Four of Eight: How I'm Doing on My Reading Goals

Well, hello there. I dropped off the face of the Internet through a dual combo of (a) Olympics (as referenced in my last post), and (b) reading. (Shocker, I know.) Here's a little update on how my reading has progressed so far this month!

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, etc.

Did I read it? Yes. Not as good as the original books - the script format interrupted some of the flow, and it was significantly shorter, but I still enjoyed returning to the Potter world; although I did miss the depth of story that the first 7 books had.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow

Did I read it? Ahem. Still halfway through. Haven't listened to any more in August - I got SO sidetracked by other audiobooks!

Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan

Did I read it? Nope. I lost it for a week. (Eventually found it at the bottom of a basket of clean laundry, which is both a testament to how I fail at putting laundry away, and having a toddler in the house...) But, in the meantime, I missed my review deadline, so I moved on to something else.

Homeplace by Kevin Wolf

Did I read it? Yes. It was pretty good for the first 97% - an atmospheric thriller set on the plains of Colorado... a bit reminiscent of Longmire. Then the motivations of the killer were revealed, and I rolled my eyes so hard it hurt. 

Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn

Did I read it?  Not yet. I still may get there - but it is LONG, and I'm not sure that I'll have time.

Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick

Did I read it? Yes! It was quite good. I ended up having a lot more sympathy for Benedict Arnold than I would have thought possible.

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty

Did I read it? Yes! It felt a little formulaic, and it was rather more sad than some of her other books. I appreciate she was maybe trying to stretch beyond her usually funny fare, but I didn't enjoy it as much as her other books. I still blazed through it though; she's captured the art of creating addicting books!

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney

Did I read it? I read the first 45 pages, but then it was due at the library, and I wasn't invested enough to pay an overdue fine. So I bailed.

So I'm only 4/8 for what I planned to read, which sounds like I haven't been reading. But, I have! I've read 4 more books that weren't on my list, which means I'm at 8 books for August so far, and it's only the 18th! Much better than I've been averaging lately. Plus, I'm in the middle of two more. Woohoo! More on most of those in a separate post soon. But, I will say that I read a cute little mom-approved (i.e. no sex) romance yesterday - The Coldwater Warm Hearts Club. It was fairly formulaic, but fun.

What have YOU been reading?

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August Reading Plan

Welcome to the ambitious list of what I'm planning to read in August! (I'll be linking this post up with Sheila's New on the Stack link-up.) We'll see how well I actually do - but I'm hoping that my antipathy to failure will make me read more, since I'm putting this post out there.

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child by J.K. Rowling, etc.
Why am I planning to read it? Well, duh. Harry Potter!
Where did I get it? I pre-ordered a copy
Preliminary thoughts: Well, I'm perhaps starting off with a bit of a cheat, since I already finished Harry Potter and the Cursed Child. But hey, I was planning to read it in August, so it still deserves to make the list.  Not as good as the original books - the script format interrupted some of the flow, and it was significantly shorter, but I still really liked it.

Alexander Hamilton by Ron Chernow
Why am I planning to read it? I'm already reading it. I'm about 20 hours in to the audiobook. I'm hoping to buckle down and finish it this month though!
Where did I get it? Purchased from Audible.
Preliminary thoughts: It's really good, but so long. I find myself listening to 2-3 hours, and then taking a break for a few days. And sometimes when the book is talking about a part that has a song, I have to pause the book to listen to a little bit of the Hamilton soundtrack again.

Perfect Girl by Gilly Macmillan
Why am I planning to read it? For review.
Where did I get it? Shelf Awareness
Preliminary thoughts: Seems like a fairly typical thriller, although it centers around a high school musical prodigy, which is interesting.

Homeplace by Kevin Wolf
Why am I planning to read it? For review.
Where did I get it? Shelf Awareness
Preliminary thoughts: A literary mystery set in small-town Colorado. I'm skewing heavily British in my reading again, so I think a middle-American novel would be good.

Eleanor and Hick: The Love Affair that Shaped a First Lady by Susan Quinn
Why am I planning to read it? For review.
Where did I get it? Shelf Awareness
Preliminary thoughts: I'm a sucker for books with 'Eleanor' in the title! And I'm especially interested in this one since Eleanor Roosevelt was one of our naming inspirations for Eleanor.

