What We Read in June

I was surprised to see that I read 8 books in June! It didn't feel like I read that many books but I guess all the time I spent reading before bed adds up. That is pretty much when I do all of my readings - I go upstairs between 8-8:30 every night and read until 9-9:30. I do read when I lay down during Paul's weekend naps but the exhaustion takes over and my reading session turns into a nap. Hopefully that will change some day but I think I will probably use nap time to, well, nap during this pregnancy!

Once again I did not have any misses this month for the 2nd month in a row. It's tough to pick favorites but the books that stuck with me are:

- How to Be an Antiracist by Ibram Kendi - This is clearly a heavy read. I took it slow and only read one chapter/day as there was a lot to soak in. It's very research based and while he uses some of his personal life experience in the book, it's not narrative non-fiction. But it really made me think about the unconscious biases I have and it made for a great book club discussion.

- In Five Years by Rebecca  Serle - This the biggest page turner for me. If I wasn't disciplined about my bedtime, I would have stayed up late at night to finish this book. It's about a woman who has dream the night she gets engaged. In her dream, it's five years later. But the man she is with in this dream is not her fiance. This dream haunts for her the five years to come and makes her question the decisions she makes.

- City Guide to Country Living by Louise Miller - This was another easy, breezy light read that felt like a spin-off of The Gilmore Girls. There is a lot of baking in the book, too, so it might make you want to bake a pie (I feel more motivated than ever to bake a pie from scratch but this will not happen when it's 90 degrees outside - maybe this fall I will bake my first pie from scatch)!

- If You Want to Make God Laugh by Bianca Marais - This is the 2nd book I read by this author. She's from South Africa so her books are set there and they tend to deal with the Apartheid. This book was set during post-Apartheid South Africa. Nelson Mandela was recently elected but there is still so much racial tension. It's narrated by 3 people - 2 white sisters and a black women who lives in a resettlement camp close to the sisters. Their lives become intertwined and the story unfolds from there.

- Things You Save in a Fire by Katherine Center - This is kind of a mix between romance and women's fiction. It's a lighter page turner but it also covers from heavier topics so it wasn't 'fluff' (not that there is anything wrong with reading a fluffy book!). It was very difficult to put down and I found myself trying to find extra times during the day to read, like while Paul takes his bath (I give him his bath every night and sometimes I need a little entertainment while he sings to his toys, etc). 

Paul's reading:

Paul got 3 new books this month and really loves all of them!

In an effort to diversify to diversify Paul's library, I ordered some books. 3 of them were too mature for Paul's age but he loves We're Different, We're the Same, and We'll All Wonderful (he's obsessed with Elmo) and Citizen Baby: My Vote. I'm honestly surprised he likes the voting book so much. He asks us to read it all the time. There are other Citizen Baby books so I think I will get more for him.

My parents also got him this Big Brother book and a new t-shirt, too. He loves this book! 

He continues to be our little book worm. On Sunday afternoon, he brought me some books, crawled into my lap and said, "I love books!" And then I brushed my hands together and said - well my job here is done! Ha. But seriously, raising a reader is super important to us. I mean, we had a book-themed wedding so you knew our child was going to have to love books! We've read to him from the early infancy days and books are just part of every day life for him. But it makes me very very happy to see how much he loves to read!

Have you read anything great lately?