Back Into Reading! My July wrap up and stats!

I’ve had a big dip in my reading lately. Life came up on me and so reading had to take a back seat, but by the end of the month I seem to have gotten back into my stride. Despite that, I did “only” manage 7 books (I was averaging around 13 books before, 7 books is still a great number!).

I read 2410 pages this month, with 18 hours of audiobook listening. Which is the most I’ve done in any month so far. Despite that, I read mostly physical books, 6 in fact. With only the 1 audiobook (The Fellowship of the Ring). And surprising nobody, 4 out of the 7 books were fantasy!

I started out the month by reading Pompeii by Salvatore Nappo. This is a guide book to Pompeii that was published in 1998 and gifted to my family then. None of us ever got around to reading it, and seeing as I was in Pompeii last month now seemed like a good time! Despite it being a little old the information in here was still mostly accurate (what’s been excavated being the most inaccurate – obviously) and super interesting.

Then I finished Rivers of London by Ben Arronovitch and I couldn’t stop thinking about this book after I finished it! A Met Police PC discovers the occult and supernatural and ends up joining the department of the Met that deals with magical crimes. I did have a few issues with this book, but honestly I can’t get it out of my head and I’m definitely carrying on with the series.

Northanger Abbey by Jane Austen was my next read. This is my fourth book by her (if you include Lady Susan) and yet again I really enjoyed it! I like how it played on the gothic tropes and made fun of them a little whilst also advocating for reading and having some great quotes. I don’t know why I like her books so much, because I wouldn’t think of picking them up if they were contemporary now. But I’m not complaining!

A translated piece of fiction from Japan, The Travelling Cat Chronicles by Hiro Arikawa made me sob. Honestly my face was not fit for public consumption. Christ. I was red as a tomato and sniffling like a child who just finished throwing a tantrum. This book is so beautiful, and so heartwrenching. I don’t want to tell you much, because it’s learning about the events themselves that give the impact of the book. But the general plot is that it’s a road trip across Japan with this man and his cat, as he tries to find a new home for the cat. 5 stars!

Goldsboro did it once again with their amazing GSFF box pick, Ordinary Monsters by J.M. Miro. Think Peculiar Children but for adults. The magic system in here was amazing, I loved the conversation about taking children from their homes and their loved ones. I loved each and every side plot in here and wish that we could have them all fleshed out. It was just an amazing experience and this is another 5 star read for me. Read it.

Unfortunately, my next book wasn’t so great, and that’s Book of Night by Holly Black. This was the Illumicrate book for last month, but because I wasn’t reading this month’s book (cause it’s racist) I thought I’d catch up on my missed reading from my holidays with this one. It’s fine? The magic is interesting but I just couldn’t get along with Black’s writing style. And given this is supposed to be an adult title it felt incredibly YA.

Luckily my final book puts things on an upspin with The Fellowship of the Ring by J.R.R. Tolkein finally being on my read shelves! I listened to this via audiobook, which was a fantastic experience, and I’m so mad that I didn’t pick these books up sooner! I need to read the next two! I’m so glad Lizzie is hosting the MiddleEarthAThon to kick me into gear to read these!

And those are my reads! I seem to be getting back into my books now, fingers crossed (touch wood, and every other superstition available), and I’m looking forward to all the new stories I can get to next month! If you’d like to see how my balancing of the books went in July? Well you’ll have to subscribe to my BookTube channel so you get notified when that video comes out! (soon!)

What’s your favourite read of July? Mine has to be a tie between The Travelling Cat Chronicles, and Ordinary Monsters!

July Reading Wrap Up 2021

July was a MONTH. I had a lot going on in my personal and work life, meaning that my reading life took a back foot. I barely read anything at all for the majority of the month. However, at the very beginning and the very end of the month I somehow read a lot! And so that’s going to make this wrap up seem pretty full. But just for reference, here’s a picture of my bullet journal page for the month. Look how much space!!

I’m going to start of mentioning what I didn’t manage to get to from my tbr. First up, Pompeii by Mary Beard. I fully expected to not get to this book, it was my tbr jar pick and it’s a very dense book that was picked in a very busy month. It was just never going to happen. So I’m putting it back into the tbr jar and I’ll read it again another month.

Then we have Labyrinth by Kate Mosse which I have managed to read from! I’m 276 pages through this 500+ page book. I ended up having to stop focusing on this book as it was putting me into such a reading slump. Instead I’m now just reading a chapter each day. Weirdly despite the slump etc… I’m enjoying it! It’s a really interesting story and I’m looking forward to continuing reading it through the next month or so!

