Sunday, July 1, 2018

Month in Review _ Goodbye June


June was a busy month in general and yet, still a good month for reading. I finished (9) books in June, making this (49) books for the first half of 2018. 

Books Read in June (reviews coming soon - I hope)
  1. The Great Alone; Kristin Hannah (audio) 4.5/5 - June/June 2018
  2. The Little Clan; Iris Martin Cohen (ARC) 3.5/5 - June/2018
  3. Saving Cee Cee Honeycut; Beth Hoffman - 4/5 - June 2018 (reread-book group)
  4. The Banker's Wife; Christina Alger - (eGalley) 3.5/5 June 2018
  5. Killers of the Flower Moon: the Osage Murders and the Birth of the FBI; David Grann - 4/5 (audio) June/2018
  6. Right Behind You; Lisa Gardner - 4.5/5 (audio) - June/2018
  7. The Outsider; Stephen King (print/library) - 4/5 June 2018
  8. The Chalk Man; C.J. Tudor (audio) 4/5 June/2018
  9. The Waiting Room; Emily Bleeker (eGalley) 3.5/5
New Book Arrivals
  1. The Mermaid and Mrs. Hancock; Imogen Hermes Gowar (sent by Penguin UK)
  2. The Great Believers; Rebecca Makkai (sent by Viking)
  3. Sweet Little Lies; Caz Frear (Zaffre Publishing)
  4. Putney; Zafka Zinoieff (sent by Harper)
  5. Go Ask Fannie; Elisabeth Hyde (sent by Amazon Vine - GP Putnam)
  6. Safe Houses;Dan Fesperman (sent by Knopf)
  7. The Myth of Perpetual Summer; Susan Crandall (sent by Gallery Books)
  8. The Long Path to WisdomJan Philipp Sender (sent by Other Press)


In case you missed my post with my summer reading plans, here are the books I hope to complete.
  1. Baby Teeth; Zoje Stage - We Need to Talk About Kevin meets Gone Girl meets The Omen...a twisty, delirious read that will constantly question your sympathies for the two characters as their bond continues to crumble.”―Entertainment Weekly
  2. 84, Charing Cross Road; Helene Haniff - "84, Charing Cross Road will beguile and put you in tune with mankind... It will provide an emollient for the spirit and sheath for the exposed nerve." -- The New York Times
  3. Clock Dance; Anne Tyler - "A bittersweet, hope-filled look at two quirky families that have broken apart and are trying to find their way back to one another . . . The cast of sharply drawn characters dominates in ways both reflective and raucous across a series of emotional events.”
    Publishers Weekly
  4. The Dry; Jane Harper - A small town hides big secrets in The Dry, an atmospheric, page-turning debut mystery by award-winning author Jane Harper.
  5. The Outsider; Stephen King - An unspeakable crime. A confounding investigation. At a time when the King brand has never been stronger, he has delivered one of his most unsettling and compulsively readable stories. (completed 4/5)
  6. The Other Mother; Carol Goodman -“An atmospheric and harrowing tale, richly literary in complexity but ripe with all the crazed undertones, confusions, and forebodings inherent in the gothic genre. Recommend this riveting, du Maurier–like novel to fans of Jennifer McMahon.” — Booklist (starred review)
  7. Made for Love; Alissa Nutting - From the exciting and provocative writer of Tampa, a poignant, riotously funny story of how far some will go for love—and how far some will go to escape it. 
  8. The House Swap; Rebecca Fleet -" She may not know exactly who is in her house. But she knows why they are there.  A house swap becomes the eerie backdrop to a chilling look inside a broken marriage filled with tantalizing secrets."
  9. Something in the Water; Catherine Steadman - “With unreliable characters, wry voices, exquisite pacing, and a twisting plot, Steadman potently draws upon her acting chops. . . . A darkly glittering gem of a thriller from a new writer to watch.”Kirk's Reviews (starred review)
  10. Moonglow; Michael Chabon - “A wondrous book that celebrates the power of family bonds and the slipperiness of memory….A thoroughly enchanting story about the circuitous path that a life follows, about the accidents that redirect it, and about the secrets that can be felt but never seen, like the dark matter at the center of every family’s cosmos.” (Ron Charles, The Washington Post)
Somebody had a birthday ---

Our youngest granddaughter is now 4
(Where did the time go?)


