Monday, June 30, 2014

July's Reading Plans

Good riddance to June! Unless I manage to somehow pull off a reading miracle in the next couple of hours, I will have finished exactly two books this month and both of those books were under 100 pages consisting mostly of pictures. One actually being a picture book for small children, Chu's First Day of School by Neil Gaiman, and the other also being by Neil Gaiman, The Truth is a Cave in the Black Mountains which was fantastic. That one I've read before in his Stories anthology, but I LOVED this edition which was accompanied by paintings by Eddie Campbell. I'm almost finished Exiles in America by Christopher Bram and I'm about halfway through the audio of The Night Watch by Sarah Waters but I doubt that either will get finished tonight, so those will likely go on the list for July's books.

I've been doing themed reading months with Debi this year and absolutely loving it! For July, we decided to pick books for each other! We made each other giant lists of books that we want each other to read :) The list I made for Debi is ridiculously long :p I'm in love with the list that she made for me and I've decided that I'm going to make it a goal to read every book on this list. Yes, this month I'll be focusing JUST on these books, but eventually I'd like to get to all of them! Here's the list:

1. The Stand by Stephen King - I've started this one TWICE! And I've actually really liked what I've read so far. I'm about 350 pages in. Maybe this will be the month I actually finish it :p

2. And The Band Played On by Randy Shilts

3. The Essential Dykes to Watch Out For by Allison Bechdel - Really hope to get to this one this month!

4. Morning Glories by Nick Spencer and Joe Eisma - Dying to read this series!

5. A Game For Swallows by Zeina Abirached

6. Last Chance to See by Douglas Adams - Has been on my TBR FOREVER

7. Javatrekker by Dean Cycon

8. The Curious Incident of the Dog in the Night-Time by Dean Cycon - Why have I not read this yet??

9. We Have Always Lived in the Castle by Shirley Jackson - Read this one!

10. Saffy's Angel by Hilary McKay

11. Castle Waiting by Linda Medley

12. Akata Witch by Nnedi Okorafor - Been wanting to read something by her forever now

13. The Amazing Maurice and His Educated Rodents by Terry Pratchett

14. Tomorrow, When the War Began by John Marsden - I tried the audio of this and didn't like the narrator but looking forward to the book!

15. The Night Watch by Sarah Waters - in the middle of the audio and loving it!

16. Code Name Verity by Elizabeth E. Wein - Another I've been dying to read

17. Chasing Vermeer by Blue Balliet - Haven't even heard of this one! Love those surprise books :)

18. Pictures of Hollis Woods by Patricia Reilly Giff - I may start with this one. It's short, sounds good and I can feel accomplished by knocking something out quick :p

19. Eating Animals by Jonathan Safran Foer - Read it and LOVED it. This is seriously a life changing book. Should be required reading.

20. Bad Science by Ben Goldacre - Another I'm dying to read (sensing a theme here?)

21. Page by Paige by Laura Lee Gulledge - Another I haven't even heard of!

22. The Goose Girl by Shannon Hale - I've avoided this book like the plague for some reason and I have NO idea why! I think it's a case of everyone loving it so much when it came out that I'm afraid I wouldn't. I should no better though :p

23. The Moon is a Harsh Mistress by Robert Heinlein

24. The Tales of ETA Hoffmann

25. The Secret Life of Bees by Sue Monk Kidd

26. Same Difference by Derek Kirk Kim - Really liked this one!

27. Under the Dome by Stephen King - Looking forward to this one! Season 2 of the tv series starts tonight! But I hear the book is significantly different than the tv show and really good.

28. Silent to the Bone by E.L. Konigsburg

29. Shine by Lauren Myracle - So good!

30. The Golden Compass by Philip Pullman - Yep, I really haven't read this one yet :p I think it's the same reason as The Goose Girl. I'm going to make this book number two though after Hollis Woods. I AM going to read this this month!

31. There is no Dog by Meg Rosoff - This will be my first Rosoff!

32. Plenty: One Man, One Woman, And A Raucous Year of Eating Locally by Alisa Smith and JB MacKinnon - Well if that doesn't sound like a book I'd like, I don't know what does :p

33. When You Reach Me by Rebecca Stead

34. Roll of Thunder, Hear Me Cry by Mildred Taylor - This is the book I dread most on the list :p I have this REALLY strong aversion to books that were "school books". I really have no idea why, but I just never liked books that I had to read for school :p I never had to read this one for school but I remember seeing it all the time when other kids were reading it. I WILL be proved wrong though ;)

35. A People's History of American Empire by Howard Zinn - Dying to read this one!

So looking forward to these!!! I have a good month of reading ahead of me :D

7 comments:

Anonymous said...

I clasped my hands joyously like a huge dork when I saw And the Band Played On on your list. IT IS SO GOOD OMG YOU HAVE TO READ IT. Seriously, you should read that one for sure. It's so good. The stuff about Patient Zero turned out to be wrong, but that wasn't Randy Shilts's fault, and Gaetan Dugas was legit a jerk.

Melanie said...

I absolutely LOVED Code Name Verity when I read it last year. So worth it! Good luck!

Debi said...

Yay! It's letting me comment now. :)

This post just made me so happy--made me excited to actually read again! LOL--I didn't even realize Roll of Thunder, Hear My Cry was a "school" book. But I totally get the way you feel. I do think you'll like it though. But Sweetie, do NOT read it if you don't want to--this is not supposed to be a list of torture! :P And you know, despite how well we know each other, I suspect we'll miss the mark every once in a while--and that's totally okay, don't you agree? I just posted the list you gave me too. :D I didn't realize the one I made was so much shorter than the one you did--I need to remedy that. :P

Kristen M. said...

Such fun books. There are some I haven't heard of that I'll have to look up! I was thinking of reading Code Name Verity this month finally. Maybe I should make a July reading list.
Good luck!

Susan said...

Under the Dome is a little different from the tv series - and far better, IMO. Much preferred the book! And yes: read the Golden Compass! seriously, you will enjoy this quite a bit, I think. At the very least,you will want to know what your soul animal companion is!!!
I have to read The Goose Girl too. You have to read Castle Waiting, it is so good and funny!!!

love this list, Deb really picked some fabulous books here for you :-)

Vasilly said...

I love this month's theme! You guys have some fantastic books on your lists. The Pictures of Hollis Woods is a really good book. You might tear up on it. The Secret Life of Bees, Akata Witch, When You Reach Me, Castle Waiting, and There is no Dog are more great books. Happy reading!

Maree said...

We Have Always Lived in the Castle!!! I read that ... last month? It's so good. So, so creepy for such a small book.

The Golden Compass! CODE NAME VERITY!!!

Great theme :-)