Rearview Mirror // June 2017

June settled into a nice routine that is rolling into July (we’ll see how long that lasts!).  I’ve been getting a lot of chores done around the house and painting a LOT of fence.  Paisley the puppy is continuing the grow like a weed, and she and Waylon careen through the house in a way that makes me a little nervous about what will happen when they’re both adults!

Reading-wise, I mostly checked a BUNCH of Dee Henderson off the list, as well as finishing off the Michael Robotham’s Joseph O’Laughlin series.  It’s been good to get back into a good reading groove again, as I’ve also been working on my nonfiction assignments.

Favorite June Read:

Watching You by Michael Robotham – this book was SO intense I could barely put it down.  The pacing was perfect and I was completely engrossed.  I loved the way that I had no idea who to trust.

Most Disappointing June Read:

Full Disclosure by Dee Henderson.  An entire book about Perfect Ann.  SO BORING.  And she wasn’t actually perfect, even though everyone goes on (and on and ON) about how perfect she is…  I kind of thought she was selfish and boring.  It was basically an entire book of everyone talking about how awesome Ann is… and then it turns out that Ann wrote all of Henderson’s books, so a whole new level of awkward made it feel like Henderson wrote an entire book talking about how awesome she herself is….  too weird.  And BORING.

Other June Reads:

• Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham – 4/5 – a solid addition to the series, but the ending left me feeling completely dazed.
• Reclaiming Christianity: A Call to Authentic Faith by A.W. Tozer; edited by James L. Snyder – 4/5 – a good collection of essays and sermons that are poignant and challenging.
• Taken by Dee Henderson – 2/5 – Pretty boring, and too much kidnapping.
• Threads of Suspicion by Dee Henderson – 3.5/5 – probably my favorite out of this batch of Henderson’s novels – solid story with interesting characters.
• Traces of Guilt by Dee Henderson – 3/5 – a good story, but the ending just sort of fizzled out.
• Undetected by Dee Henderson – 2/5 – Mark.  Ugh.
• Unspoken by Dee Henderson – 3/5 – alright read, but dragged in the middle.

In Junes Past…

Now that I’ve been doing my Rearview Mirrors for two years, I thought it would be fun to see what my favorite and least-favorite reads were from those years.

Back in 2015, I didn’t have a lot of strong feelings about any of the books I’d read,  but I chose Dragonsong by Anne McCaffrey as my favorite read – I was really getting into the Pern books at that point – and Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marriner as my least favorite – it just felt too disjointed to really be enjoyable.

Last year, I was getting into the groove of Jim Butcher’s Codex Alera (which I LOVED), and Academ’s Fury was definitely my favorite book of the month.  Meanwhile, I really wanted to love The Watchmaker of Filigree Street by Natasha Pulley, mainly because the cover is GORGEOUS, but ended up kinda hating it, mostly because it made no sense.

June 2016 was also my first time participating in #20BooksofSummer – as of last year’s June Rearview, I had read six of my twenty… I’m actually ahead of that this year as I’m halfway through book #9!

#20BooksofSummer Update

Speaking of the 20 Books of Summer (hosted by Cathy), I’m actually not doing too badly.  Here’s the current list:

1. Unspoken by Dee Henderson
2. Undetected by Dee Henderson
3. Taken by Dee Henderson
4. Traces of Guilt by Dee Henderson
5. Threads of Suspicion by Dee Henderson
6. Watching You by Michael Robotham
7. Close Your Eyes by Michael Robotham
8. The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart
9. Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman
10. Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer
11. Woman With a Gun by Phillip Margolin
12. Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey
13. Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier
14. The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain
15. The Making of a Marchioness by Frances Hodgson Burnett
16. The Methods of Lady Walderhurst by Frances Hodgson Burnett
17. The Girl from Summer Hill by Jude Deveraux
18. Water Song by Suzanne Weyn
19. What Lies Within by James Morris
20. The Big Sleep by Raymond Chandler

 

TBR Update:

So I spent my holiday doing what everyone does on a holiday… reorganizing my TBR.  ;-)  I went through the Personal tab on the TBR (books I own) and updated a bunch of stuff.  I’ve actually read a lot of the books on the list already, but it was before I had the list written down.  And, back when I made the list, I didn’t bother putting a bunch of books on it since I had read them really recently.  But now I’ve decided that I want to keep a master list of every book I own with its “last read” date.  All that to say, I added books and checked books off, since the TBR number only reflects the books I haven’t read since I started book blogging back in 2011 (tumblr days!).

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

• Standalones:  785 (up five)
• Nonfiction:  80 (up five)
• Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…):  589 (down 34!)
• Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  221 (up one)
• Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  102 (holding steady)

Awaiting Review:

I’m really working on keeping a post a day going, so right now only The Secret Keepers by Trenton Lee Stewart is in the pile!

Current Reads:

• Girl Out of Water by Laura Silverman – I’m actually kinda enjoying this book that is so not my kind of book.
• Breaking Free by Beth Moore – her writing is so accessible and challenging, like reading a letter from a close friend.
• Patrick Henry: Firebrand of the Revolution by Nardi Reeder Campion – a middle-school biography of this famous patriot – I’m totally enjoying learning about his life and definitely intend to find a more involved biography of Henry soon.
• High-Yield Vegetable Gardening by Colin McCrate and Brad Halm – because when I’m not working at a garden center or actually gardening, I love to read about gardening. (I don’t have a problem lol)

Approaching the Top of the Pile:

The probable next five reads…

• Sprig Muslin by Georgette Heyer – actually looking forward to some relaxing Heyer action
• Woman With a Gun by Phillip Margolin – so enjoyed his Amanda Jaffe series – we’ll see how a standalone goes
• Sunlight and Shadow by Cameron Dokey – I’ve enjoyed a lot of her fairy tale retellings before, so I’m anticipating this one
• Jamaica Inn by Daphne du Maurier – I almost read this one earlier this year, except then life happened – I’ve loved both Rebecca and My Cousin Rachel, so I’m hoping this one follows suit!
• The Silent Sister by Diane Chamberlain – one of those random books I read a review for a long time ago – no idea what it’s all about!