Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

July 2024 Wrap Up

July was another hectic month, but for positive reasons this time. June was hard and it made me realize I needed to change certain things and build better habits. Obviously, things don’t change overnight, but I think I made a good effort this July to get things started.

I started waking up at 6.30am in the mornings and go for a walk/run (alternating because I’m not quite in good shape yet). Some days are harder than others, but the important thing is that I showed up. I’m also looking into continuing education classes I can take and I’ve been doing some research and legwork on that. I’ve organized and reorganized my workspace and workflow, purged some things in my life that no longer served, and am trying to prioritizing the important stuff.

To be honest, I’m still floundering and some days I’m full of self-doubt and throw out everything I thought I was clear on the day before. We also had a heat-wave this month and some days were so bad I couldn’t bring myself to do anything except lie down on the cool floor and not move.

Still, it was a good month overall, even though I haven’t been very present here on the blog and in the blogosphere. I’ve missed visiting with all of you, and I’m trying to figure out how to manage my time better so I can still do the things I love.

My July 2024 TBR Intentions

1. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
3. Feeling Good by David Burns
4. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
5. Frequency by Penney Pierce
6. The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie

I only read two of my TBR intentions this month, but the good news is that my broader intentions were to read more nonfiction and books I own, and I did that! Out of the 12 books I read this month, five were nonfiction, and eight are books I own! So I did pretty good!

Books Read in July 2024

1. The Familiar by Leigh Bardugo
2. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
3. Network Effect by Martha Wells
4. Fugitive Telemetry by Martha Wells
5. Women in Science by Rachel Ignotofsky
6. Kushiel’s Dart by Jacqueline Carey
7. Project Hail Mary by Andy Weir
8. Clockwork Boys by T. Kingfisher
9. The Wonder Engine by T. Kingfisher
10. Atlas of the Heart by Brene Brown
11. The Indifferent Stars Above by Daniel James Brown
12. Braiding Sweetness by Robin Wall Kimmerer

Notable Books This Month

I got lucky again this month because almost every single book was great! The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs was a bookclub read, and our bookclub went for a road trip to the Royal Tyrrell dinosaur museum after that, so it added to the experience. It was so much fun and I love spending time with these people!

The picture isn’t very good, unfortunately, but we couldn’t take too many because it was pretty crowded and there were other people wanting to take pictures too.

I also really loved Women in Science more than I expected. It features so many amazing women and their contributions in history, and all the important information is presented so interestingly and succinctly. I loved reading every single one of them.

Project Hail Mary was a reread – I read it a while ago on print, but I keep hearing about how it’s so good on audio, and I really wanted to experience that. I’d been listening to audiobooks through Libby and my library all this time, but PHM was only available through Audible so I finally signed up for it just for this book. That’s how they get you! But hey, so far it’s been worth it. I loved listening to PHM on audio, and I’m enjoying so many other audiobooks on the Audible Plus catalog as well.

As I said, I loved almost every book I read this month, but I’ll leave the rest of the gushing to reviews I’m planning to write for them!

Reading Challenges

I achieved a few of these challenges a couple of months ago, but instead of marking them done I upped the challenges instead. I’m now rethinking that decision, because I haven’t done well in some of the other challenges and I think I should focus on the unfinished ones instead of adding to the challenges I already finished.

• The 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge – 47/52 – Started at 43/52 at the beginning of the month. I have 5 more to go!
• 2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge – 16/12 – Started at 11/12 at the beginning of the month. Read 5 nonfiction books this month! Challenge accomplished! I’ll keep going informally.
• 2024 Series Ender Reading Challenge – 2/5 – Started at 2/5 at the beginning of the month. Did not read a series ender this month.
• 2024 Finishing the Series Challenge – 3/4 – Started at 3/4 at the beginning of the month. Did not finish any series this month.
• 2024 Diversity Reading Challenge – 14/20 – Started at 13/20 at the beginning of the month. Read one diverse books this month.
• 2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 5/10 – Started at 5/10 at the beginning of the month. Did not read any bookish book this month.
• 2024 Audiobook Challenge – 58/75 – Started at 47/75 at the beginning of the month. Listened to 11 audiobooks this month!
• 2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 63/60 – Challenge accomplished last month, continuing informally.
• The Classics Club – 4/10 – Started at 4/10 at the beginning of the month. Did not read any classics this month.

August 2024 TBR Intentions

This month I’d like to try knocking out the 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge. I only have five more prompts to go, and I’ve got a couple of books I’m excited to read that would fit the remaining challenges, so I think it would be very doable.

The prompts are:

• 13. An academic thriller
• 17. Nominated for the Booker Prize
• 37. Palindrome on the cover
• 42. Author debut in the second half of 2024
• 48. The word “secret” in the title

I’m planning to read, respectively for each prompt, but subject to change:

• If We Were Villains by M.L. Rio
• Oryx and Crake by Margaret Atwood
• The Women by Kristin Hannah
• Four Weekends and a Funeral by Ellie Palmer
• The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna

I do have some other books in mind for some of these prompts so I might end up changing my mind, but the goal is to finish the challenge so as long as I read books that fit the prompts, I’m good!

