Month In Review: June '09

June ended up surprising me--it was a better reading month than I thought it would be. I knew I would be busy with it being my last month at my job, but somehow I still managed to find time to read 15 books (and reviewed 16--one leftover from May)! For me, that's a good month. Here's how they all break down (this month I'm trying something different--listing the reviews by my star ratings, to kill two birds with one stone, so to speak):

5 stars:
T'aragam by Jack W. Regan
City of Bones by Cassandra Clare
Fire Study by Maria V. Snyder

4-1/2 stars:
Boston Scream Pie by Rosemary and Larry Mild
Just Listen by Sarah Dessen
A Passion Denied by Julie Lessman

4 stars:
Why Shoot a Butler? by Georgette Heyer
Beyond This Moment by Tamera Alexander
Priceless Memories (Audiobook) by Bob Barker
Star of the Morning by Lynn Kurland
For Glory by Elisabeth Lee

3-1/2 stars:
Marked (House of Night #1) by P.C. and Kristin Cast

3 stars:
That Summer by Sarah Dessen
The Jewel of Gresham Green by Lawana Blackwell
The Fetch by Laura Whitcomb

2 stars:
The Manning Brides by Debbie Macomber

Did Not Finish: Yes, I did have one this month. I simply could not get into Swoon by Nina Malkin. The drug use and casual sex got on my nerves early on and I decided that I had too many other books I really wanted to read rather than waste my time on that one.

I don't know about all of you, but when I type up these posts, I find myself thinking, "Wow, I read that book this month?" I guess when you read so many books and time passes so quickly, you do start to lose track of just how much you've accomplished. That's one reason why I like to do these monthly recap posts. It puts it all into perspective for me, and I hope you find them interesting or helpful, as well!

JUNE'S TOP PICK

Last month, I know I cheated and just listed all my five star reviews because I had such an incredible reading month. This time around, however, I actually do have just one book that to me, stood out above the others... T'aragam by Jack W. Regan! While I enjoyed my other 5-star books, reading T'aragam was just a fun experience for me and it's the start of a promising fantasy series for Juvenile readers and up!

READING CHALLENGE UPDATE

I do need to be better about updating my challenge progress in these monthly reviews. The Weekly Geeks question about reading challenges has helped jump start me with this, and you can see my thoughts on reading challenges here.

100+ Challenge (hosted at J. Kaye's Book Blog) - I am now at 70 books read, and we're only halfway through the year! I wish I'd be able to keep that rate up for the remainder of the year, but I have a feeling my new job may not allow for as much reading time as I've had lately. We'll see!

Pages Read Challenge (hosted at Secret Dreamworld of a Bookaholic)- I think that somehow I won't have any trouble reaching my goal of 30,000 pages read by the end of the year... I'm already at 24,180! At least I'll have a better idea of what to plan for next year. :-)

2009 Classics Challenge (hosted at Trish's Reading Nook)- Here's where I need to get to work. I've only read one (that counts, if you visit my post you'll see where I goofed up earlier) and planned to read 6 total! I've got a few weeks off here before my new job, so I'm hoping to get at least 2 Classics read during that time.

Sarah Dessen Challenge (hosted at Em's Bookshelf)- I joined this challenge earlier in the month after reading my first ever Sarah Dessen book, Just Listen. So far I've read 2 of 9 necessary books to complete the challenge, which I've chosen to try to do by the end of the year. So far, so good!

So that basically sums up my month. You can view all of my June 2009 posts here if you want to revisit anything I haven't mentioned above!