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July Wrap Up

I think I’m finally out of my reading slump!  This was a good month for both quality and quantity, and I enjoyed most of them– some quite a bit.  A few of them weren’t great for me, but that’s ok, it happens at times.

Print Books

  1. The Book of Lies by Mary Horlock (review posting Thursday)
  2. Pirate King (Mary Russell #12) by Laurie R. King (review coming in September)
  3. Bath Tangle by Georgette Heyer (review posting Wednesday)
  4. Deed to Death by D. B. Henson (review coming soon)
  5. State of Wonder by Ann Patchett
  6. Fun and Games by Duane Swierczynski (review coming soon)
  7. Things We Didn’t Say by Kristina Riggle

Audio Books

  1. Hotel on the Corner of Bitter and Sweet by Jamie Ford (review coming soon)
  2. All Clear (All Clear #2) by Connie Willis
  3. Blackout (All Clear #1) by Connie Willis
  4. I Think I Love You by Allison Pearson (review coming soon)
  5. Ten Things I Love About You (Bevelstoke #3) by Julia Quinn
  6. Bossypants by Tina Fey
  7. The Heroine’s Bookshelf by Erin Blakemore
  8. Paladin of Souls (Chalion #2) by Lois McMaster Bujold

Nook Books

  1. What Momma Left Me by Renee Watson (review posting Friday)
  2. Learning Curves by Elyse Mady
  3. Beekeeping for Beginners (Mary Russell #11) by Laurie R. King (novella)

I’m amazed to have finished 7 paper books, considering I spend the last week avoiding one that really didn’t work for me.  A few of the books I read are quite short (one is a novella), but one of the audiobooks was almost 24 hours long, and another was over 18 hours.  I think my average is fine :-) .

Totals for the year now stand at 106 books read: 43 paper books, 50 audio books, 11 Nook books,  1 other e-book, and 1 book in multiple formats.

I’m having a hard time identifying the best books of the month.  I think it comes down to State of Wonder and Pirate KingBlackout and All Clear were great rereads, even if I had… issues… my first time through. Hotel at the Corner of Bitter and Sweet would have been the top read if it’d come in a different month.

I published 11 reviews.  One of those was a guest post by my daughter, and one of my reviews covered two books, so I guess that works out :-) .  I was posting like crazy at the beginning of the month, but slumped a bit at the end, I hope that doesn’t continue in August.  I’ve started posting an audiobook review every Friday when I’m not committed to something else, so watch for those.

I’ve got two tours scheduled in August, then I’m taking a bit of a break from those, unless something I really can’t pass up comes along.  I’ll probably resume in January.  (As a general rule, I don’t mind having some structure to my reading, but I’ll still have two book club books a month during this interval).

How was your July?  How is your August looking?

 
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Posted by on August 2, 2011 in books, summary

 

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May Reading Wrap Up

Hmmm, an odd month for me, with lots of audio fluff, and not a lot of review writing.

  • Audio Books
    1. The Sins of the Fathers (Matthew Scudder #1) by Lawrence Block
    2. The Brutal Telling (Armand Gamache #5)  by Louise Penny
    3. Happy Ever After (Bride Quartet #4) by Nora Roberts
    4. Dare to Die (Death on Demand #19)  by Carolyn Hart
    5. Legend in Green Velvet by Elizabeth Peters
    6. The Serpent’s Shadow (Elemental Masters #2) by Mercedes Lackey
    7. The Help by Kathryn Stockett (re-read)
  • Print Books
    1. The Upside of Irrationality: The Unexpected Benefits of Defying Logic at Work and at Home by Dan Ariely
    2. Prom and Prejudice by Elizabeth Eulberg
    3. A Drop of the Hard Stuff (Matthew Scudder #17)  by Lawrence Block
    4. Promises to Keep (Newford #21) by Charles de Lint
    5. Almost Home (Chesapeake Diaries #3) by Mariah Stewart
    6. Wrecker by Summer Wood
  • Nook Books (none this month!)
  • Other e-books
    • The Last Unicorn (Graphic Novel) by Peter S. Beagle, Peter Gillis, Renae De Liz, Ray Dillon (Review scheduled for June)

This brings my yearly total to 73 books read: 30 paper books, 35 audio books, 6 Nook books, and 1 other e-book.  This isn’t quite on track to make 150 books this year, but it’s pretty close, and I’m not going to worry about it.  If I decide I care, I can follow the example of some of my daughter’s classmates, who realized they were approaching the end of the school year without reading & logging the suggested number of books, and went on a marathon of Magic Treehouse & Doctor Suess books :-) .

I’m more concerned about writing only 8 reviews.  I did keep up on my review commitments, and I’m only slightly short of my preferred minimum of 2 reviews a week.

Counting The Help as the outstanding book of the month seems like cheating, since in was already my 2009 book of the year.   Other highlights of the month were The Last Unicorn  and The Brutal Telling.

I’m slightly over-scheduled for June.  Hopefully this helps me keep writing reviews.  For book clubs, I’m reading The Art of Racing in the Rain by Garth Stein and Every Last One by Anna Quindlen.  For tours, I’m reading Folly Beach by Dorothea Benton Frank, The Art of Saying Goodbye by Ellyn Bache, Things We Didn’t Say by Kristina Riggle, and The Case for the Only Child by Susan Newman.

Also, June is Audiobook Month!  I’ll be celebrating Audiobook Week next week along with Jen at Devourer of Books, and trying to post more audiobook reviews throughout the month.

How was your May?  How is your June looking, reading-wise?

 
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Posted by on June 1, 2011 in books, summary

 

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February Wrap-up

Books read in February:

Audiobooks:

  1. (3.5 stars) Scarlett Fever (Scarlett #2) by Maureen Johnson
  2. (3 stars) The Man You’ll Marry: The First Man You’ll Meet & The Man You’ll Marry by Debbie Macomber
  3. (3.5 stars) The Forgotten Garden by Kate Morton
  4. (3.5 stars) Solar by Ian McEwan
  5. (4 stars) A Rule Against Murder (Armand Gamache #4) by Louise Penny

Paper books:

  1. (4 stars) Fatal Error (Ali Reynolds #6) by J.A. Jance
  2. (4.5 stars) A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness
  3. (4.5 stars) North of Beautiful by Justina Chen Headley
  4. (4.5 stars) Moonface: A True Romance by Angela Balcita
  5. Triumph of the City : How Our Greatest Invention Makes Us Richer, Smarter, Greener, Healthier, and Happier by Edward Glaeser

On my Nook:

  1. (3 stars) Seducing the Governess by Margo Maguire

A combination of all 3:

  1. Measure for Measure by William Shakespeare

Yearly totals:  24 books read 10 paper books, 2 Nook books, 11 audio books, and 1 all of the above.

Favorite book read this month:  A Discovery of Witches by Deborah Harkness.


 
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Posted by on February 28, 2011 in books, summary

 

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