Wednesday, August 10, 2016

Books Read in July

View from Bearfence Mountain, Shenandoah National Park
Woohoo! I'm writing my monthly summary, and it's only the 10th of the month! I finally caught up on reviews. Good thing because with travel and moving our sons to college at the end of August, this month is about to get really busy.

I had a good reading month, with a total of 6 books finished:



Six books in all, and a nice variety of middle-grade, YA, and adult...and even a nonfiction book (a rarity for me)! Half of my books were audio. My favorite is an easy choice this month: Behind the Beautiful Forevers. It was easily one of my favorites read so far this year and maybe ever. I actually rated it a 10 in my book group, which I very rarely do. It's nonfiction but written like a novel, and I highly recommend it.

Progress on 2016 Reading Challenges:
This is my favorite part of my monthly summary - updating my Reading Challenges! I read 2 more TBR books in July for my Read Your Own Damn Books Challenge - that's a total of 10 so far this year, which is not very good! For the Monthly Motif Reading Challenge, July was LOL month - and I didn't read anything even remotely funny! All serious topics - fail. I added 1 more nonfiction book to my 2016 Nonfiction Reading Challenge for a total of 8 so far this year, but no more classics for the 2016 Classics Challenge. For my Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge, I read a book set in India.  I am also tracking the states my books are set in, even though there is no Where Are You Reading challenge this year, and I added 2 new states - NM and CT -  this month.

Finally, I filled 12 spaces on my monthly Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break (you can join the fun any month without officially joining a challenge). Here's my Bingo card for July:


My books filled these spaces:
Behind the Beautiful Forevers - Award-winning, Shelf-Love (TBR) book
The Secret Language of Sisters - Siblings, Geek, First kiss
Snow Falling on Cedars - Opposites attract
Masterminds: Criminal Destiny - In a series, Daredevil
Isra Isle - Paperback book, LGBT
The Memory of Light - Cowboy/western
Free space

Believe it or not, this is one of THREE book bingo games I am playing this summer - it's getting confusing!

What was your favorite book read in July? 

11 comments:

  1. You read a lot this month and wow, what a variety! I don't often read nonfiction or middle grade but I do every once in a while. I try to squeeze in audiobooks when I can. :)

    You're doing great on your challenges!

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    1. Thanks! I don't read a lot of nonfiction either - and even less that's not memoir - but this book was amazing!

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  2. Great job getting a bunch of those squares crossed out! Wow 3 bingo games total? you go get it!

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    1. Well, I'm doing this Chapter Break one for the whole year, I always so the one for summer for Books on the Nightstand podcast (which just went off the air - sniff), and then I found out my library included one in its summer reading program this year! ha ha

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  3. That is a nice mix of books! I'm impressed that you listen to so many audiobooks. When during your day do you listen?

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    1. I always have an audiobook on my iPod, Lindsey, so I listen whenever I am doing other things, like walking, driving, cooking, dishes, or laundry. I read twice as many books this way! Almost all of the MG and YA I read lately are audio.

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  4. Wow, I'm impressed you getting your monthly summary done so quickly! Looks like a good reading month, I was reading Outlander for #bigBooksummer (which I still have not signed up for but I'm doing) and so I didn't finish much. Yay, for reading about India for Travel the World in Books!

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    1. Thanks, Tanya :) I am usually so far behind!! Summer is usually like that for me - just a few Big Books - but this year, I ended up with some book group stuff & review obligations in the summer, too.

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  5. Well-done! I'm still working on May 2014, so it'll be a while before I'm caught up. ;-)

    Book bingos: lots of fun. I printed off 4 of them at the beginning of the year. I think I will wait until December and then look at what I have read and try to fill ONE. You said it - confusing!!

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    1. ha ha - thanks, Debbie, now I don't feel quite so behind! Seems like I am always trying to catch up.

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  6. What a good month you had! I love the BINGO idea but haven't gotten around to playing it myself yet. I'm working on getting caught up on my challenges myself--working on the TBR Pile and Classics, not to mention Summer Big Reads. It's nice when they converge somewhat. I'll have to check out Behind the Beautiful Forevers. Safe travels. My son leaves for his senior year of college next Tuesday! He was home for two weeks before heading back to NY for school.

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