What I Read: July

The kids were out of town with my parents for a week in July. That led to more reading and more audiobooks. I got my classroom all set up and organized while they were gone and I listened to audiobooks the whole time I worked. I got through an audiobook every couple days while they were gone. That made up for my lack of running. I usually listen to audiobooks when I run solo, but I've only been running 10-20 miles a week and cycling for cross training. I don't wear headphones while I ride since I'm on the roads for part of my rides. July was a big month of books for me! I didn't track this on Goodreads or on my book list, but I wanted to record it somewhere. While the kids were gone I got them some presents for their return. I got the boxed set of Mercy Watson books for Elise. She read them aloud to me and averaged about a book a day. It was so cute! She recommended them to a lot of people.

View while reading on the balcony at the lake.

There have been lots of kitty cuddles while reading in July!

Books:

• Memorial by Bryan Washington- I found this book at Goodwill and it was a signed copy! I was super excited about it. The book ended up not being very good. I finished it because I wanted to know what happened with the characters, but there wasn't a resolution at the end.

• Quietly Hostile by Samantha Irby- I love Samantha Irby! This was her newest book and it had me cracking up. I was super excited that there was a whole essay about Sex and the City.

• The Boy in the Striped Pajamas by John Boyne- I read this with the kids. They were so appalled by the ending, Elise told me to throw the book away. We all pretty much hated it.

• Yours Truly by Abby Jimenez- I absolutely loved this book! I read it while the kids were gone and couldn't put it down. I ended up finishing it in a couple days!

• Kitchens of the Great Midwest by J. Ryan Stradal- I bought this book at an independent bookstore when we were visiting Duluth. I was super excited to read it because I loved The Lager Queen of Minnesota. I was really disappointed. It was more like a collection of short stories that all somehow included one main character than a novel. I even looked it up while reading the book because I felt like it was a collection of short stories, but it is classified as a novel. I liked the first 2 chapters because I liked the characters telling those chapters and then the rest of the characters got progressively worse and more annoying and I lost interest in the story.

• With My Little Eye by Joshilyn Jackson- I put this book on hold through the library before it was published and still had a long wait to get it. This is her newest book and it did not disappoint! It was really good and very difficult to put down.

• Gender Queer: A Memoir by Maia Kobabe- I picked this up at our local bookstore because they had signed copies leftover from er author's visit. I wanted to see er, but we were out of town for the visit. It was an interesting perspective and I always have to read a book that has been banned. It worked really well as a graphic novel.

• The Art Thief by Michael Finkel- Ty and I went to an author event for this book and it was so interesting. I bought the book, got it signed, and was super excited to read it. It was an amazing book and a fast read.

• A Good Girl's Guide to Murder by Holly Jackson- I got this on sale at Target for $5 a while back. I felt like reading something dark so I picked it up. It started off soooo good and I was really into it. Then I got to page 58 and it started over again at 27 and when I got to page 58 again, the next page was 80 or 90 something so I was missing a whole section of the book! I ended up buying the ebook because every copy of the book, ebook, and audiobook at the library was at least 40 holds deep and I didn't want to wait to keep reading. I was disappointed by the ending and the main character's ability to walk into super dangerous situations and survive was a bit ridiculous.

• The Woman in the Library by Sulari Gentill- At first I was annoyed with the letters at the end of each chapter, but I ended up loving the secondary story that came from those letters. I really liked this book. I felt like it ended a bit abruptly and I wanted more. It was one of those rare ones that I wished were longer.

• Hello Stranger by Katherine Center- This was her newest book and it was such a delight. I read it in 2 days because I just had to get to the happy ending!

eBooks:

• Now You See Us by Balli Kaur Jaswal- I was so excited when I saw she had a new book. I absolutely loved her other books. This one was really good, but probably my least favorite of her books.

• Exit Strategy by Martha Wells- Murderbot Diaries #4. Still really enjoying this series!

• Crying in H Mart by Michelle Zauner- This was the One Book, One Tulsa book for this summer. It was sad and reminded me of The End of Your Life Book Club. It made me hungry every time I read it. I went to the author even at the library on July 28th and LOVED it!

• Night of the Living Rez by Morgan Talty- I started off really liking this one. It's listed as a book of short stories so I wasn't expecting the characters to remain the same throughout the book. I ended the book a bit confused and unsure about whether Dee and David were the same person and the whole book was actually following the same character with half the book focused on his childhood and the other half with him as an adult.

Audiobooks:

• The Egg and Other Stories by Andy Weir- I sometimes scroll around on Audible for Audible originals that are free with my membership. I saw this one and was super excited. I was a little disappointed by how short it was, just over an hour! I was needing something short while I waited on an audiobook on hold that was supposed to be ready in a day so I listened to this one on my run. Each story ended with a surprise.

• Twisted: The Story of Larry Nassar and the Women Who Took Him Down by Mary Pilon and Carla Correa- This was an audible original which I downloaded when I saw it for free in the members section. It read like a podcast. It was amazing to hear the stories and gave me a perspective as a parent on ways to protect my children from predators.

• The Wager: A Tale of Shipwreck, Mutiny and Murder by David Grann- I was disappointed by this book. I was expecting it to read more like Killers of the Flower Moon and be really interesting. I think it wasn't necessarily that his writing wasn't as good on this book and possibly more that I didn't find the topic as interesting.

• After the End by Clare Mackintosh- A friend recommended this as an audiobook. It was so sad. I liked how she wrote the book from the 2 different perspectives of what their lives would have been depending on which decision was made. It was a little bit tricky trying to keep track of which outcome we were on with it being an audiobook.

• The Friend Zone by Abby Jimenez- After I read Yours Truly I put Jimenez's other books on hold as ebooks and audiobooks and took what came up first. I was confused at first when I started this one because I was thinking it was the book that shared characters with Yours Truly, but it shared characters with The Happy Ever After Playlist which I had listened to a while back. I'm glad I read these books out of order because this book wasn't as sad, already knowing what happened with one of the characters since I listened to the 2nd book before this one.

• Secrets So Deep by Ginny Myers Sain- I was so excited to see she had a new book because I really liked her debut novel, Dark and Shallow Lies. This book sucked and I never figured out what the point was. It was so boring.

• The Personal Librarian by Marie Benedict- This was such an interesting book!

• Big Summer by Jennifer Weiner- I got this author mixed up with Lauren Weisberger who wrote The Devil Wears Prada, so this book wasn't at all what I was expecting, but I really liked it!

• Searching for Savanna: The Murder of One Native American Woman and the Violence Against the Many by Mona Gable- I went to an author event for this book and I’m not sure what happened, but the author didn’t make it. The moderator ended up speaking about the topic and did such a great job, I decided to read the book anyway. It was really well written and done in a tasteful way that respected the family.