Hello, June! Goodbye, June!
It’s hot. That’s all I have to say about June.
I had to adjust the number of pages I’ve read for the Insatiable Booksluts’ End of the World Challenge; I have a huge slight case of OCD, so I was physically counting the pages I’ve read (as opposed to going by official page counts on Amazon). Well, Susie reminded me that not everyone is as anal as I am about this stuff, and that everyone else is going by official page counts, so I had to adjust my page counts accordingly. I have adjusted my numbers below, and on my Daytum profile.
Here’s a look at the reading I accomplished in June:
Number of books finished: 9
YTD: 66
- Brand New Human Being, Emily Jeanne Miller
- With My Body, Nikki Gemmell
- The Memory of Love, Aminatta Forna
- The Night Circus, Erin Morgenstern
- The Name of the Rose, Umberto Eco
- Surfacing, Margaret Atwood
- Middlemarch, George Eliot
- The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Catch-22, Joseph Heller
Number of books in progress: 7
- Johnson’s Life of London, by Boris Johnson (this one is just not keeping my attention)
- Ulysses, James Joyce (slow going, but so worth it)
- Ulysses Annotated, Don Gifford
- Graceling, Kristin Cashore (#TuesBookTalk)
- The Absolutist, John Boyne (BOOK CLUB)
- A Prayer For Owen Meany, John Irving / The Magicians, Lev Grossman (these are both being read for #1book140 in July, so I will be starting these soon)
Number of pages read: 4,107
YTD: 23,192
Books reviewed:
- Brand New Human Being, Emily Jeanne Miller
- With My Body, Nikki Gemmell
- We Need to Talk About Kevin, Lionel Shriver
- The Evolution of Bruno Littlemore, Benjamin Hale
- A Sense of Direction, Gideon Lewis-Kraus
Reviews in progress: Yes.
**I’m using the Daytum website to keep track of my reading stats this year, so you can follow my progress at any time by visiting my Daytum profile.
Reading Challenges progress:
- Back to the Classics Challenge: 1/9 (YTD: 5/9)
- Mount TBR Reading Challenge: 0/40 (YTD: 11/40)
- Chunkster Reading Challenge: 3/14 (YTD: 11/14)
- End of the World Reading Challenge: 2,983 (YTD: 17,803)
- The Classics Club: 7/100 (Total)
- A Non-Fiction Adventure: 6/130 (Total)
**You can follow my progress and learn more about each challenge under the Challenges tab in my menu bar.
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Ashley (my 11-year-old daughter) is participating in two of the challenges with me: the Back to the Classics Challenge and the Mount TBR Challenge. She doesn’t have a place to review the books she’s read, so she’s just doing the reading and keeping track of her progress in a notebook.
Here’s a look at what Ashley accomplished in June:
Number of books read: 10
YTD: 52
- Incidents in the Life of a Slave Girl, Harriet Jacobs
- The Scarlet Slipper Mystery (Nancy Drew), Carolyn Keene
- Nancy’s Mysterious Letter, Carolyn Keene
- The Popularity in Papers (Book Two), Amy Ignatov
- Harry Potter and the Sorcerer’s Stone, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Prisoner of Azkaban, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Goblet of Fire, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix, J.K. Rowling
- Harry Potter and the Half-Blood Prince, J.K. Rowling
Books in progress: 3
- The Hobbit, J.R.R. Tolkien
- Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, J.K. Rowling
- Anne of Green Gables, Lucy Maud Montgomery
Number of pages read: 4,942
YTD: 15,774
This is the third time Ash has read the Harry Potter series–I think she rereads them every year, and she devours them.
Reading Challenges progress:
- Back to the Classics Challenge: 1/9 (YTD: 5/9)
- Mount TBR Reading Challenge: 0/50 (YTD: 16/50)
What was/were the best book/s you read in June?
July 2, 2012 at 3:57 pm
1) I’m excited to there are so many people reading The Absolutist. I’ve completely fallen in love with it and will probably have to reread it when it comes out in paperback later this month!
2) I love that your daughter re-reads the HP books every year! I need to re-read them as it has been a few years since I last re-read them. (I would re-read them before each new release and each new film.)
July 2, 2012 at 4:21 pm
I just started The Absolutist last night, but I’m really enjoying it so far. I like the writing style and the storyline. It’s good to know that you loved it so much since we have very similar reading tastes.
July 2, 2012 at 7:57 pm
Wow, looks like you both had successful reading months. I look forward to some reviews of the books you’ve read. And I like how you list all the books you’re currently reading. I tend to read multiple books at once as well.
July 5, 2012 at 11:01 am
I never used to read more than one book at a time, but blogging changed that.
July 2, 2012 at 11:23 pm
My youngest has read the Harry Potter series every summer for years. I think last summer was the first he skipped (he was deep into David Wallace for the first half of the summer). He started because he thought you shouldn’t read a new potter until you had reread the whole series. After they were all out, he started to read them backwards.
July 5, 2012 at 11:02 am
That is awesome.
July 3, 2012 at 6:12 am
I see you’ve read one of my favorite books last month, Catch-22. Looking forward to your comments on it!
And high five to Ashley on her Potterathon!
July 5, 2012 at 11:04 am
Catch-22 was a reread for me, and I love it. It’s one of my favorite books, too.
July 3, 2012 at 2:01 pm
As usual, Heather you make good progress all the time. And Ashley is not doing badly at all. My boy Cedric has devoured all the Nancy Drews and Hardy Boys in the house. He keeps saying I should get him the Harry Potter series, but I am not sure I really like the themes of witches flying and magic and all that. Wish you a fruitful July.
July 5, 2012 at 11:06 am
Thank you! I hope you have a fruitful July, as well.
July 4, 2012 at 12:46 am
You read so much in June. I’m so jealous! I can’t seem to get out of this rut I’m in…or maybe I just waste too much time. Something is definitely wrong with my focus and it’s not just the new job (I don’t think). Seriously, I’m at the age for peri-menopause and I really think that might be part of the problem. The hormone fluctuations make you forgetful, unfocused, you can be depressed at times, headaches, and a plethora of other lovely symptoms. Great.
And I have completely lost track of keeping track of my pages, but I’m going to update that soon. Thanks for the reminder. I’m not doing the challenge, but it will be interesting to see how many pages I read this year.
Have a great 4th and enjoy the rest of the week.
July 5, 2012 at 11:07 am
I’m sorry to hear about your reading slump, and that you’re not feeling well.
July 4, 2012 at 12:09 pm
You and Ashley had a great reading month! Are you finding The Memory of Love as hard to review as I am? What does Ashley think of Anne of Green Gables so far?
July 5, 2012 at 11:09 am
Yes, The Memory of Love is going to be a hard one to review. So much happens in that book that it’s hard to decide what to say without giving spoilers.
July 5, 2012 at 11:09 am
Oh, and Anne of Green Gables is a reread for Ash, but she loves it.