Monthly Wrap-Up – June 2023

Books Read – MONTH 2023

Books

Titles in bold have been reviewed and are linked to my review. Numbers refer to how many spaces each book is worth on the gameboard for the COYER Upside Down, Chapter 2 challenge.

1. The Marriage Spell (Mary Jo Putney) * – 4
2. One Perfect Rose (Mary Jo Putney) * – 4 – reviewed 6/08/2023
3. A Fatal Illusion (Anna Lee Huber) – ARC; 3
4. Gentian Hill (Elizabeth Goudge) – 1
5. Flowerheart (Catherine Bakewell) – ARC; 3 – reviewed 6/19/2023
6. The Edge (Dick Francis) * – 4
7. The Danger (Dick Francis) * – 4
8. Break In (Dick Francis) * – 1 – reviewed previously on 5/08/2019
9. Bolt (Dick Francis) * – 1
10. Upon a Summer’s Day (Celia Lake) – 4
11. The Ship Who Sang (Mercedes Lackey) * – 1
12. Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish (Dorothy Gilman) – 4 – reviewed 6/29/2023
13. Murder at the Serpentine Bridge (Andrea Penrose) * – 4
14. Midsummer Mysteries (Agatha Christie) – ARC; 3

Audiobooks

1. A Short History of the World According to Sheep (Sally Coulthard) – 1
2. Tricked (Kevin Hearne) – 1

Challenges

These are the books I read for various challenges, but I have not written or posted all the reviews yet, so some will not show up on my 2023 Challenges tracking page. All title links go to my reviews.

Goodreads Challenge 2023: 16 books read in June (all titles above.) 91 books read so far this year, toward my year-end goal of 175 books. (Titles listed above.) I am 17 books ahead of schedule.

#23in2023: I read 1 book from this list this month, which is better than last month, but still puts me in pretty bad shape for the year. For the year, 6 books read and 1 books reviewed so far, toward my year-end goal of 23 books.

Audiobook Challenge 2023: 2 books listened to in June (A Short History of the World According to Sheep; Tricked.) But I haven’t reviewed either of them yet. For the year, I have listened to 9 books so far, and reviewed 3 of them, toward my goal of 6 books read and reviewed.

The Backlist Reader Challenge 2023: 3 books read in June (Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish; A Short History of the World According to Sheep; Tricked.) The only one I reviewed so far is Mrs. Pollifax and the Whirling Dervish. For the year, I have read or listened to 12 backlist books and reviewed 2 of them, toward my year-end goal of reading and reviewing 16 books.

Library Love 2023: None of my books were library books this month. And I’m doing dismally for the year, with only 2 books read and 1 books reviewed so far, toward my year-end goal of 12 books. I keep thinking I will read library books, but I have so many unread books of my own, not to mention books I want to reread, that I haven’t gotten around to it!

NetGalley & Edelweiss Challenge 2023: I read 3 review copies (ARCs) in June (A Fatal Illusion, Flowerheart, and Midsummer Mysteries.) I reviewed Flowerheart; I hope to get the other two written up in July. For the year, I have read18 books and reviewed 5 books so far, toward my year-end goal of reading and reviewing 15 books. Current NetGalley percentage: 53%. NOTE: 15 books read and 4 books reviewed through May.

Read Christie 2023: I read Midsummer Mysteries this month. It’s not the suggested book for June, but I just wasn’t feeling that one. I finished it pretty close to the end of the month, so I have not written the review yet. For the year, I’m at 5 books read and 0 books reviewed so far, toward my year-end goal of 12 books.

COYER Upside Down Chapter 2: 16 books read or listened to in July (they all count.) I only got 3 reviews posted, though—all for books I read this month. The “Chapter 2” challenge began on May 1, and so far, I have read a total of 27 books and reviewed 4 of them. My 4-month challenge goal is to read and review 10 books by Aug 31, so I’m doing well on the reading part, but not on the reviewing part. (All books read this month count toward the challenge, though they are assigned different points.)

Assessing other long-term goals

Write more reviews: Well, I posted 3 reviews this month, which is better than the single review in each of the last two months, but not as good as the 4 I posted in March. I should be able to do better than this.

Buying books: I did OK at keeping my book-buying under control this month. I went almost two weeks without buying any books at all. In the whole month of June, I bought (or downloaded for free) 1 print books, 16 Kindlebooks, and 2 audiobooks, and spent under $50. I was pretty good about only buying books I really want to own and books I want to read that aren’t available through the library.

Reading diversely: My reading still isn’t as diverse as I would like. I only read 2 books with diverse main characters, one with a disabled MC and another with a neurodivergent MC. (Two books technically had bi MCs, but you would only know from perhaps one sentence; both were in MF relationships.) Six of my books did have important secondary characters who were POC and/or LGBTQIA+.

Reading more of the books I already own: Well…. Only if rereads count. ¯\_(ツ)_/¯ I read one book that I owned before 2023 but had not read before, and one audiobook that I already owned in hardcover. (I bought the audiobook this year because I didn’t want to take the hardcover across country with me in April.) I reread 8 books I own. (It’s why I own them, after all!) The rest were either ARCs or purchased this year.

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