This wrap up (and indeed my most recent reading) has been rudely delayed by an unwelcome house-guest in the form of Covid, but since he has now pretty much departed – leaving muddy footprints and damp drink rings everywhere I might add – we are attempting to resume normal life.

Books I Read in June

The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid. This was the first of my #20BooksofSummer list and I found it very engaging, was surprised in the moments I was meant to be, and pretty well gripped by the end.

These Great Athenians by Valentine Carter. I’m calling this one of my wild card reads for #20BooksofSummer, and wow I’m glad I read it. A beautiful verse retelling of lesser heard voices from the Odyssey. My review is here.

Grief is the Thing with Feathers by Max Porter. A beautiful short and strange novella that surprised me in how much it spoke to me. My review is here.

The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin. Wonderful fantasy novel with heart and astounding worldbuilding. Full review on the way. This was… not at all on my #20BooksofSummer list, but as per the pleasingly relaxed rules I’m swapping it in for We Hunt the Flame, which I do still want to read when next more in the mood for YA.

Tiamat’s Wrath by James S. A. Corey. This is the eighth book in The Expanse series. I listened to this one as an audiobook. Its themes around empire, freedom and lack of it, friendship and family were all well explored and there are some jaw-dropping moments for the characters we’ve grown to love, as well as some new excellent characters thrown in. Teresa Duarte was one such new character, and probably my favourite point of view in the whole novel. I loved the crescendo towards the end in her character arc.

The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave. A beautiful historical imagining of a family drama told in the foreground of the dancing plague of Strasbourg in 1518. Thoroughly recommend. My review is here.

Blogs I’ve Enjoyed (A Tiny Selection)

Jan Hicks’ review of the The Book of Ramallah inspired me to add it to my TBR. I appreciated that she went through so many of the stories in detail.

Jordyn’s Top 5 Time Travel Books made me want to expand my time travel reading horizons. I loved the range of different types of time travel included.

Fatma’s review of Did Ye Hear Mammy Died. This is another really thorough review with great quotes pulled out. Another to add to the growing TBR.

The Orang-Utan Librarian’s posts marking the jubilee made me chuckle. Find out about some other cool kings and queens here!

….and loads more I didn’t bookmark!

Illustration

I redrew all my blog banners this month and am really pleased with how they turned out. I also tried a rough bike, cat and books doodle in a new style to make myself feel better when I was feeling unwell – because bikes, cats and books are all pretty happy-making in their own way. Will probably go back to my usual style when I neaten this as this one didn’t quite work as well for me, but was still fun to do.

#20BooksofSummer22 Update

  1. The Dance Tree by Kiran Millwood Hargrave, historical, Picador (12 May 2022), 296 pages (Review here)
  2. The Book of Form and Emptiness by Ruth Ozeki, literary, Canongate Books (23 Sept. 2021), 547 pages (waiting on library)
  3. The Island of Missing Trees by Elif Shafak, literary, Penguin (5 Aug. 2021), 345 pages (waiting on library)
  4. Sea of Tranquility by Emily St John Mandel, speculative fiction, Picador (8 April 2022), 215 pages (waiting on library)
  5. Tiamatโ€™s Wrath by James S. A. Corey, sci fi, Orbit (26 Mar. 2019), 544 pages
  6. Leviathan Falls by James S. A. Corey, sci fi, Orbit (30 Nov. 2021), 528 pages
  7. Grief Is The Thing With Feathers by Max Porter, Faber and Faber (2015), 114 pages (Review here)
  8. Things Remembered and Things Forgotten by Kyoko Nakajima,  Sort Of (13 May 2021), 226 pages
  9. Somebody Loves You by Mona Arshi, And Other Stories (2021), 166 pages
  10. Take My Hand by Dolen Perkins-Valdez, Phoenix (12 April 2022), 359 pages
  11. Medusaโ€™s Ankles by A.S. Byatt, Chatto & Windus (13 May 2021), 464 pages,
  12. Ariadne by Jennifer Saint, Wildfire (30 Mar. 2021), 322 pages
  13. We Hunt the Flame by Hafsah Faizal, Macmillan Childrenโ€™s Books (16 May 2019), 497 pages SWAPPED for The Fifth Season by N. K. Jemisin
  14. Record of a Space Born Few by Becky Chambers, Hodder & Stoughton (7 Mar. 2019), 368 pages
  15. The Seven Husbands of Evelyn Hugo by Taylor Jenkins Reid, literary, Simon & Schuster UK (14 Oct. 2021), 398 pages
  16. Black Butterflies by Priscilla Morris, literary, Duckworth (5 May 2022), 200 pages
  17. Grey Bees by Andrey Kurkov, MacLehose Press (12 Nov. 2020), 424 pages
  18. Convenience Store Woman by Sayaka Murata, literary, Granta Books (5 July 2018), 107 pages
  19. Wild Card 1 = These Great Athenians by Valentine Carter (review here)
  20. Wild Card 2

So I think that’s six down, fourteen to go… ๐Ÿ˜ฌ