some slight dedication, I can use that time to at least put a dent in the reviews I need to write. If I say it's going to happen often enough, that'll make it true, right? Right? Anyway, lets do a quick recap of the books that I read in May and June before I lost you completely. 

Books Read In...

May

Dark Matter by Blake Crouch
Our Vengeful Souls by Kristi McManus
Children of Eden by Joey Graceffa
Song of Blood and Stone by L. Penelope
Ladies' Day by Lisa Williams Kline
Shanghai Girls by Lisa See
How To American by Jimmy O. Yang
No Land's Man by Aasif Mandvi
The Shining by Stephen King
The Once and Future Witches by Alix E. Harrow
Counting the Cost by Jill Duggar Dillard
Damsel by Evelyn Skye
The Many Worlds or Albie Bright by Christopher Edge
The Other Side by Juan Pablo Villalobos
Pucking Around by Emily Rath
Becoming Free Indeed by Jinger Duggar Vuolo
Things I Should Have Said by Jamie Lynn Spears
The Alchemist by Paulo Coelho
The Scorch Trials by James Dashner

June

The Book Thief by Markus Zusak
Cilka's Journey by Heather Morris
Verity by Colleen Hoover
The Women by Kristin Hannah
Only Mostly Devastated by Sophie Gonzales
Leather and Lark by Brynne Weaver
The Night Circus by Erin Morgenstern
Momma Cusses by Gwenna Laithland
The Haunting by Natasha Preston
Think Twice by Harlan Coben
The Late Americans by Brandon Taylor

And there you have it, all the books I read in the past two months. I do plan on slowing down on the number of books I'm reading because I'm going to start reading more longer books (like I have 8 books from the Outlander series and want to start it for instance), and since I've already met my reading goal of 100 books for the year, I don't feel as much pressure to read books quickly, which means I can take my time with those longer books. I've also got a really good head start against my arch-nemesis on the reading challenge, so I'm feeling pretty confident about my chances of reading more books than her this year at this point. Like the last few of these posts I've made, I'm really going to try to make a dent in the number of reviews I have to write in July (and with slowing down on number of books finished, I might even succeed). Wish me luck. - Katie 

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