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June means I have just a few more weeks of school and then it's sweet, sweet summer vacation for this tired teacher! I can't wait to just sit outside with a cold drink and a book and some peace and quiet. What will you be reading on these warmer summer days?

I’m starting Shadowrise by Tad Williams later today. It’s for a different Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ group where I’m a mod.

I'm on a big Canadian Literature kick at the moment, so I have Old Babes in the Wood: Stories by Margaret Atwood & The Lonely Hearts Hotel by Heather O'Neill lined up. And I realized I'm way behind on Mark Lawrence so I have The Girl and the Stars too.

The Exorcism Engines by Phil Foglio and Kaja Foglio

Recently I finished The Left-Handed Booksellers of London - I enjoyed it, though it was a bit formulaic and full of familiar tropes. There is a sequel, which I may or may not read at some point, but I didn't love it enough to immediately go find a copy.

My other recent finish is Song for a Whale a middle-grade fiction book that my sixth grader is reading with his book group at school. I'd heard good things about it, so I poached his copy one evening after he was done with his required chapters, and read it in one sitting. It's really a lovely book.

I will be picking up Spear from the library tomorrow, since I was just notified that my loan is in, so I'll be starting that next.

I just finished The Last Rose of Shanghai, and now started on Die Postkarte

I'll have to try Song for a Whale myself. I do appreciate good MG fiction.

I must say it had never even occurred to me that I’d enjoy middle grade fiction before I had kids of my own and I wanted to read what they were reading so we could talk about it together. I was missing out! There’s so many great MG books out there that adults can appreciate too!

Shel wrote: "I must say it had never even occurred to me that I’d enjoy middle grade fiction before I had kids of my own and I wanted to read what they were reading so we could talk about it together. I was mis..."

It can often be great.

I finished The Postcard (which I really recoomend) and have moved on to Atlas: The Story of Pa Salt. I feel like I should reread all the previous books, as it's been a while...

In June I’ve read:
Shadowrise by Tad Williams, 8.5/10. Well, you can tell this is the second-last book in the series because finally things are coming together, setting up the climax! Most of the main characters are heading to the same place and I don’t doubt that the others will join them.
What I liked:
-understanding more of the story of the gods and how that impacts the current plots/subplots
-vivid descriptions; engaging characters—not just the main ones, but the secondary ones as well
-the multi-layered plot and the blurring of the lines between “good guys� and “bad guys� as we learn that almost everyone is just trying to survive (Exception—Autarch Sulepis!)
What I didn’t like:
-some of the inevitable journeying was a bit too endless—Briony with the players, Barrick with the crow, Olin with the Autarch and Vash
-related to that issue, the snail’s pace of much of the book. That is typical of this author, not just in this series, and while so much detail makes for a fully realized world and characters, it also makes for long books that occasionally get bogged down in the details. Still, I read this book in half the time I read book 2, so that’s an improvement in pacing, I guess.
-subplots that feel superfluous: Matt Tinwright and Lady Elan, Sister Utta and Lady Merolanna
I am hoping for a truly satisfying conclusion in the next book, which I’ll be reading in July for a different Å·±¦ÓéÀÖ group.

A Psalm for the Wild-Built by Becky Chambers, 9/10, comments in our BotM discussion folder.

The First Eagle by Tony Hillerman, 8/10. Once again Retired Navajo Tribal Police Lieutenant Joe Leaphorn and Acting Lieutenant Jim Chee work on a murder and a disappearance, coming at the mysteries from different places but ultimately working together to solve them. And their personal lives get some resolution, too. Very satisfying.

I am taking 2 more Navajo Mysteries along on my trip, as well as a stand-alone fantasy called Minerva Wakes by Holly Lisle, and I have Children of Ruin and Children of Memory by Adrian Tchaikovsky downloaded on my iPad. I don’t expect to finish all those, but we do have time in airports and on airplanes, so I should at least put a dent in the pile.

Phantasm: An Isekai LitRPG by Christopher Hall

Currently listening to: The Second Sight of Zachary Cloudesley. Will start reading Prophet soon.

Beyond Kings and Princesses: Governments for Worldbuilders by Oren Litwin

Cloak of Dragonfire by Jonathan Moeller

I finished Into the West which I really enjoyed and now I wait for the last book of this trilogy
I am now starting Wrong Place Wrong Time