Summer Reading Recap

{image: the Red Fairy Project}

I am filled with gratitude that I have summers to catch up on some extra reading. As a librarian I spend my school day surrounded by books, ordering books, previewing, books, talking about books and yet I don't always have a lot of spare time to read.

This summer's reading log has far more adult choices thanks to the new app Litsy on my phone. Do you Litsy?  Mostly adult books are discussed and shared and many sound unbelievable good. Thankful I've learned to cross check with my public library to request and check out. So now I'm addicted to Litsy and love getting recommendations for more reading. Find me @Peaceful_Reader.

I do still love Goodreads because it's a great place to keep track of all my reading + my reading journal (I must have a paper copy in case the Internet goes down).

Here are stats so far for this summer and for the year to date.

Number of books: summer = 22 / y-t-d = 41

Pages read: summer = 8,000 (nice round number) / y-t-d = 12,850

I read 8 adult fiction titles, 4 YA books, and 9 elementary fiction books + 1 graphic novel

All of the elementary books I read including the graphic novel were for our Iowa Children's Choice Awards.  I have about 7 more books to read this week/weekend before I score them all and send in my ratings.

My absolute favorite book this summer is A Little Life by Hanya Yanagihara.  I'm happy that I read it and I share the love for it with every adult reader that I know. If you haven't please do. It is pain + joy wrapped together which is just what life is. Jude will forever stay with you.

Other favorites were: Mac Barnett's The Terrible Two (funny), Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk (great storytelling), Ruta Septys' Salt to the Sea (amazing historical fiction), The Guest Room by Bohjalian (fiction yet brings the horrible truth of modern day slavery to us), Speed of Light by J.M. Kelly (unique twists) and always Alice Hoffman-her books are magical.

In order I read:

1. The Doctor's Wife by Elizabeth Brundage
2. H2O by Virginia Bergin
3. Left Neglected by Lisa Genova
4. Speed of Light by J.M. Kelly
5. The Marvels by Brian Selznick
6. Capture the Flag by Kate Messner
7. The 5th Wave by Rick Yancy
8. Escape from Mr. Lemoncello's Library by Chris Grabenstein
9. Mr. Lemoncello's Library Olympics by Chris G.
10. The Terrible Two by Mac Barnett
11. One Second After by William R. Forstchen
12. A little Life by Hanya Yanagihara
13. Stella by Starlight by Sharon Draper
14. New Kid by Tim Green
15. Wolf Hollow by Lauren Wolk
16. Audacity Jones by Kirby Larson
17. The Museum of Extraordinary Things by Alice Hoffman
18. Salt to the Sea by Ruta Sepetys
19. The Nest by Cynthia D'Aprix Sweeney
20. The Guest Room by Chris Bohjalian
21. Jungle of Bones by Ben Mikaelsen
22. Roller Girl by Victoria Jamiesen

I have two more books I am set to finish this week; Rich and Pretty by Rumaan Alam and Odd, Weird and Little by Patrick Jennings.  What did you read this summer?