Monthly Wrap Up/What’s On My Plate July/August
1 August 2024
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Backlist books, Book Reviews, Bookforager, Books Bones & Buffy, July/August, Monthly Wrap Up, What’s On My Plate
I’m trying to post a wrap up for the end of each month, mainly to help me to keep track of my reading and at the same time look at what I’m intending to read during the month ahead (inspired by Books Bones and Buffy’s What’s on My Plate.
In this post I shall be looking at the reading I completed for July and what I’m hoping to read during August. Last month was a bit of a struggle for me due to personal issues, but all that being said I did manage to read almost all my review books. A couple of them I’ve had to put to one side for now as they weren’t working for me but I’m going to give them a second chance because it could simply be a mood thing (especially given the mood I’ve been in). I had a lot of review books for July, twelve in total (due to a late arrival that I was more than happy to take on board) I managed to read nine of them. Two, as mentioned above I will return to eventually and the final book I’m about just over half way through. I think I can genuinely say I can’t recall ever having such an unusual range of books. I’ve also made a start on one of my August reads. I have a few reviews to catch up with so my blog might be a little hectic for the next week or so.
Here’s what I read during July:
- Middle of the Night by Riley Sager
- The Moonlight Market by Joanne Harris
- Love Letters To A Serial Killer by Tasha Coryell
- The Trouble with Mrs Montgomery Hurst by Katie Lumsden
- The Drowning House by Cherie Priest
- The Spellshop by Sarah Beth Durst
- Bless Your Heart by Lindy Ryan
- The Wilds by Sarah Pearse
- A Marriage of Undead Inconvenience by Stephanie Burgis
This month I didn’t manage to read and review all my review books but I am determined to get fully up to speed (if not this month, which is also a bit busy, then during September. Unfortunately I didn’t read a Backlist book this month but fingers crossed for August. I’ll be posting my third batch of SPFBO books this weekend. Once I’ve read the first 25% of those I’ll be moving forward with the books I’mi intending to read fully before choosing Semi Finalists (unfortunately this will involve cuts along the way.).
What I’m hoping to read during August (with links to Goodreads).
- Long Live Evil by Sarah Rees Brennan
- A Little Trickerie by Rosanna Pike
- The Seventh Veil of Salome by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
- The Mercy of Gods by James S. A. Corey
- A Sorceress Comes to Call by T. Kingfisher
- Heads Will Roll by Josh Winning
- The Girl With No Reflection by Keshe Chow
- Death at the sign of the Rook by Kate Atkinson
- Tales of a Monstrous Heart by Jennifer Delaney
Hopefully I can squeeze in a backlist title during August.
This month I read no Backlist Books -boo
Bookforager‘s Picture Prompt book bingo
This month I’m ticking two books off my Picture Prompt bingo card. The picture with the seashell – I’m equating this to anything that is from the sea and therefore my book is The Drowning House by Cherie Priest.
also, the prompt with An old camera and tripod. I’m using Middle of the Night by Riley Sager because the MC purchases a wildlife camera that he very much relies on to capture images from his backyard.
PICTURE PROMPT BOOK BINGO 2024 (TEXT VERSION)
| A microscope | A partially unrolled scroll and a pen | ||
| An old Roman coin | A simple crown | ||
| A beehive (with four bees flying around it) | Fluffy cumulonimbus clouds |
So far this year I’ve read a total of 71 books so I’m on track to read my 100 books for a year.
How did you get on during July?
Blogger’s Block
17 April 2023
Filed under Book Reviews
Tags: Backlist books, Future Books, Return to blogging
Is blogger’s block a thing? I don’t know, I just made it up. I’ve been thinking about this for a little while, primarily because my blogging and reading for the past few months has been very quiet. I’ve had a very stressful few months to be honest and sometimes life just happens all around you whether you want it to or not. What I do know about these sort of periods is that you have to follow your own gut instinct and at that point mine was to retreat a little, not to mention I simply didn’t have the concentration levels I would have liked. So, that’s the reason I’ve not been terribly visible of late. I have kept up with my SPFBO judging commitments and continued to post a weekly review, along with my lovely partners the Critiquing Chemist, but I’ve fallen way behind both with other reading and reviewing (although I have fit in a few good books). I certainly owe an apology to all the publishers who have granted me review copies for books that I was so excited to read and haven’t yet reviewed and also to all my lovely blogging buddies who I’ve fallen behind in visiting.
So, the one thing I know for sure is that I’m not yet ready to give up my book blog. I feel that life is maybe back on a normal(ish) keel for now and so I’m keen to dive back in. Let’s see how it goes.
Where to begin then. Well, firstly, I’m hoping to pull together quite a number of outstanding reviews:
- The Vanishing of Margaret Small by Neil Alexander
- Love Will Tear Us Apart by CK McDonnell
- A Gift of Poison by Bella Ellis
- The Tyranny of Faith by Richard Swan
- The Adventures of Amina Al-Sirafi by Shannon Chakraborty
- A House with Good Bones by T Kingfisher
Plus my two final finalist reviews for SPFBO. So, lots of posts incoming. In order to not go on a total mission I’m not going to post any memes for now although I’d like to get back to my Sunday catch up post.
I have got behind with a number of review books and so I’ve decided that my best course is to read the books that are due to be reviewed for the rest of this month and then try and slot in one or two of the backlist books that I wanted to read during February and March but fell behind with. Hopefully this is something that I can get along with okay.
So, books that I’m hoping to read going forward:
- The Cleaving by Juliet E McKenna
- Atalanta by Jennifer Saint
- The Other Lives of Miss Emily White by A J Elwood
- Games for Dead Girls by Jen Williams
- The Bone Shard War by Andrea Stewart
These are my remaining April books. I’m not sure I’ll fit them all in but I’ll give it a good try. Have you read any of these?
I’ve got some fantastic books to look forward to in May that I’m really excited to share but will leave that for a future post.
In terms of blog hopping. I’m going to start catching up with everyone soon. I’ve made the decision that I probably won’t try and read every post that I’ve missed between January til now (although obviously I’m scared of missing anything good!) because if I try to read everything I’ve missed I think I’ll just sink. So, I’m going to try and draw a line under everything and start afresh. I’ll probably still flip through a lot of the reviews but maybe not leave a comment at this point.
Anyway, that’s the plan. Of course we all know the saying about the best laid plans…
Wish me luck.
Books and travelling with Lynn 