Summer is officially winding down. I’ve been reading like crazy and also getting lots of writing done, but I still didn’t hit all my reading (or writing) goals in July. I’m not that bothered about it, because I’ve been really enjoying my summer.
Before I jump into my July reading recap, I wanted to mention that I decided to change up the format a bit. I’m going back to an “Inbox/Outbox” style summary. I’m also going to continue to provide status on my Read Harder challenge, but I’ve dropped all my Kindle backlog reading tracking. I’ve decided that it’s just not that important to me anymore.
Part of the reason for dropping my backlog tracking is that I’ve accomplished what I set out to accomplish in terms of changing my book buying habits (and shifting more to library usage). I am still keeping a list of the new books I’ve purchased this year, and I still intend to make every effort to read all of them before the year is over. But, I’m letting myself off the hook on reading through my virtual TBR, at least for the rest of this year. Maybe I’ll take another stab at it next year, but (as I’ve said before) I want to read based on interest rather guilt. If I never read all the cheap ebooks I’ve been hoarding on my Kindle, it won’t be the end of the world.
Now that you’re up to speed, let’s get into the recap, shall we?
Outbox: What I read in July
I met my goal of reading all the Hugo finalists for best novella. You can read more about my thoughts on those in my previous blog post. I’m not going to rehash them again here. The ones I read this month were (in order of read/finished) The Tea Master and the Detective by Aliette de Bodard, Gods, Monsters, and the Lucky Peach by Kelly Robson, Artificial Condition by Martha Wells, and The Black God’s Drums by P. Djèlí Clark.
Unfortunately, I didn’t manage to finish reading all the finalists for best novel. I came close, though. Rather than including my thoughts on Record of a Spaceborn Few by Becky Chambers, which I read in July, I’m going to hold off until I’m done with the rest. When I finish, I’ll post my stack ranking and recap of the Hugo finalists for best novel. The awards are on the 18th of August, so it would be nice if I manage to get that wrapped up and posted before the then, but I’m not making any promises.
That leaves Thick As Thieves by Megan Whalen Turner. This was the first book I finished in July, and the timing would have been perfect if the release date for book six in this series hadn’t been moved out to 2020. Luckily, this book didn’t really end on a cliff hanger. I enjoyed getting the perspective of a character who is from the enemy empire, and I enjoyed the return of a previous point of view character. My only gripe was that I wish the author would have made the relationship between those two characters clear. Every time I thought there might be romantic tension, it was diffused in a way that felt a little like “queer baiting.” I’m really hoping that’s not the case, but I guess I’ll have to wait and see what happens in book six.
Inbox: What I bought/borrowed
I only bought one book this month, Shatter the Sky by Rebecca Kim Wells. Technically, I pre-ordered this book. So I “bought” it months ago, but the release date was 7/30. That’s why I’m counting it as a book purchased in this month. I made an exception to my book buying rule because I know the author (we were at Madcap together), and I was a beta reader of an early version of this book. So, I’m really excited for her, and I can’t wait to see how the story has changed since I last read it. I think this is the only traditionally published book that I’ve beta read and where I knew the author before she had a book deal. Obviously, I wanted to support her, even though I probably won’t get around to reading it for a few months.
Read Harder Challenge Status:
Tasks completed this month:
- Task #3: A book by a woman and/or AOC that won a literary award in 2018 (Artificial Condition)
- Task #6: A book by an AOC set in or about space (The Tea Master and the Detective)
Total tasks completed: 14
Total tasks remaining: 10
And that’s a wrap on July! Now it’s time to get started on my N.E.W.T.s reading. I’ve started a post over on Twitter where you can follow along with what I’m reading. If you want to help me decide what to read first, let me know in the comments which of the four books below you think I should start with (The Queen of Blood, The Gilded Wolves, You’d Be Mine, or Our Dark Duet).
Until next time, happy reading!
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