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I’m going to go ahead and assume I won’t finish The Thousand Autumns of Jacob de Zoet or How Dolly Parton Saved My Life today, so my wrap-up for the month should be accurate now.
July was a pretty busy month, given that we had two weeks’ holiday in the middle, but I still managed to read plenty. I completed 19 books and I enjoyed most of them. As you can see below, I have probably overcome my aversion to historical fiction. It’s just about choosing unfamiliar places and time periods these days, I think. I also have a depressing number of reviews to work on!
Historical Fiction
Romance
Fantasy/Horror
Non-fiction/memoir
- The Boy Who Loved Books, John Sutherland
- The Diving Bell and the Butterfly, Jean-Dominique Bauby
- Down Under, Bill Bryson
YA
- The Ruby in the Smoke, Philip Pullman (mystery)
- Envy, Anna Godbersen (historical fiction)
Women’s Fiction
- The One that I Want, Allison Winn Scotch
- Writing Jane Austen, Elizabeth Aston
- How to be an American Housewife, Margaret Dilloway
At least this month, I am able to choose a favorite, and that’s Brooklyn. I just adored that book and looking at it makes me want to read it all over again. I can’t recommend it highly enough.
I don’t have too much planned for next month, but I know I’ll be reading and giving away copies of The Red Queen by Philippa Gregory. I was surprised by how much I enjoyed The White Queen last year so I’ve found myself looking forward to this one, and I hope I’ll be as excited to share it with you after I’ve read it.
How was your month in reading?
Some of these books were sent to me for free for review.
Can you believe that it’s July? I certainly can’t; months seem to be flying by these days!
I’ve done pretty well with my reading this month. I managed 18 books, so I’ve read a little more than half a book every day. I think that’s pretty good; I have no idea how I’m managing it, but I’m pleased with this rate and I hope I can manage it. I think I’d have managed to read even more if I hadn’t spent most of the last three days of the month working!
I won’t be doing a genre breakdown today; I don’t have my spreadsheet with me so it isn’t as easy as normal. I’ll just list them instead.
- Eden Springs, Laura Kasischke
- Day for Night, Frederick Reiken
- Wild Romance, Chloe Schama
- Flirting with Forever, Gwyn Cready
- The Mistress of Nothing, Kate Pullinger
- The Life and Times of the Thunderbolt Kid, Bill Bryson
- Shiver, Maggie Stiefvater
- Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews
- Girl in Translation, Jean Kwok
- The Confessions of Catherine de Medici, C.W. Gortner
- Ten Things I Love About You, Julia Quinn
- The Blue Orchard, Jackson Taylor
- The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O’Connor McNees
- Dragon Haven, Robin Hobb
- Katherine, Anchee Min
- The Radleys, Matt Haig
- Don’t Tempt Me, Loretta Chase
- The Russian Dreambook of Color and Flight, Gina Ochsner
I actually had a few disappointments this month, so my favorites are very easy to choose! I’ll have to go with The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger and The Confessions of Catherine de Medici by C.W. Gortner for making historical fiction interesting again. I definitely recommend both of those.
I’m not sure what I’ll be reading in July. I have two weeks off to visit my parents, so I’m sure I’ll get some read, but I’m going to leave my choices up to the whim of the moment!
Do you have any summer reading plans?
It was a bit quiet on my blog here last week. I intended to post more and participate more in Armchair BEA, which was a great idea, but I found that I didn’t have the energy for it at all. I’ve discovered that I generally prefer reading to blogging; if given a choice, I will read and ignore the reviews that are piling up. I even have maintenance to do with regards to my change in address – change my feed and redirect all my posts, for just two things – but I haven’t managed to convince myself to do that either. Writing lots for work has in some respects taken the fun out of writing for my own blog. I’m resolved to try and get back into it this month now that everyone is back from BEA and the chatter about it will quit depressing me!
