Around the Year in 52 Books discussion

Hey everyone! It's a new month. Use this thread to discuss your plans for June and the books you read along the way!

Reading Forward from May:

-Disturbing the Dead by Kelley Armstrong (Audiobook) for a cozy mystery (# 52)
-The Ministry of Time by Kaliane Bradley for a book published in 2024 (#51)
-I Will Fear No Evil by Robert Heinlein for a science or science fiction book (#35)
-Let This Mind Be in You: Exploring God's Call to Servanthood by James Kew

Beginning in June:

-What Dreams May Come by Richard Matheson for a book related to the name of one of Snow White's seven dwarfs: Sleepy (#34)
-The Last Bus to Wisdom by Ivan Doig
-Ninth House by Leigh Bardugo (Audiobook) for a book featuring a character in education (#36)
-The Outsider by Stephen King (Audiobook) for a book that is part of a series (#37)
-Cultish: The Language of Fanaticism by Amanda Montell

Interesting, I'm also reading Cultish
and also:
Huckleberry Finn
Fahrenheit 451
Babel
London
The Great Alone

among others

Denise wrote: "Interesting, I'm also reading Cultish
and also:
Huckleberry Finn
Fahrenheit 451
Babel
London
The Great Alone

among others"

If The Great Alone is by Kristin Hannah, I loved this book although her discription of winter in Alaska had me never wanting to go their at that time of year.

John wrote: "Denise wrote: "Interesting, I'm also reading Cultish
and also:
Huckleberry Finn
Fahrenheit 451
Babel
London
The Great Alone

among others"

If The Great Alone is by Kristin Hannah, I loved this bo..."

Yes that is the one. Her (Leni's) neighbors are making winter sound very frightening

I am still finishing 3 books from May

Legends and Lattes (buddy reading with my daughter) for Ben and Gerry's prompt
Brisingr
Murder on the Links by Agatha Christie

I started Surrender: 40 Songs, One Story for the Jimmy Buffet prompt

I’m busy with family until June 12 so probably won’t get much reading done until the 13th. I hope to read Tommy Orange’s new book Wandering Stars. I’m also trying to make progress with Don Quixote and waiting for my hold to come in for The Kamogawa Food Detectives. I also have several graphic novels checked out for quick reading but probably won’t use them for the challenge.

I have two books left for this challenge. I'm starting the first one, Iron Widow by Xiran Jay Zhao tomorrow. I think the last one will be The Drowned World by J.G. Ballard. I have several that would fit the prompt, but I keep coming back to this one. I am also going to read a book my daughter got me for my birthday a few days ago. It was a book I had never heard of, but it sounded awesome. Of course, I cannot remember the name right now, and it is downstairs on my bookshelf, and I am snuggled up with my pup upstairs! LOL.

After that, I have a few lined up. I'm not sure I will get to them all of course:
The Year of Magical Thinking by Joan Didion
Untamed Shore by Silvia Moreno-Garcia
Purple Hibiscus by Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
Rogue Protocol by Martha Wells
The Bedroom Window by K.L. Slater
The Halloween Tree by Ray Bradbury
Midnight Son by James Dommek Jr.
The Nazi and the Psychiatrist: Hermann Göring, Dr. Douglas M. Kelley, and a Fatal Meeting of Minds at the End of WWII by Jack El-Hai
The Trees by Percival Everett
The Road to Wigan Pier by George Orwell

My June reading is going to be a little different. I'm applying for a job that would involve a move. Accordingly, I've turned to my stacks of unread books, but focusing on the heavier ones, that I also think I'm not likely to want to keep if read. Started this a few weeks ago, and I've been accurate so far, lots of 3 star reads, which isn't super fun.

Does mean my challenges are kind of on hold, unless something I read happens to qualify.

Will make an exception for my book club readings - for one, the book won't be picked until we meet Friday. The other book club is reading The Sentence this month, which I'm picking up from the library later - we'll see if I manage to resist picking up anything else they have on display!

May was the busiest month ever for me, and I still managed to read a lot of books and squeeze in the last of the May prompts before the calendar rolled to June.

Also, it's only June 4 and I've already thrown my plans out of the window so... tbd on how well I follow this.

