As I was reflecting on this past month as a reader, I was pleasantly surprised by both the total number of books I completed and the number of books I actually liked.  I read a few toward the end of the month that I really did not enjoy and I feel like I’m in a reading funk.  Fortunately, they really weren’t all bad.  🙂

Here’s what I read in July:

Where They Found Her (Kimberly McCreight) – a fast-paced suspense novel. It wasn’t my favorite but those who love this genre will enjoy this one.

When We Were Worthy (MaryBeth Whalen) – releases September 12, 2017 – LOVE this book.  Whalen’s writing gets better with each release, and this story arc was quite a departure from her beach romance novels.  This centers around the aftermath of a tragedy in a small town.  So good!

The Sound of Gravel (Ruth Wariner) – this is Wariner’s memoir of growing up in a polygamist community in Mexico, her struggles and eventual escape.  I found it so fascinating – the reader can feel her personal heartbreak and trauma, and, later, her triumph and redemption.

Finding Your Voice: What Every Woman Needs to Live her God-given Passions Out Loud (Natalie Grant) – I love Natalie Grant as a singer, but this book was disappointing.  The message was great, but the writing was weak and redundant.

The Dry (Jane Harper) – This is the first in what will be a series about a detective named Aaron Falk.  I enjoyed it, but it isn’t the must-read novel of the month.

When Dimple Met Rishi (Sandhya Menon) – This one came highly recommended.  It’s a YA novel about two children of immigrants from India who discover their parents have essentially already arranged their marriage.  It had many endearing qualities, but I didn’t love it.  It seemed a bit too cheesy and unrealistic.

Dreamland Burning (Jennifer Latham) – This is another YA pick and I was so impressed. The story is set in Tulsa, OK, and flips back and forth between the race riots in 1921 and the present day.  Latham shows the ways race relations in Tulsa have and haven’t changed and breathes new life into an often overlooked event in history.

The Hate U Give (Angie Thomas) – My third YA of the month, although the language and events in this book make me a little wary of calling it that.  It seems very “adult” to me, but maybe I was overly sheltered in my younger teen years.  The title comes from Tupac’s explanation of the term T.H.U.G.L.I.F.E – “the hate u give little infants f***s everyone”.  Starr Carter is our narrator in this story, and through her eyes we watch a young black man be killed by a police officer, and then witness the response of the black community in the months that follow.  Intense. Painful. Powerful.

Present over Perfect: Leaving Behind Frantic for a Simpler, More Soulful Way of Living (Shauna Niequist) – I wanted to like this book. I really did.  Some of the essays resonated with me, but for the most part, I was SO BORED.  Sorry, fans of Shauna!

Girl in Snow (Danya Kukafka) – released August 1 – The publisher sent me this to read and review so I did but it was AWFUL.  Terrible. Don’t read it. I don’t even want to tell you about it.

My Grandmother Asked Me to Tell You She’s Sorry (Fredrik Backman) – Two of Backman’s books are on my all time favorites list (A Man Called Ove and Beartown), but this one never hooked me the way his others did.  I’m sure there are many who would enjoy it, but it wasn’t for me.

We  Should All Be Feminists (Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie) – This was really more of a short story/essay based on a TEDtalk by the author.  Drawing from her experiences as a child in Africa, data, and simple logic, Adichie shows us that feminism is good for everyone.  Success doesn’t have to be a zero sum game.  What’s good for women is good for humanity.  I liked it.

I’ve now read 76 (!!!) books this year.  At this rate, I will hit 100 in mid September, far ahead of the last couple years.  My goal for the year was 100, so I’m excited to see where I end up.

As always, I’d love your recommendations, if you have them. 🙂