Anyway, May wasn’t too bad as months go. I read 18 books, which isn’t very much for me but still amounts to a book every two days. I’m impressed with that; at times I didn’t feel like I was getting anything read! I think that’s because I read three chunksters, particularly the 900+ page Lonesome Dove, but I managed to read quite a few shorter books in between. Here’s what I finished:
Historical Fiction
Historical Romance
Non-fiction/Memoir
YA (all genres)
Fantasy
- Kitty’s House of Horrors, Carrie Vaughn
Literary Fiction
Overall, I think my month was spread fairly evenly across genres, with the exception of fantasy. As you can probably see, I still have a lot of review writing to catch up on. I’ve almost finished the review for Wicked Becomes You but the rest are pretty much untouched. I’ll be working on those this week, but I don’t think I’m going to get back to daily posting unless I hit up some memes or come up with and actually do a weekly feature.
I also wanted to give everyone a quick reminder – next week, on June 8th at 4:30 pm EST, I’ll be on That’s How I Blog chatting with Nicole. The book we’ll be discussing is The Time Traveller’s Guide to Medieval England by Ian Mortimer, so if you’ve got it handy, give it a read and join us! Even though I’ve had to have an earlier time, I still hope at least of few of you will be able to listen in. I’m a bit anxious about it already, but I’ve really enjoyed listening to the previous shows and hope mine is half as fun.
I hope some great reads await you in June! I hope to get through:
- Day for Night, Frederick Reiken
- Tender Morsels, Margo Lanagan
- Magic Bleeds, Ilona Andrews
- Dragon Haven, Robin Hobb
- The Lost Summer of Louisa May Alcott, Kelly O’Connor McNees
- The Mistress of Nothing by Kate Pullinger
- Empress Orchid, Anchee Min
- The Passage, Justin Cronin
Any great ones in that list to start with?
I was really interested to see what happened with my reading this month. It’s my first full month working full-time ever, so I figured my reading was going to take a hit. It did, but it wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought. I finished 18 books this month.
Fiction
Classics
Romance
YA Fiction
- Leviathan, Scott Westerfeld
- How I Live Now, Meg Rosoff
- What I Was, Meg Rosoff
Fantasy
Non-fiction
- Wishful Drinking, Carrie Fisher
- The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks, Rebecca Skloot
- Chinese Cinderella, Adeline Yen Mah
I’m also pleased to see that I managed three non-fiction books. Okay, one was a YA memoir and the other was a very short celebrity memoir, but I am trying harder to include non-fiction in my reading choices. You’ll also notice that only three of these books were set before the twentieth century, and one was written in the nineteenth century anyway. How unusual is that? I’m actually reading a historical fiction novel at the moment, but typically it’s not resonating with me. So we’ll see how that goes.
I read a ton of great books this month, though. Favorite non-fiction is definitely The Immortal Life of Henrietta Lacks. I would put it above much of the fiction as well, actually. I’m not sure I can choose a fiction novel – it may have to be Under the Skin by Michel Faber which has remained with me so far.
A few changes are going to be taking place around here. I am moving my blog to medievalbookworm.com very soon, so I may have a new feed address. I’ll be sure to post it on twitter and facebook when that happens so if you’d like to keep subscribing, please stay aware! I have a lot of changes to enact with all of this so some links may be broken, etc., but this is something I need to do before it gets even more difficult! If anyone knows of a good way to redirect all of my old review links to my new site, please do share. =) In the meantime, have a great weekend!
 March was a crazy month for me – pretty much my whole life changed in the space of it! I had an interview, got a job, found a flat in the space of a week (actually my husband mostly did this but it stressed me out too!), started the job, moved, and have been adjusting ever since. It’s been overwhelming at times, but the end of moving may be in sight now and we’re settling in nicely. I can already tell that working is making me happier and I’m actually less stressed. So far I’m pretty good at my job, I have more of a purpose, and I am relieved knowing that I can finally cover my half of the bills, and now I don’t have to spend my savings to pay my student loan debt.
 I still managed to read 19 books, too, which I think is pretty good, and they’re not even all concentrated at the beginning of the month. Considering I spent almost the entire month trying to motivate myself to read Lorna Doone, I think that’s pretty good! This was Classics Month for me and Tasha and I admit I dropped the ball a little. I still read classics, but I didn’t really say much on my blog about them like I had planned to simply because I haven’t spent any time at all on my blog in the past three weeks. All those reviews you’ve been seeing were written before my job even started. And it turns out I’m not very good at theme months. I love classics, but after I’d read three I was ready to read modern fiction. I’m actually still working on Villette. I did read/post about five classics this month, though:
Tasha also wrote a guest post for me on Gawain and the Green Knight and I featured a guest post from Nicole at Linus’s Blanket on her top three classics.