Valiant Ambition by Nathaniel Philbrick
Why am I planning to read it? I've been on hold for it for ages.
Where did I get it? The library.
Preliminary thoughts: I've listened to about an hour, and it's good. But I'm totally going to end up mixing it up with Alexander Hamilton, because Scott Brick narrates both books!

Truly Madly Guilty by Liane Moriarty
Why am I planning to read it? I love Moriarty's books.
Where did I get it? Purchased from Audible.
Preliminary thoughts: Addictingly good so far, as usual. A bit formulaic perhaps, but I'm still enjoying it. Just had to put it on pause for Valiant Ambition, since that's from the library!

The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
Why am I planning to read it? I'm not totally sure if I am. But part of me feels like I have to, since I have 2 weeks left, and there are 118 people on hold after me. There's no way I'll wait again.
Where did I get it? The library.
Preliminary thoughts: I genuinely know nothing about the plot. But I've heard a half dozen people say they hated it, and a half dozen people loved it. So maybe it'll be a bit like Fates & Furies?

What are YOU planning to read?

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July in Review: The 7 Books I Read

I feel like I'm finally turning into a reader again! Phew. I'm still way below where I usually am by August (at 64 books read), but I think I'll hit 100 for the year. (Which I've done every year but one since I was 11ish.... which makes it feel imperative.)

Here's the wrap-up of the books I had planned to read:

The Paris Librarian by Hugo Marsten
Where I got it: From Shelf Awareness
Did I read it? Yep. It was a little awkward in the first chapter, lots of expository dialogue, but then I ended up liking it. The Parisian setting was lovely, and the mystery was decent.

Swear on This Life by Renee Carlino
Where I got it: From Shelf Awareness
Did I read it? Yes, I read the whole thing in one day! I couldn't put it down. It's a fictional story set within a fictional story - assistant professor Emiline discovers that a hugely popular new book is about her childhood; and realizes that the author must be her estranged childhood best friend. It's told in flashbacks and forwards between Emiline's present day, and the fictionalized version of her youth. I loved it!

Glass Sword by Victoria Aveyard
Where I got it: From the library
Did I read it? Halfway. And then I bailed, because I just didn't care at all what happened to Mare. I learned my lesson after struggling through the last Divergent book - there are too many YA books to waste your time on ones you don't care about!

A Great Reckoning by Louise Penny
Where I got it: From Shelf Awareness
Did I read it? Yes! It was really good. I loved the first part of this series, and then got a little tired of it in the middle, but I really feel like the last book or two have been great again. This one features Gamache back at work, out of retirement, but this time he's trying to clean up corruption as the new head of the Quebec police academy.

Eligible by Curtis Sittenfield
Where I got it: From the library
Did I read it? Yes! I thought it was a lot of fun. I mean, I get why some Austen purists disliked it (transgender issues, hate sex, etc), but it made me laugh out loud several times. I read it all in one day too. (I'm noticing a theme here... either I binge books fast, or I don't read at all. Apparently my patient reading skills are broken - which explains why I have no nonfiction for July! I'm reading a couple of long ones, but they're slow going. Hopefully I'll wrap them up in August.)

The Girl of Fire and Thorns by Rae Carson
Where I got it: From the library
Did I read it? Nope, I ran out of time, so I'm going to re-request it from the library.

The Language of Sisters by Cathy Lamb
Where I got it: From Shelf Awareness
Did I read it? Yes, I enjoyed it. Some of the dialogue was clunky, but I really liked the premise -- 3 sisters who were born in the Soviet Union have moved (with their extended family) -- to Portland, where they are leading mostly happy lives, but each sister has something different in her personal life that she's struggling with. The antics of the huge Kozlovsky family made me giggle, especially the sisters' mom.

And here are the books I didn't plan to read, but did:

Midnight Riot by Ben Aaronovitch

Where I got it: The library
Did I read it? I DEVOURED this on audio. It's incredibly fun - a paranormal mystery set in a slightly alternate universe London, where Scotland Yard also has to investigate magical crimes. SO good on audio - the narrator does a superb job with all the different English accents. Looking forward to the next one!

The Ninja's Daughter by Susan Spann

Where I got it: It randomly showed up in my mailbox. 
Did I read it? Yes! I reviewed one of these a few years ago for a book tour, and I think the publisher must've still had my address on file. I liked this one better than the other one - the author has really settled into 16th century Japan. The details on Japanese culture made it a very interesting mystery.

All right, now to make an August plan! Because I read a lot more in July than I did in June. I think I need plans to keep me on track.

What did YOU read in July?

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