As you may remember from my May TBR post, I was really hoping May would be a good reading month. And, thankfully, it turned out to be just that! I’m still a couple of days out from the end of the month as I write this, and so far, I’ve finished 15 books. I’m hoping to squeeze one or two more in before May is officially over, but I must say—I’m thoroughly enjoying being back to having more sit-down-and-read time! Hopefully, I’ll be able to get a blog post up sometime in the next week sharing all my favorite reads from May—there are quite a few!
June’s TBR list doesn’t really reflect the time I anticipate I’ll have to read this month, so I guess we’ll see what happens. Lord willing, I’ll be bookending the month with two 7-hour road trips, and I’m also hoping to spend two weekends in the middle of the month with different friends (each of whom lives 3 hours away from us, in different directions), so…yeah. Probably not as much time to read, but that’s okay. I’m making this list in the hopes that I’ll get to at least a few of them. One can always dream!
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An Upcoming Release/ARC:
Publishing June 17: The Atlas of Untold Stories by Sara Brunsvold: This was on my TBR list last month, but I didn’t have time to pick it up. I’m definitely looking forward to it, though—I’ve enjoyed her last two books!
Read Your Bookshelf Challenge:
This month’s prompt is “bird”, and I’ve got a bunch of books with a bird on the cover. I decided to read Lizzie Bright and the Buckminster Boy by Gary D. Schmidt, partly because he’s my newest favorite author and I haven’t read this yet, and partly because the used copy I bought is—ahem—highly annotated. If I enjoy the book the way I think I will, I’d like to get myself an unannotated copy. Yes, I’m one of those people who believe it’s a crime to write in books.
This Year’s Reading Goals:
I never did get my 2025 reading goals post up in January, like I planned. Maybe I’ll still do that, but as a bit of an update? We’ll see. Anyway, I’m hoping to check off at least two more books from my goals this month.
A Christian biography/memoir: Peril by Choice by James C. Hefley: I’ve had this on my TBR shelf for years, and it’s high time I finally got around to reading it! I’m expecting it’ll be a difficult but inspiring read.
Finish a series: Light of the Last by Chuck Black: I’ve been avoiding this series for years, but finally got around to reading book two last November. I think I’m ready to finish it now, and anticipate a fast read, once I finally get up the courage to pick it up! It’s a great story; I just find the thriller elements slightly too thriller-y for my comfort sometimes.
A Year of Maud:
I’m still playing catch-up with this challenge, so I’m hoping to read Anne’s House of Dreams and The Blue Castle, both by L.M. Montgomery, this month. I’m over the hump of struggling with the Anne series—as it turns out, having recently heard the first two books did make it harder for me to stay engaged when I was reading those. Both Anne of the Island and Anne of Windy Poplars were a joy to read this past month!
5 x 5 Reading Challenge:
A backlisted title: Behold the Dawn by K.M. Weiland: I read Weiland’s Dreamlander back in 2014, and loved it, but I haven’t read any of her books since then. I’m definitely looking forward to this one!
A creative/writing craft book: The Artist’s Way by Julia Cameron: I wrote about this in my book recs post, and realized I can probably fit the audiobook in this month (assuming it comes available from Libby in time; there’s quite a wait list on it!). I’ll be interested to see what I think of it, as it sounds like it has some new-agey stuff in it, but I’m hoping to put that to one side and use what is beneficial.
Published in the 70s: I’ve gone book shopping several times this past month, and my TBR shelf is currently threatening to overflow. One of the new books that came in was Dreams of Victory by Ellen Conford, which looks like it will be a sweet, easy read, and, as a bonus, was first published in 1973!
Buzzword Reading Challenge:
I’ve been trying to figure out how to fit The Disenchanted Club by Penelope L Roiall into my TBR list for months, and I suddenly realized today that the prompt “event” works perfectly for this title—a club meeting is an event, right? Mom’s been trying to get me to read this book for close to a year and a half now, I think, so it’s about time I got around to it, anyway!
Celebrating Jane Austen Readalong:
I still haven’t managed to get to April’s book, but oh, well. Maybe soon? Anyway, Mansfield Park is on the cards for June, and I’m cautiously optimistic I’ll enjoy it. I wasn’t impressed by a retelling I read of this book several years ago, but knowing how many people love this story, I’m willing to give it the benefit of the doubt and try reading it myself.
Well…that ended up being a longer list than I thought it would be! Oh, well. Some of the books are short, and others I’m certain I’ll fly through. And in the end, this is more of an ideas guide than a hard-and-fast list that I have to stick to.
What are you hoping to read in June?
