This year is all about knocking books off that ever-growing TBR pile. At least, in theory. It does, however, seem that I’m not doing a very good job. I keep acquiring more books and not reading what I already own.
Alright so, I had hoped to keep that upward reading trajectory going for June, but that didn’t happen. I’m not happy about it, but I’m not particularly sad about it either. I am, however, glad I figured some things out about my reading habits. And I’m hopeful that I will recover from my reading slump soon.
So, let’s get on with the update, shall we.
June Book Haul
- Death in a Strange Country by Donna Leon
- The Devil and Miss Prym by Paulo Coelho
- Our Kind of Traitor by John le Carré
- The Spy Who Came in from the Cold by John le Carré
- Wicked by Gregory Maguire
- Baudolino by Umberto Eco
I won The Sinners by Ace Atkins from Goodreads. The first book I’ve won in years. What the what?!
Read in June
The only book I read in June was The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy by Douglas Adams and dare I say it – I didn’t enjoy it. I know, I know I’m committing blasphemy, but it just didn’t give me a warm fuzzy. There were some really great laugh out loud moments, but overall what I did read was just blah.
Challenge Progress
I am so far off my challenge goals, I’m not even sure they’re worth mentioning. But here they are
Tsundoku Bingo Challenge: 1
TBR Pile Challenge: 0
Reading Assignment Challenge: 1
Back to Classics: 0
Books Read in June: 1
Pages Read in June: Not enough to mention here
Books Read YTD: 12
Pages Read YTD: 3028
And, yes I do have a July TBR; however there is no way I’m reading all the books on it. For the next two weeks I’m participating in Tome Topple and I’m doing a couple of rereads because (1) I feel like I missed a lot as I read them so fast and (2) there was no other tome I wanted to read.
Here are the books on this month’s Summer Sizzlin’ Reads list:
Homegoing by Yaa Gyasi
Turn of the Screw by Henry James
The Sympathizer by Viet Thanh Nguyen (I thought I could get to this, but realistically speaking. . .)
The Cuban Affair by Nelson DeMille (ARC)
Ulysses (Episodes 1-4) by James Joyce
I’ve added to my July TBR
- Giovanni’s Room by James Baldwin, which is a book club read. Nice and short
- The Sinners by Ace Atkins because it comes out July 10th. Not sure it’s going to get read by then
- Temper by Nicky Drayden an ARC I picked up at work, which comes out the beginning of August
The Broken Spine 
Aww, I’m sad you didn’t like The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy! I will admit, I tried reading it via paperback twice and just couldn’t get into it, but when I picked up the audiobook narrated by the author, it was FABULOUS. I think I just needed to find the best way to read it. I’m doing the TBR Pile Challenge this year and I think I’ve read only ONE book from my list. lol. I’m doing terrible with my challenges! Here’s to a good July. 🙂
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Hmm maybe I’ll try the audiobook. I was a bit bummed that I didn’t like it. Next year I’m seriously considering not doing challenges because I never follow through. I’m better at readathons, so I think that’s the route I’ll go and use the challenges as more of a guide.
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I have to say I read Hitchhiker’s Guide years ago on the recommendation of a former boyfriend and I was underwhelmed. I didn’t feel compelled to read any others in the series either. Glad I’m not the only one. Good luck with your TBR this month!
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I think I went into it with really high expectations and sadly it just fizzled. And I don’t have an inclination to read any others either.
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I love Douglas Adams, he’s brilliant! Not a shabby pick for your only read. One is better than non eat all. 🙂 Happy July!
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Thanks. I really wanted to love it like everyone else, but it just didn’t do it for me. I was really hoping to get to some other reading, but just was not feeling it. Being a mood reader can be reallly frustrating.
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