I cannot believe that 2018 is already half over; it is both the longest year of my life where time stood still and the quickest year where life is just rushing me by. I had a pretty good month overall full of wrapping up some work projects, new friendships, movies, and travel! Let’s take a look at my bookish world for June, shall we?
Reading
It wasn’t my best month for reading – I had a couple of 5-day+ reading slumps, which resulted in an ARC heavy month for me. I read 8 books in June, all of them listed below. Click the title links to be taken to the Goodreads page, and if my review has been published here on the blog I will also provide a link to it.
- * The Things We Learn When We’re Dead by Charlie Laidlaw (Review)
- * The Fragile Ordinary by Samantha Young (Review)
- * Not Like Everyone Else by Jennifer Leigh
- * Book Simulator by Chris Yee (Review)
- * The Game of Hope by Sandra Gulland (Review)
- * The Mermaid by Christina Henry (Review)
- Ace of Shades by Amanda Foody (Review)
- * Suicide Club by Rachel Heng (Review)
ARCs/copies from author are noted above by an asterisk *
Total Books Read in June: 8
Total Books Read in 2018: 74
Goodreads Reading Goal: 50 100
Book Haul
I have a problem with buying books. I don’t know what it is but lately, I have been a MONSTER and I literally have stacks of books to read. I know my hauls are nothing compared to some other bloggers, but considering I have literal book towers for TBR piles, I really should save my money. I am going to go on a book buying ban for July… wish me luck!
- Legendary by Stephanie Garber
- Calypso by David Sedaris
- The Anomaly by Michael Rutger
- Anna Undreaming by Thomas Welsh (finished copy provided by author)
- Proof by Ted Berner (finished copy provided by author)
- Mammoth by Jill Baguchinsky (ARC provided by Turner Publishing)
- Tiny Beautiful Things by Cheryl Strayed
- The Heart of the Buddha’s Teaching by Thich Nhat Hanh
I bought a couple of books I used to own because when working on Sentranced Saturday posts I realized my copies were never returned by whoever borrowed them. Rude! I should start a library log or something because this is ridic!
eBooks Purchased (not yet reviewed): Timebound, The Fifth Season, The Immanent World: Cluichi: A Horror Anthology Series, Ace of Shades, Uprooted
eARC approvals (not yet reviewed): Hullmetal Girls, Beneath the Citadel, Contagion
Movies
I thought that I would add a segment where I talk about the movies I saw during the month. Let me know what you think about this inclusion in the comments.
I actually enjoyed every movie that I saw this month, and I am again glad that MoviePass has enabled me to see movies again – and take chances. Hotel Artemis and Hereditary are up there for faves this month.
The various thoughts I had while seeing #HereditaryMovie
1) Hmm… this is a little slow
2) Wow ok this is atmospheric
3) I dig it, cinematography is 👌and the score is 💯
4) That’s a good jumpscare
5) …what the fuck
6) That’s the end? WTF
7) *googles the ending at home*— Kaleena 📚 Reader Voracious (@kalventure) June 20, 2018
Video Games
The Steam Summer Sale has sucked me back into gaming, which came at the perfect time because I have been experiencing an intense book hangover after Ace of Shades murdered me.
- Played and Beaten: Simulacra, West of Loathing
- Not Yet Played: Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit, Life is Strange Before the Storm, Cthulu Saves the World, Left 4 Dead 1 & 2 (legit this was $2.98 total!)
Oh, and this happened:
LOL I totally forgot that I impulse bought an NES Classic at 5:30 a.m. pic.twitter.com/1piwpUzH0R
— Kaleena 📚 Reader Voracious (@kalventure) June 29, 2018
Community
I am participating in the July Comment Challenge, and am so excited to get to know Lily @ Sprinkles of Dreams over the course of the month! Sign-ups for the month are closed, but you can sign up to participate in August here!
Blog & Stats
Here’s how Reader Voracious Blog did in terms of views & visitors in June 2018… look at the comparison to previous months!!! While it is exciting to see my words and thoughts being consumed rather than going into the void, I really enjoy interacting with you all and getting to know you! That’s by far my favorite part of this blog and is what makes this hobby worthwhile. 💖
Thanks so much, everyone for visiting, liking, commenting, and sharing your experiences here! I created this blog because I love books so much and wanted a platform to scream about them with others, and this has been such a rewarding and fulfilling experience. I treasure each of you and am humbled that you choose to read the words I write.
Let’s go on another adventure together!
I’m glad you had a good month! I too was in a slump, except mine lasted the entire month of June! I only got to read 5 books and none was rated more than 3 stars. And great haul! I hope you enjoy them all! I totally get what you mean about piles of books. I currently have piles in my closet because they don’t fit on my shelf! And congrats on your rising stats! May they keep on rising!
Yea you had a bad reading month, I am sorry your reads weren’t great but I hope July is better for both of us!!! Thank you so much for the congrats, I am so excited to watch my little blog grow. <3
You rocked it this month!!! 🖤 seriously! And don’t even talk to me about bans or buying issues 😭 I buy more books than I can ever read haha. I just love them with all of my heart and need them. Hope Vegas was fun!
I literally broke my ban like 5 minutes after writing about the ban… this is going well. LOL Vegas was a blast, and I think I have my reading mojo back thankfully! Books are just too pretty. xD
Vegas in August for us. Will be blazing hot 🔥 but fun!
Yea it was 105 this past weekend… sadly that’s the summer temps where I live now so 😐
Yuck!
You killed it this month, Kaleena! Book buying is a serious issue for us all – I feel your struggle! I can never move again.
UGH I don’t even want to think about moving… that would be a pain in the ass for sure!
Looks like you had an awesome month, Kaleena! I also have Awesome Adventures of Captain Spirit cued up, but I’m completely obsessed with Subnautica at the moment (it’s so perfect for summer)….Ahh there are so many things to read and play!
Thank you Kathy, and YES! Too much to play… Subnautica looks so fun but I am concerned I would lose all my other spare time! I played Life Is Strange Before the Storm yesterday for 10 hours (full playthru oops).
Wow what a great reading month you had! I’m looking forward to read The Mermaid. Aah yess steam summer sale is a steal, my fav game so far is My Time at Portia, it’s very addicting!!
I hope that you enjoy The Mermaid, Carolina! I am looking forward to seeing your thoughts on it – it was a treasure!
Thank you so much. I’ll get back at you when I finished them! Thanks 💕
You seem to have had a lovely month, with the books read and the new books acquired and the movies too. All good going with the stats.
Hope you’ve a great july also.
Thank you so much!
I hope you enjoy Legendary more than I did, Kaleena! I can’t wait to hear what you’ll think of Uprooted. 🙂 And congrats on your stats! <3
Thank you so much, Lily! I am not sure when I will get around to Legendary as I haven’t even read Caraval yet hahaha. (This must be peak book addiction.)