June was a terrible, terrible reading month, but it was definitely quality over quantity. I just had a lot on. I had some beautiful experiences this month. I saw one of my favourite musicians live for the first time, which was just an incredibly magic experience. That was also the first time I went to a concert by myself. Imagine that, I have been going to gigs/concerts for over twenty five years and this was the first time I went by myself. Crazy! It just happened to be one of the best gigs I have ever been to, so I am glad I did. It took me a good week to come down from that!
Anyway, reading time was few and far between. I did not feel slumpy at all – I was just busy. I wrote last month that I thought June would be a more settled month. Boy, was I wrong! I won’t make any such promises for July. I can hope though!
PHYSICAL TBR:
Start 2022: 300
1 June: 314
Acquired: 0
Read: 3
Balance: 311
DIGITAL TBR:
Start 2022: 177
1 June: 169
Acquired: 0
Read: 1
Balance: 168
So no books acquired this month – that’s good!
JUNE READING REVIEW
I only read five books in total, which is not much at all for me. I read three physical books, one e-ARC and one audio book. Two of the physical books were longer and one was only 70 pages. I did not listen to much audio either, so I only managed one shorter audio book, which I did enjoy.
- A Botanist’s Guide to Parties and Poisons (Kate Khavari) 6* e-ARC
- We Are All Made of Stars (Rowan Coleman) 7* paperback
- Revelation (Russell Brand) 6* audio
- Music & Silence (Rose Tremain) 5* paperback
- In Praise of Shadows (Junichiro Tanizaki) 7* paperback
That’s it. Just those.
BOOK OF THE MONTH
I had two 7* books, which were very different from each other. Maybe I will go with We Are All Made of Stars. It was just a lovely story and it warmed my heart. It’s a bit of a tearjerker, but so well done. I loved it!
July Reading Plans
I have two books in progress. I am a third into American Gods by Neil Gaiman on my Kindle. I read this one on the train whilst I was travelling. I am enjoying it…. I think. The other one is Wildwood by Roger Deakin, which I am listening to on audio. This is a non-fiction book about trees and I am enjoying it a lot. I am almost halfway into that one.
I don’t want to make too many plans for my reading, as the last couple of months have been slow. The Reader by Bernhard Schlink is part of my plans and I would like to finally finish the Mistborn Trilogy, but that’s as far as I want to plan right now.
Lola Et La Vie 
No books in? Wow, well done! I had one fewer in than I read so I’m taking that as a win …
Well done for your gig-going; who did you see? I’m seeing The Men They Couldn’t Hang later in the month, so excited even though it will be crowded and noisy and full of people singing along. I’ve only been to small, quiet things since lockdown but I can’t not see them.
I know – very proud of myself!
I went to see Arooj Aftab, Tamino and Balthazar (more info in the post I did today)- all were amazing, but Tamino completely blew me away. That boy and his band are so so good live. I havent heard of The Men They Couldn’t Hang – very interesting band name!!!
Seeing live music makes me happy 🙂
Oh it hasn’t shown me today’s post in my Feedly reader yet, I’ll have a look when I can. The Men are a folk-punk band who have been around 35 years – I’ve been going to see them since 1989, and they do various things on their own, too. One member passed away suddenly last year and I was really worried they were gong to break up but they seem to be continuing. I love seeing live music and want to see more again now. I used to go alone a lot when I lived in London as the only person I knew with the same music taste lived in New Mexico!
My music taste is all over the shop 🤣. If it’s good and makes me feel something of some sort, I like it, regardless of genre. I appreciate people with odd music tastes! 😂