June has been a rough month. I’ve been insanely busy at my full time job so unfortunately a lot of my evening reading time has been evening working time. I’m holding out hope that things will level out in July… hopefully.
This month I read:
The Reality of Everything by Rebecca Yarros 4/5 stars
The Dragon Reborn by Robert Jordan 4/5 stars – finished in June, but started in May
I’ve started, but haven’t finished Flamecaster by Cinda Williams Chima
I did re-read a few ebooks as my pre falling asleep ‘I need to relax’ routine this month, but I didn’t even make a note of which ones so I don’t have a true page count for this month. Hell, I’m just glad I managed to finish any books this month. I’ve also been listening to the Harry Potter audiobooks at work to keep me sane, though I’m not entirely sure it’s working, lol.
This month I hauled:
Wowzer, I may not have had a great reading month, but I most certainly had a great book buying month.
Harry Potter und der Stein der Weisen by J.K. Rowling, Translated by Klaus Fritz
Harry Potter und die Kammer des Schreckens by J.K. Rowling, Translated by Klaus Fritz
Harry Potter und der Gefangene von Askaban by J.K. Rowling, Translated by Klaus Fritz
Eragon: Das Vermächtnis der Drachenreiter by Christopher Paolini, Translated by Joannis Stefanidis
Die unendliche Geschichte by Michael Ende
These are all books for younger readers in German that I plan to read along with the audiobooks to work on expanding my German vocabulary and improving my own accent as I work on my German. Now that I’m not in school, I have some time to really work on becoming multi-lingual which I’ve always wanted to be. In the interest of full disclosure, Goodreads links for these books are to the English versions.
The Splendid and the Vile by Erik Larson
The Song of Achilles by Madeline Miller
To Sleep in a Sea of Stars by Christopher Paolini
Ever Green: Saving Big Forests to Save the Planet by John W. Reid & Thomas E. Lovejoy
Nightcrawling by Leila Mottley
These are all books that I found when I was checking out a new to me independent book store. Some were already on my TBR like The Song of Achilles and To Sleep in a Sea of Stars, but some just caught my eye like Nightcrawler’s bright cover and Ever Green’s title because who doesn’t love trees?
A Wizard of Earthsea by Ursula K. Le Guin
Far from the Madding Crowd by Thomas Hardy
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
My Dearest Darkest by Kayla Cottingham
The Shadow of the Gods by John Gwynne
The Blood Trials by N.E. Davenport
In a Garden Burning Gold by Rory Power
This batch was the result of a spur of the moment bookstore trip because there were a couple of things I wanted and didn’t find at the other bookstore… then of course, B&N just had to have SALES. I had no chance. But I made out with an amazing fantasy haul on this one. I’m SO pumped.
Non-bookishness:
Listening to: I’m still working on my backlog of Ologies episodes and have started on my backlog of This Podcast Will Kill You episodes. I love all of the science going into my ears.
Watching: LMAO. I finished The Wheel of Time earlier this month, other than that.. I haven’t watched much of anything aside from a few reruns of The Repair Shop… I still have those same 25 or so shows that I started and never finished.
What are your notable reads, hauls, or other non-bookish things from June?
Until next time, Happy Reading!
Among Stories 
Some very good book purchases there. Don’t you just hate it when bookshops trap you with SALES? It’s like they’re doing it on purpose! I do like your method for learning/improving your German. I studied it (very briefly) @ college for an Oxford Entrance exam – which I ended up not taking because they didn’t think I was good enough to even try…. [lol]
I do hope your job calms down a bit this month! I can relate to busy times but I’m glad that I was never asked/tasked to work evenings. Whenever they asked me to work weekends (thankfully rare) I told them they couldn’t possibly afford my rates. When I told them how much I charged they said they’d ask someone else…. [grin]
Probably my most notable haulage for June is that I’ve now acquired most of the George Orwell books I’ve been looking out for – pretty cheaply too. Now to find time to read them! I’ve also been rooting through various already-owned stacks to pick out some Fantasy. Found a few that should be appearing (possibly) before Christmas. I might even try to get back into some Urban Fantasy too, although I do find it VERY hit & miss.
The bookstores are definitely winning, LOL. I’ve fallen for the sales more than once! German is a tough language, but I also find it to be very interesting and I’m quite enjoying learning it even if there are somethings I find very difficult – grammatical gender is my nemesis with other languages, lol.
I sure do wish I could raise my rates, haha. In reality though I’m just a bit of a workaholic and I need to be better at setting work/home boundaries especially during our busy times like right now.
I hope you enjoy the Orwell when you get around to them and I’m looking forward to hearing about your fantasy reads! I agree on Urban Fantasy, there is a lot of up and down there, but there are some gems to be found if we persist.
The whole masculine, feminine & neuter thing REALLY threw me! I was trying to work out the logic of it but my tutor told me not to even try but to learn the words rather than WHY they were a particular gender (or not). I only studied German for a few months thankfully! Later we had a few foreign students @ Uni who latched onto our group (probably because we went out drinking so much). I felt sorry for them because they REALLY struggled with English – which is completely understandable. That language makes precious little sense when you start looking at it from the outside [lol]
I’ll probably read ‘Wigan Pier’ next for no other reason that I used to live near there and actually went to college in Wigan. I passed the ‘pier’ probably hundreds of times. Never actually went there though!
I have a few stand-alone Fantasy lined up so I hope to get to them before Christmas. They’ll probably be ‘Gods Behaving Badly’ by Marie Phillips and ‘The Gospel of Loki’ by Joanne M Harris.
Yeah, there is definitely no logic in it that I’ve found, but there are some hints that can help to determine genders in the word endings. Even then there are exceptions to the rule, just like in English! So memorization really is the only way. English is a mess of a language, lol. I can’t imagine trying to learn it as a second language.
I haven’t read or been to Wigan (I’ve really only spent time in and around London unfortunately) but I’ll keep an eye out for your review. There is something about reading a book set in places you have been that really makes it come alive… and I think I’ve just had an idea!
Gods Behaving Badly I remember book bloggers talking about a lot a few years ago, I might’ve even picked up a copy, but I never read it. The Gospel of Loki I hadn’t heard of before but I just checked it out on Goodreads and I’m intrigued!
Dang you got QUITE the haul this month! Congrats to you — I hope you enjoy all of them, too. I can’t recommend Shadow of the Gods enough, that’s an adventure!
Thanks! I am planning to read The Shadow of the Gods this month, but I just finished my current book and I might have to go pick up book two as soon as I finish typing this, lol. I’m torn – the perils of being a bookworm. 🙂