23. A book related to Boats, Beaches, Bars, Ballads, or Jimmy Buffett - Husbands & Lovers
24. A book with a secondary color on the cover (orange, green or purple) - The Suite Spot
25. A book involving a crime other than a murder - The Berry Pickers
26. A book by an author known by their initials - Vengeful

Also have these books on deck:
Book Club - Skye Falling
Book of the Month Club - either Margo's Got Money Troubles or Jackpot Summer

Pride reads checked out from the library:
They Both Die at the End/The First to Die at the End
People Collide
The Emperor and the Endless Palace
Decent People
The Thirty Names of Night
Body Grammar
My husband picked these from the GR Pride blog post lol. I obviously won't read all of these, so if you have suggestions on which to prioritize, that would help!

Emily wrote: "May was the busiest month ever for me, and I still managed to read a lot of books and squeeze in the last of the May prompts before the calendar rolled to June.

Also, it's only June 4 and I've alr..."

I found People Collide to be rather more sad than I expected. But I may have been coming at it from a unique perspective. My partner of thirteen years transitioned genders, so this book stirred up a lot of feelings around that. Our relationship didn't survive the transition because I'm just not attracted to women. This all happened some years ago, but it's not something I love thinking about.

Anyway. Right now I'm reading Green Dot. It doesn't have the best reviews so my expectations were low, but the writing is actually quite good! I assume people are docking points because it's an affair story. But it says on the jacket that it's an affair story, so...it says what it does on the tin, if you can't stand cheaters, don't read the book, & don't bother knocking stars off for it. Save it for those of us who can shelve our moral compasses for the sake of a fictional story. Funny how those people don't knock stars off of murder mysteries for feauturing murder.

Whew Ciara, I can see why books like this would be difficult for you! What an experience.

A book I've had on hold came in, and since I was going to the library to get it naturally I had to pick up a few other books too. A few being an entire tote bag. Ooops! I grabbed a bunch of things that I've been meaning to read for ages so hopefully I'll make a good dent in my TBR.

Jackie, is it possible to go into a library and NOT get grabby hands?? lol

The other night I finished The Woman in the White Kimono, it was fabulous! First 5 star read of the year! It didn't follow the story arc I had expected, but it did expose me to a part of history I hadn't heard about before. It also had me in tears.

I want to finish Proxy for Pride month. I would like to finish The Brothers Karamazov before my kiddo gets out of school and I spend all my time trying to keep her occupied (leaving no brain cells for Russian lit). However, I'm only 1/3 of the way through it and it has taken me months to get this far so....

I’m reading two books simultaneously so I’m not sure I will finish them this month

Anyone read any good, short lgbt books this month? I'm hoping to squeeze one more in before the end of the month!

Bloodlust & Bonnets was a fun graphic novel with LGBT characters, though that aspect isn't really a major point of the book. They're just doing their thing.

I just started listening to Beyond Magenta: Transgender and Nonbinary Teens Speak Out. I'm only a chapter or 2 in, but I'm liking it so far. It's only 5 hours on audio.

If you read graphic novels, last year I read and loved Flamer. I read it in a day, which NEVER happens for me anymore.

The Guncle is entertaining.
Fine: A Comic About Gender is serious but a graphic novel, so a fast read.
Speaking of graphic novels, the wonderful series starting with Heartstopper: Volume One - very fast read.

Unfortunately Yours – Tessa Bailey – 1*
A rom-com set in the Napa Valley, with a kernel of a cute idea. But I did not find either Natalie or August remotely interesting. Of course, they have hot sex and achieve multiple orgasms. But these scenarios are so ridiculously unbelievable that I found them tedious to read. There was one very interesting metaphor for orgasm that earned it 1 star.
LINK to my full review

My June reading plan completely fell apart! But, I am continuing several books into July (and possibly later) and read 3 books plus one picture book (used for the Mini Rejects challenge: Lists and Awards). Two books I recommend - Fifteen Dogs and The Secret Lives of Booksellers and Librarians: True Stories of the Magic of Reading, both of which I gave 4 stars.

Emily wrote: "Anyone read any good, short lgbt books this month? I'm hoping to squeeze one more in before the end of the month!"

Okay - I know it's now July, but read Bloom by Delilah S. Dawson - it is a quick read, a bit of a slow burn at first with a dark secret. :) I loved it! My middle kiddo (20 years old) is currently reading it, and she is loving it as well.