May Wrap Up

Wow! I can’t believe it is June tomorrow.  May flew past, and I don’t have much to show for it.  May is one of my busier months at work, with starting to get the library closed up for the summer.  Also, my son is home for a visit, so some of the time that I usually spend reading has been spent with him, but no regrets there. Also, one of the books I read was quite hefty and took a long time to read, but it was a good book so that was ok too. 

I only managed 13 books this month and many of them were rereads.  I enjoy rereading books, especially in anticipation of the next book in a series.  I read so much that I find I forget the finer details in a book, which can be important when reading the next in a series.  Also my audio books were down a bit as I was listening to some longer books than normal.  

ARCs and New Releases:

These were all new releases in April, but I didn’t get them until May.  They were all excellent.  The Fates Divide was long but so good I didn’t mind the length.  I hope to have a review up soon about it.  Defy the Worlds was also awesome and I am looking forward to the next one.  Good Dog is a middle grade novel, by one of my favorite local authors who recently visited my school.  If you have never read any of Dan Gemeinhart books I highly recommend them.  He is also an excellent speaker, my kids were enthralled by him.  I’m hoping to do a middle grade review post soon and will include this one.

These were the ARC’s I read and reviewed this month.  I really enjoyed The Oddling Prince, it was a quiet but interesting read.  LifeL1k3 was awesome and deserves all of the hype it has received.  Furyborn was very disappointing to me and from what I have seen recently to others as well.  It had such potential.  Bruja Born was good, but not quite as good as Labyrinth Lost. 

These are all of the rest of the books I read this month.  I am hoping to reread all of The Great Library Books before the fourth one comes out in July.  This was such a good series, but I found that I had forgotten so much from the first book, that I am really glad I decided to read it again before tackling the new one.  The Demon King and The Exiled Queen were comfort books that I listened to while I was inventorying my library.  Inventory is one of the most tedious aspects of my job, but I am required to do it yearly.  I usually listen to a familiar audio book, so if I get interrupted or need to turn my attention to what I am doing, I don’t lose the thread of the story.  I am taking a break from this series to get some middle grade books done, but I will go back soon.  The Murderbot Diaries was awesome, I am waiting on the second one from the library (or I may go buy it) and I have the third as an ARC.  They are very short, but if you are into science fiction or AI at all you should check this series out.  The Girl From Everywhere was also a good audio book.  I have the second one but am waiting a bit before I listen to it.  I become Shadow is the book that comes before Bobby Sky, Boy Band or Die.  I discovered after reading Bobby that it was the second in a series, although it doesn’t really matter which one you read first. 

I only have these four ARC’s from Netgalley for this month, although I am waiting on approval on another one.  I think, except for the Language of Spells, I added these because of comments and reviews I saw on other blogs.  Hopefully they will live up to the expectations I have of them.  

Reaper at the Gates is the only new release in June that I haven’t read that I am looking forward to.  The rest of these all came out in May.  Allied is sitting on my bedside table waiting for me to get started on it.  I’m still waiting on the other two from the library.  I’ve seen some mixed reviews about Smoke Thieves, so I am hoping it will be good.  I loved her Half Bad series.  I thought the third book in the Red Queen series was a bit tedious and I hope this one is better.  I may not get it this month though, I’m number 129 on the wait list with only 61 copies.  Read fast those of you before me.  I still have three weeks before school is done, I know we are probably the last district on earth to start summer vacation, so if I only get these eight books done, I will be happy.  

I ran across some interesting things this month that I want to pass to you all.  The first is this interesting article from the BBC about how every story has one of these six basic plots.  I was skeptical when I first read it, but then I started thinking about it and I really think they are on to something.  I would be interested to hear what other people think.  

Second, you may have noticed a lot of privacy stuff coming your way because of this new law in Europe that is suppose to protect people’s privacy.  This article from Nose Graze is one of the better ones I have run across about it.  She is not claiming to be an expert on the subject, but her explanations are clear and understandable and it made the whole mess a lot clearer in my mind. 

 If you saw my post on Monday you know that I have joined an interesting challenge.  It is a comment challenge which hopefully will get me into the habit of commenting on other people’s blogs more often.  If you want more info check out my post here and the post on Kernel of Nonsense for more info.  It sounds like a lot of fun.  The last day to sign up for June is today, but if you miss it you can sign up again in July. 

The last big news is that I reached 200 followers this month!  Thank you to all of you who have taken a chance on my little blog.  I am honored that you have chosen to follow me and I hope that you have found some interesting things to read about books here.