Friday, July 31, 2009

July Reading in Review

July was a busy month for reading for me. I read (20) books, my biggest month so far this year. The quality of my reads was excellent: (7) books were perfect 5/5 ratings using my system. (9) books I rated a 4 or 4.5/5; (3) books were rated a 3 or 3.5/5 and (1) book was rated a 2/5. I had (1) DNF (did not finish): Into the Beautiful North; Urrea --maybe the timing just wasn't right, as I know some other bloggers did enjoy this book.

Of the (20) books I did read, (9) were review books that I committed to ( just 1 short of my goal of 10). I also read (5) non fiction books and listened to (4) audio books. 11/20 were my books and 9/20 came from the library (a bit too many still).


Here is a summary for July:


98. The Bride's Farewell; Meg Rosoff - 3.5/5 (review)
99. A Lion Called Christian; Bourke and Rendall - 5/5 - favorite non/fiction
100. My Abandonment; Peter Rock - 4/5 (audio) - favorite audio book
101. So Happy Together; McFadden - 4/5 (review)
102. The Cats of Kittyville: New Lives for Rescued Felines; Somerville - 5/5
103. Dismantled; McMahon - 4/5
104. A Happy Marriage; Yglesias - 4.5/5 (review)
105. Black Out; Lisa Unger - 3/5 (audio)
106. The Magicians; Lev Grossman - 5/5 (review)
107. The God of War; Silver - 5/5 (review)
108. Strangers; Anita Brookner - 5/5
109. Sima's Undergarments for Women; Stanger-Ross - 5/5 - favorite library book
110. When the Sun Goes Down; Breuhaus - 4/5 (review)
111. Roadside Crosses; Deaver - 4/5
112. BoneMan's Daughters; Ted Dekker - 4/5 (audio)
113. The Calligrapher's Daughter; Kim - 5/5 (review) - favorite review book
114. Undress Me in the Temple of Heaven; Gilman - 2/5 (audio)
115. Benny & Shrimp; Mazetti - 4/5 (review)
116. The House on Sugar Beach; Helene Cooper - 4.5/5 (review)
117. Dry Ice; Stephen White - 4/5 (audio)



Open Challenges

  • 100+ Challenge - 117/100
  • A-Z Challenge - 22/26
  • Read Your Own Books Challenge - 60/100
  • John Steinbeck Mini Challenge - 1/2
  • War Through the Generations WWII - 2/5
  • What an Animal II Challenge - 3/6
  • (Did Not Complete Cozy Mystery Challenge)

Hope everyone had else enjoyed what they read in July.

13 comments:

  1. Wow! Great job :) I set out to read 20 in July but only got 10 read. Must do better in August!

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  2. I read a record 20 books in July too!

    I'm hoping to read The Magicians soon, as it looks really good.

    Your book list looks very different from everyone elses. So many books I've never heard of - thank you for providing another month of great book inspiration.

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  3. Awesome reading month! I finished Into the Beautiful North because it was a book club read for me. I liked it, but not as much as others.

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  4. Great month! I'm lucky to finish 10 in a month...I've never finished 20.

    --Anna
    Diary of an Eccentric

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  5. Awesome month...That's what the great ocean air does for you. :)

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  6. I am so glad you reviewed A Lion Called Christian. If you had not read it,then I would never have heard of it. It is definitely my favourite non fiction book of the year.

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  7. That is absolutely amazing! I have discovered that I have even less time to read during the summer time than I thought. I know that once the kids go back to school in the fall I'll be able to read a bit more again.

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  8. Wow Diane!! You had an amazing month!

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  9. Wow, it always amazes me how much reading you get done in a month. Awesome! I think I made it to 13 this month.

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  10. July was a fantastic month!! I've never done a monthly recap...maybe I should...LOL!! I'm noting too that you DNF Into the Beautiful North,so I'm not going to worry about not reading that any time soon!

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  11. 20 books is great! :D I did 19, so I'm proud too! I know come September I won't have as much reading time, so I use my summer time the best I can!

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  12. You did very well. I think my eyes would pop out if I read that much. The kids and the FT job don't help me out much either.
    And i should really wear my $400 glasses..

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