June was a busy month at work for me, which has meant less reading outside of read-alongs. I also became a slush reader for a certain magazine I love, which now gets a portion of my reading time. In between, I’ve chosen to focus on bite-sized books, continuing my sashay through award nominees and dipping in and out of anthologies as time permitted.

Reading round-up 

• Stiletto – Daniel O’Malley     
• Temeraire – Naomi Novik     
• Any Other Name – Emma Newman    
• Half-off Ragnarok – Seanan McGuire    

Bite-size book reviews

I’m posting the Bite-size round-up separately this month as I have focused on award-nominated short stories (which really are bite-size!) rather than independently-published novellas.

• Damage – David D Levine    
• When Your Child Strays From God – Sam L Miller    
• Jackalope Wives – Ursula Vernon     
• The Tomato Thief – Ursula Vernon    
• Three Cups of Grief, by Starlight – Aliette de Bodard    
• Folding Beijing – Hao Jingfang    

 

Stacking the shelves

I have been very good (or, err, very busy) this month, so the shelves haven’t been graced with many new titles. However, they’ve definitely made up for quantity with sheer quality as I’ve got my hands on two books I’ve been dying to read and a gorgeous hardback by a new-to-me author (moral of the story: Super Relaxed Fantasy Club will lead you astray). I AM SO EXCITE.

 

Conscious demographics

My challenge to myself is to read diversely and to love every book. This tracker is intended to help me stay mindful of how I’m doing with that. I’m reasonably happy with my progress here, although I need to keep an eye on it.

• 20 male (50%) / 17 female (42.5%) / 3 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (7.5%)
• 8 (20%) – by people of colour
• 6 (15%) – by non-het people / 9 (22.5%) featuring non-het protagonists

Actual challenges

• 40 / 75 books (again excl. this month’s bite-size reads as so short)
• 15 (37.5%) – towards the Backlist Challenge (excl. re-reads)
• 2 / 20 – towards the #20BooksofSummer Challenge (an inauspicious beginning, but I’m only counting books I started after June 1st!)