Rearview Mirror // June 2020

I’m getting caught up!!!!!!! ….ish :-D

Favorite June Read

I loved rereading Cheaper by the Dozen, and both it and Belles on Their Toes remain favorites.

Most Disappointing June Read

Probably My One Square Inch of Alaska.  I was really anticipating an engaging road trip to Alaska, not a couple hundred pages of a whiny teenager griping about small town life.

Other June Reads

• 3*
  • Bambi’s Children by Felix Salten
• 3.5*
  • Caroline & Her Kettle Named Maud by Miriam Mason
  • The Dating Charade by Melissa Ferguson
  • Madcap Mystery by Karin Anckarsvärd
  • O the Red Rose Tree by Patricia Beatty
  • Our Stop by Laura Jane Williams
  • Roomies by Christina Lauren
  • Sacred Sins by Nora Roberts
  • Seaside Reunion by Irene Hannon
• 4*
  • Bambi by Felix Salten
  • Brazen Virtue by Nora Roberts
  • Dating You/Hating You by Christina Lauren
  • Death in the Air by Agatha Christie
  • Five Children & It by E. Nesbit
  • Half Magic by Edward Eager
  • Island of the Blue Dolphins by Scott O’Dell
  • Knight’s Castle by Edward Eager
  • Magic Elizabeth by Norma Kassirer
  • Magic by the Lake by Edward Eager
  • Magic or Not? by Edward Eager
  • The Mysterious Schoolmaster by Karin Anckarsvärd
  • Phoebe & Her Unicorn by Dana Simpson
  • The Phoenix & the Carpet by E. Nesbit
  • The Pink Motel by Carol Ryrie Brink
  • Razzle Dazzle Unicorn by Dana Simpson
  • The Riddle of the Ring by Karin Anckarsvärd
  • Rider by Night by Karin Anckarsvärd
  • The Robber Ghost by Karin Anckarsvärd
  • Seven-Day Magic by Edward Eager
  • The Snarkout Boys & the Baconburg Horror by Daniel Pinkwater
  • The Time Garden by Edward Eager
  • Unicorn Crossing by Dana Simpson
  • Unicorn Vs. Goblins by Dana Simpson
  • Unicorn on a Roll by Dana Simpson
  • The Well-Wishers by Edward Eager
  • Winterwood by Shea Ernshaw
• 4.5*
  • The Scorpio Races by Maggie Stiefvater
  • Sense & Sensibility by Jane Austen
  • The Snarkout Boys & the Avocado of Death by Daniel Pinkwater
  • Tweet Cute by Emma Lord

June Stats

June was actually my best reading month since I started tracking my stats in January 2019.  I don’t know why, but I was reading like crazy!

• Total Number of Books Read:  43 (43 physical; 0 Kindle)
• Total Pages Read:  10,233 (In fairness, 966 of them were graphic novel pages, but still!)
• Average Star Rating for June:  3.93 (The same as May – how weird is that??)
• Longest Book:  The Scorpio Races (432 pages)
• Shortest Book:  Caroline & Her Kettle Named Maud (134 pages)
• Oldest Book:  Sense & Sensibility (published 1811)
• Newest Book:  Our Stop, Winterwood, Tweet Cute, and The Dating Charade (all published 2019)
• Number of New-to-Me Authors:  7

June DNFs

Actually, I didn’t have a single DNF this month!  Two months in a row!!

TBR Update

This I keep updated as I go, so it’s current as of today, rather than as of the end of June.  I’m sure it’s off-kilter, though, because I get most of my TBR additions from reading book reviews on all of your lovely blogs, and am now up to almost 900 unread book blogging emails!!!!

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:  470 (down seven)
• Nonfiction:  117 (holding steady)
• Personal (which includes all books I own (fiction and nonfiction), but lists any series I own as only one entry…):  650 (down three!!)
• Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series):  242 (holding steady)
• Mystery Series (each series counted separately, not each book within a series): 114 (holding steady)

Reading Challenge Updates

• #ReadingEurope2020 – visited zero countries – this challenge is NOT going to get completed this year haha (total 6/46 complete)
• #ReadtheUSA2020 – visited six states: Alaska, Florida, Michigan, New Jersey, Ohio, Tennessee (total 26/50 complete – I’m hoping to get this one completed)
• #SeparatedbyaPondTour – visited the states above (Total 42/159 complete – this is still on the 3-year track)
• #LitsyAtoZ – 1 book (22/26 complete – only weird letters left)
• #BackwardsAtoZ – 10 books (No A through no M on my third list – I’m trying to do this one in order and to see how many times I can get through the alphabet!)

Current Reads

For a while I was on a read-multiple-books-at-a-time kick, but I’m back to just one fiction plus one non fiction –

• Long Time No See by Ed McBain – finally getting back to the 87th Precinct… I’ve had these books from the library since March!
• The Backyard Homestead edited by Carleen Madigan – with everything so weird going on, I’m spending some time embracing my prepper side.

Up Next

The probable next five(ish) reads:

• The next four 87th Precinct books
• The Switch by Beth O’Leary – I really enjoyed her first book, The Flatshare, so I’m hopeful this one will also be fun.
• This Present Darkness and Piercing the Darkness by Frank Peretti – I’ve literally been meaning to reread these for 10 years.
• Daddy’s Little Girl by Mary Higgins Clark – next in my box of random mysteries someone from Litsy sent me.
• Beauty Sleep by Cameron Dokey – from my pile of library books I’ve had since March!!

So that’s the story with June… cautiously optimistic that I can write July reviews in July????  However, I just found out that I start back at my fall job the first week of August so… such is life!