Wednesday, June 01, 2011

Goodbye May, Hello June

May seemed to both pass by very quickly as well as drag interminably. I think it was partially to do with one of my university assignments being due, but whatever it was, it made May feel a very strange month. But it was also quite fun, seeing a whole week devoted to Fairy Tales and Fairy Tale Retellings. I loved writing those posts and I hope everyone enjoyed reading them. Big thank you again to Hayley from Read A Book On You for her guest review and to Tammy from The Book Fairy's Haven for her guest post.

What do we all think of my themed weeks? Would you like to see more of them on a regular basis?



Just quickly, I'd like to mention how well my Awesome Women feature is doing. I love that all of you are behind it and are commenting on these posts. It really makes me happy and May has seen some incredible interviews with some really awesome women. Here's a small recap:

I wrote a small post about one of my favourite fictional characters from television, Sidney Bristow and then later in the month, a post about my favourite female characters from Harry Potter. We had two blogger interviews, the firsty with Suey from It's All About Books and then with Becca from The Watson Kitchen. As a fun coincidence, both spoke about large families!

At the beginning of the month, there was an interview with bestselling author, Celia Rees! And for fairy tale week, I looked in more details at the lives of some authors of fairy tale retellings as well as posted an interview with the very lovely Zoe Marriott.


Coming up in the future for my Awesome Women feature? Lots. Look forward to it, seriously. I have even more author interviews that I can even believe lined up. Lauren Kate for one (!!), ML Walsh, the author of an amazing book for MG readers.

And, excitedly, I've teamed up with the awesome authors who write a collab blog called The Edge. All are authors of gritty, contemporary YA and I think they're all incredible: Savita Kalhan, Miriam Halahmy, Paula Rawsthorne, Bryony Pearce, Katie Dale, Keren David, Dave Cousins and Sara Grant. It's quite a new blog, so do check it out and subscribe! Interviews with The Edge authors will be running from June through to August and I will be telling you a bunch more about these authors and their books very soon! :)

But back to the monthly totals...

Here is a list of the books I read during May. My goal for the month was to be caught up with some of my books for review that have been sent from the publisher. Which I think I've managed to do to the best of my ability. Plans for June will be along the same lines though. I do still have quite the large stack of books to get through :(

As always, I've listed the means of acquiring the book next to the title. Only one or two books here not sent for review. The * denotes British authors.

1. The Fool's Girl by Celia Rees* (sent for review)

2. Sisters Red by Jackson Pearce (swapped)

3. The Iron Daughter by Julia Kagawa (sent for review)

4. Prisoner of the Inquisition by Theresa Breslin* (sent for review)

5. Mistress of the Storm by ML Walsh* (sent for review)

6. Pride and Premiership by Michelle Gayle* (sent for review)

7. In the Sea There Are Crocodiles by Fabio Geda (gift)

8. Montacute House by Lucy Jago* (sent for review)

9. A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness* (sent for review)

10. Personal Demons by Lisa Desrochers (UK Book Tour)

11. Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson* (sent for review)

12. The Truth About Celia Frost by Paula Rawsthorne* (sent for review)

13. Passion by Lauren Kate (sent for review)

14. Defiance by Lili St Crow (gift)

15. Gone by Lisa McMann (purchased)

16. Once Was Lost by Sara Zarr (purchased)

17. An Act of Love by Alan Gibbons* (sent for review)


18. Far From Home by Na'ima B. Robert (sent for review)

19. Darkness Becomes Her by Kelly Keaton (sent for review)

My favourite of the month? A Monster Calls by Patrick Ness because it made me cry like a little baby and Hunting Lila by Sarah Alderson for being one of the most exciting, page-turning books I've read in a long time.

Plans for June? As ever, get caught up with writing reviews. Continue reading more sent for review books, including the following titles:

Haunting Violet by Alyxandra Harvey
The Emerald Atlas by John Stephens
Blood Magic by Tessa Gratton
Hidden by Miriam Halahmy
Mad Love by Suzanne Selfors

I also need to make a start on reading more books for July's month long Death and Bereavement in Teen Lit event.

The Piper's Son by Melina Marchetta
So Shelly by Ty Roth
Fixing Delilah by Sarah Ockler
The Key to the Golden Firebird by Maureen Johnson
Everlost by Neal Shusterman
Waves by Sharon Dogar
Milo and the Restart Button by Alan Silberberg

...and that's just to name a few. Hopefully you'll be quite excited for all the wonderful books that will be showcased during the event. I'm looking forward to it!

So that's it for me. Did you have a favourite book that you read in May? Any reading goals for June?

5 comments:

  1. I love your themed weeks, they're always so interesting and thought provoking.

    That's brilliant news about your link with The Edge, I love their blog so I'll be interested to see what you're doing.

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  2. I do love your themed weeks!

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  3. Jenni - Thank you! I'll think really hard to come up with the next themed week then :) Also, I hope it wasn't confusing about my connection with The Edge authors - I just meant that they are taking part in my Awesome women interviews coming up in the next few months!

    Cliona - Thank you for saying so! I'm still trying to think of what my next theme should be. I'm all out of ideas :(

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  4. I only finished one book in June. I hang my head in shame.

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