I also read a lot of other stuff.
Historical Romance
- Reese’s Bride, Kat Martin
- The Duke of Shadows, Meredith Duran
- Bound by Your Touch, Meredith Duran
Mystery/Women’s Fiction
Historical Fiction
Contemporary Romance
Literary Fiction
- The Uninvited, Geling Yan
- The Boat to Redemption, Su Tong
- Hector and the Search for Happiness, Francois Lelord (actually a modern fable – best fits here I think)
Science Fiction/Fantasy
- The Sparrow, Mary Doria Russell
- The Bookman, Lavie Tidhar
As you can see I still have a bunch of reviews to write. I’m hoping to catch up today, but we’ll see how that goes.
My plans for April mostly include catching up on review copies. I seem to have had a semi-storm of them lately and I want to get them read and reviewed ASAP. I don’t mind too much, I just have limited time with the job and constantly being in the car on the weekends moving stuff. I’m also joining Carl’s Once Upon a Time IV challenge, so I hope to start reading some fantasy soon! I’ll have a pool up in a few days. I’m also signed up for the Read-a-thon next weekend and just can’t wait! I’ll be putting together a pool for that as well, but might not post about it until the day. I have a few books I’m hoping arrive this week that will pretty much be the planned reading. And I REALLY want to read Written on Your Skin by Meredith Duran this month. I absolutely loved her first two and I’ve just heard that I’m getting the fourth for review. You could have heard my squee across the street!
Lastly, I have mostly given up reducing my TBR pile. It’s going to grow and I think maybe I should be happy to be surrounded by books instead of feeling guilty about them!
Oh, and of course, happy Easter to all those who celebrate!
I read more books than there are days in February. Things have not been great recently, so of course I’ve sunk into my version of comfort, which means reading pretty much all the time. Plus, hubby works from home now, so I can’t really watch TV or play games because it’s too distracting for him, and thus all I do is read and apply for jobs. It’s exciting, let me tell you (not really).
On the brighter side, we have a new kitchen floor, and our flat is almost ready to go up for sale. Just some cleaning and exiling a lot of our miscellaneous stuff to my MIL’s loft before we go to see the real estate agents. We’ve been doing a little research into locations around hubby’s job and have found some reasonably cheap renting options, so we’re probably not going to be desperately poor again, and since he got paid yesterday, I can breathe a little (and finally spend the last of my birthday money on my book club books). Still can’t afford BEA, but at least I know we can pay the bills and eat without cutting into our tiny amount of savings. That should mean I’ll get some motivation back and be a more active blogger, rather than just a reviewer, but I’ll see where life takes me.
So, February’s reading:
Literary Fiction
Historical Fiction
- The Stolen Crown, Susan Higginbotham
- Shadow of the King, Helen Hollick
- The Highest Stakes, Emery Lee
- Pearl of China, Anchee Min
Urban Fantasy/Paranormal Romance
- The Ivory and the Horn, Charles de Lint (short stories)
- Frostbite, Richelle Mead (YA)
- Shadow Kiss, Richelle Mead (YA)
- Blood Promise, Richelle Mead (YA)
- Slave to Sensation, Nalini Singh
- Soulless, Gail Carriger (actually this book is about a million genres)
- Angels’ Blood, Nalini Singh
- Magic Burns, Ilona Andrews
- Magic Strikes, Ilona Andrews
- Dead and Gone, Charlaine Harris
Historical Romance
Women’s Fiction
- The Girl Who Chased the Moon, Sarah Addison Allen
Fantasy
Non-fiction
- The Devil and Sherlock Holmes, David Grann
- The Long March, Sun Shuyun
- Cherries in Winter, Suzan Colon
- The Computer, Mark Freuenfelder
- Mr. Langshaw’s Square Piano, Madeline Goold
Classics
There are definitely a few continuing trends this month. All the historical fiction I read was for review; I haven’t been at all inclined to read it for myself even though I enjoyed all the books that I read. In contrast, my biggest genre this month was urban fantasy (and I counted the paranormal romances in there for simplicity), and I had none of those for review. Clearly, publishers should start sending me more urban fantasy! I read a lot more non-fiction, which I’m pleased with, but I’ve been holding back on my classics, saving them for classics month. I’m almost finished with The Warden by Anthony Trollope, so I’ll have three more left to read in March to hit my target of four. I still have space for guest posts if any classics lovers are planning on joining Tasha and me!
