Rearview Mirror // July 2016 // Bonus! #20BooksofSummer Update!

July is gone already!!!  I always have very mixed feelings about the summer slipping away.  On one hand, I love going barefoot and having long days.  On the other hand:  So hot. Why. Please no.  In the end, I always just end up enjoying and complaining about whatever season I’m in, so there’s that.

Anyway, the weather continues hot.  I’m still spending a lot of time in the garden.  Tom and I got a canoe, so that’s incredibly spiffing.  I’m trying to teach Waylon (the border collie for those who are new) some better manners, and spending a lot of time hanging out with my family.

And, of course, lots of reading.  There was quite the variety pack this month, and just when I thought I was going to get caught up on reviews…  well, there are six books back on the stack again!

Favorite July Read:

I think I’m going with Cursor’s Fury.  I just really think that the entire Codex Alera series has been brilliant so far.  I’ve also read the next book, Captain’s Fury, which I haven’t reviewed yet, and Princep’s Fury is next on the TBR stack.  After that, there’s only one more book!  The writing thus far has been so fantastic that I kind of wish that there were about twenty more.

Most Disappointing July Read:

A Girl of the Limberlost receives this dubious place in the Rearview.  After enjoying Freckles so thoroughly, Limberlost was an especial let down.  The writing was so disjointed, and I just couldn’t get past the complete nonsense that was Mrs. Comstock.

HOWEVER I was informed by a kind fellow reader on Twitter, @Trundlebedtales, that Porter’s daughter wrote a third and final installment to the Limberlost books, and I am hoping to get my hands on it soon.

Other July Reads:

• Crooked House by Agatha Christie – 4/5 – strong writing and a brilliant ending.
• Life or Death by Michael Robotham – 3/5 – a good story, but I somehow just didn’t connect with the main character, who felt was incredibly passive.
• On the Fence by Kasie West – 4/5 – fluff, but really nice fluff, and fluff where the heroine actually has a nice family, which was great.
• The Fold by Peter Cline – 3/5 – but almost a 4.  Thoroughly engaging and a very fast read.  Later I realized that the science bits made no sense, but the story was just so much fun.
• They Came to Baghdad by Agatha Christie – 4/5 – a very melodramatic spy thriller that Christie still manages to make almost plausible.
• The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly – 3/5 – while this book didn’t grab a hold of me, I still liked the writing.
• Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry – 4/5 – revisting this childhood favorite didn’t disappoint, and the illustrations by Wesley Dennis are fantastic.

20 Books of Summer Update!

So I’ve actually made fantastic progress on this challenge, and unless something incredibly dire occurs this month (like I go blind), I should be able to achieve all twenty books, as I am currently almost finished with #19, and should start my final book – Princep’s Fury – tomorrow!!!

Here is the updated list (links to Goodreads if I haven’t reviewed the book yet):

• Academ’s Fury, Cursor’s Fury, Captain’s Fury, and Princeps’ Fury by Jim Butcher
• Freckles by Gene Stratton Porter, and its sequel, A Girl of the Limberlost
• Misty of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry, and its sequel, Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague 
•  Crooked House, They Came to Baghdad, and Destination Unknown, all by Agatha Christie
• The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley
• Life or Death by Michael Robotham
• The Fold by Peter Clines
• On the Fence by Kasie West
• The Mistake I Made by Paula Daly
• Money in the Bank by P.G. Wodehouse
• My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
• The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
• The White Flower by Grace Livingston Hill

It really helped that I hit a stretch of books that I thoroughly enjoyed.

TBR Update:

For those of you who don’t know, I’m weirdly obsessive with organizing the TBR, and have it on a spreadsheet divided into four different tabs:

• Stand-Alones:  861 (ummm… kind of up 40 books on this one from 821, mostly because I added every book ever written by E. Nesbit)
• Personal (which includes all books I own, but lists any series I own as only one entry…):  550 (DOWN, people, DOWN 34 from 584! Although it really wasn’t that dramatic…I mostly went through my list and reorganized it :-p)
• Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  130 (up four from 126)
• Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  52 (up one)

And actually I’m way behind reading other people’s reviews, so there will probably be even more added.  There is always something fantastic to read!

Netgalley (?!)

Speaking of which, I’m thinking about giving Netgalley another try.  I have really mixed feelings about it because I kind of enjoy just reading whatever I want whenever I want, and when I have ARCs I feel obligated to work on those.  So for now I only have two that were just on the auto-approved list.  I feel less pressure with those.  Hopefully I will get those read and reviewed this month as well…  *gulp*

Awaiting Review:

Six books in the queue:

• Money in the Bank by P.G. Wodehouse
• Captain’s Fury by Jim Butcher
• My Cousin Rachel by Daphne du Maurier
• Destination Unknown by Agatha Christie
• The Morning Gift by Eva Ibbotson
• Sea Star: Orphan of Chincoteague by Marguerite Henry