As I write this, I have finished seven books this month. I’m debating starting wrap-up style posts, but then I have reviewed every book that I’ve read this month *gasp*. I probably – hopefully, as it needs to be read by the time this gets posted – will have finished another book, but it wouldn’t make this list even if I had finished it earlier.

Bronze – Winter – Ali Smith 

I’m not sure that I felt so as soon as I finished it, but thinking back, I definitely preferred Winter to Autumn. It’s so rooted in present events, and that could be why – I read Winter only a couple of months after it was released. I’m definitely a lover of Ali Smith’s writing, and can’t wait to get to more of her work.

Silver – Percy Jackson and the Lightning Thief – Rick Riordan

This was SO good. I loved the characters, the plot, everything. I’m so glad Hannah made me pick this up!

Gold – Nice Try, Jane Sinner – Lianne Oelke

This book was incredible. The premise, humour, Jane herself. It dealt with serious topics really well, whilst keeping the rest of the story lighthearted. I absolutely adored this book, honestly, I haven’t laughed so much at a novel.

I finished twelve books in July, which is the most I’ve ever read in a month, so I’m very happy. There were no graphic novels or poetry collections, which makes it even more of an achievement for me! I loved pretty much every book I read, which makes this a difficult post to write, but nevertheless I have picked three.

Bronze – The Girls – Emma Cline

I was after this book last summer, but only the hardback was available (and I have to be picky when I purchase hardbacks because I have no space left for books!). A year of waiting meant that as soon as I got my hands on the paperback I devoured it. Honestly I loved this so, so much, and I think it’ll be one that stays with me and I will reread many times (I guess it helps that I find cults fascinating to read about, if a tad creepy / scary!)

Silver – Wing Jones – Katherine Webber

This book was just SO good. I absolutely loved this and cannot really put my love of it into words. I met Katherine Webber at YALC over the weekend and she truly was such a lovely, genuine person, which made my love for this book even stronger.

Gold – Loved – P.C. and Kristin Cast

It’s a House of Night book, it was never not going to be first on this list, regardless of any other amazing books I’ve read.

I read a total of nine books this month, which I’m happy with – though I wish I’d managed to read maybe a couple more. Nine is still really good for me though, so I’m not complaining too much! A lot of the books that I read I really enjoyed, and I didn’t give less than four stars, which is great!

Bronze – Stranger, Baby – Emily Berry

Oh my word this poetry collection was beautiful, I loved it so much. It is complex, I will say that, but I fell completely in love with it and can’t wait to reread it / pick up more by the poet! I highly, highly recommend it and totally agree with the hype it’s had.

Silver – Countless – Karen Gregory

THIS. It focuses on both teenage pregnancy and eating disorders and let me tell you, it’s amazing. It’s difficult to read at times because of the subject matter, but it’s well worth it. I love books where romance isn’t the main focus of them, and this is definitely true for Countless – it is only hinted at very rarely – and it made me love it more as the focus was on the issues Hedda faces and that’s how it should be.

Gold – The Hate U Give – Angie Thomas

Need I say more? It lives up to the hype and the importance of this novel alone is enough to put it first on the list! It’s wonderful, challenging in so many ways, but an absolute must-read. If you’re unsure because of the hype or for whatever reason, pick it up. Even if you don’t enjoy it for the plot itself or the writing etc, the message it holds makes this book incredible.

 

 

I had such a good reading month in July, and though I wanted to finish 10 books (I was 99 pages off…) I’m so pleased that I managed 9, and it’s the best I’ve done for a long time. The only problem with having a good reading month is that it’s very difficult to pick a top three, but I managed with the help of goodreads (I rated three books five stars, which was convenient).

Bronze – Stork Mountain – Miroslav Penkov

This book was so good! It has such an intricate and detailed plot, but I found it fascinating and unique. It is set in Bulgaria and I’d never read a book set there before, and I really enjoyed it! I shall be writing a full review for this very shortly and it will (hopefully) be up soon.

Silver – Breakfast of Champions – Kurt Vonnegut

Vonnegut is hands down one of my new favourite authors. I fell in love with his writing and satire reading Slaughterhouse 5 a few months ago, and plan to slowly progress through everything he has written. If you haven’t picked something up by him, I’d highly recommend it.

Gold – A Little Life – Hanya Yanagihara

A lot of the time I find that hyped books disappoint me… This wasn’t one of them. It was absolutely wonderful and I fell in love with the writing and the characters almost straight away, yet it broke my heart repeatedly throughout. It’s 720 pages, but didn’t feel this long at all. If you’re hesitant about picking it up, don’t be. It’s beautiful and you should read it.

Considering I had exams from the 9th – 21st June, I managed to finish five books. I’m pretty pleased with this, despite the fact that I am still 4 books behind schedule for my goodreads goal, though I’m hoping to make this up over summer.

I enjoyed all of the books that I read, I must say, with my lowest being three stars (I think Murakami is just a little too strange for my taste, though it was still enjoyable).

Bronze – The Adventures of Tom Sawyer – Mark Twain

This book was so much fun. Tom is an adorable character who is always in trouble and I guess could be irritating, if he weren’t so entertaining. This is a children’s classic and so was fairly easy to read, but it was perfect to read during exams to relax and forget about stress for a while.

Silver – Me Before You – Jojo Moyes

I think I may do a full review of this book at some point, though don’t hold me to that! I really enjoyed this book, though there were a couple of things that I did find a little disappointing. Mainly that I guessed the ending about halfway through, so I didn’t find it as emotional.

Gold – A Midsummer Night’s Dream – William Shakespeare

This play was absolutely fantastic. Shakespeare is wonderfully witty and this is definitely one of my favourites by him. I read this as I listened to it as an audiobook and I would definitely recommend doing this, as it makes it easier to follow with all of the different characters etc. It’s lighthearted and entertaining, so if you want to try Shakespeare but don’t fancy the tragedy that is found in Hamlet and Macbeth, for example, this is a great place to start!

It’s so strange writing 2016, and although I’ve written other posts with the year on I’m not used to it yet. I had a good reading month this month, which is surprising. I read nine books, which I’m really thrilled with as I only normally read this many over summer, so that’s a great achievement. Some of them were fantastic as well. These were difficult choices.

Bronze – Between Shades of Gray – Ruta Sepetys

This story was absolutely beautiful and I learnt so much about something I never even knew happened. The writing I found to be a little simple at times, in a way that I felt didn’t do the events justice, but this was only at a couple of points and I really did love this book.

Silver – In a Land of Paper Gods – Rebecca Mackenzie

This book was amazing. Just, I have no words. I do plan on writing a review soon as it was very kindly sent to me for review, but at present I don’t know how to put my feelings into words. I loved reading about something I had no idea of (missionaries in China) and it’s made me want to learn so much more about what it was like. The writing was incredible, as was the story, the character development, the setting – you get the idea. It would be number one if I hadn’t read the following book.

Gold – Fahrenheit 451 – Rad Bradbury

This is a perfect example of small but perfectly formed. It’s not long, but it’s so good. There are so many quotes in this book that I have marked with tabs, because they ring so true, even though it’s a dystopian. I adore adult dystopian novels (the thought-provoking, contemplate society pessimistically kind) and this was no exception. The world in the book is so possible, and that scares me, because I love my books. This is one of my favourite books of all time, and I shall undoubtedly reread it again and again; it’s definitely up there with To Kill a Mockingbird – which is my absolute favourite book.