I finally got hit by my annual summer reading slowdown. I’ve been trying to avoid it as much as possible. Trying to read every day from a least a couple of books. However, it came and got me anyway.
To be fair, it wasn’t entirely my fault. I had lots to do this month. So much that I put off doing D&D for a month to deal with things. The first thing that was on my radar for the month was getting done with my class I had been taking since March.
I had to do my final exam for that class two weeks ago. The class itself was Medical Coding. While I didn’t find the class difficult. The final was a lot of work with all of the content coming together. I think I did pretty well on the exam, though and should have at least a B in the class.
Doing well in the class also sets me up for getting into Medical Billing in the fall. However, I have a few months off in between, so I’m looking forward to that. The next thing that slowed me down was that I had a small surgery. It wasn’t anything major, just small and unavoidable and annoying.
I had that this past week as well so that explains some of my getting behind on reading. Hopefully, though, with being stuck in bed for recovery, I’ll get some extra time to read and maybe add on a few books before the end of the month.
I think I did pretty good when it came to reading, even with the two events above cutting down on my time. I managed to finish six books, which is roughly half of what I read in a month.
My first book this month was Fine: A Comic about Gender. I especially loved Rhea Ewing’s style and their own exploration of gender. It helped me make some decisions about my own gender journey.
The next book I read was Black Sun which I reviewed last Friday. Black Sun became one of my top novels this year right after Immortal Dark. I am also happy with my getting to read more long novels. Though I have fallen behind a bit when it comes to number of books read so I might have to adjust my goal or try and catch up in August.
My next two books were LGBTQ graphic novels. I got a chance to read Dan of Green Gables. A queer retelling of Anne of Green Gables that I found particularly charming. My review for it should be up this week. Another queer book that I got a chance to review was Strange Bedfellows. It was a thoughtful fantasy about the nature of responsibility and love.
Finally, I read two of my arcs from NetGalley, North of Tomboy, an in-depth middle grade novel inspired by author Julie A. Swanson growing up in the seventies as someone who felt discomfort in her role as a girl. And Tamaki and Amane a group of short manga stories.
I wish I could have gotten more books read this month, but I’m not too upset about it given the circumstances. I’ll try and catch up number-wise in August. I’m also proud of how much I’ve been interacting on Instagram and getting my numbers up. What are you proud of accomplishing this month? Let me know in the comments
Happy Reading,
Solara
Rose's Book Garden 