Welcome to my Monthly Reading Review.
This post is my attempt to keep track of how I’m doing with my reading challenges and resolutions.
BOOKS I’VE READ
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
The Naturalist (The Naturalist #1) by Andrew Mayne
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Total Library Books Read This Month: 1
Total Own Books Read This Month: 3
Overall Total Books Read This Month: 4
Total Library Books Read 2021: 2
Total Own Books Read 2021: 10
Overall Total Books Read 2021: 12
MY READ OF THE MONTH
This is a very tough choice this month. Everything I’ve read has been really good and I would recommend any of the books mentioned above, but I think I must give a mention to The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton. I’d looked forward to reading it for a while having enjoyed his previous novel, The Seven Deaths of Evelyn Hardcastle, and it was as good as I’d hoped it would be.
BEAT THE BACKLIST
My total for this challenge is currently 10 books. So far I’ve read:
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill
The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King
Open Season (Joe Pickett #1) by C. J. Box
The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower #2) by Stephen King
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower #3) by Stephen King
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton
The Naturalist (The Naturalist #1) by Andrew Mayne
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
Beat the Backlist Bingo is making another appearance this year. I have no idea how many categories I’ll manage to complete but it’s a little extra to add to my challenge.
Standalone – The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow
A book with illustrations – NOS4A2 by Joe Hill – There is an illustration of the Christmasland advert that first attracts Bing Partridge’s attention, and it also has Vic’s various bikes and Manx’s Wraith between paragraphs. I could also have used this for the ‘map’ prompt as there’s the United Inscapes of America map as well.
Kept you up late reading (definitely not a book you can easily put down) – The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King
Genre you never/rarely read (there has to be at least one genre you don’t usually pick up) – Open Season (Joe Pickett #1) by C. J. Box
Black and white – The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower #3) by Stephen King
More than one author (a book written by at least 2 authors; not an anthology) – This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone
From the 52 Prompts List…
You can find the complete prompts list here.
The Ten Thousand Doors of January by Alix E. Harrow – Standalone
NOS4A2 by Joe Hill – A book with illustrations
The Gunslinger (The Dark Tower #1) by Stephen King – Kept you up late reading
Open Season (Joe Pickett #1) by C. J. Box – Genre you never/rarely read
The Drawing of the Three (The Dark Tower #2) by Stephen King – Author has a book releasing in 2021
The Waste Lands (The Dark Tower #3) by Stephen King – Black and white
Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia – Based on non-Greek/Roman mythology
The Devil and the Dark Water by Stuart Turton – It’s on a ship!
The Naturalist (The Naturalist #1) by Andrew Mayne – Book where the woods/forest are important
This Is How You Lose the Time War by Amal El-Mohtar and Max Gladstone – More than one author
GOODREADS
I’ve read 12 books so far this year.
GOALS
- My Beat the Backlist challenge is ongoing and I’ve had quite a good run this with it this month, adding 4 new books to my total, and at least three of my choices counted for categories in the 52 prompt version of the Bingo card.
- I’m still making an effort to read books I already own, and the majority of my reads so far this year have been owned books.
- I tried out a new-to-me genre with This Is How You Lose the Time War. I don’t tend to read much at all in the way of time travel or sci-fi, but I had a great time reading this and I’m on the look out for more like it.
- I read Gods of Jade and Shadow by Silvia Moreno-Garcia. I enjoyed Mexican Gothic so much last year that I really wanted to check out at least one more of her books. And now I want to check out at least one more!
- I caught up on a couple of reviews for books I’ve read recently.
- I’m continuing my monthly update posts to record my reading and any challenge progress I’ve made.
So concludes June’s Reading Review. See you again next month.