26 comments:

  1. You always have goodies on your list. Happy Birthday sweet girl from all of us!

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  2. Your granddaughter is so cute! You've had a good year in books so far. I have a feeling my reading will slow down for the second half of 2018.

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    1. Thanks Kathy! It's so so hot here this week, I may spend more time indoors and reading.

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  3. Happy birthday to your adorable granddaughter! Your summer reading list is impressive--and interesting. I look forward to your reviews in the future. Keep up the great reading. You've certainly "outread" me this year so far!

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    1. Thanks Susan, we are in a heatwave here and feeling like staying inside with ac and books LOL

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  4. What a darling granddaughter! She is so cute! The time really does fly, doesn't it? Our granddaughter turns 16(!) this month.

    You had an amazing month of reading, Diane. I only finished two books and I read one of those while my husband had his annual physical. Definitely not a lot of pages read this month. Sigh.

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    1. Les, I can't believe your sweet girl will be 16 (that seems impossible). Time has a way of escaping us doesn't it? You've done lots of fun travel so I wouldn't worry about the reading :) Can't wait to read 84, Charing Crosss Road in July (I know you loved it).

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  5. So hard to believe your little granddaughter is 4 already! Time really does fly. You did a lot of reading in June. I have a copy of Killers of the Flower Moon that's been near the top of my pile for a couple of months... maybe in July?

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    1. JoAnn, I had both the print and audio of Killers of the Flower Moon - very interesting but liked it not loved it.

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  6. What a cutie! Our youngest grand just turned two. She'll have a new brother in a few weeks though so she won't be the youngest for long :)
    Stay cool and enjoy your reading, Diane.

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    1. Thanks Mary, they grow so fast! I'm pretty sure my 3 little granddaughters are all there will be. So lucky to have them.

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  7. Nine books is awesome! Great variety too. I will get to the new Rebecca Makkai soon I hope. She gave a reading at one of our most famous indie bookstores (Vroman's of Pasadena) last week but I had a reading group that night. I liked The Hundred Year House so much.

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    1. I heard good things about The Hundred Year Old House (house I grew up in fit that bill).

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  8. I'm glad you read Hoffman. I'm a big fan. Her other book, Looking for Me, is also very good.

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  9. Your grandlittle is a sweetie. :-) Happy July!

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  10. I just bought Stephen King's Outsider and am really looking forward to reading it!

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    1. Hope you enjoy it. I loved the first half and was happy I read it.

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  11. Lots of good books in your lists. Your granddaughter is so cute, I love her smile!

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  12. As of tomorrow, I'll be embarking on The Great Alone. I think, years ago, that I read a novel by Hannah, but this may be my first. Sounds very interesting.
    On your list of new books, I'm interested in The Great Believers--just this morning I received an email from BookPage notifying me that it is on their list of the "Top Ten of July" books.
    And I'm very interested in Putney. I looked up the author, because her name is so Russian, and discovered she wrote a memoir of her grandmother's life, who was nobly born in Russia, went into exile in France after the Russian Revolution, became a bohemian and a communist, and was sent to a concentration camp by the Nazis, and went on to try to save Jews. Fascinating. I've never heard of this author, so I'll seek out Putney and her other books.
    Your grand-daughter is so mature for four. Her facial expression makes it very clear she doesn't miss much--beautiful.

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    1. Judith, thanks for your sweet granddaughter feedback, she's very bright. I hope you enjoy The Great Alone, I liked the audio and, hadn't read anything by that author in about 10 years. Putney, appealed to my by title, as it's a cute little town in Vermont but, of course, this book has nothing to do with that Putney.

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  13. I hope that you all had fun celebrating your granddaughter's birthday! She's adorable! Enjoyed seeing your lists of what you've read and planning to read. I have 84 Charing Cross Road on my tbr list, and I've been wanting to try one of Lisa Gardner's books.

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