For once, a favorite book popped right out at me, and that would be The Other Hand by Chris Cleave. This book is known as Little Bee in the US and I read it yesterday – my online book club is discussing it next weekend. It was just amazing, deep and meaningful and heartbreaking even as it was beautiful. I wasn’t sure how I was going to feel about various aspects, but it’s my favorite book all year already, and I’m really looking forward to our discussion.
How was your reading month?
Apparently deciding to read less means I read more. I read 28 books this month. I know, I was surprised too, but I’m not complaining as I still got everything done that I needed to do this month. I read a lot of shorter and lighter books to balance out my heavier reading, so I think that’s what happened. Please ignore my efforts to fit in the books that fit more than one category!
Historical Fiction
- The Dark Rose, Cynthia Harrod-Eagles
- The Betrayal of the Blood Lily, Lauren Willig
- The Island of the Swans, Ciji Ware
Fantasy
Women’s Fiction
- Saffron Dreams, Shaila Abdullah
- Roses, Leila Meacham
- Crazy for You, Jennifer Crusie (with lots of romance)
Literary Fiction
YA
- Speak, Laurie Halse Anderson
Paranormal Romance
- Legend of the White Wolf, Terry Spear
Historical Romance
Classics
Non-fiction
I also reviewed The Time Traveler’s Guide to Medieval England. That contest is still open if you want to head over and enter!
I have trouble choosing a favorite this month, but I think it will have to be The Children’s Book. It was just such a thorough, absorbing read. Honorable mentions, of course, go to Persepolis, The House of the Mosque, and A Suitable Boy. I also loved The Decisive Moment and I think everyone should read it; that review is coming up later this week!
As far as I’m concerned, I’m doing a fair job diversifying my reading. I didn’t stick too much in any one genre, barring what I call “literary” fiction. I don’t like that label, but not sure what to replace it with. I didn’t do very well adding in more classics, but in March I’m going to fix that. Tasha from Heidenkind’s Hideaway and I are going to have a classics-themed month and I aim to read at least four classics.
This month, though, I’m making a goal to read more authors of color. I’ve taken a look at my TBR pile and the authors are there, it’s just a matter of prioritizing those. I haven’t actually decided on which big book I want to tackle this month. I think it’s East of Eden to join in on the group read, but it mostly depends on how many review books I can read before I head home on the 11th!
How was your reading month?
My reading has slowed way, way down this month. I’ve only read 11 books, roughly half of what I’ve read each previous month this year. I’ve had fairly frequent distraction in the form of a husband who has had about half the month off work due to the holiday we were saving to visit my parents. We didn’t get to, and as a result we’ve been hanging around here, and believe me, it’s hard to read with someone who often wants attention and distraction. I have no idea how anyone who has full-time jobs and kids manages to get anything read. I applaud all of you. I know that when I eventually land one of the five million jobs I’ve applied for, my reading will go way way down, as I won’t have the alone time I’m used to.
We also happened to acquire an Xbox 360 a couple of weeks ago, and have shifted full on into gaming mode. Obviously I’m still reading, but at a much reduced rate as my in-laws have taken the opportunity to buy us lots of new games.
I doubt I’m going to read another book in the next hour, and so I bring you reading statistics for 2009. I read a total of 283 books. In genres (these don’t add up, as I’ve included some overlap):
- Historical Fiction: 76
- Literary Fiction: 34
- YA: 29
- Fantasy/Science Fiction/Horror: 88
- Non-fiction: 23
- Romance: 36
- Graphic Novel: 4
- Women’s Fiction: 8
- Classics: 6
- Thriller/Mystery: 11
I read 15 5-star (according to LibraryThing) books this year. Choosing a favorite out of those fifteen is hard! Unlike the past two years, I haven’t had a book jump out at me as an instant favorite for the year. Those that will remain favorites include Possession by A.S. Byatt, Nothing but Ghosts by Beth Kephart, Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier, The Hunger Games by Suzanne Collins, and Emma by Jane Austen.