I also made some decent headway on Prodigy by Marie Lu which I’ve had on a few tbr’s now. I wasn’t exactly wanting it to be on my August tbr given the damn thing is too big as it is but hey ho!

As always, I read my pages of War and Peace by Leo Tolstoy which I’m still really enjoying. I’m buddy reading this with Olivia Savannah from Olivia’s Catastrophe and we’re around 80% of the way through which is amazing! We planned for this to take us all year but I really think we could be finished by the end of October!

And continuing on with the Dead Famous Readalong I read 40 pages from Armageddon Outta Here by Derek Landy, which is a collection of short stories. They span across the first season of books so I’m reading the stories in chronological order. As always the ones I read this month were really fun. The Wonderful Adventures of Geoffrey Scrutinous and Just Another Friday Night. I love Geoffrey as a character, he’s so good at what he does…and nothing else! He really isn’t cut out for violence or fighting or anything like that, but sit him down with someone and he can work wonders on them, so I loved reading more about him. Just Another Friday Night was a lot of fun. I enjoyed the silliness as always as well as the new characters that we got to encounter.

Now for the books that I’ve actually finished.

Lady Susan by Jane Austen was my first read of the month, coming in at only 128 pages. This is one of the last works that was published, after Austen’s death, and instead of being written in the traditional novel style it is instead a collection of letters. I wasn’t keen on the ending as it felt quite rushed (although considering her life events that seems fair) but I did enjoy reading about a not-so-pleasant main character from Austen. This was read for me to take part in Jane Austen July, see more later in this post!

Then for the Buzzwordathon the prompt this month was “last”, so I read The Last Battle by C.S. Lewis which is the 7th and final book in the Narnia series. I know this series inside and out so I didn’t need to read the other books first in order to get to this one. It’s only 172 pages and a book I know very well so a nice quick read. Rereading it as an adult definitely brought more issues to light with the book however, and I’m glad that I read these as a child so I can retain my nostalgia, as they don’t hold up today. I’m planning on rereading the whole series for a full review, but essentially, racist, sexist, and portrays religion awfully.

On a more positive note, I read The Perplexing Theft of the Jewel in the Crown by Vaseem Khan which is the second book in the Baby Ganesh Agency series and 345 pages long. A mystery series (think modern day Christie) set in Mumbai, India where a baby elephant takes centre stage! This series is so much fun and I’ll definitely be continuing!

For some reason I left this book riiiiight to the end of the month, but with 603 pages I finally read Death Bringer by Derek Landy, this months read for the Dead Famous Readalong. These are all rereads for me and I adore the series, so to no ones surprise I loved this!

Then I dove straight in (okay I waited a few hours but still) to The End of the World by Derek Landy, the short story (127 pages) that was released for World Book Day in 2012 and fits in between Death Bringer and Kingdom of the Wicked. This is such a fun short story, it’s so sweet whilst also being a lot of fun and I love the sneak peek chapters at the end that show us what the series could’ve been like.

Checkmate by Malorie Blackman, the 3rd book in the Noughts & Crosses series, coming in at 503 pages was my next read. This book made me cry. Actually cry. Full. On. Tears. I was almost crying in the living room sat next to my dad (who would just laugh at me) and I fully broke down in my room. This series is something else and if you’ve not read it yet you need to.

Finally another Jane Austen July read! (look I wasn’t going all out cause I didn’t want to ruin her books for me), I joined in with the buddy read of Persuasion by Jane Austen where 2/3 chapters were read each day. I had to catch up a little at the start but this was such a fun read. I loved the way that Austen took us to the inevitable ending whilst developing the characters so much further than expected throughout. Not as good as Pride and Prejudice for me, but I did still really enjoy it!

What a reading month! So many highs and lows! How much did you manage to read this month? Did you slump at all like me or was it plain sailing? Let me know!!

July Wrap Up! Hella late but better than never!!| 2018

So this is ridiculously late (just wait until I pop my August TBR up!) but surely it’s better late than never?! Okay, shush just let me get on with it! If you’d rather see this in a video format, then click here for the link to my YouTube July wrap up, which was actually posted within a reasonable time frame! Shocker, I know.

