June saw me move to the US for 2 months, which is the sort of major upheaval that can really interfere with reading and reviewing. However, living in a strange city is quite good for spending nights with a good book (in spite of my workload) and some trans-American flights have helped keep reviews trickling in. This may be less true in July, where workload is due to hit truly epic proportions.
Reading Round-up
- Shattered Minds – Laura Lam
- The Space Between the Stars – Anne Corlett
- All Good Things – Emma Newman
- The Tropic of Serpents – Marie Brennan
- Leviathan Wakes – James S A Corey
- Raven Stratagem – Yoon Ha Lee
- Bitesize Books: Children of Thorns, Children of Water – Aliette de Bodard
Review Round-up
- A Natural History of Dragons – Marie Brennan
- Lock In – John Scalzi
Stacking the shelves
Mumble cough read alongs and bargains cough, etc. And yes, I totally failed in my intention to pick up no more ARCs too (just as well ARC August is coming soon). Good books though, eh?







Conscious demographics
My annual challenge is to read diversely and to love every book. This year I’ve made things a bit more complicated with subsidiary challenges and more fun with the Game of Books.
- 10 male (26%) / 26 female (67%) / 2 trans, non-binary or genderfluid (5%) + 1 antho
- 8 (21%) – by authors of colour / 22 (56%) prominently featuring POC
- 4 (10%) – by LGBTQIA authors / 18 (46%) featuring LGBTQIA characters
Challenges
Still ignoring challenges in favour of just enjoying my reading.
- 39 / 30 books or novellas
- 8 / 6 books by authors of colour
- 2 / 6 non-SFF books of which 0 non-fiction
- 2 / 6 classic SFF books (5 incl. rereads)
- 12 / 18 – off the shelf (it doesn’t count if I bought them to read them straight away!)
- Game of Books score: 200 / 150
- 20 Books of Summer score: 6 / 20 (novella don’t count)