July Wrap-Up

July Overview

July was entirely devoted to school stuff. Seriously, I spent so much time researching, reading, and writing that I barely left the house. On July 4^th we ate hamburgers, and the neighbors shot off fireworks all night. My poor, stupid mutt Butch-Kiera is convinced that fireworks are a sign of the apocalypse.

I learned that it’s disconcerting to wake up to something giant crawling around under your bed in the middle of the night. But, under-the-bed is the only place that’s safe from fireworks.

While I was working on school stuff, I listened to the Planet Earth TV series. It made me wish I could be a nature photographer, even though I’m terrible at photography. So, one day when I really needed to get away from the computer, I took my camera out in the yard to find some nature. I found a toad, but Butch-Kiera also found the toad, so instead of toad pictures, I got dog-trying-to-eat-toad pictures.

Then I found this weird bugger. I think it’s a larval moth.

Basically, July taught me that my yard nature sucks, and I’m not cut out to be a nature photographer. Back to the school stuff, I guess.

Books I Read

In July, I read 10 books and DNFed 1.

Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson

Forgive Me, Leonard Peacock – Matthew Quick

All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr

Nimona – Noelle Stevenson

All Quiet on the Western Front – Erich Maria Remarque

She is Not Invisible – Marcus Sedgwick

I’ll Meet You There – Heather Demetrios

Misery – Stephen King

Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America – Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Dracula – Bram Stoker

Say You’re One of Them – Uwem Akpan (DNF)

I also made some progress on my reading challenges. Click here to see how I’m doing.

Best Books Of July

My three favorites of the month:

1. All the Light We Cannot See – Anthony Doerr

2. Misery – Stephen King

3. Terrible Typhoid Mary: A True Story of the Deadliest Cook in America – Susan Campbell Bartoletti

Most-Viewed Reviews

The reviews you clicked in July:

1. Oranges Are Not the Only Fruit – Jeanette Winterson

2. Beautiful You– Chuck Palahniuk

3. The Thing about Jellyfish – Ali Benjamin

Most-Viewed Non-Reviews

Everything else you clicked in July:

1. Discussion: Why Diverse Books Matter To Me

2. June Wrap-Up

3. Top Ten Tuesday: Underrated Books

Tentative August TBR

Right now, my life is severely lacking spontaneity, so I’ve decided to let a random number generator pick what I read in August. The generator will choose a number, and I’ll count along my TBR shelf. My August TBR will be a surprise to everybody, including me.

All The Things

All The Things (AKA my TBR pile) = 26 books.

I’m currently reading The Game of Love and Death by Martha Brockenbrough.