Books Read in July

 

 

Today is the last day of July and all I can say is GOOD FREAKING RIDDANCE!! Between bad things happening with the press, my business partner’s personal crisis still going on, and my brother passing away, it has not been a good month for me on a personal level. And, yes, of course I had some rejections with the writing, but I get those every month, so they didn’t ruin my month for me. Those three other things did.

 

It was the loss of my brother that drove me to writing even more than usual, but I also continued to read every day as well. Reading brings me comfort and a sense of peace. It is also a nice way for me to escape from the bad stuff in life, not to mention helping to take my mind off of things.

 

Some of the books I read this month were children’s books. In my defense, that box of books for kids was RIGHT THERE. I couldn’t just ignore them! So I grabbed a bunch that interested me and sat down to read them.

 

This is true except for one of them. The Beach Day is a children’s book I won online, and even though I had it autographed for my friend’s son, I decided to read it before it’s gone! It’s a cute book. I think he’ll like it! (Thanks, Ame!)

 

But I’m glad I read those children’s books, because as someone who writes children’s books, I think it’s important to read them as well. This helps me to understand how they are written, the type of language used for different books, and how exactly the nonfiction books for kids are put together.

 

I also write middle grade fiction, so that means I read it as well. One book I read this month that is for middle grade readers, Frankie’s World, is an awesome book. I loved it! I especially liked how the main character, Frankie, learns she has autism and realizes that the qualities she exhibits as an autistic person are not so terrible and are perfectly normal. I also love how her friends accept her in spite of her quirks and how she handles being bullied at school.

 

Aside from the books that I grabbed to read before they were gone, I also read books by authors I know, as well as a couple of ebooks I received as part of my digital subscription with that publisher.

 

I finished reading books I was asked to review as well as a book I read for research.

 

The books I try to read every month are one poetry book, one nonfiction book, a book by an author I know, one research book, and a book on writing (the writing book is one I am still reading!). Because I have a Kindle Unlimited account and several reading apps on my phone, that’s a variety of ebooks at my disposal. I also have several to review on the computer, both as a PDF and as an EPUB. I am working my way through them all!

 

Some of the books in the list below were reviewed on my blog, some of them were reviewed on Goodreads and Books of Horror (a Facebook group I’m in), and others have pending reviews to be posted for next month.

 

For the month of July, I read 15 books and finished reading 7.

 

The number at the top of the list follows where I left off from last month so the number of books I have read so far this year being 96 is accurate.

 

Here are the books:

 

75. FINISHED READING: Let The Ghosts Sleep by Keller Agre

76. God is an Atheist by Benjamin B. White

77. The Spurn Quern by Eric Cline

78. FINISHED READING: The Only One Left by Riley Sager

79. Jesus is an Infidel by Benjamin B. White

80. Hearsay: Anecdotal Evidence in Our Societal Court by Andrew Buckner

81. The Beach Day by Ame Dyckman and Mark Teague

82. Seed to Sunflower by Lisa M. Herrington

83. Young Zoologist: Gray Wolf by Brenna Cassidy

84. All Moms by Sarah Kate Ellis and Kristen Ellis-Henderson

85. INFINITY: Figuring Out Forever by Sarah C. Campbell

86. Frankie's World by Aoife Dooley

87. FINISHED READING: Secrets of Lakeluster House by Diane Scott Lewis

88. FINISHED READING: The Cryptids by Elana Gomel

89. FINISHED READING: Why Didn't You Just Leave? Edited by Julia Rios and Nadia Bulkin

90. FINISHED READING: The Presidents and UFOs: A secret History From FDR to OBAMA by Larry Holcombe

91. FINISHED READING: The Howling Between Worlds by E.M. Otero

92. Written Tales Chapbook Volume X: Nature's Embrace: A Symphony of Voices, Edited by Kevin Saitta

93. The Price of Insanity by Z. Martin

94. Ten Days in a Mad-House by Nellie Bly

95. Captain's Kismet by Jeremy Nathan Marks

96. We Never Left by Matthew Hollis Damon