June in Review
Two "in review" posts in a week is a little strange, but this is for June and the one coming later is for the first six months of the year, so I think that's fine.
The month started off relatively slowly - I didn't read anything for the first week or so of the month. I was working at UK Games Expo, then dealing with a family emergency, and that didn't leave much time for books. Since then things have settled down and I've got back to being able to read consistently, though, which is nice.
Here's everything I read in June:
- Moving Pictures - Terry Pratchett
- The Traitors - C. A. Lynch
- Bear Season - Gemma Fairclough
- Looking Glass Sound - Catriona Ward
- Ringworld - Larry Niven
- Call Me By Your Name - André Aciman
- Blood and Mascara - Colin Krainin
- Nothing But The Rain - Naomi Salman
- Green Fuse Burning - Tiffany Morris
- Reaper Man - Terry Pratchett
- Far From The Light Of Heaven - Tade Thompson
- The Instrumentalist - Harriet Constable
At the beginning of the month it started by didn't finish Hardcore History: The Story of The ECW by Scott E. Williams. I've been getting back into wrestling in a big way over the past 18 months and after reading Bryan Danielson's memoir and enjoying it earlier in the year I thought I'd try some other wrestling books that come well reckmmended. Unfortunately this one is a mess that was in desperate need of a good editor (or maybe a ghost writer), and I ultimately decided not to carry on with it.
I also started Louise Mitchin's Isolation Island earlier today, which so far is fine but not spectacular. It's maybe the worst-formatted epub I've ever seen, too, which is frustrating.
I don't really go in for ranking things, since my tastes change from day to day, but if I had to pick a top 3 from the 12 books I finished in June it would be (in no particular order):
- Looking Glass Sound
- Bear Season
- Call Me By Your Name
I didn't blog about Bear Season or Call Me By Your Name. The main reason for that was that I read them both while on holiday in France and didn't particularly feel like blogging while I was there. I'm also trying to only blog about things when I feel I have something to say, and even when I really love a book that's not always the case. Trying to force myself to write a review of something feels like work, and I don't want this blog to feel like work.
I wouldn't call June a banner month for reading, but I've made some progress on my various TBR lists, found a couple of books I really loved, and started this blog, so it hasn't been terrible either.
As a bonus, here's a Spotify playlist of the music I've been listening to, too.