Ambassador of Books ~ Book Club Madam ~ Blogger Gal

Thursday, August 5, 2010

Monthly Recap: June & July '10

My oh my ... where HAS the summer gone?!  In just a few weeks Kiddo will head back to school and the weather will start to cool off, and then, before you know it, Christmas will be here.  AAAAAHHHHHH!

So ANYway ... My summer has been fantastic so far.  I told you a little about it a few weeks ago and I do hope to get another post up (at some point) but for now it's all I can do to keep my head above water ...

I didn't get a chance to tally up my reading numbers at the end of June since I was on vacation so here's double month recap for June and July.  I hope your summer reading has been successful!


Books: 10 (2,692 pages)

JUNE - 846 pages
  1. Beatrice and Virgil, by Yann Martel (224 pages) - a very odd story
  2. The Battle of the Labyrinth, by Rick Riordan (384 pages) - it was fun continuing this series
  3. A Fox in the Dark, by Alison Green (31 pages) - an adorable children's book
  4. Unsigned Hype, by Booker T. Mattison (207 pages) - way out of my normal reading range
JULY - 1,846 pages
  1. The Eyes of Willie McGee, by Alex Heard (416 pages) - fascinating but troubling true story
  2. Little Brother, by Cory Doctorow (416 pages) - a bit over-the-top for me
  3. The Color Purple, by Alice Walker (304 pages) - beautiful and amazing and I loved it
  4. Both Ways is the Only Way I Want It, by Maile Meloy (256 pages) - short story collection read for my book club
  5. Crazy for the Storm, by Norman Ollstad (304 pages) - an amazing but true survival story
  6. Beyond Smart, by Linda Morgan (150 pages) - some good info but not the book for me


    Audiobooks: 12 (87.2 hours)

    JUNE - 61.25 hours
    1. Suite Scarlett, by Maureen Johnson  (9 hours) - fun YA story
    2. Persuasion, by Jane Austen (8 hours) - very enjoyable, excellent narration
    3. The Burning Land, by Bernard Cornwell (11.25) - exciting new installment to his Saxon series
    4. Indian Heroes and Great Chiefs, by Charles Eastman (2.5 hours) - fascinating look at historical figures
    5. The Wind in the Willows, by Franklin Grahame (5.25 hours) - rather disappointing ... 
    6. The Basque History of the World, by Mark Kurlansky (12 hours) - would have been better if I were more interested in the topic
    7. Misty of Chincoteague, by Marguerite Henry (3.25 hours) - revisting an old favorite with Kiddo
    8. The Lost City of Z, by David Grann (10 hours) - creepy and fascinating true story
      JULY - 25.95 hours
      1. Northanger Abbey, by Jane Austen (7.5 hours) - lots of fun
      2. The Things They Carried, by Tim O'Brien (7.25 hours) - disturbing and powerful Vietnam stories
      3. The World’s Greatest Short Stories, by various authors (8.7 hours) - dramatizations from Old Time Radio (review coming soon)
      4. Blizzard: The Storm That Changed America, by Jim Murphy (2.5 hours) - fascinating and brief look into America history

        Mom and Son Book Club: 3 books

        Other Stuff

        co-hosted a read-a-long of The Color Purple in July.  I truly loved that book and was glad to have people to discuss it with.


        My summer has been wonderful so far, both on the personal front and on the reading front.  How is summer treating you?

        12 comments:

        Trisha said...

        I have found a new reason to not do audio. I will know how many hours I spend on them. Right now I have myself fooled that I read around my life, but I think if I actually knew how many hours I spent reading I would realize that I live around my books. :)

        Alyce said...

        Congrats on all of the reading you got done! You've listened to a lot of audiobooks too!

        Dave said...

        I've hit a typical slow spot, as I spend more time riding my bike and and working in the yard. But on vacation out west, I did read a great book, "Work Song" by Ivan Doig.

        Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

        Trisha - I just think of those 87.2 hours as time spent multi-tasking. :)

        Alyce - Thanks, I think I've done quite well for the summer so far.

        Dave - I saw that book mentioned on Read Street - I'll have to check it out!

        Bybee said...

        I'm sorry I missed your The Color Purple readalong. I love that book!

        Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

        Bybee - I'm doing a read-a-long of THE CHILDREN OF GOD (sequel to THE SPARROW, by Mary Doria Russell) this month, in case you're interested. :)

        MyLibraryCardWoreOut said...

        That is a lot of pages and minutes. Wow, just wow.

        Anonymous said...

        I can't believe the summer's almost gone either! Craziness! I didn't read nearly as much as you during June and July, but I still think I did a good job! I think total, I read about 10 books, but I didn't listen to any audibooks.

        Care said...

        What a great list of fun summer reading. I've finally completed the audio of Suite Scarlett, too. and sadly, it's the only one of my BEA books to check off.

        Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

        MyLibraryCardWoreOut - Thanks, I'm pretty happy with it all. ;)

        Cyndel - 10 books is great - hope you're having a fun summer!

        Care - I've only read two or three from BEA ... the stack of still-to-be-read BEA books is staring at me as I write this. :(

        Stephanie said...

        It looks like you've had an a terrific summer of eclectic reading. I love the mother/son book club.

        Heather J. @ TLC Book Tours said...

        Stephanie - Thanks for stopping by! Hope you are enjoying your summer as well.

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