Challenge wrap up: something new!

[fred_mouse]

What I have learned this month: If I do not put post reminders in my calendar; I do not post checkin posts. Which means we have made it to the end of June, and the end of the Reading Together Something New! challenge, with little fanfare, but hopefully not little reading. So, did you read anything new (or new-to-you) in June? Short stories, fanfic, hefty tomes, any and/or all of the above, everything counts!

Comments

[fred_mouse]

My main achievement would be receiving Nettle And Bone by Ursula Vernon (or alter ego) and finishing it within 24 hours; highly recommended. That was such a good feeling, because I've stalled on so many other things I've started reading.

And, although outside the challenge window of 'June', I acquired a book at the op-shop today, and have finished it in under six hours. I'm not recommending it though, because while it was a perfectly competent murder mystery, I found the characters wooden and the setting Not Quite Right (university life in Australia in the early 90s, something I have a reasonable amount of first hand experience in, but dialed up to 11 on a number of points in order to shoehorn multiple murders in -- could have worked for me; didn't.)

[kalloway]

I worked every single day in June, which meant I was often exhausted. Somewhere in there, I did re-read the first Scum Villain novel and then the recently acquired second, and also the second Grandmaster of Demonic Cultivation novel as well. Feelings are mixed on both.

[fred_mouse]

Yay for at least having a little energy for reading, even if it wasn't quite what you were hoping for.

[cactus_rs]

I got all of the reading done that I wanted: the crackpot sci fi*, the book club book, the middle grade fantasy novel. Huzzah!


*this one involved a great deal of skimming, ngl

[fred_mouse]

Fabulous!

[autumndaze]

I finished 67 fanfics and 15 books. Poked at a few other things I didn't finish, mostly some novels. One of my favorite reads was this 41k+ fic from "Heaven Official's Blessing" https://archiveofourown.org/works/32018323 for Yin Yu/Quan Yizhen (with background Hua Cheng/Xie Lian). Really loved it. "The Grief of Stones" by Katherine Addison came out, and I loved it even more than the first book in that trilogy. Really looking forward to "The Dragon's Tomb" (book 3). Also finally read a lot of manga by Scarlet Beriko, absolutely loved it, particularly her "Jealousy" series.

[fred_mouse]

That is a fantastic achievement! Well done

[rmc28]

I did not read very much of the Witcher books I had planned to for Something New.

I did buy and read my way through the entire current available "Game Changers" series of m/m ice hockey romances by Rachel Reid, plus the first of a different m/m ice hockey romance series by Cait Nary. And I bought several books which were on sale for Pride month that I haven't yet started but hope to this month.

[fred_mouse]

Yay for finding something new to you that has brought you pleasure, even if it wasn't the plan!

Also: I am interesting in hearing more about these hockey romances, having fallen out of love with hockey RPF some years ago.

[peaceful_sands]

My plan was to read the below:
1. The Raven King by Maggie Stiefvater
2. Murder at the Magnolia Inn by Helena Marchmont
3. The Song of Achilles by Madeleine Miller
4. Double Cross by Ben Macintyre
5. The Alchemist of Fire and Fortune by Gigi Pandian
and 2 library loans:
* The Man who Died Twice by Richard Osman
* The Dictionary of Lost Words by Pip Williams.

I am still reading The Raven King but all of the others were finished along with:
The Magpie Lord, Athena's Child, The Killings at Badger's Drift (library loan), The Visitor (library loan), Before she Disappeared (library loan), Black Butler Vol 31, The Night She Disappeared (library loan), Silent Lies (library loan), The Last Days of John Lennon (library loan), Lavinia (not new to me - on the shelf for... ages), The Library, Aurora Rising and Poison Ivy.

A lot of library loans came in early - they weren't due until the end of June or sometime in July, but when I receive them I do feel duty bound to get through them asap especially, if there's a waiting list.

Best books of the month would be The Man Who Died Twice, The Dictionary of Lost Words, and Aurora Rising. I did enjoy the Black Butler but feel wary recommending a book that is 31st in a series! As audio books I highly recommend Nathaniel Parker's reading of the Helena Marchmont cosy mystery series (Murder at Magnolia Inn and Poison Ivy are the 11th and 12th in the series). He has a wonderful voice to listen to - it's a shame each book is less than 4 hours long.

[fred_mouse]

Congratulations on achieving so many of your goals, plus all the extra reading. I, too, liked The Man Who Died Twice.

[krait]

Well, I *started* a new book! I'm only about 20 pages in, but at least I got the cover opened before the month's end. :D

[fred_mouse]

Starting is a win! I hope you have had time to make progress on it in the time since!

[krait]

It is now September, and I'm about halfway through!

(It's The Lost Road by Christopher Tolkien, so it's very dense and I have to keep flipping to the annotation page and back to the manuscript page, flipping back to the first draft while reading the second draft, etc. Halfway is decent progress by my lights, especially since I've sandwiched a few other lighter reads in there in between bursts of working on it.)