Wrapping it Up! June 2017 | More

June is always a fabulous month for me because it marks the end of one school year and the beginning of summer vacation. At about ten days in, I’m definitely feeling very relaxed. June turned out to be a stellar month for me as far as books read. It’s my biggest month this year with ten book completed. Audio turned out to be huge in June with three (and I loved all of them). There were also a couple of books I couldn’t finish, but we’ll get to that!

Books Read in June

Perennials by Mandy Berman, Grade C (reviewed on June 16)
Small Hours by Jennifer Kitses, Grade B (reviewed on June 15)
Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman (audio), Grade A (reviewed on June 20)
Every Last Lie by Mary Kubica, Grade C (reviewed on June 23)
Beartown by Fredrik Backman, Grade A- (reviewed on June 22)
River Under the Road by Scott Spencer, Grade B (reviewed on June 30)
Daring to Drive by Manal al-Sharif (audio), Grade A (reviewed on June 29)
The Confusion of Languages by Siobhan Fallon (review coming soon)
Goodby Vitamin by Rachel Khong (review coming soon)
Since We Fell by Dennis Lehane (audio), (review coming soon)

Reviewed, but Read Earlier

White Fur by Jardine Libaire, Grade A (reviewed on June 1)
Fly Me by Daniel Riley, Grade B- (reviewed on June 6)
The Alice Network by Kate Quinn, Grade C (reviewed on June 8)

The Bad News, Did Not Finish

Before We Were Yours by Lisa Wingate – This was a dual storyline novel, one in the past and one today. Unfortunately, the modern day storyline was just too neat and tidy for me. I stopped at 20%
Who is Rich? by Matthew Klam – It may have been my mood, but the book just was too negative for me right now. I made it to 23% and then gave up.
I also tried a few samples, but didn’t get far enough in any of them to even consider as a DNF.

I simply couldn’t decide this month because I loved both these books. Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine was a wonderful surprise for me. My expectations weren’t high and it hadn’t even been on my radar until I read a few good reviews from other bloggers. I was desperate for an audio book, so thought, “Why not?” Am I ever glad I did! I had expected Daring to Drive to be interesting and educational, but it, too, was so much more. Al-Sharif’s memoir was at times funny, sad, frustrating, shocking, and always honest. I want everyone to read it! (Or, listen, as I did.)

Blog Favorites

• For the second month, in a row the most viewed post was Summer Reading….Simply, the Best, a guide to summer reads.
• That was followed closely by last week’s My Favorite Books of 2017, January – June.
• As far as reviews go, the one most often checked out was White Fur by Jardine Libaire.
• Eleanor Oliphant is Completely Fine by Gail Honeyman was a very close second (and the most frequently purchased through the Amazon Associates link).

Looking at Goals

• June’s 10 books brought my yearly total up to 48, which Goodreads claims puts me 11 ahead on my annual goal of 75. I can already see that I won’t be able to keep up that pace in July.
• I rocked audio books this month with three. That gives me 11 for the year which is just crazy!
• Daring to Drive brought my annual total up to five which is five times as many as I read last year. (I’m working on this one.)

I hope YOU enjoyed June, as well!

Disclaimer: There are Amazon Associate links contained in this post.