Who-Ology by Cavan Scott    4/5*

This is a fun read which covers the whole history of the show and goes into details about all the doctors, companions, villains and more! As a whovian it was fun to read about some episodes I’ve not been able to get to and have some more depth to the show.

In The Shadow of Hitler by Richard Vaughan-Davies     3/5*

Find my full review here! This was an interesting read, but it didn’t quite hit the mark. Certain aspects were interesting, however, they couldn’t quite make up for the rest of the story to increase my rating.

 

Hit Squad by Sophie McKenzie    4/5*

Find my full review of Hit Squad here! I am so glad I finally finished up this series, this ended the Medusa Project in a really satisfying way, as well as leaving it open enough that it could be picked up in the future! I would absolutely love that, but seeing as it was published in 2012 I doubt Sophie McKenzie is going to write any more in the series. I can always hope though!

Being Nikki by Meg Cabot     4/5*

I’ve been really enjoying this series. Contemporary with a fun twist that really adds another dimension to the story, the ending of this book was really shocking and left me on such a cliffhanger!

 

Othello by William Shakespear    1/5*

Oh my god, I HATED this!!! I just could not get through it and ended up DNFing it! Maybe one day I’ll pick it back up again, and I’d like to watch an adaptation seeing as it is supposed to be performed. But for now, I’m leaving it be.

 

Fractured by Teri Terry     4/5*

This is the second installment in the Slated trilogy and I really enjoyed it! It has been years since I read Slated (around 5!) so I’m really happy that I still love this series and I’m excited for Shattered!

 

The Girl in the Blue Coat by Monica Hesse    4/5*

I listened to this book via audiobook (thank you library) and sadly I think this might’ve made me less emotionally attached to the characters, and with a book like this, I personally feel that this is an important part. So maybe this could’ve gotten 5* if I’d read a physical copy, or maybe it was the writing. Either way, I still recommend this read!

The Eye of the North by Sinéad O’Hart    4/5*

I absolutely fell in love with these beautifully written characters and the world building was fantastic. I genuinely felt sad that the story was over and hope that there could be a sequel in the future! A great 8-12 read and I’ll be keeping an eye out for more from Sinéad O’Hart in the future!

That Old Black Magic by Cathi Unsworth     4/5*

Find my full review here! This was a really really odd book, but don’t let that stop you from reading it! Magical, dark and intense, this book has the potential to suck you in and only spit you out hours later.

Next up, the 7in7Readathon reads! Find my wrap up and reading vlog here!

The Punisher    3/5*

I enjoyed this comic, however, this was my first experience with this format and I had been expecting to get more of the story within the issue. Therefore I finished it feeling slightly disappointed, but I still enjoyed the story arc and may finish it up in a bind up in the future.

Norse Mythology by Neal Gaiman    4.5/5*

I really enjoyed Gaiman’s take on the Norse God’s and their antics! The short stories all lead on beautifully to the next and come together at the end to create one larger overall story. I definitely recommend this one!

 

The Essential Spike Milligan   3/5*

I think I could’ve given this 4/5* if I wasn’t reading it for a readathon. It made me read through this a lot faster than I would’ve liked and took away some of the impacts. I want to reread this at some point and see how I feel then.

Fangirl by Rainbow Rowell    4/5*

I can’t believe this took me so long to read! I’m so happy that I give contemporaries a chance nowadays. This is a deep book that follows Cath through her discovering college and being introduced to adult life, slowly but surely.

After Anna by Alex Lake    4.5/5*

This book fucked me up so bad. I 100% recommend! Even though I could tell all of the “twists” I was still completely hooked and couldn’t put it down. Total mind fuck! (a great compliment for a thriller!)

Now into the BookTubeAThon reads! Find my wrap up here in blog format and here in video format!

I Used to Know That Geography by Will Williams    4/5*

This is a great little geography book and written in a way that keeps you interested (rather than feeling like it’s a textbook!). Great for those wanting to recap the subject or be introduced to the GCSE (14-16 yo) standard of the subject

Anne of Green Gables by L. M. Montgomery    4/5*

Although I found the middle section of this book (before Anne turns 12/13) quite tedious, after finishing I absolutely adore Anne and can’t wait to read more following this young girls life! Definitely very invested haha.

 

And that is my wrap up! I read loads this month and took a loooong time to recover after it! Hence this really late post haha, but I’m getting myself back on track now… before I go and leave for uni. So hopefully I can stay this way! I don’t think I’ll keep this level of reading up but I’m really glad I got through what I did.