I definitely have some things I want to change for 2010 about my reading. I want to read more classics for a start. I loved five of the six I read this year and I have so many sitting around waiting for me. I’m pleased with the non-fiction I read, but I want to read more of both history and memoirs and perhaps other topics as well as they interest me. I also want to approach blogging differently. I want to include more non-review posts, but while I have so many reviews left to write, it’s hard to make this a priority. I do want to continue reviewing every book I read, so until I start to read less consistently, I will have to brainstorm. I also want to visit more new blogs and leave more comments on the blogs I do read. I’m still very shy on others’ blogs when I know I have no need to be.
As it is nearly upon us, I’d like to wish you all a very happy New Year! Here is to a successful, happy, and healthy 2010 for all of us.
I’ve had very little on my plate in November, aside from NaNoWriMo. So I managed to read quite a few books, which has been nice. I suspect December will be equally as empty; I still don’t have any job leads despite a huge number of applications. Here’s the breakdown of what I read by genre:
Fantasy/Science Fiction
- Heart’s Blood by Juliet Marillier
- Magic Bites by Ilona Andrews
- Definitely Dead by Charlaine Harris
- Smoke and Mirrors by Neil Gaiman
- A Scanner Darkly by Philip K. Dick
- Touch the Dark by Karen Chance
- All Together Dead by Charlaine Harris
- From Dead to Worse by Charlaine Harris
Literary Fiction
- Nocturnes by Kazuo Ishiguro
- Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel (also historical fiction)
- Angels of Destruction by Keith Donohue
Non-fiction
YA/MG
Historical Fiction
Humor
Women’s Fiction
- Very Valentine by Adriana Trigiani
That makes 24 books this month, not bad at all! I’m actually up to 272 for the entire year. Part of me is curious as to whether I can read almost a book a day in December and hit 300, but most of me is not really planning to do that. My hubby will end up taking off work for something like two weeks this month between the days off we were saving to visit my parents for Christmas (which now sadly we cannot do) and regular Christmas holiday. Overall I think I’d rather spend time with him while I can than try and read fiendishly! In terms of quality, this month was decent. I read a lot of good reads, but had a few that I struggled through, like Wolf Hall and A Scanner Darkly.
How was your reading in November?
October has been quite a month. I was at first very busy, preparing for the wedding and my parents’ visit. I didn’t read anything for nine days, probably the longest I’ve gone without finishing a book in the past two years. After the wedding, however, I settled in to the boredom of unemployed life, and aside from job applications, have had little to do besides read while my new husband is at work. There was also the amazing read-a-thon, which helped up my counts tremendously. So! What did I read in October?
Fantasy/Sci-fi
- Legend by David Gemmell
- Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
- The Year of the Flood by Margaret Atwood
- Hunting Ground by Patricia Briggs
- Dead as a Doornail by Charlaine Harris
- The Magicians by Lev Grossman
Non-fiction
Historical Fiction
Historical Romance
YA
- The Knife of Never Letting Go by Patrick Ness
- The Lightning Thief by Rick Riordan
- The Thief by Megan Whalen Turner
- The Queen of Attolia by Megan Whalen Turner
Literary Fiction/Classics
- Emma by Jane Austen
- The Blue Notebook by James Levine
- Revolutionary Road by Richard Yates
That’s 21 books and I’m very pleased with that count! My reading has also changed a lot. I think I’m burned out on historical fiction. Is that horrible for someone who generally classifies herself as a historical fiction blog to say? I’m just very tired of it. I enjoyed all three of the books I read this month, but I don’t feel compelled to read the rest of what I have. Instead I’m absolutely craving speculative fiction. You can see it reflected here. I think this trend will continue into November. I do really want to read more actual history, classics, and literary fiction as well as the fantasy this month.
We’ll see how I succeed given I’m also planning on starting Nanowrimo for the first time tomorrow. I’m flat out terrified. I haven’t written a word of fiction in years but it’s what I used to do for fun every single day. I still don’t have a job, though, and while I will continue to apply heavily, even if I got an interview and offer this week it would still take some time to start working. So there is no time like the present to give it another try!
And before I forget – Happy Halloween everyone!
Some of the books mentioned in this post were sent free to me for review. Links lead only to my reviews, two of which are on another website.
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