Books Read in June

Book By Book

June was another great reading month for me. Low in quantity but high in quality and plenty of Big Books. You can watch my June Reading Wrap-Up video on YouTube, to hear more about each of the books I read and what I liked. Here’s what I finished last month:

End of Watch by Stephen King (OH) – adult fiction

The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson (NY, DC, IL) – NF memoir

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Julia Grames (Italy, CT) – adult fiction on audio

The Lost Time Accidents by John Wray (NY, Czech Republic, Austria) – adult fiction

All of This Is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor (NY) – Teen/YA fiction on audio

So, that’s just five books total read in June, but four of them were over 400 pages so counted for my annual #BigBookSummer Challenge! I read three books in print and listened to two on audio. Four of my books were fiction, with a single memoir for nonfiction. And most of what I read last month were for adults, with just a single teen/YA novel on audio. That one, All of This Is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor, was my favorite of the month, for its original plot, unique approach to telling a story, and awesome full-cast audio production. You can read any of my reviews (and listen to audio samples) at the links.

Progress in 2021 Reading Challenges:
You can see all of the reading challenges I am participating in and full lists of the books read for each at the challenges link above. I have some fun ones going this year!

Mount TBR Reading Challenge 2021 – Just two of my five books in June were from my own shelves (because I don’t count audios) … but they were Big Books!

2021 Monthly Motif Reading Challenge – June was The Great Outdoors, and The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Julia Grames included lovely descriptions of the countryside and gardens of rural Italy.

Back to the Classics 2021 – No classics in June.

2021 AtoZ Reading Challenge - It’s getting tougher, but I filled in E and L last month.

PopSugar Reading Challenge 2021 – this is a unique one, with 50 quirky categories. My list is getting pretty full now, but I added another 3 categories to my list this month. That brings me up to 25, so I’m halfway there!

1. Book on your TBR list with the ugliest cover:  I figured End of Watch by Stephen King counts for gruesomeness!
2. Book from your TBR list you meant to read last year: The Lost Time Accidents by John Wray
3. Book from your TBR list chosen at random: All of This Is True by Lygia Day Peñaflor (a lucky pick!)
   

2021 Nonfiction Reader Challenge – I added one more nonfiction book, The Mighty Queens of Freeville by Amy Dickinson.

Diversity Reading Challenge 2021 – Just two of my books were diverse last month, and I counted The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna by Julia Grames for the mini challenge theme for June, LGBT+, though it was only a minor character.

Travel the World in Books Reading Challenge – I traveled to the Italy, Czech Republic, and Austria last month in my books.

2021 Literary Escapes Challenge – I added no new states (as usual, too many books set in NY!).

And finally, Bookish Bingo hosted by Chapter Break – not really a challenge per se, but a fun game that I play each month! Stop by to print out this month’s Bingo card and play along. In June, I filled 19 spaces on my bingo card:

Spaces Filled: 

End of Watch: set in current times, shelf love, in a series, dangerous character

Mighty Queens of Freeville: library book, book club read, set in a small town, dress on the cover

The Seven or Eight Deaths of Stella Fortuna: audio book, bride, free book

The Lost Time Accidents: read a physical book, meant to read for a while now, not in a series

All of This Is True: sports, set in a school, secrets, YA

Free Space

What was YOUR favorite book read in June?