What We Read in June

June was another big reading month - I finished 11 books! 2 were fast graphic memoirs, though, so that helped. But that is still a big reading month for me. I've read 75 books so far this year! I do not expect to read that many in the 2nd half of the year but it looks like I will easily read 100+ books for the 3rd time in a row and might have a record reading year. I assumed I was reading since having kids because I was working out less, but I'm back to working out about 4-5 days/week but continue to read a lot. Here's what I read and liked this month!

Favorite Fiction Reads:

These 4 books were my favorite fiction reads. The Good Sister was a good suspenseful novel about 2 sisters. One is neurodiverse (probably on the autism spectrum but it's not explicitly diagnosed). She knows her older sister wants a baby and isn't able to have one, so she decides to get pregnant with the intent to give the child to her sister. The book unfolds from there. The Fortunate Ones is about a young boy who gets sponsored by a wealthy family and attends an exclusive private school. He then becomes enmeshed in this family. It's sort of a retelling of The Great Gatsby. Good Company was a character-driven novel about a women who discovers the wedding ring that he husband said he lost many years ago. Why did he lie about losing his ring and what does this mean about their marriage? Lastly, Olympus Texas is another character driven novel about a family in Texas with messy interfamily relationships. It's based on Roman Mythology but I have no knowledge of Mythology so it's not necessary to enjoy the book.

Non-Fiction Reads:

I loved all 4 of these books except The Positive Enneagram. The Positive Enneagram was very informative, but very dry and read like a textbook at times! The other 3 were excellent, though! Crying in H Mart is a memoir about the author's experience losing her mom to cancer at 25. How to Talk So Little Kids Will Listen delved into how to get listen kids to listen and how to handle the strong emotions/temper tantrums that a common at this age. Good Talk is a graphic memoir about an Indian American mom's conversations with her son about race. Relish: My Life in the Kitchen was a delightful graphic memoir about the author's love of food and cooking which was fostered by her mom. 

These 3 books were my least favorite of the month. Competitive Grieving was "just ok." Murder in St. Germain was the 4th or 5th book in the series and I had only read the 1st book so I was confused for parts of the book that referenced past story lines - probably my fault for reading them out of order! And Last Exiles was promising as it was set in North Korea which is an area I haven't read much about. But the plot line felt far-fetched and it ended so abruptly that I wonder if the author plans to write a sequel?

The Boys' Reading:

Will likes this book about eating that we got at his 6m pediatrician appointment! He does not like solids so far but he sure likes looking at pics of other babies eating solids!

I mentioned to my neighbor that Paul was having a lot of "big emotions" lately and she recommended this box set of books that another friend recommended to her. Paul LOVES these books. We had to bring them to the lake so he could show my parents! They also provided a lot of entertainment on the drive. We've tried to use the concepts in the book but haven't been too successful, but he is probably just too young to really be able to manage those big emotions! 

 

He has also reached the age where he likes Mo Willem's books! We have some Elephant and Piggie ones but I need to request more from the library!

Did you read anything great this month?