How was your month in July? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful August with lots of great books!

Welcome to the Monthly Wrap Up hosted by Nicole @ Feed Your Fiction Addiction to share our monthly wrap-up posts that summarizes our month in books, our favorite books of the month, what we did on our blogs, and anything noteworthy we want to share.

June 2024 Wrap Up

June was a difficult month for me for a few different reasons and I wasn’t able to do a lot on the blog. I didn’t read very many books compared to last month, but I did spend a lot of time escaping into books, which was good. I’ve been emotionally exhausted and haven’t wanted to post on the blog at all, but I get hesitant about reading more books if I’ve left a lot of books unreviewed. I also needed to get this monthly update done because I’d feel like something was missing if I didn’t!

I’m just doing the bare minimum for now, so please bear with me. I’m trying to sort myself out and I’ll be back to normal as soon as I can. Also, I know I have a lot of blog visiting to catch up on. I’m sorry!

My June 2024 TBR Intentions

1. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong
2. The Mountain in the Sea by Ray Nayler
3. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
4. Dragons of Winter Night by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
5. Dragons of Spring Dawning by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
6. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
7. Harrow the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
8. Nina the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
9. The Storm We Made by Vanessa Chan
10. The Very Secret Society of Irregular Witches by Sangu Mandanna
11. Everyone in My Family Has Killed Someone by Benjamin Stevenson

Books Read in June 2024

1. Hello Stranger by Katherine Center
2. Heartstopper 2 by Alice Oseman
3. Heartstopper 3 by Alice Oseman
4. Heartstopper 4 by Alice Oseman
5. Heartstopper 5 by Alice Oseman
6. Last Argument of Kings by Joe Abercrombie
7. Dragons of Autumn Twilight by Margaret Weis and Tracy Hickman
8. David Copperfield by Charles Dickens
9. Far From You by Tess Sharpe
10. Gideon the Ninth by Tamsyn Muir
11. You Like It Darker by Stephen King
12. On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Voung

Notable Books This Month

Almost every single book I read this month was great!

I think my favorites were the Heartstopper books, which really surprised me because I didn’t think I’d be interested in reading about teenage boys, but it was the most wholesome, happy, cute book and I loved all the characters!

You Like It Darker by Stephen King was another favorite, but no surprise there, I knew I was going to love anything he wrote. Every single one of the stories were great, and I really just keep wanting more!

Another book that did surprise me is On Earth We’re Briefly Gorgeous by Ocean Vuong. I went in not knowing much about it but ended up finishing the book in one day because it was just so lyrical and beautiful and I couldn’t stop listening.

Hello Stranger and David Copperfield were amazing too, but there were too many strong contenders this month! I think Hello Stranger is my favorite Katherine Center book so far, and David Copperfield is just so good especially after reading Demon Copperhead.

It’s not my intention to list every book I read this month, just the notable ones, but it’s not my fault that they were all so good!

Reading Challenges

• The 52 Book Club 2024 Reading Challenge – 43/52 – Started at 40/52 at the beginning of the month. I have 9 more to go!
• 2024 Nonfiction Reader Challenge – 11/12 – Started at 11/12 at the beginning of the month. Did not read any nonfiction this month.
• 2024 Series Ender Reading Challenge – 2/5 – Started at 2/5 at the beginning of the month. Did not read a series ender this month.
• 2024 Finishing the Series Challenge – 3/4 – Started at 3/4 at the beginning of the month. Did not finish any series this month.
• 2024 Diversity Reading Challenge – 13/12 – Started at 11/12 at the beginning of the month. Read two diverse books this month, and I’ve achieved my challenge! Upping my challenge to 20!
• 2024 Bookish Books Challenge – 5/10 – Started at 5/10 at the beginning of the month. Did not read any bookish book this month.
• 2024 Audiobook Challenge – 47/75 – Started at 40/75 at the beginning of the month. Listened to 7 audiobooks this month!
• 2024 Library Love Reading Challenge – 60/60 – Started at 56/60 at the beginning of the month. I’ve hit my target and it’s the highest target level so I’ll consider it accomplished! But I’ll just keep going!
• The Classics Club – 4/10 – Started at 3/10 at the beginning of the month. Read one classic book this month!

July 2024 TBR Intentions

This month I want to try to make a dent on more nonfiction and books I own. I’ve neglected them for years, so I want to at least try to get some read!

1. The Rise and Fall of the Dinosaurs by Steve Brusatte
2. Braiding Sweetgrass by Robin Wall Kimmerer
3. Feeling Good by David Burns
4. The Dance of Anger by Harriet Lerner
5. Frequency by Penney Pierce
6. The Enchanted Life by Sharon Blackie

I still want to read fiction and books I listed for last month’s TBR, but I want to try to prioritize these for the month.

How was your month in June? What were your most memorable bookish moments? I hope you have a wonderful July with lots of great books!